OUR HISTORY
Bishop Russell and his family were called to the St. Paul Church Family in November 2000. During this time, Bishop Russell was only 23 years old. He was young in age, but his wisdom far surpassed his earthly age. Immediately, Bishop Russell began initiating new ministries that would help bridge the gap between the younger and more seasoned congregants. He started such ministries as the Praise Dancers, where he actually danced with the dancers prior to him preaching. He also created the Women and Men’s Ministry which meet monthly to meet the needs of the men and women in the congregation. This created a sensation for the youth to continue to be faithful in this ministry. He also saw a need for the hungry in the community and began the Food Bank Ministry. This ministry serves as an Emergency Pantry. Food is provided for those in the congregation and community, who have a physical need for food. The Food Pantry receives referrals from Social Services, local churches and other charitable organizations. He later identified and began to promote the Kingdom Assignment of St. Paul which is a five-fold assignment: St. Paul H.E.A.L.S. Healing Economic Empowerment Authentic Worship Lifestyle Transitioning and Serving the Community. During his time as pastor, the church has developed a strong, local partnership with Suffolk Public Schools. Upon the inception of this partnership, eleven members of the congregation began to mentor students at Kilby Shores Elementary School. The volunteers dedicated one hour per week to the students for the majority of the school year. There was such a great need that Bishop Russell started the Y.E.S. Club at Kilby Shores Elementary School. The Y.E.S. Club at Kilby Shores Elementary is a club of young boys ages 11-13, who meet with Bishop Russell once per month. Bishop Russell teaches them different subjects, ie. Table Etiquette, Anger Management, Vision Planning, etc. During the 2010-2011 school year, Bishop Russell coordinated a culminating end of the year dinner with the boys and their parents at Ruth’s Chris in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The St. Paul Church Family provided transportation for the parents and students as well as picked up the tab. During the Christmas season of 2010 and 2011, St. Paul adopted 10-15 families each year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The membership came together and gave clothing items, toys and other necessities to EACH child in the home. The principal and church loaded the church bus and delivered the items to each house. The children received an abundance of items. They even shopped for siblings who were not students at Kilby Shores. St. Paul has also fed the staff on Valentine’s Day at Kilby Shores and provided valentines for the entire school. On Field Day, St. Paul Volunteers and Bishop Russell will cook the hot dogs and hamburgers for the entire school and give the Kitchen a small break. The programming at Kilby Shores was such a success that St. Paul was recognized as the Partner of the Year for Suffolk Public Schools for 2010-2011. It was such an honor for the church family. The Y.E.S. has now been implemented at Nansemond Parkway Elementary School. At Nansemond Parkway, there is a girl and boy component. The children meet once a month with the girls in one location and the boys in another location, respectively. This current school year, St. Paul has fed the staff at both school locations. Also, they will be cooking for Field Day at both schools as well. Also, for the past three years, St. Paul has had an Annual Community Day. The church has donated a total of over 600 backpacks filled with school supplies to the neighborhood and area Suffolk city children over the past three years. The Annual Community is a collaboration of donations from the church members and areas businesses.
Currently, St. Paul is leading the Fight Against Diabetes with a collaborative effort with the American Diabetes Association and the Virginia Faith Based Organization Initiative, where Pastor Jaimi is a member of the Executive Board. The church will be overseeing a six-month grant to help empower the African American Community through the communication lines of the faith based community. Last year, the church implemented the Fine, Fit and Fabulous Health Challenge. This was a challenge among several churches to exercise and lose weight in a 12 week period. St. Paul had the largest participation and lost the most amount of weight. The church will begin that effort again in the next few days.
St. Paul has a passion for the Youth and five years ago, Bishop Russell and Pastor Jaimi began the C.H.A.M.P.S. Summer Camp. This summer camp is for children ages 3 to 12 years old. This summer camp provides child care for children from 7:30am until 5:30pm. The camp provides 2-3 field trips per week and provides biblical instruction. This year will be the sixth year that the Summer Camp has been held. In the past years, the church as collaborated with Opportunity, Inc. to provide summer employment for young adults for the summer as well as employment for the youth of the church. In 2011, Bishop Russell and Pastor Jaimi developed the O2 Summer camp in conjunction with C.H.A.M.P.S. This camp was held simultaneously with C.H.A.M.P.S. This camp was for children ages 12-18 years old. Both camps completed extensive training on The twenty teenagers provided community service for six hours one day per week. On the second day, they attended a career workshop onsite in the city at a local business (Suffolk Cultural Arts Center, Wells Fargo Bank and others) and on the third day, they attended a college campus tour. This was such a great success, that it will done again this year. The church has applied for a grant with the Department of Justice in order to help expand the programming for these Summer Camps.
