Perm, a city about the size of Charlotte, sits on a mountain range about 6,000 miles from here.
At least one person in that Russian city will be thinking of Salisbury in the months to come.
Todd Gealy and six other members of Campus Crusade for Christ are traveling there this week and staying for a year.
Gealy, 26, son of Sam and Judy Gealy, graduated from Salisbury High School in 1993. His father was the long-time basketball coach at Salisbury and currently coaches the golf team at Catawba College.
Todd Gealy became active in Campus Crusade, a nondenominational Christian group, while a student at N.C. State University. Campus Crusade for Christ International is a family of more than 50 ministries worldwide.
Gealy spent the next three years working for Campus Crusade at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
He was working there when the opportunity came open for him to travel to Russia and set up a chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ there.
The team will be establishing chapters in two universities in Russia — Perm State and Perm Poly-technical University.
They are going to go because it’s something that they believe in.
“We are going just to give those students an opportunity to hear about what Christ can do for them,” Gealy said.
“I think a lot of times we take it for granted.”
That is because Americans live with religion every day. In Russia, religion was illegal before 1990.
When communism fell in 1990, Russia became free to practice religion.
“Under the federation, there is religious freedom,” said Gealy, speaking of communism in Russia.
The older generation in Russia is still pretty wary of new ideas dealing with religion, according to Gealy.
“But the college students are very interested in religion and hearing what we have to say,” Gealy added.
He has been to Perm before. He and the team went in April to get an idea of what it would be like to live there for a year.
They will rent apartments in the city and live among the people of Perm. He will live with two other men on the team. The four women on the team will live in another apartment.
These crusaders are from all over the Southeast. They get their funding from individuals and churches.
They left Saturday and should arrive in Moscow today. Then they will travel 24 hours by train to Perm, where their adventure will begin.
Gealy spent last week at his parents’ home in Salisbury, taking care of a lot of little things. He packed and made a list of all the things in his suitcases and was ready to go. He said goodbye to friends and family.
This will be his first trip overseas, not counting the two-week trip in April.
“We are going to a city where there are virtually no campus ministries,” he said.
“We are not recognized yet, but they do welcome us.”
Contact reporter Joanie Morrisat 704-797-4264 or jmorris@salisburypost.com
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