The Apostolic Congress (a.k.a. Apostolic Coalition & Apostolic Initiative)

It appears that Stan Wachtstetter in 1981 was able to open a door for Apostolics to have some form of communication with the White House and the Apostolic Congress grew out of these encounters. He was an adviser to the Executive Board of the Apostolic Congress while Robert G. Upton was the Executive Director. Upton became involved in the group several years ago after meeting Wachtstetter and was later elected as director. It cannot be determined from their web site who else may have been involved in the Apostolic Congress. Neither Wachtstetter nor Upton are listed in the 2004 United Pentecostal Church Directory as holding license with the United Pentecostal Church. In 2014, Stan Wachtstetter wrote a book on Apostolic Pentecostals in the twentieth century titled The Century of the Name.

Sometime in 2005, the Apostolic Initiative was formed and there was a website, theapostolicinitiative.org & .com, but those are no longer in operation and Wayback does not have a screen shot. However, a Facebook page [no longer in operation] for it has been available since 2011, but has not been updated since April 2013. I found a mention of what happened in the description for Wachtstetter's book as follows, "Rev. Wachtstetter turned the work of Apostolic Coalition over to other men as his schedule in foreign countries escalated but in recent years the White House and many Apostolic ministers began to ask him to restart the work he had done with the Coalition. He prayed about it with his family, and his son-in-law, Rev. Greg Harris agreed to do the work if Rev. Wachtstetter would serve as his senior advisor. This would allow Bro. Wachtstetter to continue the mission work in Russia and the Ukraine. Bro. Wachtstetter agreed to this and co-founded the Apostolic Initiative with Rev. Harris. Rev. Harris now carries this load."

On their web site they claim to be a pro-life and pro-family organization that "informs Christians in America about abortion issues and family values" as well as "a Spirit-filled, purpose driven movement representing the heartbeat of the Apostolic Community on a national front." They are "sponsoring a grassroots campaign in support of Israel." The group feels they are "affecting policy in Washington, and bringing about real change in America." The Congress believes they provide "a consciousness to the political structure of our nation, by meetings, dialogues and on-going communication."

They claim to work closely with the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. as well as other organizations in the city such as the Christian Coalition. Their seal is very similar to the presidential seal. They've received a fair amount of negative press, mainly due to their end time beliefs as well as teachings which differ from mainstream Christianity.

On their web site, they have a gallery section, with photographs of a handful of government officials, as well as ones with people such as Jerry Falwell and the Rod Parsleys. Upton is in almost all of these pictures.

They have a link to a message President George Bush gave via video to the 2003 UPC General Conference meeting as well as a page set aside for information about President Bush. It appears Upton is doing his best to show his picture with President Bush, and posts a couple pictures with himself in the foreground and the president somewhere in the background.

As of late October 2004, the web site had a calendar section with important dates that do not show any events, including election day. Their event page is outdated, only listing one past event in May of 2004.

The site offers a free bumper sticker as well as an e-mail list notifying supporters of events. They also encourage contributions to allow them "to continue to be your Apostolic Voice in our Capitol."

Robert Upton was raised in Connellsville, Pennsylvania and graduated from Connellsville Area High School in 1979. Upton married at age 16 while a senior at high school in 1978 and has three adult married children. He graduated from Belmont University in Nashville and is said to be working on a theology degree from Liberty University. He pastors the Bible Church of the Living God on 760 Power Street in Clarksville, Tennessee. In December of 2003, he and a select group of religious leaders and delegates were invited to dinner with President Bush and his wife.

By his own admission in early 2002, he is a big fan of The Andy Griffith Show and has met most of the cast. He says Jim Nabors was a big fan of his music. He claims a successful career as a Gospel recording artist and that he established two churches in the former Soviet Union and has churches in Belize, Central America, and in Crimea Ukraine.

Note: As the website is no longer in operation, the following information is most likely no longer valid. The Apostolic Congress may be contacted at: P. O. Box 2175, Clarksville, TN 37042; phone 931-920-8809 (also is the church phone) or they may be contacted at P.O. Box 2988, Washington, DC 20013. Their e-mail is ApostolicVoiceDC@aol.com. Robert Upton's e-mail is PastorUpton@aol.com. He is not to be confused with the author, Robert Upton. Later under Harris, the address changed to 23336 Highway 6 E, Batesville, Mississippi 38606.

Upton now appears to be involved in the (internationalchristianleadershipcoalition.com - no longer around) International Christian Leadership Coalition. "In 2010 Bishop Frank Munsey and Bob formed the International Christian Leadership Coalition, to represent Christians in every corner of the Globe and bring the good news of peace and love and share our prosperity with the less fortunate and bring them hope, teaching them to lead. After Bishop Munsey passed in 2011, Upton has carried on the work as Executive Director, and is traveling around the world as a humanitarian."

2019 Development:

In the fall of 2019, The United Pentecostal Church formed a new division called the National Apostolic Christian Leadership Conference (NACLC), which at this time is focused on the United States but they hope to expand into Canada. Their goal is to be "a voice for Apostolic Pentecostals in the halls of government" and they seek to "have friends in high places." They do not want their tax exempt status to be taken away and they want to get members of their churches registered to vote. They are interested in border security and immigration reform and one of the first things they did was participate in a "Congressional level tour" of that area in the south. Other Oneness Pentecostals joined them, as well as non-Apostolics. In the 2020 video below with David Bernard, which announces this effort, you will notice that the Mississippi District is mentioned. They have been politically involved for years and I touch on the subject a little in my article on Kim Davis, Savannah Eliseo And Jeff Sangl. The Tiptons are mentioned in my article and Kanon Tipton, David's grandson, was was featured in a National Geographic segment some years back as he 'preached' (actually parrotted adult behavior he had seen in services) in church at a very young age. In the video it is also mentioned that they wish to ally with a legal defense group which they believe their churches need.

As of 2023, David K. Bernard is the Chairman/President, Ken Gurley is the Executive Director and VP of Apostolic Alliance and David Tipton is the VP of Apostolic Action Network. It is stated on their website, "NACLC will on occasion collaborate with organizations that differ in their faith, but who understand and appreciate our apostolic faith and distinctives. Generally, such organizations embrace either the Lausanne Covenant or the Apostles Creed which do not exclude our beliefs. Any mention of the word "catholic" in such documents refer to the "general" or "universal" church (i.e., "Christendom.")" It costs to join this conference. There are different charges for individuals, churches and organizations.

Below is a video of David Bernard speaking about the border tour as well as a brief video announcing the NACLC and requesting donations. [Note that sometime after this article was updated in February 2020, the two videos were made private. It is always interesting how many things vanish or are made private after we, or others, report on them.]

Below is a picture from when Ken Gurley and David Bernard met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in early February 2020. Bernard has mentioned more than once on social media that he was given Pompeo's personal cell phone number. Bernard also met with Ted Cruz in February and the Texas border tour in McAllen and Harlingten was on November 14, 2019. The border picture is from Jesus Name News and the other two are from Bernard's Facebook profile.

The National Apostolic Christian Leadership Conference will hold their first annual Prayer & Fellowship Summit on June 7-8, 2023. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Tables may be sponsored for a donation of $5,000, which gives space for ten people. The summit is touted as the "first-of-its-kind meeting."

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