Reverend Penn was born in Harlem, New York. He attended the College of New Rochelle and is graduate of the New York Theological Seminary where he received his Certificate in Christian Ministry. Reverend Penn received his Master of Divinity degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He is presently a Doctor of Ministry candidate at the Leonard N. Smith School of Religion at the Virginia University of Lynchburg. Reverend Penn has been awarded honorary degrees from the following institutions: Richmond Virginia Seminary, Eastern Theological Seminary and New Freedom Bible College.

Reverend Penn presently serves as the Chief of Staff and the Field Representative on Higher Education for the Connecticut Missionary Baptist Convention. Reverend Penn has also served the Assistant Dean of the Congress of Christian Education. As an instructor certified by the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. Reverend Penn is certified to teach the following subjects: Baptist Doctrine, Effective Bible Reading, Theology and the History of Christianity, Christianity and Contemporary Issues, The Survey of Revelations, and the History of Baptist. Reverend Penn has also received a certificate in church administration from the Institute of Church Administration at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta Georgia.

Reverend David Eugene Penn, Sr. presently serves as the Senior Pastor of the Mount Bethel Missionary Baptist Church located in the city of New Haven Connecticut. In his previous ministerial/pastoral assignments, Reverend. Penn has served with humility and distinction as the Senior Pastor of the following churches: Third Baptist Church in Suffield Connecticut, Macedonia Baptist Church in Ansonia Connecticut, and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Pleasantville New Jersey. Reverend Penn has also served in the capacity of Associate Minister at the Fifth Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia and the Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Reverend Penn has been actively involved in ministry for over forty years. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1982 and ordained in 1988 at the New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Harlem New York under the pastoral leadership of the late Dr. Edward L. Satchell. Reverend Penn has been involved in pastoral ministry for over 35 years.

Reverend Penn has been married for 34 years to the Reverend Tracye Colette Chisholm-Penn. They are the proud parents of five adult children and grandparents to several wonderful grandchildren.Above all else, Reverend Penn is a servant of God determined to live for Christ.