“One challenge: developing a Christ-centered, loving Christian community. Or stated differently, “practice what you preach.” As we have experienced the transition from a modern to a post-modern culture, the mindset of young people has changed. They no longer trust authority figures easily, nor do they accept philosophies that seek to explain the world around them in comprehensive terms. They have been disappointed by theories that sound good but end in disaster. They want to experience the reality of a message and test its integrity. After hearing the gospel message, they want to know the character of leaders and relate to them personally. So, we need to be deeply concerned about the character and integrity of our leaders. As Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life for others, so UBF leaders should follow Jesus in self-sacrifice, service and genuine love. This is how Jesus laid a good foundation for the early church.”

It’s VERY interesting to me to see Forest’s version of Jim R’s testimony. That’s the most info I’ve ever heard from it and reflects brokenness and healing. It reminds me again that the UBF culture “puppets” positive examples of native shepherds instead of really acknowledging them and valuing them. In fact, I’m pretty sure a very small percentage of UBF leadership knows the difference.

Forests, was the “Augustine Suh” the one who was in St. Louis for a number of years?

So here is my thought that weighs on me as I wake this morning: there is a difference between the phrase “cover up” and “cover over”, and our understanding of that difference may just tell us boat loads about our theology.

To “cover up” something means you hide it. You don’t fully reveal what happened. You share just enough to convey the message you want. This is how I was trained to deal with sin by ubf. Our theology taught us to cover up our sins and the sins of our leaders. It was better that way, we thought. We called such covering up as repentance. And we accepted the keeping face as God’s forgiveness. The gospel was that we could then continue on as honorable servants of God.

We learned how to share just enough about a situation to let people know to pray for us, but not enough to lose face. Because of this, we didn’t get to know each other very well. Eventually we all began to look the same to each other.

To “cover over” something means you bring it to light, accept the consequences and then learn the joy of forgiveness. Yes love covers over a multitude of sin, but to cover over is vastly different from covering up. How can sin be covered over by love? I contend that the process involves coming into the light.

I experienced this in a dramatic way here on ubfriends. Sure this is just a website. But this website has fostered a new community for me. For many years my conscience was bothered more and more by my illegal actions toward the late James Kim and his family. Breaking into his house, removing all his belongings, and then hiding the truck that contained those belongings, was wrongdoing. It was my sin.

When I confessed my sin to the ubf community, first privately, then with a few leaders, then with the Toledo chapter, I was met with a strong dose of the “cover it up” theology. I was told not to stir the pot. Why bring about trouble from so long ago? I was met with apathy. Who cares? This left me more and more agitated. If there is any reason I resigned my position as a ubf director, it was the way this event was handled.

What happened when I confessed my sin on ubfriends? Note that I did so on May 14, 2011. This is *before* I left ubf. I resigned on 7/4/2011 and officially left forever in December 2011 after my open letters. When I confessed my sin publicly, to the ubfriends community that was just getting started, I found the joy of forgiveness!

Reading the comments to my article left me in tears. Waves of light and love and life flooded over my soul. Finally I was cleansed. And now I am free. Yes the event is still there for anyone to read. But now my sin is covered over. I am not yoked by the burden of that sin anymore.

Then I was able to forgive myself. Later I wrote a poem about how it felt to come into the light.

So I ask again, can it be said that we love the light?

Some related Scriptures that come to mind and deserve more discussion are these: 1 Peter 2:16, 1 Peter 4:7-9, Luke 12:1-3, Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 17:8-10

“Some guests came from far distance such as the St. Georgia UBF, the Montreal UBF, the Milwaukee UBF, the St. Louis UBF, and the Akron UBF.”

“We grossly covered three areas: (1) Motivation and necessity of campus ministry, (2) Historical and comparative review of campus ministry and (3) Practical examples by campus workers.”

Yes I imagine it was gross…

http://ubf.org/world-mission-news/north-america/campus-night-report

“But in that version of the story all the blame rested on the woman. Here Dr. Rabchuk says he was not ready to marry and did so hastily on the basis of her appearance. He said after 4 years his marriage fell apart along with the dream to be a Russian missionary.”

This is simply remarkable to hear someone finally telling the truth. That story about Jim’s first wife has been spin a thousand different ways, but no matter how you spin it, you just cannot get rid of the smell. In no way can this story be spun into a glory-story that glorifies God, although many have tried.

But notice what happens when Jim simply faces the facts? When he comes clean, the burden is lifted. We see the truth, and God is in fact glorified properly.

This is a prime example of what I’ve been looking for. 2 Corinthians 7 explains the evidence of the Spirit of Christ, and apart from these recent reports, I have not seen such a Spirit among ubf leaders. When this Spirit is not present, ubf is a harmful cult.