E18 Steve Russell - Willing to Serve in Every Calling

Greg Scott: Hello and welcome to 315 Voices. I'm your host, Greg Scott. You know, first Peter three fifteen reminds us to always be prepared to give an account when someone asks for the reason for the hope that's in us. And today's guest is Steve Russell. Man, any part of Steve's life would be worth an episode all its own, from being an ordained minister at fifteen years old, or his time serving as a representative in Washington, DC as a member of U.S. Congress. Or his military leadership career that includes smoking out Saddam Hussein himself. All worthy of a long listen. And today Steve leads JAARS an organization dedicated to getting the Word of God to the farthest corners of the earth. I can't wait for you to hear all of that and a little bit more, and I'm glad you've joined the podcast today to hear the heart of a true servant leader. I know you're gonna enjoy our time with Steve Russell. Well Steve, so happy that you agreed and we're certainly thankful to have you on the podcast today. Welcome.

Steve Russell: thank you. It's great to be with you.

Greg Scott: our guests really love to fold in that 315, 1 Peter 3.15 that says, always be prepared to give an account for the reason for the hope that's in you, and you connected as a believer and followed that Holy Spirit's urge in your life as a teenager. Do you want to talk about that? How did what led up to that in your life?

Steve Russell: Sure. I I wasn't raised in a Christian home. I mean, my parents were not anti God or anything. He just really wasn't a a part of their lives. The first time that I really went to church under my own, you know, curiosity, but my grandmother, my dad's mom, she never learned to drive, but she was a woman of deep faith. She knew her Bible. And she felt like I needed to go to church. So when I was twelve, she arranged for a neighbor to take me for the first time. And I heard the gospel, and it didn't make me a Christian, but it it it hit. And I began to get curious about spiritual things. I began to attend that church and then different churches and kind of exploring, I thought, well, they all claim to have some special hold on the truth and they all can't be right. And in my twelve year old logic, there it was. But God wasn't done with me. when I was thirteen, I I loved playing in the woods and you know imagine that I was playing soldier, you know, with friends out out in the

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: woods. And I used poison ivy as a part of my personal camouflage, and that had consequences. And so I was laid up several days from out of school, bored, laying there itchy, miserable, and I grabbed the one thing to read that was near me, and it was the one Bible in our home, a wedding

Greg Scott: Well

Steve Russell: gift to my Parents and I unzipped it, blew the dust off of it, and began to read in the Gospel of Matthew. And by the time I got to the Sermon on the Mount, it it really hit me. I was very moved by what Christ was saying and how we should live. And and that didn't make me a Christian, but I thought, Lord, there's gotta be a way a person can can do that. And And so when I got better, I went back to my junior high and grabbed a Gideon's New Testament out of the hallway. And that was transformative. I understood by reading the scriptures that I was a sinner. I had no redemption of my own, I had no capacity to earn my salvation, that that was not possible, but that Christ had paid that price if I would believe that and ask him into my life as my Lord and my savior. And I did that. And that and that I never looked back. That that was a true conversion experience from reading the scriptures. Little a little unusual, I suppose. everybody has a a different story. And I I was still wary of churches, but by the time I was fourteen or so, I had a couple of girls, they were trying to get me to go to a go to church and, Went, was just very moved by the preaching. And fortunately there were some men there that they they took a liking to me, a young teenage kid, and they began to mentor me and and I grew in my faith. I felt a call to ministry by the time I was fifteen,

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: not knowing what that meant, but I just felt that okay, I I want my life to count for Christ. I I want to serve him in that capacity. our church took a a chance on me. They licensed me to preach at fifteen. And then by the time I was a senior, I I wanted to go to college. My parents really didn't have that kind of money to help. I had good academic grades and all of that. And I was able to earn a four-year Army scholarship. I I was always fascinated with the military. My dad served, my brother, you know, all the way back to the revolution we had had family members service, just what men did in our family. And so I I always knew that I wanted to serve in the military. And I thought, okay, I'll I'll I'll go to Ouachita Baptist University. And because people from my church were going there, and I thought I'll I'll go on this scholarship and I'll become a chaplain. only to learn that four-year army scholarships didn't allow you to you know pick theology as a major. they recruited chaplains out

Greg Scott: Okay.

Steve Russell: of seminary. And I was like, okay. So I thought, well, if I if I can't. If I can't be a chaplain, I'm gonna do something that I enjoy. And so I I wanted to be an infantryman because that was leading, that was leading other men. And the military was my ministry, even though I was an infantryman, and you gotta be a good infantryman. Y you wanna be a good soldier first, and then your witness will speak louder. And I got involved with Officer Christian Fellowship and with Cadence International, hospitality houses overseas, you know, where I I would help and crew which was Campus Crusade then, navigators, just

