Good question. Before I'd come to the conclusions I have--I'd say a little less than two years ago--there was a Watchtower study that indicated C.T. Russell had been chosen by Jehovah to start the ministry he did. This caught me by surprise because I understood WTS teaching to be that the organization was chosen only after Christ sat down on His throne (supposedly 1914) and later came to inspect his "belongings."
"So which was it?" I asked a couple of my elder friends. According to them it was both. I could not follow their reasoning whatsoever. One even got that "deer in headlights" look. So evidently Jehovah chose Russell along about 1874--and then Jesus really, really chose those associated with the WTS *again* in 1919?