Ferdinand Schexnayder

Ferdinand Schexnayder was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1934, the eighth of nine children. At the age of seven, he contracted polio. During his confinement, he picked up his brother-in-law’s guitar, turned it upside down to accommodate being left-handed, and taught himself to play. By age 17, he had joined a French band in Arnaudville, Louisiana, and at 19, he formed his own band, 

He married Judy Munson in 1954 and received the Holy Ghost in 1955 during a revival in Melville, Louisiana, with Reverend Joe Duke as evangelist and Reverend Floyd Majors as pastor.

Feeling called to preach, he began evangelizing in 1961 and, in 1963, left the evangelistic field to pastor the First United Pentecostal Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He also served as Section 7 Youth Director for eight years.

In 1969, he moved to pastor the First United Pentecostal Church in Kosciusko, Mississippi, where he served as Section 4 Secretary and Treasurer. After 30 years of dedicated service, he resigned in 2000 and moved to the Mississippi UPCI Campgrounds in Raymond, Mississippi. There, he attended the First Pentecostal Church in Jackson, pastored by T. L. Craft, and taught the adult Sunday School class until declining health confined him to his home.