After serving the Lord at Sunbury Christian Church for 19 years, our minister retired June of 2018. As Chairman of the Elders, it became my responsibility to find someone to fill our pulpit each Sunday during our minister search. I was having a difficult time finding  someone who could help us for  more than one or two Sundays. After two months and many phone calls , I was given John Russell's name. John said he would come and preach one Sunday and if we wanted him to come back , he would be willing to fill our pulpit for the next two months. After John finished that Sunday, I caught him before he left and told him I would take every Sunday that he could give us. He preached a total of five months for us and led us to our new minister. We feel that John's time with us was a gift from GOD.  
In the five months that John filled our pulpit during our minister search, he became a valuable part of our transition team. His sermons had the practical application of God's word that we needed. Our congregation looked forward to the quality of John's messages and appreciated the consistency that he gave our worship services. During this transition period our attendance and giving never dropped off. With John's assistance and guidance, we were able to continue moving forward in our mission to bring the love of Jesus Christ to our community. John became and remains a friend of Sunbury Christian.
If your church needs a genuine messenger of Jesus Christ's love, I would encourage you to consider contacting John. Whether for one Sunday or months of Sundays, your congregation will be blessed by John's delivery of God's Word.

It's Difficult to find the words to express the blessing it was for our church to have John Russell share in our interim preaching ministry while I was going through my treatment and recovery for cancer. From the time I was diagnosed I knew that God was in control but, as a pastor, I was also very concerned about what was going to happen at church and who was going to fill the pulpit. Looking back it's clear to me that God  really was in control of everything that happened because we could not have found a better preacher and a better friend to help us out. Our people grew to love John deeply and we will forever be thankful for his  ministry. His messages each week were practical and biblical and his presence brought a great sense of reassurance to our entire church family. The best thing that I can say about John Russell is that during his time at Mount Pleasant he became a part of our church family and we will always think of him as a close friend.
God bless.