Kyle Pernell was 3-years-old when he first told his mother he was going to be a preacher one day.
The Moorhead native and Gentry High School senior has been immersed in the Church his entire life, and at 18-years-old, he is already an associate pastor, preaching at First United Baptist Church of Moorhead.
“All I knew from a young age was church, church and church,” Pernell said as he sat in the first pew at FUBC on Good Friday morning. “I saw how exciting church was, with the singing, the shouting and the preaching. I saw so much joy.”
Pernell made a name for himself last winter when he delivered an invocation while serving as a page for State Rep. Sara Thomas of Indianola at the state capitol.
Long before his four-and-a-half minute prayer over the Legislature in 2017, God was laying the groundwork for his life in ministry.
“I was baptized at the age of 5,” Pernell said. “I was at revival, and I heard the preacher ask the question, ‘If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?’ I went to the first pew. They used to call it the morning pew. Me and several other young children went up there.”
From there, Pernell became obsessed with church and the idea of preaching.
“My teachers thought I was crazy, because I was drawing church services,” Pernell joked. “At the age of 5, I had my first service in my house. I turned my room into a church.”
Pernell said his mother invited several members of the church community to hear the child’s service that night.
By May of 2010, Pernell was preaching publicly, in church, and in 2011, he said he became licensed to preach.
He was officially ordained through the Sunflower County Baptist Association in 2016.
He has not only taken his ministry to Jackson, but he also preaches regularly at a father-son conference in Washington, D.C., he said.
“They’re More United in the Clubs and on the Streets”
Pernell is a passionate and fiery preacher on Sunday morning, but he is no stranger to the temptations many his age face.
He said that he has always tried to occupy his free time with productive activities like the Student Government Association, the choir and the Beta Club, among others.
He’s hoping that his positive example will lead more in his community to return to the church pews he says have gotten more empty since his childhood.
“The church community has lost their faith in God and their dependency on God,” Pernell said. “Church is a formality. It is a ritual. We need to direct people back to God.”
Pernell said that corruption in the church has steered many away.
“There have been so many scandals and scams through the church,” Pernell said. “They already have this perspective of what the church is, and it is not accurate. We need to show them genuine love.”
Pernell said that many people are torn between commitment to their faith and the negative influences in his community.
“I have people tell me, “Why should I go to church? I just saw so-and-so in the club last week.’ They’re more united in the clubs and on the streets…We have to be a witness and live righteous.”
Pernell said he has personally seen the power God and the Church can have when individuals give their lives to their faith.
“We have a deacon, and he was the biggest gang fighter and drug user out there,” Pernell said. “He was heavy in the streets. Now, he’s one of our most faithful men.”
Pernell said the man is now ministering to other gang members in the community.
“He brings them to the church,” Pernell said.
A Bright Future
Pernell has the kind of energy that can change an entire community, but there’s much more for the young man to learn.
He will graduate from Gentry next month, and from there he will head to college.
This week, he was the recipient of one of the Indianola Chamber Main Street Scholarships.
He said he is still deciding between attending Morehouse College or Shorter University. He will major in Biblical Studies wherever he attends.
Pernell said he will continue to preach during his college career in hopes of leading his own church one day.
Last year, Pernell told the Associated Press he was interested in owning multiple funeral homes one day.
That is still a goal, Pernell said.
