Bernard was a professional drummer playing in the San Francisco Bay Area, striving to make it big. After a potentially lucrative deal with Motown fell through, his bass player handed him some Christian books; shortly after which, he accepted Jesus as Lord and attended Crenshaw Christian Center with the late pastor Dr. Frederick K.C. Price in Inglewood, California.
Later, he moved to Alaska where he attended Abbott Loop Christian Center’s Charismatic Bible College of Anchorage, Alaska and entered the ministry full-time. Mr. Smalls was ordained as an elder in 1983 at Abbott Loop. He and his wife, Karen, founded Prevailing Word Outreach Church in Anchorage in 1985. In 1995 Bernard answered the call of God to Atlanta to engage in a new work. He is the founder and Senior Messenger of the newly planted Prevailing Word Pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia. Bernard holds a conferred bachelor’s degree in theology.