[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOGNITION FOR REV. BOB RUSSELL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ANNE M. NORTHUP

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 2006

  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the career and 
service of the Reverend Bob Russell, who is retiring this month after 
forty years of ministry at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, 
Kentucky. Throughout his time at Southeast, Rev. Russell has worked 
diligently to follow his faith in God wherever it might lead him. His 
contribution to the Louisville community is unparalleled and his impact 
on individual lives is immeasurable.
  As a young man in Pennsylvania, Rev. Russell dreamed of coaching high 
school basketball. However, life would hold a different plan for him. 
During his senior year of high school, he felt a call into ministry. He 
enrolled in a seminary, graduating from Cincinnati Bible Seminary in 
1965.
  On June 12, 1966, Rev. Russell delivered his first sermon as pastor 
of a nascent Southeast Christian Church. Only four years prior, 
Southeast was founded with seventy-seven charter members. At the time 
of Rev. Russell's arrival, the church had reached a membership of 120. 
Within two years of his first sermon, the church had more than doubled 
to nearly 300 members. On Easter Sunday 1976, the church hosted 1,000 
worshippers for the first time. Fourteen years later in 1990, 10,000 
people worshipped at Southeast on Easter Sunday. And the church set its 
current record of 29,424 on Easter weekend 2004 over the course of five 
services.
  Rev. Russell's career is not, measured solely by explosive church 
growth, but by the many ways the church under his leadership has 
expanded to meet the needs of our community. The church reaches its 
community through ministries in counseling, disaster relief, and prison 
support, among others. The Southeast Outlook newspaper began 
publication in 1995. Rev. Russell can also be heard nationally on his 
syndicated radio program, The Living Word.
  Throughout his career of four decades in ministry, Rev. Bob Russell 
has strived to follow his faith in God and live a life of service to 
the Louisville community. We as a city have been blessed to have Rev. 
Russell among us for so many years. His loyalty to God, his family, his 
church, and our city has not gone unnoticed. Mr. Speaker, I would like 
to express my gratitude for Rev. Russell and congratulate him on a 
lifetime in ministry and service that will continue to touch Louisville 
even after his retirement.

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