Ok, this one will be short, but I want to keep my fans up to date. We are very close to opening the business. Next week we will be busy conducting interviews for staff member, doing our pitch at local universities, and tying up loose ends in general. It will be good to get back to working full time.
As promised, I would like to say a few things about church life here. At this point I am attending a church here locally that I would rather not intend in general. None the less, I am convinced that there are real believers there and some of the messages I have heard have been very challenging. The church itself was planted by Koreans. The pasters are ethnic Koreans, but I think were born and raised in this part of the world (there are lots of Koreans in the former USSR).
What is most interesting and not a little complexing are the opinions of the locals about this particular church. It is considered a "sect" (in Russian the word sect carries the same connotation that the word cult does in English). And why is it a "sect"? Because there they teach that the believer should tithe 10% of their income. There seems to be some discomfort with the fact that Koreans are in leadership at the church. This is it. We have asked 4 people about their impressions of this particular church, and all have given the exact same response. One girl said, "those Koreans keep track of who is giving 10% of their income." Whether this is true, I don't know for sure, but going by how the offering is collected, I don't see how they are keeping track of this. Of course it is very likely that this is a rumor. I was once asked by a Russian in the States if Baptists really wife swap. Apparently this rumor was going around in Western Russia during the end of the Soviet period. Oh well. Faithfully attending a "sect" in the wild wild east...