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: a lot of the associated ministries where you had believers in the body of Christ and you had parachurch type folks that were wanting to minister to soldiers and just got tied in with a lot of that. But I mean that was extracurricular. You you gotta be a good infantryman. And I did airborne light mech, served in the Arctic to the desert, served overseas, did a lot of different things. You know, did the whole run of schools, airborne ranger, Arctic warfare, both summer and winter, mortars, you name it. If it was a school, I wanted to go and I wanted to hang those tools on my belt. And God used that. I was a successful soldier. I ended up commanding an infantry task force in battle of a thousand soldiers, I married my college sweetheart. We met, started dating week after spring break, my senior year. I wasn't looking for any kind of serious relationship, but God had other plans and we were married by December. And now we've been married going on forty-one years. Hallelujah. We ha five kids, two naturally born, three that we adopted that were orphan siblings from Hungary, gypsy background. you know, God has really woven a lot of different things in in my life in that time in the military. From nineteen ninety-nine to two thousand and four, I I was gone three of those five years. To three different wars. And the initial entry forces that went into Kosovo, which is now considered a combat deployment, and it should have been. We lost soldiers in our task force. Afghanistan. I I deployed on Operation Enduring Freedom in December of 2001. I mean, it was very early on.

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: In that five years we moved four times, adopted three kids, and I fought in three wars. And I I I look back on that and reflect. If the Lord had showed that to us early, I'd been like, I'm out, you know, I'm tapping out here. But he doesn't. He gives us sufficient strength for the day. And he gives us what is required, even though it's really hard. In Iraq it was pivotal. the events in Iraq totally altered the course of my life. W we occupied the city of Tikrit, and that was Saddam's hometown. That allowed us to get involved in a series of events we never thought we would would have been involved with. And we learned early on that Saddam had a security apparatus that they were protecting him. It involved half a dozen family network from his hometown connections. And from that, working with Special Operations Forces and regular forces, we literally in a six-month time period from from May to December in 2003 were were working to track down Saddam, among other things, you know, tame the city of Tikrit and fight insurgents and all of that. But so much of it was related to Saddam trying to protect his security apparatus And make a comeback after we would leave. I was on the raid that got Saddam in on December 13th, 2003. I I wasn't at the hole. I didn't pull him out of the hole, but I was definitely a part of it from start to finish. And I'm very proud of our soldiers and the things that they achieved.

Greg Scott: wanna unpack a couple of things I think that our our listeners might have heard and went, that is different. And the first one is you talked about your experience where the Holy Spirit drew you to himself and it and you said, Well it was probably not typical. I would say a twelve year old and a thirteen year old unpacking scripture with with very little guidance is is atypical. But I think the point to make there, Steve, talk about When you hear people say, you know, I don't really I don't understand the Bible. I just can't grasp it. It's just over my head how would you use your experience and how God and the Holy Spirit reached out to you to answer that kind of person's question that says, The Bible just doesn't resonate with me because I'm not

Steve Russell: Yeah. Yeah.

Greg Scott: trained or I'm not I'm not that kind of person?

Steve Russell: I think it's a cop out. And here's why I say that. Romans one tells us that the very nature of God, his aspects, his attributes are visible to us through the things that He has made that are all around us, and that His moral law is written in our hearts so that we are without excuse. Now I

Greg Scott: Amen.

Steve Russell: I can't be drawn to him without him drawing me. I mean, I I have no intelligence or logic of my own. You know, as First Corinthians tells us, there there's no cleverness of mind or there's no aspect that you know, I work it out and okay, you know, I was the smarter one and I got this. You know, that's a bucket of nonsense. All I knew is that I had a belief in God because of the things that I looked at around me. And I'm like, you would have to be an absolute idiot to think that all of this just randomly happened. There's too much design. around it. There there's just too much order around it. The very nature of God and his attributes is it's all around us. So if we're seeking

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: then, okay, if if there is a creator and he made me and he desires a relationship with me, what does that mean? As believers, we know the answers to the three most important questions that every human being asks. Why was I born? What is the purpose of my life? And where will I go when I die? I mean, that's it. If if you had three main questions to ask as human beings, it's really those. And yet, as believers, we know the answer to all three of those. And so if we are wanting to know the answers to that, And are seeking the creator who made us, yeah, that that's where he meets us. And that was the journey that I was on as a 12 year old. I was like, okay, you know, I I'm curious. I want to know more about God. And then it was, wow, these are some powerful words of Christ. I I want I want to learn more about what he has to say to me. Well, okay. I speak to God through prayer, He speaks to me through His Word. That's how it works.

Greg Scott: I love how the parallel to that is exactly what Jesus taught his disciples. You do have to come to me with a childlike mentality. And and and you literally did that. There was no evangelizing in your life other than you had attended some churches, God spark something in your heart. And with that childlike mentality of, all right, show me what it means. I love that answer. But I I do think we hear that a lot, don't we, where we I just don't understand the Bible. It's

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: it's difficult to understand. Well listen, there's a there's a version out there that will make sense to you now. you have zero excuse in

Steve Russell: That's right.

Greg Scott: twenty twenty six for doing research for understanding what a commentary is talking to you about if you want to go that in depth or just to read the scripture in a language and in a in a tone that you understand because they're all out there.

