By any measure, Pastor Russel Richardson touched a great many lives in his 103 years.
The founder of Yorkton’s Free Pentecostal Church, who died September 13, was laid to rest in the Stoughton Town Cemetery September 19 following a service at the Family Worship Centre on Broadway Street in Yorkton.
For 80 years, Richardson preached the Gospel, evangelizing in tents across the prairies, in churches around Canada, the United States and Europe, and on the radio, most recently Sunday mornings on GX94.
Richardson first felt the call to minister in 1935 the day before his 24th birthday. In 1950 he found a partner in ministry in Edna Laube. They married and traveled the world, establishing eight churches, a training centre for young would-be ministers and the radio ministry, which ran on 25 different radio stations for 45 years.
Karle Kienle was a member of the very first group of recruits in the training centre. At the funeral, Kienle fondly reminisced about his mentors’ trust and generosity illustrating with a story about all the opportunities the Richardsons bestowed upon him.
“If it wasn’t for Brother and Sister Richardson, I never would have been able to minister in Europe,” he said. “They trusted us students. Brother and Sister Richardson, for two years they went to Europe and they left the bible school in our charge. And the radio ministry, and all the churches, they left them in our charge. Can you believe that? Us young upstarts, greenhorns, but it was a wonderful experience and God helped us young people and by the grace of God, we did it.”
