Seminary Director's Report

KECS Director’s Report                                           

May 2002                             

Mark Blair

This has been a historic year for KECS as we moved into our new facilities and led our ministry into new and better directions. This report will highlight some of those changes and suggest areas of further growth and development in three areas; facilities, staffing, and finances.

Facilities

Old Campus

I thank the Lord for more than five years of His blessing as we used the facilities on Rosa Luxemborg Street. About 200 students were taught there. Hundreds of Pastor’s continuing education sessions were held there. Several churches have used it for worship. Now it houses 2 small churches, one from the KECC association, and a Brethren church which rents a room for $75 a month, KECC pastors meet there every Wednesday, and Konstantin Volkov has English language classes there. The average cost of maintaining this facility is $500 a month. I do not think the few programs that now use it merit this expense. Also, the building is deteriorating, bad wiring, plumbing, insulation, etc. Another concern is our inability to effectively oversee what happens there. I strongly suggest the Board have this building sold at the highest possible price. Our manager has told us that price will probably be $30-35,000.

New Campus

I believe our ministry should concentrate its efforts at effectively using our excellent facilities in Primoy Put. We are truly blessed to have such a fine center for ministry. There are small improvements being made right now, curbs and paving the walkways, window sills inside, planting  a food garden for our consumption, library development, and computer center for students and church leaders. I anticipate that we have a donor for a much needed standby generator.

1. Married Student/Family Housing

Often the best church leaders are married men with families. Presently we have no permission from the KZ gov’t to house children in our seminary building. My suggestion is that we build a married student living complex behind our seminary building. Fortunately we have two adjoining properties, each with a poor quality house. I suggest these houses be replaced with a larger facility. The design I envision would have small living quarters for families (2 rooms), with a common kitchen and bath facilities shared by four or five families. Perhaps we could build two or three “clusters” for up to 15 families. I leave the details to the experts, I simply share the need and vision. I wonder if the OMS building teams could take this on as a project? Perhaps the funds obtained from the sale of the old campus could be at least partially devoted to this need.

2. Restoration and Expansion of Car Garage Workshop Area

The old buildings in the southeast corner of our property will need to be restored and improved. Again, I have no specific plan, but I think it is a medium level priority.

3. Painting the Building

Another lower priority item is to paint the building. I have wanted to propose this as a project for a visiting work team, but the height and potential dangers have concerned me.

4. Property Acquisition

I think we would be wise to continue to buy properties both adjacent to and across the street from our campus as they become available for staff housing and our future growth.

Staff Issues

We have a very committed and faithful staff of seminary workers. This year we made some improvements in our structure and organization which has improved our operation. One reality we face is the rising salary levels for professionals in Almaty. The surge of oil money and “new industry” related to aid to Afghanistan have brought a growing number of ex-pat workers and projects. They need competent translators/interpretors, especially into Kazakh. Our best workers could be making at least five times more than what we pay them. I realize we are barely able to pay them their current salaries, but we need to keep this situation in view.

Our weakest department is “Student Life.”  These workers are like student deans who care for them as they study and live here. One reason for the department weakness is the newness of the church here. Few believers have the maturity and pastoral sensitivity needed for this work. Those who do are engaged in church planting work. As a result, we do not have a very solid team of pastoral leaders for this department. The need is magnified by the fact the students are in residence. Without strong and sensitive on site leadership, the potential for problems is great. We will be working on some restructuring of this department. Pray for us.

                                                                                              

One general problem in administration here is the issue of authority. The operative cultural model is authoritarianism, usually centralized in one individual. Those “under” this person dare not act without specific orders. Those “below” also typically struggle for secondary positions of power. Everyone wants someone to shout at. If the authority figure is absent, those under authority can even flaunt their freedom. My cultural model is democracy; I have tried to operate with this model with little success. Workers have been confused and paralyzed being asked to make their own decisions. My present operational model is a benevolent dictatorship with limited participation. I always try and discuss the decision making process with key leaders, often implementing their suggestions. As a foreign worker I want to prepare local leaders to take over. I raise this discussion for continued prayer and advice. My prayer is that we would gain a growing sense that Christ is our head and that under Him we all follow His lead. Along these lines of localizing our leadership I have two specific suggestions.

1) We need a Local Advisory Board for KECS. I suggest this board be comprised of national Christian leaders, from the KECC association and beyond, clergy and laity. Also, there should be minority membership of foreign mission workers on this board. Initially this board can be advisory only, but as they prove their worth, they should be given increasing authority.

 2) We need to take more intentional steps at developing local leadership for KECS. Right now the best candidate I see on our horizon is Pastor Alexander Melenkov. I suggest he be sent to Moscow Seminary, hopefully even this fall. (Fortunately, his church is well supplied with associate leaders who can take over.)  He has proven an excellent leader for our Pastor’s Assoc. As a Russian he displays sensitivity and understanding for Kazakh people. I pray that he can be a future leader of KECS. Another fine leader is Kairot. I am not sure what steps should be taken to develop his leadership and service. But we should explore this question with him.

Finance

KECS could not exist without foreign financial support. Our challenge is the develop ways for KECS to continue with decreasing amounts of outside funding. We have taken some small steps to promote the responsibility of the local churches to fund their students. Two years ago we discontinued offering transportation costs for students coming and returning to their home cities. Many said that they would not be able to come, but God has blessed them to meet this need. This fall will be the first year we do not offer monthly stipends for our students. Our practice has been to give each student the local equivalent of $10 a month for their incidental expenses. Again we are hearing the cries that this is impossible! But we believe this small amount is a reasonable expectation for a sending church to give toward the free education of their student. Granted, these are just token amounts of the full cost of operating KECS. Yet it is a beginning. We need wisdom to know how and when to ask the local churches to finance more of the cost of their student’s training. But even in the “wealthy West” tuition costs are just a portion of a school’s operational budget. What other areas can we explore?

This fall we formed a KECS Alumni Association. The primary purpose of this organization is to encourage our graduates in their walk and witness. They have been collecting addresses and thinking of future conferences. Hopefully this group will be more active. In the West such associations become a source of financial support to their alma mater.  Unfortunately most of our graduates, like most believers, are presently unemployed. But we need to build for the future in this area.

One means of economizing is expansion of our vegetable gardens. We have been blessed with helpful advice and cooperation from a team of foreign Christian agricultural workers. After visiting our site they were confident that with careful planning and techniques we could easily feed our own students and staff with fruits and vegetables. This spring/summer our concentration is on one-time improvements in our territory. So this year we will only plant potatoes. But we want to be ready for next spring.

Another way to subsidize our costs is to utilize our building for conferences when we are not in session. There are a growing number of groups looking for facilities. We already have at least one group coming in June, and we are advertising for more.

We should do a careful review of the various properties owned by KECS. Are they in use? Are we gaining maximum potential from them?

Schools in the States are assisted by endowment programs, life insurance policies, and other financial schemes. I have no knowledge of how these work. Could we find a person in the States to take on this type of ministry assistance? Perhaps a retired finance worker looking for a way to advance the cause of mission?

Maybe we need to “think bigger.” One businessman in Hawaii challenged me by suggesting the seminary buy a farm or some other major income generating business to fund their operational costs. I said we are ready for him to buy us one, he never wrote back! One mission leader in Almaty said his organization is exploring opening a “Starbuck’s Coffee” franchise here. Of course, business always carries risk. Also, the danger is that our energies be drained from our calling to train Christian leaders. My prayer is that wise counselors would come along side us and help us think through the future needs of KECS, so that the work here can grow from strength to strength.

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