Steve Russell: Absolutely. You know, Christ Himself said, Seek, you will find. Knock, it'll be open. Ask, it'll be given. But there is an agency that we have also, we have to seek. We have to knock. We have to ask. He already knows it says in Matthew six what we will ask or what our need is before we ask. But we're still told to be persistent and to ask. The things that come easy really aren't all that important when you when you think about it. The

Greg Scott: Mm. Not worth it. Yeah.

Steve Russell: achievements aren't, well, you know, it's like, hey, how did you become a medical doctor? Well, you know, they were handing out diplomas, and so I just picked one up and, you know, I I'm gonna here I am. Okay, if that were the case, it we it would mean nothing. But the fact that it it would take all of that training and that skill and that study and that expense, you know, it's an achievement. Well, that's anything. That's anything in life. If if it's worth having, it's worth pursuing. So it goes back to relationship. Is God worth pursuing? What would my life look like if I did that?

Greg Scott: such

Steve Russell: us.

Greg Scott: a good take on that. I love that. That if if someone that says to you, I can't I would love to, but I just can't, well, how much do you really want it? If you really want something, then you'll figure out a way.

Steve Russell: Especially in today's Day and age. And even with Jars, you know, we try to get out to the very most remote people. But most people don't have that problem. We have scripture in our own language. We we live in an environment where we can hear the truth. We can ask people that have a relationship with God where we can learn.

Greg Scott: Once you wrap your head around exactly what you're saying, who God is and what he was willing to do, then how could you not? I love the way you put that. How

Steve Russell: Yeah. How could you do that? Yeah.

Greg Scott: could you not? you talked about you and your wife being an adoptive family. My wife and I also are an adoptive family.

Steve Russell: It's awesome.

Greg Scott: So talk about w how God led you to that decision

Steve Russell: our two biological children are actually our bookends, there's six and a half years between them and the set of siblings we adopted fit in between that, which was interesting. we wanted more children. Cindy had had my wife, she she had had some childhood arthritis that she eventually grew out of, but the doctors said there was a risk that that could return. And so we started looking at alternatives, perhaps. And then that kind of got us examining adoption. I mean, you know, being an adopted parent, it's not for the faint of heart. yet I look at the picture of adoption, and it's a picture of God with us,

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: that we should be called the sons of God, you know, like it tells us in in 1 John 3, you know, that I mean, that's that's just amazing. And yet God takes us with our flaws and he shows us mercy and he shows us grace. but I look at our children who are all adults now, and I'm dating myself here. My oldest is thirty-seven, and my youngest turns thirty-one this month. man, how how did they get so old? And I think as I reflect on on the lives of our adopted children, you know, and they would reinforce that, and they're appreciative. I mean, their lives were totally different.

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: From being a gypsy with a lot of prejudice in an orphanage, you know, dad died in prison, mother died of tuberculosis, you know, what would their lives have been like not becoming Americans and being in a Christian home? Well we'll never know because God spared them of that. We'll

Greg Scott: Yep.

Steve Russell: never know.

Greg Scott: You mentioned being retrospective often, and you could tell that you are. Your career in the military, you've already kind of alluded to, you weren't just a you know, in and out soldier. you were a leader of men, large groups of men on important missions. high profile missions and assignments. How do you now look back and see God and how He was preparing you for maybe even what your role is now or something

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: along the way in your experiences there?

Steve Russell: Well, it's just a crazy journey. You know, Ephesians three twenty, you know, tells us that you know, that God can do beyond even all we can ask or think. and I can ask and think of a lot of things. Yeah, but God God can blow it up all out of proportion. When I got back from my third combat tour, I I was tired. And it it literally took me a couple of years to feel rested after my deployment to Iraq. And I had a lot of ticket left on the train. It was time to to come home and watch my kids grow. And so I turned down promotion and I had a Queen's University fellowship to Kingston, Canada for the War College, one of five foreign fellowships handed out that year to Amfram. You know, I mean, it was a great honor. Yeah, I I wasn't done. I I had I had a lot more places I could have gone, but it w it wasn't really about that. I left with the respect of my peers, the thanks of my nation, and no regrets. I I walked out at a good spot.

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: And people said, Well, what are you gonna do? And I said, Well, I'm gonna speak and write. And they were like, you know, you got five kids to feed, how are you gonna do that? I said, No, I think I could do it. The army was sending me to places anyway to talk about the Saddam capture or how to unravel

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: insurgency networks, leadership, different things. And then I got an agent, Premier Speaker's Bureau. They picked me up in in 2007, shortly after I retired, and they they started booking me all over the country. It was extraordinary. And then I got involved in politics really because we were s trying to hold rallies to support the troops during the surge. And ended up going to Washington. my little organization, Vets for Victory, morphed with Vets for Freedom, and we combined. And then we took 500 vets to the Hill in 2008, and we did national tours, kind of like the old warbond tours, you know, taking our war stories on the road, like giving the stuff. And Marcus Latrell, from Lone Survivor, David Bellavia, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Jeremiah Workman, Navy Cross, Marine, Sean Parnell, author outlaw, to myself. we we started in San Diego. We went all the way to the Statue of Liberty, across the country, just kind of telling our war stories. And when we went to Washington, we were invited by John McCain and others to to give speeches, and and we went to each of the the five hundred vets, we just went to all of our congressional delegations, say, Hey, you know, get behind the surge, get behind this. And that was my first real introduction to politics. And we

Greg Scott: Mm-hmm.

