• 25 Things to Know
The following twenty-five things you might want to know about me…
1. I was born in New London, CN. I am the oldest of five children, three brothers and a sister. Both my mother and father have passed.
2. My father was a career Navy Officer who served in the World War 11 and the Korean War. He was at the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, and he survived. He went with Admiral Byrd’s third expedition to Antactica.
3. Our family traveled and moved numerous times, all over the United States and I lived on the Island of Guam as a young boy.
For more things you might want to know about me…
4. I became a follower of Jesus as my Lord and Savior at the age of 10 in a Child Evangelism Fellowship Good News Club in the home of a neighbor in Encinitas, California.
5. I attended three years at Moody Bible Institute and graduated from the Pastor’s Course in 1964. Before going to seminary I attended two Universities: Biola University and Azusa Pacific University, where I earned a BA in Biblical Literature and Theology.
6. I attended two Seminaries: Talbot Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, MA in Youth Ministries with a research emphasis on Children’s Evangelism.
7. I am happily married to Sharon Joann Russell for 43 years. Sharon earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Nursing from California State University at Long Beach. She is a Registered Nurse. She completed her Masters in Marriage Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University. She served at the Director of Counseling Ministries in a church for ten years. Currently, she maintains a successful private practice, as a Marriage Family Therapist for the last 20 years.
8. I was ordained with the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest in 1972. Currently, we attend the Whittier Area Community Church, Whittier, CA (15 years here)
9. I was on a full-time pastoral staff member of five churches, over a period of ten years, working with children, in all of them.
10. Upon graduation from Fuller Theological Seminary, I was literally given a Non-Profit Corporation, called Share Time International. Ten years later, we changed the corporate name to Creative Children’s Ministries and we embarked on a mission to share the gospel with 2 Million children by the year 2,000. Currently, our vision is to creatively evangelize children and help others to do the same.
11. Twenty years after graduation from Fuller Theological Seminary, I returned to help the school have a Master’s in Children’s Ministries, without a residency requirement.
12. I am a puppeteer, a gospel magician, a storyteller, and a master of object lessons. I have been working with dummies since 1972, while trying to add methods that would attract children in fun ways. I am a ventriloquist and have several vent figures. I am proficient in training others to use these performing arts in their ministry.
13. I wrote and self published the Born Again Birthday Book, which is a counseling book for those children who respond to the gospel. There are now over 140,000 in print.
14. I designed and produced two family-crusade series, called Little Bitty Seeds, on the Parable of the Sower and Jonah was a Whale of a Boy, an exposition of Jonah. Each series has it’s own workbook for the children, which I self-published.
15. I was awarded the National Award for Excellence in Children’s Ministry in 1992 by the International Network of Children’s Ministries at their annual Children’s Pastors’ Conference in Denver, CO.
16. We have four grown children, who have been the treasure of our lives. We have two girls and two boys. They are now all married, since the youngest daughter Kristen married in April 2009. They each are active Christians and are involved in their churches.
17. I have wanted to be a “grandpa” for a long time. We thought we would never get grand kids. Currently, we now have eight precious grand children, the newest one came in February 2009. Now they are coming quickly. The grand kids tell me that they love me… “I love you papa!” You know, I believe them! Such pure love.
18. The “world” was put in my heart because I started collecting stamps when I was nine. I have maintained my interest all these years and have used stamp collecting in my ministry.
19. One highlight of my 50 years of children’s ministry was to work with Evangelist Luis Palau doing Children’s Crusades in six cities in Maine in 1999, Mission Maine lasted a whole year. The children’s meetings were called Kid’s Celebrations.
20. I have been a member of several professional organizations, but these two I have enjoyed the most: Children’s Christian Ministries Association, International Fellowship of Christian Magicians.
21. I like to creatively design and manufacture ministry resources for those who teach and reach children. I helped start a Resource Company, called Kid Helper Resources, LLC, that sells all my products, plus much more.
22. For the last ten years I have been taking 4-5 short-term Kid Mission trips a year. I have been Guatemala, Panama, Oaxaca Mexico, Los Mochis Mexico, Baja Mexico, Pakistan, Vanuatu Islands, Estonia and India. This year, I plan to make six Kid Mission Trips: Panama, and four trips to Baja, Mexico, and two trips to India in 2010.
23. For the last four years I have maintained a monthly routine of doing writing retreats and working on a twelve-unit curriculum for mentoring professional leaders in children’s ministry. (500 pages)
24. I have been mentoring protégé’s “face-to-face” for the last four years. But currently, I am the Personal Coach for the Kidology Coaching Program. I now have over 20 “on-line” protégé’s that I work with every week. Never thought I would ever be a writer and a mentor. But I am really enjoying this new aspect of my ministry, while I continue to creatively share the gospel with kids and help others to do the same.
25. Last year, I became a blogger!
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