Matt Russell, who teaches primarily at the Fuller Texas campus, joined Fuller’s regular faculty in 2016 after serving for several years as an adjunct professor.

Dr. Russell previously served at Duke Divinity School as professor of practical theology and community development. In 2011–2013 he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge’s Psychology and Religion Research Group, where he explored redemptive narratives and models of the church’s ministry of reconciliation in cities.

He received his MDiv from Fuller Seminary and PhD from Texas Tech University, where his dissertation explored how women construct alternative narratives of redemption from years of sustained trauma and abuse. While at Texas Tech, Russell was associate director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery and managed a grant from the Department of Education, overseeing the replication model that helped establish collegiate recovery communities in campuses across the United States.

From 1996 to 2008 Russell was associate pastor of Houston’s Chapelwood United Methodist Church, planting a church within Chapelwood called Mercy Street. The Mercy Street community grew to over 900 people and included 30 community volunteer teams.