The Trial
In 1925, Franz Kafka wrote The Trial, a novel about a man who found himself facing a never-ending trial on charges that were incomprehensible. Today we find ourselves in a similar situation.
In 1996 and 1997, Eric Livingston was arrested four times during our San Francisco outreaches. Twice he was put in jail. The District Attorney (D.A.) decided to prosecute and charged him with disturbing the peace. The D.A. claims that our Christian outreaches are illegal simply because somebody claims to have been disturbed by them.
Of course, that argument is absurd. The courts have ruled that a person can be convicted of disturbing the peace only when there is a clear and present danger of violence, or when the person is not intending to communicate a message.
When the matter first came before Judge Burleigh, he dismissed the charges because there was no evidence to support them. However, his dismissal was reversed a year later by an appeals court because he failed to write his reasons in the court docket. The matter was returned to Judge Burleigh and he again dismissed the charges. This time, he wrote in the docket that he was dismissing the charges because there was no evidence to support them and that it was a waste of taxpayer money. This time, his dismissal was reversed because one of the reasons he gave for dismissing the charges–that it was a waste of taxpayer money–was not a permissible reason.
On August 3, 2000 the matter came before Judge Burleigh a third time. This time he refused to dismiss the charges. He said that he did not have jurisdiction to dismiss the charges because his decisions had been reversed twice by the appeals court.
As a result, Eric is still being prosecuted under these charges. In August, we filed a motion asking the new judge (Thomas Mellon) to grant us a special pretrial hearing so we could prove that the city only enforces these ordinances against Christians. Last year, Judge Mason granted me a special hearing in a similar case, and ultimately ruled that the city had discriminated against me in enforcing a local noise ordinance.
Judge Mellon heard our motion on September 1. He denied our motion for a pretrial hearing, but gave us something better. He ruled that Judge Mason’s ruling in my case also applies to Eric’s case. He asked us for the complete transcript of my hearing. We believe he will dismiss the charges against Eric once he reads the transcript.
If he does not dismiss the charges, we will have to go to trial. A trial could last several weeks, since we have so much videotape evidence and so many witnesses. Our lawyer Russell Davis and I have spent a hundred or more hours on this case already. It would take countless hours to prepare for and have a full trial. Please pray that Judge Mellon will dismiss the charges so that we can avoid a trial.
On the Streets
Despite our legal problems, we continue to witness on the streets on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. On Friday August 4, we witnessed outside a Hanson concert at the Warfield Theater. About 2000 people, mostly suburban teenage girls and their parents, circled the block waiting to get into the theater. We were able to preach and offer gospel tracts to all of them.
On August 5, a King’s Kids team from the Philippines ministered at Powell and Market and Union Square. They did a synchronized dance using contemporary Christian music and shared testimonies between songs. A very large crowd gathered to watch them. An excellent worship band from Davis called Lifeflow also ministered at Union Square. Carol prayed with Cary to receive Jesus that afternoon.
After the outreach, there was a message on my answering machine from Sandy Lee of the Park Department. She said that half of our future Union Square permits had been denied. I called her the next week. She said that she had received complaints about us from the people who organize the art show there every weekend. She had decided to split the Union Square dates between us and them. A few days later, however, she ended up giving us all the dates we had requested. Hallelujah!
One woman who organizes the art show always sets up her booth right in front of our speakers, then complains that we are too loud. We try to cooperate with her, but she is very demanding. Please pray that we can resolve this problem, and that we will continue to get our permits at Union Square next year.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531‑5325 the day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday October 13, 20, 27 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in various S.F. neighborhoods. (Call for meeting location and directions.)
Sat. October 14 San Francisco Worship Rally. 2-4 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary St.).
Sat. October 21 Berkeley Outreach. 1:30‑5:30 PM. Telegraph and Haste St.
Sat. October 28 San Francisco Worship Rally. 12-1 PM Powell and Market St. 2-4 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary St.).
October 12-14 A Passion for Souls National Street Ministry Conference. Dallas, TX. Sonny Arguinzoni, Mario Murillo, Scott Hinkle, Matt Barnett. Call (602) 404-9757.
Miraculous Answer to Prayer
On Thursday August 10, eight year old Midsi Sanchez was abducted as she was walking home from school in Vallejo. A few hours later, twelve Christians from Church on the Hill began praying for the girl. They prepared meals for the Sanchez family and offered to help them any way they could. At a prayer meeting Saturday morning, one of them prophesied that the Spirit that released Paul and Silas would release the girl.
That morning, the girl managed to free herself from her captor, who had bound and shackled her in a car. Miraculously, she was able to flag down a delivery van as her captor was chasing her. The man was arrested that day. Today, a big sign outside the Sanchez home reads “Thanks for your prayers.” (This testimony appeared in the Vallejo News.)
Ministry Needs
Thank you again for your prayers and gifts to this ministry. Please continue to pray that more Christians will witness with us on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Also, pray that God will deliver us from our legal problems so that we can preach the gospel freely in San Francisco and Berkeley. Despite our legal troubles, we haven’t had any problem with the San Francisco police for the past two years. Last year, Officer Jones often spent all afternoon measuring the sound level at our Berkeley outreaches, looking for an excuse to arrest us. Recently, he has left us alone. Keep praying for him. He used to attend a Foursquare Church and his daughter attends a Christian school.
We have a new member of our evangelism house in Oakland, Brandon Matz. Actually, Brandon has witnessed with us for 13 years and lived in our house many years ago. We are happy to have Brandon with us. He also is an auto mechanic, if any of you need work on your cars.
In August, I visited my family in Indianapolis. My mother is 82 and very sick with emphysema. She says she is not afraid of death. I asked her what she thinks happens when she dies. She said, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Please pray for her, my three brothers, their wives, and my two nephews and two nieces, all of whom are unsaved.
In October, I will be attending the National Street Ministry Conference in Dallas. We will have a ministry booth there. The conference attracts 500-1000 Christians who are interested in street ministry. It has been ten years since I attended this conference. I look forward to seeing ministry leaders I haven’t seen for many years and meeting new brethren. It’s also an opportunity to find out what is happening in other evangelism ministries.
Please pray also for those who wrote us this past month, including Anthony (SF), Jesus (Oakland), Whitney (Concord), Jane (Sacramento), and Daisy (Uganda, Africa). Pray also for Ivan from Berkeley. His two brothers committed suicide a month apart and his father died from a heroin overdose. He is homeless and needs to get saved.
Our Tape of the Month is Leaving Lodebar : Sitting at the King’s Table by Greg Romine. Greg preaches the gospel to hundreds of thousands of people at crusades around the world. This message was given at this year’s SOS-San Francisco outreach.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum