Organized in 1875 as Wills Point Methodist Episcopal Church, South, after retired minister James A. Scruggs had led services for some years, the congregation received its first resident pastor, the Rev. L. P. Lively, in 1878. Its earliest sanctuary, built about 1877, was destroyed by a tornado in 1890 and soon replaced. In 1924, the congregation erected a third edifice and named it in honor of deceased steward Eric A. Russell and his son. Russell Memorial Church absorbed the Palmer Grove congregation in 1955 and again in 1971. The present structure was consecrated on July 28, 1974.