Comments on: Jesus is the Door

By: c

Tue, 27 May 2014 20:59:04 +0000

Brian, thanks for the article. I’m glad to hear of your good experience with so many pastors. I think it’s good for UBF people to hear that there are good pastors in reach outside of UBF. You found not just a couple, but nine pastors and you shared similarly good experiences with them. People shouldn’t be afraid to find churches that are only shallow or free (and so sin-infested) outside of UBF. There’s so much to learn and appreciate from such pastors who make the kinds of investments in being educated and trained to care for others.

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By: BK

Tue, 27 May 2014 13:13:05 +0000

Hey Forests, here’s a bright idea that would put your writing and critical thinking skills to use. Set up a new website and put a blog on it. Request people to submit articles about Christianity. Let people register and comment about their personal stories, telling their own experiences honestly. Then talk to ubf leaders and tell them how you’d like to open up honest communication and get their promise to submit articles for your new website.

oh wait…

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By: BK

Mon, 26 May 2014 23:02:19 +0000

Vitaly,

You and your family have a place to stay anytime you visit Detroit!

Today I cleaned up our basement. I found the Moscow Nights CD and Dr. Zhivago DVD we had packed away. Both of these were gifts from people not associated with ubf– both people saw our passion for Russia and love for Russian language, people and all things Russian. One person even bought me a Barbie doll dressed in Russian outfits.

Every once in a while I miss Russia. Soon the white nights will be happening.

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By: forestsfailyou

Mon, 26 May 2014 06:01:37 +0000

I was told recently “People are concerned because you talk to too many outside people.” I just laughed. I am a 23 year old adult working as a first year teacher in inner city St. Louis. I had a student put a gun on me this year. I wish someone would try dead dog training. Someone recently told me “You have a great gift in writing. You can become a great man of God or a terrible, terrible enemy of God.” I laughed at the implication.

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By: Vitaly

Mon, 26 May 2014 02:35:51 +0000

Brian, my great grandfather was an Orthodox priest in St.Petersburg which you visited but God led me to become a pastor in the Baptist church. (Maybe one day you would wish to come to Russia again. I would be very happy to see you here. Or maybe I will go to the US and if so I would be very happy to visit Detroit and see you there). Recently a pastor care teacher came to us from Moscow and he said that he knows about many Korean missionaries there (not only ubf, there are about 60 Korean presbiterian groups in Moscow and most of them consist of 2 Korean missionaries). He said that Koreans in Moscow are famous of neglecting families and absolute lack of desire to know and adapt for the local culture. He said also that such people should not be called Christian missionaries, because missionaries are those who come to a foreign land, preach the gospel, and leave as soon as God raises a local leader.

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By: BK

Sun, 25 May 2014 23:20:19 +0000

Yea forests, that’s rather evident. Plus you submit articles for ubfriends, comment on ubfriends, meet all kinds of people on that unspiritual internet and talk to that bitter BK guy. You’re such a rebellious sinner! Dead-dog training for you!

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By: forestsfailyou

Sun, 25 May 2014 20:55:10 +0000

All my testimonies are my “share your honest thoughts, feelings and perspectives.”

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By: BK

Sun, 25 May 2014 17:57:57 +0000

Vitaly are you now a pastor at the Orthodox church? I also want to say that I have a greater sense of gratitude and respect for the Orthodox church.

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By: BK

Sun, 25 May 2014 17:53:53 +0000

This is good news Vitaly! Congratulations. I can say a hearty Amin to all that!

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By: Vitaly

Sun, 25 May 2014 17:20:48 +0000

Today I was voted for and blessed to be a pastor in my church. It is a great mercy of God for me, a former ubfer. There was a sermon about being a pastor: a pastor is an example of Christian life and a slave of the Lord. Please pray for me to be a Christian pastor. Pray also for my study of theology and pastoral care. There is so much to learn. I thank God for you, my brothers in Christ (Chris, Joe, Brian and Ben), from whom I have already learnt much more than during my 17 years in ubf. This site helped me very much in my recovery from the ubf abusive system. The ubf “missionaries” are still calling me “satan” and say that they lost all people in the chapter just because of me. I believe that every Christian pastor would surely advise anyone to leave ubf and live under the lordship of Jesus, care about his family and be a part of a healthy church.

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By: Ben Toh

Sun, 25 May 2014 15:17:44 +0000

BK, this sounds so refreshing compared to “R u in or r u out?”: “They shared frankly with me. They spoke God’s word to me. They befriended me. One of them ate with me in a bar. Not one of them violated my conscience. Not one of them intruded into my emotions. Not one of them disrespected my autonomy. And every one of them respected my claim to be a Christian.” They respected your freedom and your dignity as a human being.

This is painfully reprehensible: “Sometime in 2010, I had decided to find out if my shepherds in ubf were Christian pastors. I asked questions. I spoke frankly. I attempted to interact just the way I did with the Christian pastors. What I found at ubf was a lot of hired hands. Almost everyone abandoned me when I expressed my honest thoughts and feelings too much.”

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By: Chris

Sun, 25 May 2014 14:52:30 +0000

Very good points, Brian. Apart from the lack of education in Biblical hermeneutics, the most blatant lack in education of the UBF missionaries and shepherds is in the area of pastoral care (counseling). Real Christian pastors have gone through theoretical and practical courses in these fields.

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