Russell David Sanderson Sr

Russell was born in San Francisco, California on August 9, 1945, to Hardy and Blanche Garrison. He was the oldest of three children; attended Mission High School, graduating with honors and was a Captain in Army R.O.T.C. After graduating from High School, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, fought in Vietnam, was wounded and received two Purple Hearts. After serving his country for eight years, he came home with two Honorable Discharges.

During his time in the Marine Corps, Russell received Jesus as His Lord and Savior and became a soul winner; sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as would listen, about Christ the death, burial and resurrection; winning hundreds of souls by God’s Holy Spirit. The effects of the Vietnam war, seeing thousands of his fellow Marines wounded or killed on the battlefield, yet with no real counseling available; he decided to move on, seek the Lord through His word and finding ways to help others.

Russell moved back to San Francisco and begin attending San Francisco City College; and became the first minority to be hired at the Public Defender’s Office as an Investigator, at the Hall of Justice. Within five years, Russell became Chief Investigator and due to his investigations, several people were released.

While praying during a lunch break on the steps of the Hall of Justice, he heard God’s voice telling him to resign his position and start ministering the Gospel as an Evangelist. The very next week Russell turned in his resignation, packed his bags and took off cross-country in his car and began holding revivals.

After eleven years of evangelism and living by faith; God opened a door in Los Angeles for him to become the first African American director of a “Skid-Row” mission, called, “The American Soul Clinic (aka: the Fred Jordan Mission), one of the largest in the city. When Russell took over the mission the staff of twelve people were feeding and sleeping less than one hundred people; with only thirty-six beds available in the six-story mission. Within just three years, Russell through prayer and fasting built the staff to a fifty-one-person staff, serving over one thousand people a day. Headlines in several newspapers across the country, including the L.A. Times and Herald Examiner, when on a Thanksgiving Day, Russell and his staff feed over five thousand people in a 4-block radius of the mission in one day, with no police protection.

However, Russell’s passion was always to preach, teach and witness wherever a door was open, never worried about carrying a title; and saw tens of thousands of souls come to the Lord. Out of the harvest of souls, some became pastors and evangelist, leading other souls into the Kingdom. He would often say, “Except for the grace of God, there go I. The whole world is my pulpit; so, I follow Holy Spirit’s leading!”

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer by the V.A. Hospital medical staff, but from years of faith in God’s ability to heal the sick and diseased; even when the doctors stated he was at stage four, He still refused chemotherapy, radiation or operations. June 6, 2013, Russell received his miracle and his P.S.A. has remained at 0.2; causing the V.A. cancer oncology units to study him for years. He was loved and admired by everyone who knew him and could talk to anyone, from politicians, business leaders, to those on “Skid-Row” in their language. He was generous, compassionate and willing to help anyone within his power.

Russell is survived by his extraordinary and incredible wife Alice Sanderson, who went on a number of missionary journeys with him to distant lands; several children, a host of grand-children and great-children; one sister Regine Morales; sons and daughters in the gospel. He was preceded in death by Hardy and Blanche Garrison, sister Denise Lyons. He was a father, brother and friend to many and will be missed.