Lora L. Kynerd

Lora Lucille Crawford was born in Derma, Mississippi, in 1909, to Nathaniel Crawford and Ruth Clara Hamilton Crawford. At the tender age of 15, she married Ray Kynerd. They had two children, Thomas Ray, Jr., and Audie Ruth. The Kynerds were not particularly religious people, but that changed when Lucille was about 34 years old. While visiting her brother, Damon, in Columbus, Mississippi, Lucille received the Holy Ghost at a local church. She was instantly on fire for God, and her feet barely touched the ground when she returned home.

Later that same year, Lucille and her husband, Ray, were introduced to Bro. and Sis. E. J. Ellard at a tent revival in Carrollton, Mississippi. It was Ray Kynerd’s first time to hear the Gospel preached from a pulpit. Shortly after the tent revival, Ray and Lucille Kynerd went to a prayer meeting at a new friend’s house, located in the same area. It was here that Ray Kynerd received the Holy Ghost and was later baptized.

It wasn’t long after Lucille’s conversion before she felt her call to the ministry. She began her ministry as an evangelist in 1943 and would often travel to neighboring cities and spend a few days there, preaching to whosoever would hear the Word.

In 1947, Ray Kynerd, a railroad employee, was promoted and had to move his family to West Point, Mississippi. After settling into the community in West Point, Ray launched a radio broadcast for his wife, so she could preach each week on the local radio station.

In the late 1940s, Sis. Kynerd had a vision of the people in Vardaman, Mississippi, and knew she must go. She was contacted by Kathleen Inman, who lived in Vardaman. Kathleen had heard the broadcast and wanted Sis. Kynerd to come and preach. Without any physical building to hold services in, Kathleen offered her home. Soon, people were spilling out the doors of the house, so much so that Sis. Kynerd had to preach from the porch. It was the beginning of a great revival in that area.

In the 44 years of her ministry, Sis. Lucille Kynerd saw many come to the Lord. In addition to evangelizing, she pastored two churches, one in Vardaman, Mississippi, and one in West Point, Mississippi. She broke ground on the construction of new church buildings in both of these cities.

The Kynerds’ daughter, Ruth, married Bro. Archie Lee Allen in 1949. They would go on to pastor several churches in the Mississippi District before moving to Texas in 1969.

Sis. Lucille Kynerd remained pastor of West Point Apostolic Church until her retirement in 1974. On December 19, 1987, at the age of 78, she passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. At the time of her death, she and her beloved husband had been married 63 years.