Steve Russell: held rallies. I held one in Oklahoma and then before I knew it, I was being approached by the Republican state party chair and and said, Hey, have you ever considered running for office? I'm like, you know, you think about it when you're a soldier, 'cause you never know where politicians are gonna send you, so you keep up with it. But I'm like, I'm not interested. And then they they explained it to me and what it could be and all of that. And I thought, well maybe I can run and and become a state senator and and change the tax laws for s service members so that they're not taxed anymore, like Texas does. I ran in two thousand eight, five way race, complete unknown. I mean, they knew my military history and I was certainly welcomed home, you know, as as a hometown you know, reception and all of that. It was wonderful. But I I foolishly found myself elected to the Oklahoma State Senate and it was like, okay. yeah, and

Greg Scott: Now what do I do?

Steve Russell: and you know, s but I i I loved the work, hated the nonsense and the fundraising,

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Steve Russell: all of that. I kind of got disillusioned with it after a couple of years because I thought, really? I mean, the nation you know, has me lead a thousand soldiers and do hard things and and accomplish tough tasks, and you guys won't let me sit on this committee. and have input on solvable problems, really. And I made a lot of mistakes in in my first couple of years in the state senate, because I thought, fine, you're not going to invite me to the discussion. I know how to be an insurgent. You know, I'm gonna get stuff done. And I did, but I paid the price. and so after four years of it, I'm like, I'm I'm I'm not interested in this. Started my rifle company, Two Rivers Arms. I was mad I couldn't bring home souvenirs from my wars and so we just started making and and it it took

Greg Scott: Well.

Steve Russell: off. I learned a lot about business and manufacturing and how to run a business and pay make payroll, all of that. Our products were used in Clint Eastwood's movie, American Sniper, all the Iraqi firearms in the movie, which was pretty cool. And but then I thought, okay, and this was 2014, I thought, Lord, is this what I'm supposed to do? Make rifles the rest of my life. And I was teaching Sunday school and preaching on occasion at my home church and all of that, but I just felt kind of untethered at that point. And then Senator Tom Coburn, he abruptly left the Senate for health reasons, leaving a four month primary window in the election year that year. And I called my buddy James Langford, who I knew he was a sitting member of Congress. I said, Are you gonna run for the Senate seat? And he said, You'll know in forty eight hours. Well, there there was the answer. And I thought, Okay, maybe I could run for the congressional seat that he would vacate and You know, I I thought, four months, scratch the itch, we're gonna know one way or the other. Either God'll be in it or he's not. But it's four months, we'll know. And And I only had a hundred and sixty thousand dollars I was able to scrape up, but we won the primary, which was just nuts. And then I won the runoff against the governor's favorite and foolishly found myself elected to Congress. And so in twenty

Greg Scott: So you're disillusioned with what was going on in Oklahoma City and you thought, I'll go to D C. That will improve my perspective.

Steve Russell: Well, actually I felt more comfortable about it because i in the military and and I had a master's in history and I had an undergraduate degree, don't laugh, in public speaking, because I couldn't do theology. I thought they'd give me a degree for talking, sign me up. But all of those things got hung on my belt I'd already been around the globe. I'd been to different places and and so I felt much more at home with national issues. And I was on the Armed Services Committee. I was the Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee under Trey Gowdy at the time. and I loved the work. It was extraordinary. And I traveled all over the world on national security issues and and did a lot. Got a lot done. six bills signed by two different presidents, and God used that time, and one of the ways he used that time was he crossed my paths into aviation. FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City. Hello. So there were 6,500 workers there that were also voters. it was pretty important. And then Ralph Abraham, who was Louisiana's fifth district congressman, we were talking about aviation one day, waiting on a vote. I said I always wanted to learn how to fly, but that plane's kind of taking off at this stage of my life. And he said, I can teach you how to fly. And and he could. He had thousands of hours fixed in rotor. And he said, Here's what we're gonna do. He said, You come down to Monroe, Louisiana, and he said, You can stay with me on a farm. He said, No, I'll give you some lessons. He said, But I'll get an instructor in a plane, but get five or six days, six because of weather. And he Well, start you on a Monday and see how far you get towards solo by the end of the week. And and so I did. I I went down, started on a Monday, and I soloed the Friday morning of the same week, tongue hanging out of my mouth. It was exhilarating. And that put me halfway there toward my private pilot license. And and so it started me on the journey. I wasn't able to finish while I was in Congress, but after I left Congress, my wife really encouraged me to finish, and I did. and and I got my private pilot license in twenty nineteen. And I just, and that was the year I left Congress. So I just prayed. I said, God, where are you working in aviation where I can participate? No idea what I was praying. None. And I knew the cockpit shortages and the challenges in aviation. I thought they gotta be worse in mission aviation, and boy were they. So I formed a little nonprofit called the Redeemed Flying Corps. Where we could defray the cost, find teenagers like me when I was young that felt a calling, and in this case calling emissions, and maybe they could do that in aviation. And we started training teenage pilots. And within a year, two 17-year-olds had their private pilot license, and we had a couple of airplanes donated to us, tens of thousands of dollars coming for flight hours. It was really cool to watch God blow it up. And then that put us on the path with JAARS Jungle Aviation and Relay Service. In February of 2022, they had asked us to come out and help them in the hangars. Like, what do you want us to do? And they said, scrape paint. Like, yeah, we're qualified to scrape paint. So half a dozen of us, pilots and a couple of mechanics, we we came out and and helped them in the hangars. I got an email three weeks after that, some guy purporting to be on the presidential search committee head and and he said my name had been put in as a possible candidate to lead the whole worldwide organization. And I thought this is absolutely nuts. And

