Michael Lord, better known as "Little Michael," who began preaching at the age of 5 and became a national celebrity in the 1970s, will visit Miracle Life Fellowship Church in Mount Vernon at 3 p.m. on April 2.

"I've known him for years," Miracle Life pastor the Rev. Michael Tate told the Mount Vernon News. "He preached for me when he was liked 10 years old. He is in his 50s now. I'm 66. We just got back together after all these years."

Lord's parents were also preachers, as was his brother, Tate said.

"Little Michael was a faith preacher," Tate said. "He prayed for the sick. He had a lot of healings and miracles in his services. He still, to this day, does that."

Tate was himself a boy preacher.

"I preached my first message at 6," he said. "We just celebrated my 52nd year in the ministry."

Both Tate and Lord preached at tent revivals in their early years.

"I came up under my father, and they had to pretty much have someone to school me on the road," Tate said. "It was the same with Little Michael. We couldn't go to a secular school and do what we did. It was a quite interesting life. You don't just decide to do this. This is a call on your life."

Tate can remember using a tape recorder to pretend that he was on the radio preaching.

"It just came natural," he said. "It was just what we were called to do."

Tate's wife, Jill, founded the nondenominational church at 4840 Newark Road in 1985.

"She pastored here for many years, and I kind of took it over three years ago," Tate said.

Tate has written about 100 songs and recorded five gospel albums.

"I'll be singing," he said of the April 2 service. "Pastor Jill will be singing."