Cleveland Russell: Called and Found Faithful

Richmond Vale Baptist Church

Cleveland Russell

 

Cleveland Augustus Russell was the second of seven children born in 1894 to Charles and Selina Russell, ardent Baptists, in Hampshire, St. Catherine. Mt Hermon Baptist Church was the church home of his childhood. He attended Sunday School there and surrender his life to Christ in November, 1914. In January 1916, he received baptism at the hands of Rev. William A. Tucker.

Russell was active in the ministry of the church. He served as a Sunday School teacher and a member of the choir. Meanwhile, he applied himself to farming. After this, he did the work of a tailor and afterwards as a distributor of ground provisions.  After successfully completing the Pupil Teachers and Training College Examinations as an external student, Russell became a teacher at Mt Harmon, Berry Hill, Hartlands, Lucky Hill, Spanish Town and Belle Castle successively. He rose to the position of Headmaster. Wherever he served, he was a willing preacher especially in Baptist churches that were regarded as “outstations” in a circuit.

While he was in Spanish Town, worshipping at the First Baptist Church, he decided to devote his life to the work of a pastor. This commitment arose when Dr. T. J. Stockley, whom the Baptist Missionary Society had sent to Jamaica as to organize a Sustentation Fund, was a visiting preacher at the Spanish Town church. Russell entered Calabar College on September 15, 1924 where he joined Norton Bellamy and A. W. Scott, who had been members with him of the First Baptist Church, Spanish Town.

After finishing the course at Calabar, Russell was ordained to the ministry in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Spanish Town on July 12, 1928, after having received and accepted an invitation from the Freetown Circuit of churches to become their pastor. Rev L. T. Comber, who had recently arrived from China, where he had served as a BMS missionary, and Mrs. Edith Price, wife of the Calabar principal, participated in Russell’s induction service that took place in the Rosewell Baptist Church on September 18, 1928.

One month later, the Calabar Chapel was the place where College Principal Ernest Price and Tutor David Davis officiated at the wedding of Russell and Rowena Nerissa Gordon of Goodwill, near Adelphi, St James on October 11, 1928. The union produced three children, Horace, Myrtle and Burchell, all of whom were born in Freetown. Each of the children has made an outstanding contribution in their field of endeavour. Horace followed his father’s footsteps into the Christian ministry and became an outstanding pastor, ecumenist, scholar and theological educator.

After completing ten years in the Freetown circuit, Russell became pastor of the Richmond Vale circuit of churches in St Thomas, where he spent for the rest of his life. Writing in the Jamaica Baptist Reporter of January 1954, Menzie Sawyers said that Russell served in St Thomas “with devotion and faithfulness.”

 

Our brother has perhaps the most difficult sphere in the whole island. (I mean difficult of access). Minto Church on the Blue Mountain range is nine miles from the peak and there is a class house within three or four miles of the peak. Our brother serves these places regularly.

 

In spite of the number of churches under his pastorate and their inaccessibility, he finds time to serve his brother ministers. There are few churches in the Union in which he has not preached either as a Student or as a Minister.

 

It is hard to find a more diligent and hardworking man in the whole Baptist ministry…. Difficulties have never deterred him; he seems to thrive on hardships and his cheerfulness is infectious.

 

Several calls have come to himself and his wife to serve in easier and more lucrative spheres at home and abroad, but they consistently refused to go at any other than what they believe to be God’s bidding.

Russell prioritized pastoral visitation at which he excelled and Sawyers highlighted the following “outstanding graces” found in this exemplary pastor. 

 (1)   His ability to see the bright side of life. He firmly believes in the statement, “The darkest cloud has a silver lining. (2) The ability to see the best in the worst of men…. Even when many have let him down, he continues to see something good in them. (3) His cheerfulness. He lives in the atmosphere of these lines: Scatter love’s bright sunshine everywhere you go…. Sing a happy song as you pass along Till the dark clouds disappear…. Render loyal service good and true Like the bread that’s cast upon the waters It will come back to you.” (4) A keen sense of humour.

Readers who knew Horace Russell, Cleveland's son, are likely to say, “Like father like son.”

It is significant that, in 1964, when Russell was on furlough in USA, the theological students who served in his Richmond Vale circuit were Rev Terrence Metz of the Disciples of Christ in Jamaica and Mr Leonard Bewick of Back to the Bible Broadcast. Russell’s ecumenical outlook was on full display.

To Sawyers, Russell was “a loyal friend, faithful pastor and a servant of God.”

Russell’s interest in the people of the communities he served was expressed in his membership in the Blue Mountain Coffee Growers Cooperative. Russell was also an ardent supporter of the Jamaica Agricultural Society and the Loan Boards and Cooperative Societies in St Thomas.

On February 28, 1973, Rev Russell died while in prayer at the Richmond Vale mission house. He was in his 84^th year. His funeral took place at the Jones Town Baptist Church on October 3, 1973. His wife and faithful partner in the ministry outlived him by several years.