June 2015 Mission Link Great Commission Experiences from Dr. David Upp

Only IF you OBEY ME are you My Friends!

SCOOT! Get Going! Obey Me by transforming people who belong to every single Language Group into My committed Followers! TEACH them to

OBEY all of My commandments, too!

-Jesus Christ

Nunavut Great Commission

Above, you can see one of my favorite pieces of Christian ART, a Chancel painting from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada: of Jesus Christ commissioning His eleven Apostles high atop the Galilean Mount, but surrounded by scenes of the icy Arctic. Missionaries are carrying the Gospel by dogsled and kayak to the very remotest peoples of the earth! This is the true Great Commission. We can’t just TELL, we must also TEACH! Matthew’s text is in English, Latin, & York Cree (Syllabic Script invented by Wesleyan Missionary James Evans in 1840: The birch bark began to speak the words of the Great Spirit. Evans Script is also used for Baffin Eskimo, Slave, Beaver, & Ojibwa/ Chipewyan languages/Testaments.

Matthew 24:86-14 is clear: The SIGN of The End & Jesus’ Second Coming is not earthquakes/wars/attacks/famines [= false labor]. Jesus shall only return when we OBEY His Great Commission!

I hope your prayers for my visa and teaching in India have now been answered!

Last month, I asked you to pray for the [“expedited” or emergency] issuance of a new US Passport & a new Indian Visa (each for ten years). By the time you get this Mission Link, an answer will have been reached. The first stage was a success. Instead of my earlier plans (flying to Washington, D.C. or to Houston, instead), I ended up driving to Denver (even though that meant paying for a plane ticket I couldn’t use). Last time, no appointments were necessary for a passport, but this time around the US Bureaucracy has expanded [& ossified] – so I couldn’t get an appointment to apply for a passport within ten days in Houston! BUT, a helpful agent (Our tax dollars at work!) in Denver received my papers at 9:15 AM, and I received my passports back at 2:20 PM! My plan had been to drive straight from Denver to Houston, but May 19, 2015 (date of my new passport) was also the day my Mother died. So I hopped into my car & drove back those same 500 miles to Hutchinson [odd: I got 48 mpg driving uphill to Denver, but only 42 mpg driving downhill from Denver]. Two agencies to go: both in Houston. My new plan is to have a new visa “in hand” by the end of my June 1-5 trek (= another 1250 miles to drive).

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David Upp’s Mission Link June 2015

“Wherever your Treasure Is … There shall your Heart be also!”

I invite you to analyze your congregation’s Budget in terms of the #1 Priority Jesus Christ placed upon His Church: Global Missions. Feeding the hungry, Clothing the Naked, Burying the Dead are OKAY (cf. ‘Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy’ & ‘Seven Spiritual Acts of Mercy’), but they are not areas about which our Risen Lord Jesus Christ issued His Marching Orders! You might like overwhelming pipe-organs, pads on the pews, and all of the latest office machines/gadgets/devices… but Jesus is not impressed. We spend over 99% of all Offerings on… OURSELVES! I recently saw a “Missions” bulletin board at a church which has 3 full-time Foreign Missionaries, but they weren’t mentioned. Instead the focus was wearing Church T-Shirts to a ballgame, canned food, old clothes…. IS Missions #1 in your congregation’s Budget? You may have “Missions & Ministries” or some such item in your budget. What Percentage of THAT is actually going to Foreign Missions, Evangelizing those who have NEVER heard the Gospel, or planting churches in barren fields? No, most of those “mission funds” are spent here at home on salary packages for area leaders, meetings about strengthening the Institutional Church here, programs for those who have “always” been Christians: expenditures that honestly have nothing to do with fulfilling The Great Commission. We need faithful leaders who will restore a proper PRIORITY on our TOP Challenge.

"Li li bib la!" I got a special Birthday Present this year. Rev. Kalaba Chali (Great Plains Conference Head of Missions) was sending me to teach Old Testament in Haïti mid-June, close to my 64th birthday on June 15th! Unfortu-nately, that plan fell through: Maybe another time?? Haïtian Creole: Li li bib la. / French: Il lit la Bible. / & English: He [or she] is reading the Bible. That’s the Point of my Pastors’ Training!

“English Camp” August 1-15, in Kyiv, Ukraine

“Men for Missions” is a branch of OMS/ONE Mission Society [originally the Oriental Mission Society, but now it operates globally]. They offer the chance to share our Christian Faith with English-speaking college-aged Ukrainian “Searchers.” I met Rev. Glenn Ioder in Uruguay, and he had experienced this camp. Changes in Ukraine (including the Russian annexation of The Crimea, and the revolt of Russian-Separatists), force all to re-evaluate their lives & priorities. Which makes this an excellent time to share the Reality of Life in Christ with thoughtful atheists who have been educated to believe that Christianity is merely myths and delusions.

On the World-Wide-Web, you can find hundreds of opportunities for Missions, for almost every country, long-term and/or short-term. Almost any kind of skill/training can be put to use to undergird existing Teams [like motorcycle maintenance on Mindanao]! Ask God where you might be used/sent most powerfully & effectively for the sake of Jesus Christ!

