From the Protea Valley Church halls to the outdoors, Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue volunteer, has helped people find their way: spiritually and literally. But it didn’t start this way. SMF News’ Jan-Hendrik de Villiers spoke to Russell on how he balances his dual roles.
Becoming a pastor was not on Brent Russell’s mind when he initially started out as an engineer, having studied electromechanical engineering at the University of Cape Town (UCT). This was in 1991, when a starting shift towards robotics was starting to happen.
“Everything’s robotics these days, or at least integrated systems, in some way,” says Russell.
He worked in the industry for three years, which included working with military hardware.
“We would make some stuff for battleships – navy battleships and things like that,” says Russell.
He worked in the United Kingdom (UK) for a while, but when he returned to South Africa, he did not go back into engineering.
He realised that he had a passion to serve God when he “got involved in a couple of mission trips”.
It was then when he realised that he had a “leadership capacity”, according to Russell.
“[I] realised I could use my leadership for good.”
He didn’t want to do it for ulterior motives, but rather to help the community.
Russell saw that he had an opportunity to “affect people’s lives on a day-by-day basis” without the aim of getting rich or to get something for himself, but rather to make other people’s lives better.
“I think it’s a little bit like being a nurse or a doctor perhaps. If it’s a thing you wanted to do, you’re going to do it. And it’s going to be hard,” says Russell.
Divine intervention
While he was working at a company called C²I² Systems, which was involved in the South African arms deal and embroiled in controversy at the time, he studied Theology through the University of South Africa (UNISA) part time.
Currently, he works from home, as he lives 500 meters away from Protea Valley Church, where he has been preaching for 16 years.
His work hours are flexible, which allows him to do “the other fun things”, according to Russell.
Besides mountaineering, Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue volunteer, has other hobbies too, which includes building and playing guitars. PHOTO: Jan-Hendrik de Villiers
Climbing the mountaineering ranks
Russell has been rock-climbing for 25 years. But six years ago, a friend introduced him to volunteer work for the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue.
“We were climbing the Cederberg one year, and we chatted and he [asked], ‘Why don’t you come join [MCSA search and] rescue?’ I was like: ‘That sounds like fun. Why not?’”
The MCSA volunteer team consists purely of “relatively experienced climbers”, but if a person wants to volunteer for the MCSA search and rescue, they should at least have a firm grasp of mountaineering, according to Russell.
“We don’t have the time – because we’re volunteers – to go back to square one and teach you every single thing along the way,” says Russell.
“You need to be able to be okay in mountain environments and not fall off a ledge.”
The training process has been stringent, with a sequence of layers, says Russell.
Volunteers start with a “base kind of level” and start to do more advanced operations with more responsibility as they progress up the ranks.
The training programs consists of prospective trainings two to five times a month for new and young volunteers that want to join the MCSA search and rescue team, according to Russell.
The training includes “the training of rope skill”, as well as an emphasis on teamwork and skills.
When a volunteer fulfils the basic requirements, they become a Search and Rescue (SAR) mountaineer.
“Depending on the operation, your exposure may be very limited on your first operation,” says Russell.
Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue volunteer, volunteered for the MCSA search and rescue after a friend invited him to join six years ago, according to Russell. PHOTO: Jan-Hendrik de Villiers
Bearing the rescuer’s cross
Some rescue operations stand out more than others, which depends on the level of “why-do-you-remember-them” kind of story, according to Russell.
“There’d been some that are just immensely brutal,” says Russell.
Russell recounts how one of their operations involved a grandmother who – with her three grandchildren – drove off of Bainskloof Pass. She was the only survivor.
“It’s an incredibly difficult scene to arrive at. Very peaceful, moonlit night, rivers running by, and then there’s this car, and bodies lying everywhere,” says Russell.
I think it’s a little bit like being a nurse or a doctor perhaps: if it’s a thing you wanted to do, you’re going to do it. And it’s going to be hard.
Safety collaboration
Russell describes the volunteer rescues as “peer-reviewed”, as there are expectations and protocols that need to be adhered to.
“We need to know how to interface with the Metro [Emergency Medical Services] medics, because that’s our job as a technical rescuer,” says Russell.
“My job is to get a medic onto [the] scene to the patient, [and] keep them both safe, and extract them both safely from the mountain.”
The MCSA work alongside the EMS and the Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSR).
“WSR is an umbrella body, which consists [of a] whole bunch of volunteer organisations. One of those volunteer organisations is the MCSA,” explains Russell.
The MCSA also performs other types of work such as finding lost patients, helping people that are dehydrated, and body recovery, but their niche is around “technical rope work”, such as cliff-based rescues.
“On top of that, we would have a number of helicopter-based trainings, but those are very variable,” says Russell.
While the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue team consists purely of “relatively experienced climbers”, a person that wants to volunteer for the MCSA search and rescue should have at least a firm grasp of mountaineering, according to Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and MCSA search and rescue volunteer. PHOTO: Jan-Hendrik de Villiers
Helping the community
Russell believes that there is a connection between his daytime job and volunteering job.
“People are always surprised at what I do,” says Russell.
“The ministry is always trying to help people – who are broken spiritually – reconnect with God,” he added.
“So, in a sense, mountain rescuing is a physical version of that: You’re helping people that can’t help themselves.”
According to Philippa Law, a graphic designer and friend of Russell, he is always there for people, whether it’s the youth or injured hikers.
“He shows through his actions of putting others first, by giving generously at all times, that this betters the community around him and then ensures successful youth development and vital rescues on the mountain,” says Law.
Being both a pastor and a mountain rescue volunteer is also about “what kind of value he can add to people around him”, according to Kerry Russell, Brent’s wife.
“He’s always been those two things since I’ve met him,” she adds.
“That’s half the reason we do it. It’s just to make a difference in people’s lives,” says Russell.
Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue volunteer, is always on standby for calls from the MCSA. He therefore always has his gear in his car, according to Russell. PHOTO: Jan-Hendrik de Villiers
‘Side-hustle’
Russell does currently perform side-projects that he refers to as “a side-hustle”, but he hasn’t been directly involved in engineering as a professional career for 25 years.
“There’s nothing I do formally as a job [as an engineer],” says Russell.
“I’ve got a fair amount of tools in my garage to build things, so I’m fairly competent with making things,” he added.
“It becomes a little ‘side-hustle’ money [and it] buys me sport equipment.”
“I’ve got a fair amount of tools in my garage to build things, so I’m fairly competent with making things,” says Brent Russell, Protea Valley Church pastor and Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) search and rescue volunteer. PHOTO: Jan-Hendrik de Villiers