NATCHEZ — Cartrell “Preacherman” Smith woke up one day and knew it was finally his time to do great things in the name of God.

His mother raised him in the church, and after seeing several big-name preachers on the television touch the lives of thousands of people, Smith knew he wanted to be a preacher so he could touch lives, as well.

“I wanted to be like them one day, but I was listening to my pastor preach one day and he said you can’t want to be a preacher, God has to call you,” Smith, a senior at Natchez High School, said. “So I was praying and asking God if this was my calling, and He told me yes.”

And at 17 years old, Smith said he received his calling this summer from Godw  that it was his time to touch those lives.

“I asked God to send me a sign, and the sign came in three dreams,” he said. “The first dream that came was me singing a song, and I just saw a light shine and God said this is your time. The second came, and I was in the pulpit and I saw young people coming and getting saved by God. In the third dream, something came and touched me, and the light shined on me like I had a glow and I woke up and God actually spoke to me and said this is your time.”

After receiving his calling, Smith said he went to his pastor, the Rev. Dr. J.L. Hammitte Jr., and reached out to him about his calling.

Hammitte helped him set up his first sermon at his home church, Antioch Baptist Church, and for three months, not only was Smith contemplating on his lesson plan, but also how his life would change as he transitions into a preacher.

“The process was hard because I was wondering if my life will change with school and hanging with my friends,” Smith said. “When I talked to God, he told me nothing was going to change. But once being a preacher, you know your limits.”

Smith said he didn’t start writing his lesson until three weeks prior to his sermon date when God gave him Job Chapter 13, verse 4 as his scripture to preach from.

“I was on the bus coming home from school and God gave me the sermon,” he said. “The lesson was going to be talking with peace and patience.”

The closer it got to his sermon date Nov. 23, the more nervous Smith said he became as he continued to constantly pray and fast so he could be sure he was giving the right message.

The day of the sermon, things went a totally different route.

“(God) came to me that Saturday as I was getting dressed. He said we’re going to change this whole thing around, this is what I need you to do and not what I told you at first,” Smith said. “The message is not always for the people to feel good, but for the people to understand and learn something different, so it was something the church needed at the time.”

Smith said he was nervous, as it was just hours before it was time to make his debut, but he prayed with Hammitte, and let the aura of the church service put him in the right state of mind.

“The choir was singing the song “Thank you, Lord,” and I looked back on my life and all that God has brought me through and I got emotional,” Smith said. “God told me he was with me.”

As Smith stepped up in the pulpit to give the congregation words of wisdom, everything he had typed up to say went out the window.

“I just looked up and I thanked him once again and just spoke what he told me to say,” he said. “I had a folder with what I wanted to talk about, but when I read the scripture, I closed the folder and just said what God wanted me to.  I was more comfortable as it flowed through me and I felt a joy I never had before. I felt like I actually touched people.”

The sermon that Smith actually gave was titled “Sometimes you just have to be quiet.”

Smith said the sermon was about people talking too much instead of focusing on God and receiving their blessing.

Now that Smith’s first sermon is over with, he said he learned to let God’s word flow through him instead of focusing too much time on preparing a premeditated speech.

It’s a good thing that Smith took up this new method, because he will be giving his second sermon Sunday at Union Baptist Church in Deer park, La., on short notice.

“I decided whenever I get up for a sermon, I’m going to go to the scripture that He sends me to and just let it flow,” Smith said.