Greg Scott: That must have been some impressive paint scraping to get that kind of email.

Steve Russell: well, you know, if this presidential gig doesn't work out, I got a skill to fall back on for sure. And you know, four months after that paint scraping trip, a unanimous board decision, 13-member board, they they asked me to lead the whole thing. And I'm like, this is nuts. But again, it goes back to Ephesians 3:20,

Greg Scott: Mm-hmm.

Steve Russell: beyond all we can ask or think. And our greatest ability is our availability.

Greg Scott: Amen.

Steve Russell: Are we available? He I would have had no resumes out. I wouldn't even have thought I would have qualified to do such work that I'm doing now. But God doesn't care about that. He's like, are you willing to walk into the works that I have prepared for you? And if you are, I'll give you every resource, I'll give you every relationship, I'll give you every skill that you need to do my kingdom work. Man, that's powerful.

Greg Scott: my pastor uses this phrase. I've given him credit more than once on this podcast in earlier episodes. I'm gonna have to start getting some royalty if he gets anything out of it. But his phrase is Is your yes on the table? Because if it's already out there and on the table, God will pick it up and put it into service. And you sound like your yes is on I mean, that's bananas. Five days of some flying around and southeastern Louisiana and you solo fly. That's the people people that aren't familiar and and I'm not in depth familiar, but I know that that's that's bananas to do it in that short of amount of time in solo. What fifteen hours is pretty typical now as a quick turnaround to your solo. Usually more like twenty to twenty to thirty hours before you're allowed to do that.

Steve Russell: Right. I did twenty. they got me to my twenty. and but I did it in in four and a half days, which was just nuts. And it

Greg Scott: A lot of air time.

Steve Russell: it was, but that immersion was really the only way as a sitting member of Congress that I could do it. And I loved the challenge. I'd be like, Yeah, you know, give me give me a challenge. You know, I'm just kinda wired that way. but to see how God has used it. Now, you know, Jars doesn't need my flying skills. They have real pilots. I have jungle stories, but they're not jungle missionary stories. but w what they needed was my leadership skills, my team building, my ability to solve complex problems, my international and global experience, my geopolitical background, all of those things that as I look back on my life, that God was equipping me for this chapter of my life. I guess if my life could be any illustration, i it oughta be an illustration to others that look if he can use me, he can use anybody. And and he he can do crazy things with our lives. He absolutely can.

Greg Scott: We talk often that your salvation experience is not the pinnacle of your faith story. It's the genesis of it because God then wants to put you to work and continue to put you to work and serve. There's no retirement in the faith. And the way that your story narrowed, as now people are hearing it even today on this podcast, in a very abridged version all matter to what JARS is doing. So I certainly want to talk about Jars for a moment, Jungle Aviation

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: and Rescue Service, where tell us the genesis of that of that organization and how it came to pass and then what you're doing now to reach unreached, not just people groups, but remote people groups absolutely

Steve Russell: Hard to reach. Yeah. Yeah.

Greg Scott: for the gospel and with the gospel.

Steve Russell: That's right. our founder, Cam Townsend, he during World War One, he he was in a a guard unit, but then i it later turned out that he in college they were gonna go go down and and sell Bibles as a way to preach the gospel in Guatemala. And he stumbled upon a guy, Ketchkill Indian, and he said, Why should I believe your God when he can't even speak my language? And it really cut

Greg Scott: Mm.

