A man of unimpeachable integrity and true Christian love, Russell was born in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, only son of Elsie and James Mills. Russell was saved at the age of eight through the efforts of his mother at their local Methodist Church in Birmingham, England. The family were frequent transatlantic travelers and Russell found himself stranded in England at the onset of WWII. Booked passage on a liner to New York, his mother was advised not to send him and that ship was torpedoed. Russell returned at the close of war on the first liner to leave England carrying U.S. Citizens back to these shores. Throughout the war he studied violin at Birmingham University’s Conservatory of Music. He settled in Philadelphia with his Aunt Gladys Crump, who was a second mother to him,. Although accepted to Drexel University to study architecture, Russell felt called by The Holy Spirit to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and began his studies at Philadelphia Bible College, finishing them at The Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia. Ordained in 1950 by the Evangelical Alliance in Illinois, he also continued his musical studies and began to fulfill his calling.
Russell answered the call from Youth For Christ during school and traveled The United States working with many great evangelists and their teams and the kernel of his own ministry was formed with so many lifetime friends. In 1951 he responded to another call from YFC to go to Berlin, navigating the divided city in order to minister to its defeated people. He remained there for three years and returned to England where he joined The Eric Hutchings Team who were about to tour the churches of North America. During two weeks of radio broadcasts from Christian Tabernacle in Dayton, Ohio, he met his future wife Betty Lou Terrell who was the soloist in the daily broadcasts and they were subsequently engaged after two weeks. Russell’s talent for “saying it like it is without glossing anything over”, struck at the heart of so many thousands who were led to Christ on hearing him speak. After their marriage, Russell would preach and perform solo violin and Betty would sing and speak in her own conversational style and they traveled The United States by invitation, constantly in demand to spread His Word.
In 1955 they returned to England and they rejoined Hutchings, simultaneously growing their own ministry, in Western Europe and South Africa, working always by invitation. Russell had written many worship hymns by the time of the 1966 Hutchings Liverpool Crusade but it was here that he began to set the contemporary pop gospel songs Betty Lou had begun to write and which have since been recorded on 20 albums. Extending their work in the mid seventies to India and working with Joshua Daniel and the Layman’s Evangelical Fellowship in Madras, God greatly blessed and grew their ministry in unexpected ways, from church planting in Croatia, to British embassy meetings in Paris, to farmhouse meetings in Yorkshire, to Roman Catholic cathedrals in Czechoslovakia, across all Christian denominations wherever they were invited and wherever they would be able to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ unhindered. Russell would always accompany Betty Lou when she sang for such ministries as Billy Graham and Luis Palau.
In the mid nineties Russell and Betty moved their base from Eastbourne, England to Florida and they continued to fly back to Europe and India on a yearly basis to spread the Word of God. As age and infirmity began to work their ways the traveling slowed and they involved themselves in missions at Orlando Praise and Worship Center even unto the end.
Russell is survived by his beloved wife of 56 years, Betty Lou, sons Jonathan of Los Angeles, CA, David and Theresa of Ormond Beach FL and Matthew of Ormond by the Sea, FL. and also his grandchildren Daniel and Hannah.
Arrangements under the direction of Volusia Memorial Funeral Home, Ormond Beach, FL.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18