Bobby Purnell isn’t ashamed to talk about the mud and rust that’s been cleaned from his soul.

He has become one of the faces of the House of Mandate’s He-Man initiative, a program where modeling takes precedence over mentoring and fits into place with the reentry efforts underway  in Halifax County.

“I came in off the streets,” he said at the church this week. “I have a background behind me. I have children now so the mistakes I made as a child I wanted to push that behind me and get that out of the way and show I can raise my kids and teach them the right way.”

His past record includes drug and gun charges as well as an assault on a female rap.

But now he has a job — three-and-a-half years at Georgia-Pacific and before that a four-year stint doing construction.

(The He-Man program meets the fourth Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the church located at 339 Roanoke Avenue. On May 23 at 10 a.m. there will be a reentry program held at the church)

Orin Perry, pastor of the House of Mandate, grew up with Purnell. “I think his story needs to be heard. When he came to our church he was practically homeless. I took money out of my pocket and bought him an air mattress.”

Now, Perry said, he’s living in his own home, a house that he built from the ground up. “This is the benefit I do believe of what we are doing. We can go from being homeless to building a home. We can go from being an individual that was looked at and frowned upon to someone that people will applaud for their efforts.”

But, Perry said, “It’s not about the applause, it’s about doing it for yourself and that’s the core of what I see with Mr. Purnell. It’s amazing how God does things.”

The exact role model

Purnell said his goal is to make life better for the next generation. “This day and time we’ve got children having children. I feel I am the exact model. Why? Because I went from being on the front page of the paper, being in trouble, a person who people looked at in the streets and said, ‘OK, this is a person you’ve got to fear. He’s a problem.’ Now you see the transition.”

Purnell doesn’t discount the influence the church has had in his new life. “The House of Mandate has made a very powerful impact on my life. They changed me as a person, as a man, as a father. They helped me. Dr. Perry is the perfect role model for mentoring. The model part is where I come in because I’ve been in the mud, I’ve been in the dirt, the rust and once you clean all that up you get to see this person.”

It’s been a process, he said, which includes having people who believe in what can be accomplished. “Two people may believe in you. That’s all you need — a little bit of faith and mustard seed you can go from there.”

There are those who might not have that faith in him. “ … You’ve got the other eight that are looking at you sideways and they see the old me. They’re not giving me a chance. They’re not opening their hearts, their minds to the fact well he’s grown now, he has children, he’s a different man. It hurts but you’ve got to keep going, you’ve got to keep pushing, you can’t give up. As long as you want better, you want it different from where you’ve been, you're going to keep on pursuing.”

Open about the past

He is open about his past, including the assault on a female charge. “I went through a thing with one of my kid’s mothers. We were young. I went through that and I have a daughter now. I’m not afraid to talk about any of my past because I’ve grown from it. My growth can help someone because there’s a lot of people going through what I was going through.”

The faith aspect has been crucial in Purnell’s turnaround. "As I spoke on, those two people believing in you — you’ve got to believe in you. You’ve got to look in the mirror and you’ve got to be determined. Every piece of dirt, every piece of rust you’ve got to be determined to get it off, wash it off, because there’s something beautiful about it and the world needs to see that. You’ve got to have faith in yourself. If you don’t have faith in yourself, everyone else’s faith doesn’t matter.”

Perry is proud of his friend and the person who is one of the faces of the He-Man initiative as well as the ongoing reentry efforts in the county. “The believability in seeing what he’s come through is mindblowing. I didn’t think there was a better voice to represent the mentoring program. He’s going to help pioneer our expungement program. He’s a model. You push that model and you show change is possible. Whether we want to admit it or not, yes there’s some horrendous things in Halifax County, but there are some goldmines here. There’s some great people here.”

‘I’m glad you’ve changed’

The changes in his life are an amazing feeling, Purnell said. “What makes me feel best is when my kids tell me, ‘Dad I’m glad you’ve changed, you’re doing so much better.”

And then there are the people on the streets who see him and the changes in his life. There are comments like, “‘Bobby you’re a remarkable man, you make us feel there’s a way so we’ve got a chance.’ They do have a chance. There is a way out. You have to want it. Opportunities are key.”

He feels even Halifax County is giving him a chance. “Halifax County is giving me an opportunity to just start over and with this reentry thing it’s powerful, it’s major because it can have such a powerful impact on the community. There’s so much talent out there and so much knowledge out there. That talent’s going to waste and wisdom’s going to waste behind bars for those mistakes you’ve made 15 to 20 years ago. I just feel like everyone deserves a second chance.”

Those who squander those chances, he said, “ … That’s what you wanted to do in the first place. I honestly feel that way because it goes from a mistake to a choice you live to make. That’s what you wanted to do. If you continue to make the same mistake it’s a lifestyle — this is your choice.”

He wears a cross around his neck. “It lets me know that I now walk with God and I know he walks with me.”

He references the Christian allegorical poem Footprints. “A lot of people feel that when it becomes one set of footprints in the sand it was because God left their side. No, it’s because God picked you up.”

There are naysayers in his life, he admits, and it takes bravery to make that change. “ … A lot of people don’t agree with what I’m doing, a lot of people in the streets are like ‘you turned your back on us, you’re against us now.’  I can’t help the way you feel — that’s your opinion. You can’t drive forward looking in your rearview mirror — you’re going to crash.”

‘It’s right on’

Prince Williams, the business engagement coordinator for the Turning Point Workforce Development Board, sees the changes in Purnell’s life. “It’s right on. One of the things that Mr. Purnell was talking about was how our people now are not motivated. They don’t have that feeling of being secure in their own body because they have been pushed down so far to people telling them they’re not going to make it. They’ve heard that so much. We’re trying to change that stigma in Halifax County. We want the people to know that we are for real for what we’re getting ready to do. 

“Mr. Purnell is an example of what can be done and there’s so many that want to be in his place right now. They want to change but we’re not giving them the opportunity to change. All they need is an opportunity, somebody to believe in them. In our realm they don’t want to bring God into the circle but if we don’t have faith to believe in something or somebody we don’t have anything. We just want to educate the people. It’s not that we’re beating you down about going to church or talking about God. The main thing is you’ve got to believe in yourself first. No matter what we do, if they don’t have that belief that caringness, that willingness to change, all we’re doing is a waste of time. They have to want it. We’re bringing it to the community but the community’s got to want it.”

She describes Purnell as a forerunner in the reentry effort. “A lot of times I’ve felt like giving up because it has been a struggle but it only took one person like Mr. Purnell to come and say ‘thank you for your help. I appreciate everything that you’ve done.’ It can change your whole perspective. If you can change one person, that's the beginning right there.”

Purnell believes his story is beginning to be heard. “I feel like this is a platform for more people to hear my story and to see exactly what I have going on.”

He remembers sitting in court in 2004 waiting for a judgment in an assault with a deadly weapon case. 

Now, he says, “It’s a beautiful thing to be sitting at a dinner table or at a function with that judge. That’s the power of the church.”