Seen in St. Louis

We stumbled into a huge convention at America’s Center today. It was of YTB, which stands for “Your Travel Business,” a MLM, or multi-level marketing outfit. 20,000 people from around the US and Canada are in St. Louis this weekend to get revved up about “moving money up their down chain.”

This picture is of one of the many concurrent seminars (sermons) teaching the YTP business owners (cult members) how to get their friends and family in their down chain. Brilliant tactics right out of your best Evangelical mission!

The BBB of Missouri has been grumbling about complaints to the Missouri Attorney General about this YTB “home business opportunity,” more than 40 complaints have come in this year alone. You’d think that you’d make money in this travel business by selling discount travel, but 80 percent of the company’s revenue in the first quarter of 2008 came from recruiting new members to pay the $450 start-up fee to own the business, and the $50 a month membership fee to continue. You get a cut of everyone else’s fees they pay if you recruit them.  This last Monday, Jerry Brown, the California Attorney General, sued YTB and its founders for operating an illegal pyramid scheme. But the presentations pictured above were fun to watch — picture a business version of the prosperity gospel televangelist Creflo Dollar, only no talk of saving souls or God rewarding you with wealth, but just out and out teachings on how to make a buck off your friends and family.

We know how fired-up their adherents to this business-cult get: a couple nights ago we went to the casino (losing a little money for the first time EVER) and while standing in line, fully two different YTBers gave D.J. their business cards and invited us to get involved. 

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There is a constant stream of conventions and national events downtown, which was a surprise considering St. Louis doesnt seem at first like a national destination for events. A couple weeks ago there was a big astronomy convention, and this week there is a big national fitness tradeshow.

And even more interestingly, for the next few days there is a national Pentecostal teen convention. Pentecostals are the fundamentalist brand of Christianity that focuses on the gifts of the “Holy Spirit” given to the Church at Pentecost in the first generation of Christianity. Many Pentecostals speak in tongues, believe in “words of knowledge” when the Holy Spirit tells them secrets only God should know, believe in giving prophecies, and believe in supernatural faith healing during their praise services, along with other forms of miracle-working.

This national Pentecostal teen convention is called SummerFest ‘08, and is featuring a national teen talent expo, which we chose not to go to (it cost 20 bucks, I think). But according to the program they gave us when we poked around in the foyer of the Orpheum (on the other side of the Syndicate), the talent show performance categories include such fun and outrageous thigs as Christian Comedy, Persuasive Speaking, Interpretive Dance, and Human Video (whatever that is). Check it out at the Orpheum through the end of the day.

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