About

Who We Are

In the simplest of terms, we are a family who believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Our church was founded by Christ and carries only His name (Matt. 16:18). Similarly, because we follow only Christ and His teachings, we carry only His name. We call ourselves "Christians" and claim no other affiliations. (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, I Peter 4:16).  We believe in the ONE universal church under God for all humanity and in the proclamation of the one gospel to all the world. We understand that through faith in and obedience to the gospel message, repentance of life, confession of Christ as Lord and baptism by immersion into Christ for the remission of sins one is born again, and becomes a member of the New Testament church. We are the pre-denominational church. The Paul Russell Road Church of Christ is a loving local congregation who share a common commitment to Jesus Christ and His teachings. We welcome your presence at any of our gatherings.

 What Will You See In Sunday Services

Our worship service is at once very lively yet reverent, sincere, and based solely on scripture.

 Singing

During our service, you are likely to notice that we really enjoy congregational singing as opposed to having only some members sing. The Bible teaches the entire New Testament church to sing during worship service. Therefore, we have no choir singing (I Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19).

Also, you may notice that we sing a cappella, that is, without any accompanying musical instrument. Our decision to omit the use of musical instruments from worship service, because the New Testament does not mention their use, is just one example of our strict adherence to New Testament doctrine.

When compared to other religious organizations, this may seem like a fundamentalist approach. However, we believe that the Bible is God-inspired (II Timothy 3:16). Accordingly, we seek neither to add nor subtract from the worship methods authorized by the New Testament.

 Sermon

The objective of the sermon delivery is to teach the Word of God (I Timothy 4:11; 2 Tim 4:1-2). We seek to deliver a message that is scripturally accurate, inspiring, identifiable, and interesting. We believe that the role of the message is to rationally explain the love and will of God. Jesus Christ

himself did this through parables and principles for daily living. We hope that through the sermon messages, you will be convinced and reminded of God's love and your Christian responsibilities.

 Communion and Collection

The Bible teaches Christians to take communion in remembrance of the blood and body of Jesus Christ on the first day of each week (Acts 20:7). Similarly, the Bible also teaches us to give a portion of our earnings to the church on the first day of each week (I Corinthians 16:1-2).

  How Can I Become A Member?

If you are interested in salvation and you seek to be added to His church as did the first century Christians (Acts 2:47). The New Testament teaches that through hearing God's word (Romans 10:17), believing in Jesus as the Savior (Acts 15:7), repenting of your sins (Acts 2:38) confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the son of God (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (Colossians 2:11-12), you become a child of God.

The History of the Paul Russell Road Church of Christ

The spreading of the gospel in Tallahassee through the West Saint Augustine Street Church of Christ began in 1946.  At that time, the late Brothers J. L. Goodman and Alonzo Rose of Valdosta, Georgia, and the late Sister Lola Burney of Tallahassee served as trustees for the purpose of purchasing property to construct a facility for worshipping and practicing New Testament Christianity/worship.  A wood framed building was constructed that provided adequate space for the saints to worship. Brother John Byrd of Monticello, Florida later supervised the addition of concrete blocks to the siding of the structure.

The congregation grew rapidly during the late '50s and '60s which rendered the structure built in 1946 inadequate to accommodate the needs of the membership. Therefore, in 1970, an addition was made to the existing structure. The addition was used as the auditorium for regular worship services with the original facility being converted into classrooms. Brother John Byrd was the general contractor for the project.

From 1946 to 1980 the church had to depend upon the support of sister congregations in and outside of the State of Florida to sustain its ministries. A number of ministers throughout the brotherhood served the congregation at various times as it was difficult to support a minister from the resources of the church at that time.

God blessed the church to persevere, and beginning in the mid-1970s, rapid growth took place with a number of mature men being added to the body and others placing membership. The church will forever be indebted to ministers such as Brothers Alonzo Rose, Cleveland Brown, Lawrence Gilmore, Alfred Hooker, Bill Davis, Daniel Rumbling, Jr., Abraham Bell, Dennis Cravens, James Simmons, Cleveland Sanders, Willie White and Damon Miller, Sr. for their untiring support.

In 1980, God sent brother Raymond T. Williams, Sr. to serve as the minister of the congregation. Upon his arrival, he found that much work needed to be done. Bro. Williams envisioned a church whose members would engage in evangelizing the Tallahassee community and whose membership would increase beyond the capacity of the existing edifice. Bro. Williams along with other members continued to evangelize the Tallahassee community which resulted in continued growth. In 1993, the church began to aggressively search for another property site to purchase in order to adequately serve its needs. The Lord blessed the congregation to purchase an existing facility at 916 Paul Russell Road.  The move to this location on November 5, 1995 was indicative of how God blessed the work begun in the mid -1940s.

The flock was excited about the blessings and endeavored to implement other ministries to do the Lord's work and to glorify His name.  The motto, "Let Us Think Souls, Not Bodies", became the message Bro. Williams purposed for this work.  The saving of souls continues to be the priority for the Church.  As Bro. Williams endeavored to do it "God's Way", he began teaching, training and preparation to further set the church in order by the ordaining of elders and deacons.  On March 16, 1997, three elders were ordained to oversee the flock.  They were Brothers Albert Brown, Jr., James L. Daniels, Sr. and Raymond T. Williams, Jr.  Later in the year, on August 24, 1997, Bro. Damon Miller, Sr. was ordained as the fourth elder.  Three deacons were also ordained:  Brothers Howard Bethel, Jr., Kenneth Brown and Willie R. Smith.  Four years later, on August 26 2001, Brother Harold Lane Sr. was ordained as the fourth deacon.  On July 1, 2007, Brothers Cleveland Allen Jr., Donald Lawrence and Harold Thornton were also ordained as deacons.

Under Brother Williams' leadership, tremendous spiritual and numerical growth took place.  He encouraged the brothers of this congregation to study the word and to avail themselves to learning how to teach as well as preach.   He extended the pulpit to many young as well as older men to preach the Word.  Today, brothers have become teachers, elders, deacons and ministers and are preaching at various congregations as a result of the training they received under the tutelage of Bro. Williams.  Many ministers that served at West St. Augustine Street and Paul Russell Road, have since gone out to serve other congregations.

As Bro. Williams' encouragement and training began to take deeper roots in the congregation, members became more and more involved in the work of the church and ministries were implemented under his leadership.

The Brother Raymond T. Williams, Sr. retired as Minister of the Paul Russell Road Church of Christ April, 2009 and died three years later.  Following his retirement, Brother Damon Miller, Sr. served as the Minister from 2010 until November 2012 when he passed.   Due to Brother Miller's untimely death, Dr. Elijah R. Cole was selected to replace him and assumed the duties as Ministering Evangelist in August of 2013.  Harold Lane, Willie Smith, and Harold Thornton continue to serve as Deacons.

We endeavor to be fully engaged in the work of Saving Souls and Keeping Souls Saved.

We thank you for visiting our website and hope that you can visit in person soon.