Toney L. Smith was born in Nashville, Arkansas and was raised in Texarkana, Texas.  He obeyed the gospel in 1956 and began doing fill-in preaching in 1976 in the Texarkana area. He is a 1982 graduate of Brown Trail School of Preaching under the direction of Wendell Winkler.

Toney and his wife, Debby, have three sons, four grandsons and two granddaughters. He is an instructor for the Online Academy of Biblical Studies (oabs.org).