Steve Russell: And so he began to live with the Ketchkill, and then he translated the Gospel of Mark, and then before you knew it, he got the four gospels done, and then he got all excited about how you could do these linguistic things to bring God's word and in to remote languages that nobody even knew. And he started the modern Bible translation movement. He had a vision in the late nineteen twenties to To reach the remote parts of of the jungles with airplanes. But then the Great Depression hit and it was just not able to be realized. He was the founder of SIL Global, which now holds the ethnologue of all known languages in the world for the United Nations. he founded the public face of that organization of translators to support them, called Wycliffe Bible Translators. he also founded Jungle Aviation and Relay Service, our organization in 1948. after World War Two it was possible to to do it. And then our organization started with our first pilot was a a women's army service pilot, Betty Green. And and then you had these other World War Two veterans and mechanics, and they're just they'd seen the world and they and those that were believers are like, We can use these tools to go out and find them and reach And they did. It was extraordinary. We're a seventy-eight-year-old mission aviation support organization. We do air, land, and sea operations. What do we do? We reduce barriers, ease burdens, and deliver God's word. And we do it in the most remote parts of the planet. we literally can get people to that very last mile of missions that there's no other way to get there. And you can be a missionary with your technical skill, not a linguist or whatever. you can do it flying a plane, or you can do it as a mechanic, or you can do it with some technical ability. God wants to use the gifts that He's wired us with to go do that. it's a phenomenal organization. We serve in every rainforest on the planet. we serve on four continents, including North America, our training base. but we're in the Amazonian rainforest of South America, we're in the Congolese rainforest at Also spans in other rainforests out to East Africa, and then we're in Melanesia, in Papua Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. We have helicopters, we have fixed wing aircraft, float planes, even in that mix. we've got land vehicles, we even have a ship. the mighty Quadima two, which putters around the Solomon Islands, Solomon Sea, between New Guinea and and Solomon Islands. And and to think that that w I can use my wiring as a soldier to do kingdom work, and then I can use my calling as a minister. To do kingdom work and that God would combine that and go do it.

Greg Scott: Amen.

Steve Russell: i so if if people have a heart to serve, and and maybe people aren't wired that way, and they're wondering, well, you know, wow, you know, I never heard of you guys. they can find us at JAARS.org Jaars.org But we can't do it. I mean, maybe Bubba, Bubba in Chitland Switch, Oklahoma, he's there, you're like,

Greg Scott: Yeah,

Steve Russell: Can't go to the nations. I drive a truck. Fine. We can't go to the nations without Bubba. we because aviation is expensive. We don't produce a product. we you know, we are a non-profit. but the body of Christ, though, can do all of that. a donor partners with us, he or she goes to the nations with us. We get to go because of their generosity and partnership. It's extraordinary how it works. People often ask, like, man, aviation is expensive. How do you guys make it all work? And like, I don't have a clue. But God moves through the hearts of his people to accomplish his work. And and we have what we need today to go do it.

Greg Scott: what do you see as maybe modern day 2026? What are the biggest challenges? Obviously, we're all picturing as we're hearing that you're going into the Congolese jungle, that you're going into the South Asian jungle. We we picture some challenges, right? But what do you see

Steve Russell: Right.

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Steve Russell: Well, I mean, the practical ones that every everybody listening to your podcast would immediately identify with twenty-five percent increase in fuel prices. Okay, add that to aviation consumption. you know, that's huge volumes and that's big increase. inflation that's four percent month on month since February. Okay, that's real. prices of things have gone up, and yet A lot of the people that would support us, they've had to cut back, you know, just for practical reasons because of the expense of what they're doing. So you

Greg Scott: Mm-hmm.

Steve Russell: have those challenges. And then you got the geopolitical, you know, you you have in the political world, okay, we're gonna slap a tariff on you. yeah, you know, you're gonna poke us on you, I'm gonna poke you back. Well, we get caught in that, where maybe We were ready to deploy an airplane and and by all of the agreements prior to that, there was no importation tax on airplanes and we're able to move them around because it benefits everybody. And now suddenly like, yeah, you can bring your airplane in, it's gonna cost you a million dollars. Well, you know, we we can't afford that. So now a an important tool we can we're not able to get in. and then you've got the security issues where you've got separatists.

Greg Scott: Sure. Yeah. That's what I probably pictured first. That's what came

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: to my mind first is safety of your safety

Steve Russell: Absolutely.

Greg Scott: on a tightrope line with on missions.

Steve Russell: I give you an example. I mean in in Papua Indonesia right now, Papuin Separatist. You know, there was Nick Goslin, he he was flying a Pilates Porter with AMA. we hang her right next to him. Our guys knew him. He flies in, flies some Papuins in, and Papuin Separatists they kill him and they burn the plane. y there are always those dangers. But then I

Greg Scott: Yep.

Steve Russell: read the Apostle Paul, you know, where he he talks about a night in the sea, you know, shipwrecked four times, all of the trials, the beatings, left for dead. Like, wow. Okay. But God sustains us and he strengthens us through all of that. And if it's a calling, then we trust him that he has our best interests at heart and he knows what we're supposed to do. And then I'm thinking, okay, I didn't get to choose to be born in Dell City, Oklahoma when I was. Neither did the guy in Umban village in Papua, Indonesia, at you know, sixty five hundred feet in a mountain jungle that there's no roads to. He he didn't get to choose to be born there when he was. And unless somebody comes to him and learned the language and spent time and and gave him God's truth, okay, you know, now I'm there communicating with these guys as brothers in Christ. And that that's what drives us for the mission because that that is the compassion of Christ and every believer can identify with that

Greg Scott: I'm so thankful for work like Jars and because when you really grasp the gospel and you really dig into the gospel, you know w w everybody has to know. I had

Steve Russell: That's right.

