Welcome

     A visionary faithful servant, community leader, treasured human resource, former president of the National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA, pastor of the St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church, president and CEO of the Tallahassee Urban League, well known in Leon County, Florida and married to the former Mary E. Richardson. Attended the public schools of Leon County and graduated from Old Lincoln High School in 1962. He was the first African American cashier to be employed by the Winn-Dixie Stores Company. He entered into the United States Army in 1966, and was honorably discharged in 1968. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1972, from Florida A&M University in Sociology and a minor in Corrections. He excelled in three areas of leadership during his career, including church community, business community and the Urban League Community. His Leadership in the church began when he was a youth singing in the church choir. He sang in the Lincoln High School Glee Club and a gospel group called the Walls of Zion.

     In 1972, he produced an album entitled “The Ferrell’s In Concert” with his brother and sister. From singing he progressed to the pulpit as a gospel preacher and was later ordained in 1969, to pastor the Galilee Primitive Baptist Church. In 1992, he was called to pastor the St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church and installed as its pastor where he currently serves. He moved through in the ranks of the National Primitive Baptist Denomination where he served a successful three-year term as president of this 600,000 membership convention. In August 2008, he was re-elected to serve another three-year term as president of the convention.

In the business realm, his leadership includes proprietor of three small businesses in Tallahassee, Florida, Ferrell’s Plaza, Hallie’s Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop, and Ferrell’s Restaurant.

     He has successfully achieved the position of CEO of the Tallahassee Urban League. The Board of Directors appointed him to this position in 1972, where he has served with honor and distinction. Through his leadership at the Tallahassee Urban League, thousands of individuals and families in the Tallahassee and surrounding communities have received many services, including housing, crime prevention, youth services, victim rights assistance, emergency food and shelter and much more.

Reverend Ferrell received an honorary doctoral degree in Human Letters from his alma mater, Florida A&M University, and other numerous awards. The Omega Man of the Year Award, the Florida A&M University Martin Luther King Leadership Award, and the City of Tallahassee Business Leadership Award, to name a few.

     Reverend Ernest Ferrell, a man of distinction who has earned many accolades over his life’s journey and now he can add author to his repertoire. The author is a man of God, a man of high integrity, a man who recognized the needs of his community and worked to resolve them, and a man who put his trust in God and worked diligently every day to make a difference in the lives of the people he serves.