At 12 years old, Malachi Russell had a list of 17 people – one person for each month he was expected to live. They were his “ones.” During his battle with cancer, Malachi had heard about the Who’s Your One movement – a challenge to Christians to pray for and share the Gospel with one person in their circle of influence – and he took it personally.
“To be honest, we really didn’t know (about the list) until after the fact.” Roger Russell, Malachi’s father, said. “It wasn’t one of those things he carried around like a badge. But he heard the challenge and he took it seriously because he saw the finish line in front of him. He knew everything that was happening. He just literally went through the list of people he knew that needed Jesus and wrote them down.”
The Russells were devastated to learn about their son’s cancer diagnosis when he was 12, but Malachi centered the rest of his young life around the Gospel. Roger and Kim, Malachi’s mom, were amazed to see God use Malachi’s life to lead dozens of people to know Jesus as Savior.
Some of those 17 people accepted Jesus after the rare form of cancer took Malachi’s life on September 10, 2019. And during a celebration of his life at Malachi’s school, more than 100 others gave their lives to Christ, as well.
Roger recalled him saying…
“The Lord has given me so many chances to share the Gospel, and I’m going to take every chance I can.”