Greg Scott: you know, and everybody could be my cul de sac or my child's t ball teams p but it also could be like you involved in a work to reach to everybody that there we can't

Steve Russell: That's it.

Greg Scott: even fathom of how to get to until

Steve Russell: That's it.

Greg Scott: we have a strategy in in and a place in mind. And then when you get there a strategy. I mean, I I really enjoy hearing you talk about listen, we're not just getting there and just, God do your work. We do pray that God does his work. But we have to have a strategy and a and a tested way and process to go through building up relational equity with a group of people so that the work

Steve Russell: Absolutely.

Greg Scott: will be successful and bear fruit. I love all of that.

Steve Russell: Absolutely. Absolutely. And look, you know, we're not the translators. We they don't want us translating, but you know, we don't want the translators operating our aircraft. Leave them alone. We we'll we'll get them there. We'll supply them, reducing those barriers, easing those burdens, delivering God's word. And it's extraordinary organization. I I've led a lot of things in my life and done some crazy things in it. But this this is the most important work that I've ever done. We run to the tape. We run the race, as Hebrews says, that has been marked out before us. And that's what I want to do. I want to run to the tape. I want to finish well. I'm in my sixties. you know, I stay fit. you know, I try to take care of myself, try to extend the warranty a little bit, you know. And I am in this body of death until he chooses, but I'm an eternal being. And however he shapes me or conforms me to the image of his son between now and when I get to praise him, and it'll be easy to do.

Greg Scott: Amen. Steve, all of our guests on Three One Five Voices go through a three one five challenge. And so it's your turn

Steve Russell: All right.

Greg Scott: to do that. So the three and three one five, give me the three top books that you say have influenced outside of the Bible that you say this

Steve Russell: Wow, that's tough.

Greg Scott: these are yeah, and there may you have you may have five, you may have thirty-five, but it's not the three one five challenge if you don't say three.

Steve Russell: Yeah, I'll give you three. Yeah. I'll give you three. Of course the scriptures, but I mean y I think you know, look, you're talking to a guy that has a master's in history in a four thousand volume library in his home. So, you know, for you to ask me three, that that's pretty tough.

Greg Scott: I love it.

Steve Russell: But I I would say one that was a heavy influence on me on leadership was Once an Eagle by Anton Meyrer, classic. Written in the 1960s, beautifully written. Others that influenced me on leadership. Give us this day by Sidney Stewart, a fellow Oklahoman. It was probably the most extraordinary thing I ever read about human suffering and endurance. He was captured by the Japanese, did the Bataan Death March, and endured unbelievable suffering thereafter. in being transported and going to different places. I mean, you

Greg Scott: Hmm.

Steve Russell: just have to read it. It's extraordinary. And as I read it, I thought, how could anybody come through that and be normal? And yet he did and had faith. And a wow. Powerful book called Give Us This Day by Sidney Stewart. The other one which is not as heavy but just as extraordinary was Alfred Lansing's Endurance about Ernest Shackleton. Wow. I mean, that that guy was incredible. Gets wintered over in Antarctica and his ship gets stuck, you know, and then they get wintered over a second winter. And he is able to preserve every single man on that expedition, even after their ship is crushed. And he leads them and walks them out of Antarctica. And then he gets them to Elephant Island, and then they go in a small little boat, a few of them, and he is able to. navigate with a sextant over open ocean to New South Wales to a whaling station and they all get

Greg Scott: That's crazy.

Steve Russell: and they all get rescued and you're like, how? I mean, how do you survive two winters in Antarctica?

Greg Scott: nervous in the two hundred yards off the beach when my kayak starts rocking.

Steve Russell: Yeah. But you read these incredible tales of endurance and and tenacity and leadership and you're

Greg Scott: Mm.

Steve Russell: like, Wow, that's just just that human inspiration is is truly amazing. Truly amazing. So those would be my three.

Greg Scott: Those are three new ones for me, so I'm I'm looking forward to looking into those. Thank you. I love that.

Steve Russell: Yeah, yeah, you're welcome.

Greg Scott: The one in the three one five challenge is always interesting. If if you whipped your phone out and text or called someone that would call you back or answer or text you back, who's the most famous person in your phone?

Steve Russell: Well, I I probably can't disclose them. I as a former member of Congress, I I got some some crazy people in my phone contact list.

Greg Scott: Bet you do.

Steve Russell: You know, from vice presidents to cab cabinet members to all all kinds of people. yeah. So there there's a lot in there. Pretty

Greg Scott: We haven't we have this is our first I I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you moment in our three one five challenge. So we'll just

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: we'll let everybody paint the picture and and use the time frame that you were in to try to try to

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: probably get pretty close to guessing on that one.

