Pastor Dave Russell

Pastor Dave Russell

 

Welcome to davelrussell.com. I’m Dave Russell, pastor of Creekside Christian Fellowship, in Talent Oregon. I came to Oregon as a welder 42 years ago. I was a new believer then who didn’t know much except that deep inside I had a nagging desire to learn and understand the Bible. I joined a denominational church and got involved in church “busy work” designed to keep the people coming. I would read my Bible and listened to Bible teaching on the radio and wondered about how different the first century church was compared to the modern day church.

 

About 10 years into my walk with the Lord I found a book written by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa entitled Harvest. I confess I bought the book because it had a chapter on Jon Courson, Pastor of Applegate Christian Fellowship.  Jon was teaching through the Bible at lunch time on the local radio station and I had been listening to him for some time and wanted to know more about him. The book gave an account of what God was doing in the lives of people like Jon and others during the Jesus movement at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.  What I was reading sounded to me like God was still doing the same things He had done in the First Century Church. Sadly, I wasn’t seeing the same thing in the church I was serving, but in reality, God was working.

          The church I served in was growing and we were in the middle of a building project.  That necessitated a need for money and so we were trying everything we could to grow the attendance. There were all kinds of programs that promised to “build the church” but they relied on the works of the flesh.  It wasn’t until I read the last chapter of Harvest which gave the philosophy of ministry of Calvary Chapel, that I understood that the Lord builds His church.  We must be devoted to Him. Their ministry was based on Acts 2:42&47b, “And they (the church) continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayer….And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

          This was the only thing that made sense to me and it drove me back to the study of the Bible. I began teaching the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse.  Two years later I was called as the pastor of a church plant.  I was all excited about what God was going to do.  Boy, did I have a lot to learn.  

          For the next ten years God used various people and many events to train me in the ministry.   People would challenge my teaching and beliefs.  I had problems with understanding how churches could have conflicting doctrines and yet be so adamant about them.  With each challenge or question I was driven to prayer and study of the Bible.  Over the years the answers came but more importantly, because of the struggles, I “owned” the answers, rather than just knew them in my head. I’m still learning. I read through the Bible and have done so every year since 1994.  God keeps revealing new things to me on a daily basis. 

          The purpose of this website is to encourage you to read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I have posted a Bible reading plan and I plan to share some comments and observations from my devotion notes in order to help understand the Word of God and His plan for you and me. There will also be a section of the website devoted to Creekside Christian Fellowship.  Creekside is a home fellowship that we started in 1999.  There we will have a media page with my latest teachings and some information about the church.  

          The goal of this website is that we might be strengthened in the Lord and in His Word.  Jesus told Peter to “Shepherd His Sheep”. This means to establish the people in the Word.  I have taken this as my marching orders and call, and like Peter who wrote, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things….” 2 Peter 1:12a NKJ I want to make every effort to do the same.

May God richly bless you as you study His Word!