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'I think that is all just for show. He portrays himself to the Russian people as a moral leader, a Christian leader. I think that is just a façade he puts on because he knows it sells well.'

I think is a very weak argument.

The missionary is Fundamental Baptist and a graduate of Hyles (Jack Hyles) - Anderson College (1985).

In 1972, Hyles–Anderson College was founded by Jack Hyles with financial support from Russell Anderson. The school was originally located on a campus known as Baptist City in Schererville, Indiana. HAC's former campus was turned into Hammond Baptist K-12 school. This school is also operated by the First Baptist Church of Hammond.

The college's first president was Robert J. Billings, who later served as Ronald Reagan's "liaison to the fundamentalist Christian movement in the 1980 presidential campaign" and then spent six years in the U.S. Education Department as well as was a founding member of the Moral Majority.[2][3]

Hyles-Anderson alumni have pastored over 572 churches within the US and Guam.[4] Over 123 alumni compose missionary families, church planters, and mission teams around the world with Fundamental Baptist Missions International[5] and many hundreds have teamed up with other mission boards as well.[6][7][8] One graduate, Jon Nelms, started the Final Frontiers Foundation mission board, which has led to the creation of over 44,000 churches worldwide.[9]

When Hyles died in 2001, his son-in-law Jack Schaap, a 1979 graduate and former vice president of the school since 1996, became chancellor.[10] That same year Hyles' boyhood home, a 384 square foot (36 square meter) shack in Italy, Texas was purchased to create a museum to honor Hyles and was shipped from Texas to Hyles–Anderson College.[11] Schaap was removed as chancellor in 2012 after federal officials began looking into child abuse allegations, to which Schaap later pleaded guilty.[12]

In 2012, Chicago Magazine reported that the school "appears to be struggling" with only 1,000 students enrolled, down from 2,700 in its peak.[12] Schaap noted that donations dropped and staff lay-offs occurred before his arrest.[13]

In 2015 Stuart Mason,[14] the former President of Hyles–Anderson College, resigned to Pastor the Timberline Baptist Church in Sherwood, Oregon. The next President will be John Wilkerson.

Sadly, it is my experience that the most vocal and learned of the evangelical sects just can not comprehend the idea that despite their best arguments and fervent belief, God may not agree with what they “KNOW” the Bible tells them (i.e. interpretation).

Hyles-Anderson is not an accredited school.

The place is not legit.

Air Force Vet 1981,

First I will preface by saying this:

There are a lot of well-meaning Evangelicals in Russia who have drawn many to Christ and helped train Russians in everything from HIV rehab and addiction counseling to pro-life activism, and given Russians disenchanted or traumatized by negative experience with Orthodoxy/Orthodox hierarchy a new lease on faith.

For example: I met a very spiritual woman who said she sought out confession with a priest several years back and before she could get a word out, the priest looked at her with disdain and condescendingly asked "and how many abortions?" (That was not her issue by the way. And yes Russia historically does have catastrophically high abortion rates.)

THAT being said:

I was uncomfortable with how divorced Evangelicalism is from Russia's arts, culture, and historical fabric. The worship environments often sterile and uninspiring (in a hotel conference room, for example instead of real church) -- and also the outright ignorance some missionaries had about basic facts about Russia history and religious history! One American had been in St. Petersburg for years and had yet to visit the Hermitage/Winter Palace! -- but, to her credit she did work with orphans and drug addicts.

I'm Catholic bytheway, so some of my issues with Evangelicalism/Protestantism apply in the states as well.

So on that note: this has been the most encouraging headline of the week for me:

Russian Orthodox Bishop Warns Faithful Not to Vote for 'Dark' Putin

Putin raised controversy in the Orthodox Christian community last week by comparing the Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin’s tomb to “holy relics” in a documentary about the Valaam Monastery.

Bishop Eutyches Kurochkin of the Epiphany Cathedral in Ishim said Putin’s comparison of communism to Christianity was “utterly blasphemous.”

“Shall I go against Christ and vote for darkness, or advise others to do so?! No, no, no!” Rev. Eutyches

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-orthodox-bishop-warns-faithful-not-to-vote-for-dark-putin-60245