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David Upp’s Mission Link June 2015

India is a Terrible Place to Live, but a very good place to Serve!

India is a thoroughly CORRUPT Nation & Society, but Does that mean we should not Go & Tell its People the Gospel? No! Its very Corruption demonstrates the desperate need for Servants of Christ willing to serve in their midst. MANY of the denominations SEND Missionaries into the Land of India!

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One-sixth of the world’s population lives in India: 1 Billion, 2 hundred and 72 Million people. India reached 1 Billion in 1998, but is expected to have a population of 1.6 Billion by 2050. 65% are 35 or younger, half>25. India has 97% of the World’s Jains, 90% of the Sikhs, 80% of the Hindus, 10% of the Muslims, & only 1% of the World’s Christians. Per capita GDP for India is $4K, USA $52.8K [13xñ].

Madhya Pradesh (‘Central State’) has 75 Million

people, twenty-six times more than the 2.86 Million in Kansas (USA’s Central State), Density: 610/sq.mi. (versus 35), ¾ rural. MP’s Literacy rate is under 70%.

Hutchinson has 42,080 folks, founded in AD 1871. Jabalpur has 2,460,714 & was capital of the Gond Kingdom eight centuries ago [cf. Gondwanaland] & the Kalchuri capital from the 9th –10th centuries A.D. Hutchinson has 70% church members, Jabalpur 6%. Jabalpur’s temperature is now 105-112° F./41-45° C.

Leonard Theological College was named for a Methodist Bishop & his father (head of our Missions Board—who provided funds for our main buildings). It’s on the Civil Lines (opposite city’s military area) close to famed Gun Carriage Factory (Jabalpur’s location mid-country is ideal for military plants; VFJ produced thousands of Shaktimans & Stallions). Post-graduate Seminarians seek the 4-year Bachelor of Divinity degree [equivalent to M.Div. in USA], issued through Serampore Senate (like all Christian degrees for ministry in India, from all 55 seminaries).

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MAY Trivia Question: Why did the Japanese Empire wait till the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor to attack colonial territories owned by European nations & by the USA (as part of their surprise expansion of World War II; territories including The Philippines, Dutch East Indies/Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, & Singapore)? Answer: They didn't. Attacks in Southeast Asia occurred on December 8, 1941--the same day as the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The International Date Line runs between those regions, causing many confusion.

JUNE Trivia Question: India’s New Prime Minister Narendra Modi is from which Party: Congress [of Nehru/Gandhi fame]? or the BJP? Were there any other Political Parties involved?

David Upp teaching on “Shalom” at Hutch Trinity’s VBS.

One cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the

Cup of Demons. -First Corinthians 10:21

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David Upp’s Mission Link June 2015

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Here you can see the Great Flood of ‘51 in Kansas City (completely overflowing normal state borders)! Kansas/Kaw River failed to stay within its banks on the last two turns into the Missouri River, totally obliterating the huge KC Stockyards (served by 16 railroads and then second only to Chicago’s).

What does that have to do with me? I was born a “Blue Baby” [erythroblastosis fetalis] during that Flood. Then: ¾ of the Blue Babies died & ¾ of those who lived had brain damage. A Minnesota doctor had a “wild idea” & gave a lecture in KC to test its acceptance. He’d planned to leave, but was trapped in KC by the Flood. Somebody at old St. Joseph’s Hospital (in this photo at 8th & Pennsylvania) heard he was still in town, called him, and he came over to experiment on me. He gave me a total Blood Transfusion through my left temple, which removed from my system my mother’s anti-bodies [which were attacking my red blood cells] and saved me! That intervention reminds me of how my Grandmother’s life was saved at my Aunt’s birth in Chicago in 1913. Both seemed about to die, but her doctor remembered the old tale of Caesar’s birth & tried to cut her womb open to remove the baby. My Aunt had a scar on her forehead from his scalpel, but both lived & the surprisingly successful procedure was written up and published in the medical journals! He repeated his technique at my Mother’s birth in 1923 & all three of my kids were delivered in this manner.

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A TUG-of-WAR OVER the CHURCH: While I was working in the Medical Laboratory of Houston’s Fourth Ward Clinic, before I had begun my seminary studies, I had a dream. In that dream, I was shaving outside a medieval church in Southern France & could see a red-haired, demon-possessed man nearby mocking me. He taunted me for my Faith in Jesus Christ & challenged me to a Tug-of-War. The rope went up over the tall church. His demonic-strength assisted him to pull me straight up the wall, onto the roof, over its peak, & down the opposite slope. Then my steps froze [as in Psalm 121:3 & 66:9] & he was unable to pull me to my death. That moment transformed into a Sculpture… then the Dream continued as I prayed at my bedside: In the Lord’s strength, I then turned around & marched up the roof, over its peak & all of the way down to the ground; my adversary pulled helplessly up to and off of the roof. But, instead of killing him, I caught my enemy’s body in my own arms as he hurtled down—driving the demon out of him.

