man thank you so much munin. anyway a few answers to your questions:
Yes, Saint Richard is a true believer and has done miraculous things using the biodrugs he has found in his travels, believing them to be truly gifts from Elsewhere in order to spread his good word such as heal a man of his schizophrenia, or even regrow a limb for them. Other miraculous things have been such things as regrowing an area of grass that was once grey and dead to become green and invigorated. So he's got some evidence to back up his speech. He is merely a "prophet of Elsewhere" and not a messiah come to save them, and as far as a timeline, well in this apocalypse there isn't so much of a timeline for him as there is "all must be Found or we will all die," which works, i mean the apocalypse has already happened. However a nice wrinkle to throw on a countdown timer would be perhaps a message from Elsewhere saying that the true apocalypse will occur if he doesn't hurry up. And as far as Saint Richard is concerned, one becomes Found once they accept Elsewhere's teachings, go through a ritual where they "cleanse themselves" (still haven't figured that one quite out yet), and repent for their past sins. And he does the lobotimizing or he gets another trusted member to do it. Also, I think I'm gonna take that custom move for right now and give it a whirl, see how it works out.

So I've got a few of those there questions answered, and I'm working on the others as we speak. Anyway:

The name of the cult is "The Lost" and they believe in the god Elsewhere, and they believe that Elsewhere shall Find them and lead them to the Gathering Place where they shall be forever loved and clean (the apocalypse came about as a result of mass biowarfare btw, which i really need to start working on screwing with the players about). They teach that Elsewhere shall Find all who are Lost and lead them to the Gathering Place, but they must prove to Elsewhere that they truly are sorry for what they did to become Lost or else he casts them out to be forever Disappeared (read: lobotomized), which makes the followers quite zealous.  The leader is Saint Richard and he believes that all are Lost and must be Found in order for the apocalypse to end and for everyone to be forgiven for their transgressions, for the reason all are Lost is because of all that they have done that has angered Elsewhere. There isn't any real hierarchy however, for all are equal in Elsewhere's eyes, and the only ones that aren't are those that forsake him and choose to be an enemy of Elsewhere. As far as attraction, it's not anything more than preaching and persistance....but Mr. Saint Richard has a certain "gift from Elsewhere" (otherwise known as one of those drugs I was talking about earlier) in order to "attract" those he deems dangerous to his cult.

That's as far as I've gotten, but I think it's a decent start. Suggestions are good though

So, I'm about.....4 sessions or so in with MCing. My players have switched out a lot of characters, but we finally have the setup we're going to use for the rest of the campaign, not accounting for party deaths. With that in mind, I have some fronts that I've been setting up and sort of pushing at the players...well, it's been more like nudging, which isn't the point of this post and i apologize for the sidetrack. Anyway, I would really appreciate some help with a custom move for a cult that I've created, but it's not "gloom and doom" or "drink the koolaid" cult, more like a jehova's witness-style cult, and I would really like help creating a custom move for them that's not directly ripping off the hocus playbook, so if you guys could give examples or just spitball, or just help at all, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

ye gods! inspiration!

well, as a new mc myself (ive only run three sessions so far, and its my first gming experience ever), here's the approach I've taken to apocalypse world so far:

1. come up with a core concept first, i.e. zombie apocalypse, nuclear winter a la fallout, or simply a general theme you want your apocalypse to embody.

2. after world creation and character creation, look for where the PCs aren't in control: when you get the actual book and stuff, there's literally a move for the MC that's "look for where they're not in control, push there" there's also "respond with fuckery". by that it means, push where the PCs have no control and watch them try to figure it out. i know it sounds sadistic, but trust me. this step is more of a general rule to follow throughout play.

3.build off of what your players give you: this means watching their actions and moves and come up with ways to reward or screw with them about it, and then reward if they pass your screwing with them. Other times though, it can simply mean an inadvertent action creating a whole new plot line. For example, my brainer came into the session, rolled weird to get info on a certain infection that was taking the town, got his information, then stone-cold executed the poor sons of bitches to stop the infection. I had no intention on any of that happening, but then was able to build off of that into an interesting story. I really should've done more with it than i did, but it was only second session.

4.Also, again in the MC rulebook, there's a thing that says "after every action ask: what do you do?" This one is huge. I have literally planned the bare minimum for my sessions and they've all wound up great. Why? Because of this rule right here. The awesome thing about AW is that the story-building happens around not just what the MC decides to throw at them, but also what the players wind up doing with themselves. That story up there occured because of "what do you do?" I've realized I'm a very improvy GM so, for me, i plan the bare minimum, but the point here is to be flexible and if you get a sudden burst of creativity, go with it! It creates awesome stories.

The thing about Apocalypse World is it's a snowball-y kind of game. I.e. this roll leads to this which leads to this etc. So, always always always be building off of something, even if it's something you just happen to pull out of your hat.

 Seeing as your players are new too, I also suggest this: first, be patient with them. Second, let them try and figure out what their character would do in this situation, and make sure it's their character; and part two to that is ask them questions about their character, even if it's the most minute things, but also try and get at their emotions. "What are you afraid of?" "What does x mean to you?" "What would you be willing to trade anything for?" Things like that, and then give them time to answer. It's about asking provocative questions, and I wish I had the link on me that gave some really cool examples. This process allows them to flesh out the character so you have even more stories to build from! Cause you can totally, absolutely, one hundred percent take something from a character's backstory, file it away for later, then drop it like a bomb a few sessions in.

This is a lot of information, and I kinda suck at explaining things, so I'll just stop here for right now.

thank you! now i can let my players play whatever they want xD

So, it's in the title. Lol it's just, I completely understand what every single other character playbook does, even the operator now that I've read the forums a bit. But I am totally clueless as to how the malacuso works. I know it's the most complex character in the game, but I feel like understanding all of them is important, especially for an mc (which i am)