First Light

After 34 years of pastoral ministry, Russ retired as the senior pastor at Fayette Baptist Church in Fayette, Maine in January 2022. He was called to Fayette in 1988 during his junior year at New England Bible College and soon after received his BS degree (with a major in Bible). He is also the founder of First Light, a daily radio ministry aired on WBCI 105.9 FM, which has broadcast his sermons since 1996 and has become the longest running Maine based program since WBCI began reaching throughout central Maine and New England. Russ’s heartfelt passion is to communicate biblical truth in a relevant way in order to effect spiritual change through his pulpit and teaching ministry, podcasts, First Light radio messages as well as speaking engagements at churches and events, retreats, and various conferences. Russ and his wife Denise have four adult children: Joshua, Aaron, Sarah, and Matthew, and seven grandchildren: Emily, Abel, Connor, Ian, Lilah, Nora, and Levi.

Russ also serves as the Director of Pastoral Resources for The Rephidim Project a Maine based ministry dedicated to mobilizing, equipping and encouraging pastors worldwide with a blueprint for expositional preaching that produces Christlike believers by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.