That dream puzzled me in 1974, but God had given me fair warning that accepting His Call to serve as an Ordained Minister would not lead to an

easy life. I could not imagine then how the Church would morph into an arena of socio-political attacks upon our Biblical Faith. That “Social Principles” would be twisted to make Christians into advocates of Abomination, how that Tug-of-War would threaten to engulf & destroy us all, before God’s Grace would deliver us from our-worst-selves/demonic powers, to once again Affirm & Spread Scriptural Holiness across these Lands (John Wesley’s Mission Statement for all Methodists). From Teetering on the Brink (in sick Conferences like Oregon-Idaho) to the current upwelling of African UMC Brothers & Sisters which insures Sound Doctrine (Study I Timothy 1:9-10) shall continue as our official UM Policy & Discipline --the Tug-of-War is still playing itself out. May the final portion of my old Dream also come to pass, and those who would mock & destroy Biblical Christian Faith have their Demons driven out by steadfast Love.

The Earliest Portions of my Testimony: How God used a Massive Flood to Save my Life!

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David Upp’s Mission Link June 2015

My mother, Neva Jane Upp, is Safe in the Arms of Jesus: after 91 years of Christian Leadership, Family Guidance, & Community Service. She was born in Blue Island, Illinois; but grew up in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada—Winters full of ice hockey & Summers swimming in the Niagara River. Her father, Wilbur Roy “Nemo” Manock, civil engineer, worked his way up to serve as the Sunday School Superintendent & President of Horton Steel, Ltd. Her mother, Neva White Moore

Manock, was a Normal College Graduate & one-room schoolmarm, returning after Wilbur’s retirement to Chicago, & then Hutch. Her sister Dorothy “Finn” Manock was an Illini history major, then Executive Secretary for the heads of Chicago Bridge & Iron (she lived in Hutch near one of their Horton Spheroids as she continued the family’s philanthropic traditions). Neva Jane Manock graduated from Buffalo Seminary (4 years of Latin), and Wheaton College (English major, History minor), then rushed into World War II as a US Navy Intelligence Officer, in Washington, D.C., quickly promoted to Lieutenant, JG. Then she became an editor for Time-Life in Chicago, where she met Robert Ellsworth Upp (USN Supply Corps [Lieutenant Commander], from Iowa, a graduate in Economics from Carleton College) at a church Christmas Tree Party. Their daughter, Sarah Neva Upp [Godbey], was born in Boulder, Colorado, where Bob began law school; their son, David Ellsworth Upp, in Kansas City where Bob graduated from UMKC. They chose Hutchinson, Kansas, as their new home & joined Trinity Methodist Church, where, between them, they held almost every office. Neva Jane was a Sunday School teacher, and trained other teachers via Lab-Schools across Kansas West, where she also served as a long-term Lay Member of Annual Conference, and a 10-year board member for UM Camp Horizon (near Arkansas City). While Robert served Hutchinson as a City Commissioner & Mayor, Neva Jane was a leader in the Wesleyan Service Guild & UMW, AAUW, County & State Fair Knitting Judge, & a Precinct Election Official; renowned for her creative & informative Book Reviews & knitting thousands of caps & mittens. Bob & Neva Jane served Hutch through the YMCA and the Salvation Army for decades (Manock Community Center is named for Neva Jane’s mother). They also loved to travel far & near, criss-crossing the USA on family vacations & exploring fifty lands. Even in her 80’s, Neva Jane visited both Russia and Fiji. Dec. 29, 2008, Robert & Neva Jane celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary! When Neva Jane turned 90, she celebrated with a Swimming Party at Hutchinson YMCA’s Manock Pool, with three succeeding generations paddling around beside her!

Mother died on Tuesday, May 19th, and her Memorial Service was held at Hutch: Trinity UMC on Saturday, May 30th, attended by her two children, all five grandchildren, and 6-of-her-8 great-grandkids.

I want to testify to God’s Goodness and Provision. When I had to step down from my teaching in Jabalpur and Aizawl (as India’s Parliament changed the visa rules), I had to make a very difficult transition from year-round ministry to piecing together a dozen short-term Missions & Itineration all around the world [Indochina, Jamaica, Kansas, Canary Islands, Spain, Guyana, Hong Kong, Philippines, Caribbean Isles, Honduras, Uruguay & primarily Ecuador]. But, in these same years, God saw to it that I was at my Mother’s side, sharing our last years together [although we didn’t know when her life would end… her mother lived to 102]. Now, looking backward, I can see & rejoice in God’s great gift for both of us. Mom & Dad moved to a retirement home on my First Day of service as Conference Missionary (February 1, 2008). That meant I lived half-a-world-away while teaching seminarians at Jabalpur, Tarawa & Aizawl. Daughter Hannah & I were in Turkmeni-stan, the Silk Road when Dad died in 2009. But this time I got to tell Mom’s stories back to her, share meals, drive her to worship & family events, watch hockey & golf at her side—even as her abilities & stamina were declining. It was a time we both treasured!