Russ Randle Awarded Medallion of Exemplary Service
January 22, 2011
Reston, VA
Bonnie Anderson's remarks on the awarding to Russ Randle the first President of the House of Deputies Medallion for Exemplary Service
There are places in the world where, even if you know how to read, you cannot read the Bible. There are Christians, even today, who do not know “the record of God’s saving deeds in history” in their own language for the simple reason that the Bible has never been translated into their language.
But thanks to Deputy Russ Randle, there is one less place like that. Thanks to him and the brave and effective people who worked with him, Dinka Christians, who live along the Nile River in Sudan, now have a Dinka Old Testament. Many of the Dinka still live much like the people of the Old Testament, and Russ has helped make it possible for them to know the stories of the faith—of Abraham and Sarah and Ezekiel and Ruth and Naomi and, perhaps most importantly these days, the story of David and Goliath—in the language they speak every day.
This work alone would make Russ a worthy first recipient of the President of the House of Deputies Medallion for Exemplary Service. But his commitment to keeping his baptismal promises in ministry with the people of Sudan has gone much further.
Russ, who is a three-time deputy to General Convention, began his ministry with Sudan fourteen years ago after he met Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, now the Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, at Virginia Theological Seminary. Since then, Russ, who now serves on the board of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, has been to Sudan four times; has helped develop this diocese’s extensive network of parishes, schools, families and organizations in Sudan; and is one of the Sudanese church’s most effective American allies.
In addition to his translation work, he played a key role in arranging the construction of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Renk, which sits on the fragile border between northern and southern Sudan. He was also instrumental in building a health clinic in Renk and recruiting doctors to provide medical care.
Russ is a gifted attorney, and he has complemented his “hands-on” ministry in Sudan by offering pro bono legal services that have assisted Sudanese lawyers in freeing political prisoners. He has also lent his understanding of official Washington to the Sudanese cause. When the Sudanese government seized church property in 2004, he helped organize a protest outside of the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C.
And in 2007, long before many of us understood the fragile nature of peace in Sudan, Russ participated in a fact-finding mission that helped alert U. S. church and government leaders to Sudanese government activities that threatened the peace accords that had ended the lengthy Sudanese civil war in 2005. The resulting international attention helped stabilize the situation, and the peace agreements held through the just-concluded referendum vote that gave the people of Southern Sudan a chance to determine their own future.
At our baptism we make promises to God, and those promises sustain us. But we are known by the promises we keep. Today, in the company of all the ancestors and loved ones who have gone before us in the Name of Christ, and in the company of all of you here in the Diocese of Virginia, the holy people of God in this holy place, it is my privilege to recognize Russ, whom we know by the baptismal promises he has kept in ministry with the faithful people of Sudan.
By his exemplary service, we are reminded of our own baptismal promises and, from his example, we gain courage to embrace God’s work in the world wherever we are called.
Russ, you have helped remind me that, as Christians, we belong to Christ and to one another around the globe. I am honored to present you with my first Medallion for Exemplary Service.
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