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: the five and the three one five challenges, if I only gave you five minutes to sit down and eat lunch with anyone in history, who would you choose?

Steve Russell: man. Gosh, that's that's tough. Okay, so I'm I I'm gonna cheat and and and answer it spiritual and secular. How about that?

Greg Scott: Yeah, let's do it.

Steve Russell: spiritual it'd be the apostle Paul. Gosh, you know, what what an extraordinary man. I mean, just to suck five minutes out of him, you know, with peppering with questions. On the secular side, again I'm gonna cheat. The one guy in the in the eighteen hundreds would be Abraham Lincoln, the most extraordinary American that ever lived. no one has faced more challenge and yet kept the Union together. It was unbelievable. Extraordinary leader, phenomenal man, man of faith.

Greg Scott: Yep. I've I've and I'm a I'm a former high school history teacher and a history major

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: as my undergraduate degree and later in probably my thirties read a lot of things on Lincoln on just being so resolute in where he stood. And

Steve Russell: Amazing.

Greg Scott: you think of that in the political realm and you've been at the highest end of the political realm and it's so difficult to do that and and continue to be able to

Steve Russell: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how he did it.

Greg Scott: lead.

Steve Russell: And what a what a a stellar human being. And and he had a deep faith.

Greg Scott: Yeah, he did.

Steve Russell: yeah. And then I guess the most consequential person in the twentieth century had to be Winston Churchill. history would have been totally different without him. and i it would have just been fascinating to to talk to him and figure out he had such an extraordinary life. And he had such extraordinary defeats, followed by extraordinary victories. I mean, he talk about a don't quit type of guy. he he he was one. He had an impact.

Greg Scott: We you you cheated your whole way through there. You didn't give me a name in the one and you gave me three names on the five. So you're you we'll just note that draw a circle around your interview, but no, it's

Steve Russell: Well, I I gave you one in one century and one in another century, so you know. Yeah.

Greg Scott: No, it's a great answer. Great answers. I loved it. listen, Steve, we've we've had a great time. I could I could talk

Steve Russell: I've enjoyed it.

Greg Scott: to you for a long time and just listen to some of your stories and banner back and forth on on how God uses individuals. That's really the focus of our podcast.

Steve Russell: Yeah.

Greg Scott: The three one five voices is your voice of what story has God given you? Has he shaped you? And then once you're being used by him, what have you done with it? And it's been remarkable to hear a lot of different voices on that. Yours is no less. How can people you've already mentioned JARS, by the way, you spelled it earlier, two A's, Jars dot org is where you can find the organization.

Steve Russell: Yeah. Yep.

Greg Scott: where else can people find you? Maybe your book, online somewhere if they'd like to look more into Steve Russell.

Steve Russell: Yeah. So my book my book is called We Got Him. It's published by Simon Schuster. You can find it almost anywhere. and if they don't have it in the bookstores, you can order it. for the infantry types like myself, you know, that would like to listen, I have it on audiobook. You can get it on you know, all the main audio venues there, Spotify, Audible, whatever. And I narrate it, so it's very personal. I think you know, I'm I'm not big on social media and and Instagram and TikTok and all of that. having had such a public life when I was in politics, you know, I I probably retreated from that more than what a good marketer would tell you, you know. But to me it's never been about emoluments. making money. It's really been about stories and inspiring others. So those are some ways that that you can find me. And then if you're ever in North Carolina, Waxaw's twenty miles south of Charlotte, and you know, c come drop in, you know, have a cup of coffee. Jars Campus is extraordinary, our training base. And we'd love to see you and show you our work.

Greg Scott: I'd I'd actually love to do that. it sounds

Steve Russell: Come on.

Greg Scott: sounds like a great experience and and like we talked earlier, my our mutual connection, I need to come hug his neck sometime anyway. So love to do that. But

Steve Russell: Yeah, Chris. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Greg Scott: Steve, it's been a great time. I can't thank you enough for the time that you spent on our podcast. Not only just

Steve Russell: You're welcome. No, you're welcome.

Greg Scott: being grateful to you for that, but grateful to hear how God's used you in in a life and continues to use you.

Steve Russell: I hope so. yeah, that that's my desire. He he is so good to us. He is so good to us.

Greg Scott: And I hope you've enjoyed our time today with Steve Russell as much as I did. Hearing how the Lord has constantly put him in places to not only use his God given leadership abilities, but to do so for the cause of Christ has certainly been worth a listen. But then to know that at the foundation of all of that is a guy that just prepares himself by staying in God's word and listening to the next assignment from God. That's a challenge to all of us. So share the link out to today's episode on all of your social media platforms. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and anywhere else that you get your podcast downloads. And then tell someone you know about your favorite 315 Voices guest in order to encourage and inspire them. And then join us again when someone else will be prepared to give the reason for the hope that's within them on the next episode of 315 Voices.