Bay Area Outreach Ministries Newsletter
Help Arrives in San Francisco
Dear Christian friends,
In 1975, God called me to come to San Francisco and witness on the streets. For several years, I witnessed by myself or with one other Christian. By 1978, I had met leaders of several churches and Christian ministries who wanted to join together for evangelism outreaches with up to 200 Christians. In 1980, we planned our first week-long SOS-San Francisco outreach.
This past year was the tenth year for SOS-San Francisco. Each outreach has been different, but God has used these outreaches mightily to bring the gospel message to many people in San Francisco and to train many Christians in evangelism. I want to share with you a few of the highlights of this year’s outreach.
On the first night of the outreach, I went to Polk Street and met a young man about 19 who told me he really wanted to get off the streets. He had been living in group homes and on the street since he was seven and had frequently been sexually abused through this time. I took him home and we spent the next day looking for a place for him. We found a Christian family to take him in, but we learned he left a few days later. I was sorry to hear this, but trust that we were able to leave him with a good witness of God’s love for him.
Wednesday afternoon a few of us joined evangelist Ray Comfort at Sproul Plaza in Berkeley. He is very good at dealing with hecklers and we learned a lot from watching him. The next day, he preached at Embarcadero Plaza and Chuck Girard sang. Many businessmen stood around to listen and took New Testaments. On Friday afternoon the entire SOS team went to Berkeley. We were preaching and witnessing at several locations in the area. The usual hecklers were there and it was quite wild at times, but God’s word went forth and many were ministered to. It was also an eye-opener for the Christians, who had never seen anything like it.
The following Tuesday we had another outreach at Embarcadero Plaza. Tim Charles had put together a worship group for that week which was excellent, despite the fact that they had only practiced together a short time. Many were drawn by the worship and about 200 people received New Testaments.
The final three days of the outreach featured a noon rally at the Powell Street BART station and an evening crusade at First Covenant Church. Aline Baxley, who has an amazing testimony of how she was taken down to see hell after a near-death experience, shared at the afternoon rallies and hundreds of people gathered to see her. Afterwards she prayed for many people. Some were saved and set free of demons. About a dozen people from that area came to the Friday night meeting, where Mario Murillo spoke. Ten responded to his invitation to receive Christ and were each counseled for about 45 minutes. One was a young man who had been involved in prostitution. He seemed really repentant so we took him home and arranged for a ride to take him to Lighthouse Ranch, a Christian discipleship program near Eureka, CA. As of this writing, he is still there, making some friends, and growing in the Lord.
On the final day, another young man was saved. He told me that God had told him to drive to San Francisco from Los Angeles. When he arrived, he went to Powell St. where he heard Aline. He went forward for prayer and his big grin told everyone he was really saved. He joined us for the meeting that night.
I was able to preach several times at Powell Street and at the Embarcadero. At each location, hundreds of people listened to the gospel with virtually no opposition. In the evening, I went to the Haight, Polk and Castro St. One night on Polk St., I talked with 8 male prostitutes, all from a Christian background. It is tragic to see the damage the Devil is doing to our youth, but we did what we could to share the Gospel with them. Sometimes it takes many years for a person to get right with God. A group from Victory Outreach came to our meeting on Thursday night. One of those who came was a brother who used to witness with me twelve years ago, before backsliding into alcohol and homosexuality for ten years. He has been serving the Lord for the past year, living in the Victory Outreach discipleship home.
I left the outreach encouraged that God wants to save many people in the San Francisco Bay Area as His church will be obedient to pray, to get our own lives right with God, and to witness for Him.
Other Outreaches
On August 23, the Weekend Warriors ministry, a team of 25 youth from a town near Portland, Oregon, joined us in Berkeley. They set up a stage and PA system at Telegraph and Bancroft, and did drama and music. Dennis McNally and I preached afterwards. At first they were scared by the hecklers and weird people they saw, but as they prayed God gave them compassion for the people and they were really excited to see God use them to minister to many people.
Four Arrested in Berkeley
On Friday, August 25, Kevin Farrer was preaching on Telegraph and Durant, our usual location, with a permit. A few troublemakers started provoking the crowd against him. Java (our usual heckler) was yelling in his ear. Before long about 10 people were right on top of him, yelling in his ear such things as “We love Satan” and leading the crowd that had gathered in a yell so people couldn’t hear his preaching. Kevin stopped preaching and went across the street with the amplifier, and began to preach there without problems. Chuck Spingola stayed at this location, tried to preach with his voice, and ended up talking to people in the crowd. At 9:15, the Berkeley police arrived. Instead of protecting us and arresting the troublemakers who were inciting the crowd against us, they arrested four of us. I was kept in jail until 3:30 AM when I was bailed out. The other three were cited and released.
Interestingly, we had filed a federal lawsuit that day against the City of Berkeley and the University of California for denying us our civil rights. Friday was the deadline for filing, and we felt that we needed to do this to help protect the rights of Christians in this country to preach the gospel without being arrested. Our desire is still to reach an agreement with the police not to arrest us and to protect our rights, but without the lawsuit they would have no reason to try to settle this matter.
Our Christian attorney, Julia Spain, has agreed not to charge us for her time, which will involve hundreds of hours. But we will need to pay for legal expenses, which will cost thousands of dollars over the next year. For example, we must soon get depositions from all the police officers with a court reporter, costing over $100/hour for many hours. The last time we mentioned our legal situation and the legal fund we had set up, only $10 came in so we are really stepping out on faith, trusting that God will provide the funds if He wants us to proceed. Please do pray for us that God will guide us and strengthen us through this very difficult time, and provide all our needs. We do believe that God wants us to continue preaching the Gospel in Berkeley. A small group of God-haters wants us out, but many thousands of students and others need to hear about Jesus.
Other Ministry Needs
During the SOS-San Francisco outreach, we ran into several teenagers who needed a Christian home to live in. They either didn’t have parents or their parents had abused them. They lived on the streets or in group homes where they suffered physical and sexual abuse. They had never known the love of a Christian home, which we often take for granted. Such people can be quite a challenge for us, but I believe there are Christian families who will be willing to take in youth and try to help them. The Bible says much of our responsibility to help those in need. If you are interested, or know someone who is already involved in this kind of ministry, write or call me. I would also be happy to send you a copy of a teaching I wrote: Training Christian Families to Disciple New Believers. Let me know if you would like a copy.
Our Tape of the Month is called “The Next Move of God” by Mario Murillo. Mario is presently involved in a crusade at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, from August 27-September 17.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
OUTREACH SCHEDULE
WEEKLY OUTREACHES—THURSDAY 10:30 AM-2 PM FRIDAY 6:45 – 11 PM SATURDAY 12-4 PM Meet at 3039 Dakota St., Oakland. Take 580 Freeway to Fruitvale exit. East on Fruitvale to MacArthur. Right on MacArthur to Maple. Right on Maple (2 blocks) to Dakota. Left on Dakota. House is 1/2 block up on right. Call to confirm meetings.
SPECIAL EVENTS—
SEPTEMBER 29-OCTOBER 1 NEW HOPE WORSHIP CONFERENCE, SACRAMENTO $20. Contact New Hope Christian Fellowship, 1650 Tribute Rd., Sacramento, CA 95815, (916) 649-9064.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 14 SANTA CRUZ OUTREACH Meet at 10 AM at 3039 Dakota St. Oakland. Call us for Santa Cruz meeting location.