Author Russ Levenson Shares Lessons from President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush

President Chuck Redden with Russ Levenson and Rotarian Rusty Goldsmith

This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham welcomed The Reverend Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr., St. Martin’s Episcopal Church Rector and author of Witness to Dignity: The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush.

Dr. Levenson shared the relationship he cultivated with the late President and First Lady, who were active members of his parish. He shared that they had an incredible ability to bring people together and led by example throughout their lives. He remarked that they were people who lived very public lives with grace and dignity, always treating others with respect and kindness. He shared that he hopes readers will reflect on the way people interact with one another now as compared to the example set forth by the Bushes.

“For eleven and a half years we got to witness the lives and faith of these incredible people,” Dr. Levenson said. “And as the end came closer, we got to be with them and pray with them and spend time with them as their lives here began to come to a close. We got to plan their funerals and I got to be with them at the time of their death and officiate at their funerals and watch the response to those funerals around the world. It was an incredible opportunity for us.

“George and Bar were folk who lived their faith. And because of that, I think the whole world was changed.”

About The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr.
The Reverend Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr. began his tenure as Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston in 2007. He and his wife, Laura, have three adult children, Evie, Jones, and Luke, and two grandchildren, Genny and Austin. They love serving Our Lord Jesus and all his children through the many ministries at St. Martin’s.

Dr. Levenson graduated with honors from Birmingham-Southern College, receiving the College’s highest service award, “The President’s Student Service Award.” He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree there, studying business and English. After a few years in educational administration at his alma mater and then a few years as a Lay Minister at his home church of St. Luke’s in Birmingham, Alabama, the Levenson family moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he completed his Master’s of Divinity at Virginia Theological Seminary. During his seminary years, he served at the historic Christ Church in Old Town, the home parish of President George Washington.

After his graduation and ordination, he served as Assistant University Chaplain at the University of the South, before returning once more to St. Luke’s in Birmingham, where he served as Associate Rector under his long-term mentor and friend, the late Rev. Dr. John Claypool. During this season of ministry, he also completed a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation at Beeson Divinity School, before being called as Rector of The Episcopal Church of The Ascension in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he served for five years before being called as the Rector of Christ Church in Pensacola, Florida, where he served until coming to St. Martin’s.

Dr. Levenson is St. Martin’s fourth rector since it was founded in 1952. Under his leadership, the Parish has completed two expansion projects, Building for the Ages, completed in 2021, and Building for Life, completed in 2012. The Church is the largest Episcopal Church in North America with nearly 10,000 members.

Shortly after coming to St. Martin’s, he spearheaded the Parish’s vision for the Hope and Healing Center and Institute. The Center offers recovery and support groups; lectures and workshops on behavioral, emotional and mental health; therapeutic evaluation and care; telepsychiatry and therapeutic referral. Serving more than 800 individual clients each week, the Center never charges for the many services it provides.

Dr. Levenson has served on several boards and advisory councils over the years including the Board of Advisors for Beeson Divinity School, St. Luke’s School of Theology at the University of the South, and the Living Church Foundation. Presently, he serves as a member of the Office of the Development Advisory Committee for the Episcopal Church, New York City.

In 2015, he was admitted as a member of the United States Priory for the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. On June 24, 2020, he was appointed Sub-Prelate of the Order, and in 2021, by appointment of the late Her Majesty, Elizabeth, Queen of England; he was elevated as an Officer for the Priory. The Priory is a public charity that supports the humanitarian endeavors of St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group, the only provider of expert eye care in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, treating patients regardless of ethnicity, religion, or ability to pay. In the U.S., the group also assists disabled and disadvantaged veterans through the St. John Volunteer Corps.

In 2011, he received “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” from Beeson Divinity School. In 2012, he was awarded the Dean’s Cross from Virginia Theological Seminary, and in 2019, he was named Birmingham-Southern College’s “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.”

His new book, “Witness to Dignity: The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush,” (November 15, 2022) by Hachette Publishing Nashville, Tenn. can be pre-ordered on Amazon and will be sold by Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and other places where fine books are sold. Dr. Levenson has also written dozens of articles for various religious and theological journals and contributed to “Prophetic Preaching,” Church Publishing, 2020. He wrote the foreword to John Claypool’s “Tracks of a Fellow Struggler,” Church Publishing, 2020; contributed to “Pearls of Wisdom: Barbara Bush” (March 2020); and has written four devotional books: “Bits of Heaven,” “A Place of Shelter,” “Preparing Room” and “A Path to Wholeness,” Church Publishing, 2020.

In 2018, Dr. Levenson officiated and preached at the funeral at St. Martin’s for the late First Lady of the United States, Barbara Pierce Bush. Later, in 2018, he co-officiated and preached at the State Funeral for our 41st President, The Honorable George H.W. Bush at both Washington National Cathedral and the Houston-based memorial service held at St. Martin’s. President and Mrs. Bush were active members at St. Martin’s for more than 50 years and served in many roles of leadership and ministry.

Witness to Dignity: : The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush
Center Street, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, has secured rights to publish WITNESS TO DIGNITY, a personal and eye-witness account of the character, integrity, service, faith and dignity of George H.W. and Barbara Bush written by their priest, pastor and friend, Rev. Russell J. Levenson, Jr.

“Rev. Levenson’s book about the faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush is different than anything you’ve ever read about the Bushes,” said Center Street Editorial Director Alex Pappas. “This is an intimate book with never before told stories about their character, dignity and integrity. Center Street is immensely proud to publish it.”

Religion has too often been leveraged by politicians to further their careers and personal agendas. But in WITNESS TO DIGNITY, Levenson shows readers how the Bushes lived out their faith in their day-to-day lives. Ultimately, this book is a testimony to the dignity we desire to see in those who govern.

“This book is a fresh reminder of the goodness to which the world was privy during the years of public service of President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush,” said Levenson. “It is a goodness that followed them to their very last breath, and inspired tens of millions to reconsider their own contribution to the world beyond one’s personal being.”