As a child, Russell showed promise as a footballer and completed trials for the Scottish schoolboys' side and at Queen's Park.
Having attended the World Conference of Christian Youth both in 1939 and after the war, learning the realities of Auschwitz had a tremendous effect on him throughout his career.
[2] Russell's first charge was as pastor at the Castlegate Church, Berwick, and between 1945 and 1951 he was minister in Acton, London, where in his final year there he conducted the funeral of the Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, preaching to a congregation including the cabinet of the Attlee government.
[2] Russell was appointed General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1967, a position he was to hold until his retirement in 1982.
In 1967 Russell was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Glasgow and in 1982 was invested Commander of the Order of the British Empire.