Chinese New Year Parade Outreach
Dear Christian friends,
San Francisco has many parades and events that draw thousands of people, but the largest annual event is the Chinese New Year Parade. Each year, from two to three hundred thousand people come to Chinatown to see this parade! For the past eight years, we have sent a team of Christians to witness to these people. In the past, we were able to march at the end of the parade carrying our signs and banners. Last year, the police made an all-out effort to keep us out of the parade. Still, we were able to preach and give out tracts in English and Chinese to tens of thousands of people. It is an exciting outreach, and we invite you to join us this year. This outreach also serves as a mid-year reunion for those who participate in SOS-San Francisco. We are expecting Christians from as far away as Oregon to join us. We will be meeting at Templo El Calvario, 1419 Howard St. near 10th St. in downtown San Francisco at 3 PM for prayer and worship before going to Chinatown for the outreach which lasts until 11 PM. Worship will be led by “Forever Grateful,” the group which led worship for the second week of last summer’s SOS-San Francisco outreach.
Outreach Reports
December is the busiest month in downtown San Francisco, with multitudes of Christmas shoppers filling the area. The crowds were a bit smaller this year, but still we were able to preach and witness to thousands of people on several Friday night and Saturday afternoon outreaches. People seem to be most receptive to the gospel at Christmas time, and we had many good conversations. On December 16, “Forever Grateful” led worship and sang Christmas carols for three hours at the Powell St. BART station for our Christmas outreach. Christians from the S F Bay Area, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Redding joined us for the outreach. There was a tremendous anointing on the worship group as hundreds of people stood around listening. Several people prayed for salvation, rededication to Christ, and personal needs, including one man who said he was a satanist. We gave out 50 New Testaments to interested people.
We are planning a series of outreaches on Christmas weekend in conjunction with Vineyard Christian Fellowship, San Francisco, and New Life Christian Church, San Lorenzo. On Friday night we are joining about 75 Christians from Vineyard to witness to street people and Christmas shoppers in downtown San Francisco. Saturday afternoon we will be in Berkeley, singing Christmas carols, witnessing, and giving out blankets to the street people. Saturday night we have a service scheduled at the Oakland Jail. On Sunday afternoon we will be visiting two rest homes and witnessing in some bars in Hayward, inviting people to a Christmas eve dinner that night. On Christmas day, we will be ministering to teenagers at the San Leandro Juvenile Hall. On New Year’s eve, we are planning a special outreach with the youth group of New Covenant Fellowship, Livermore, in Berkeley. They are planning to join us on the streets the last Saturday of each month. We invite other youth groups to join us for these special youth outreaches.
Publicity and Legal Update
As I told you last month, our lawsuit against the City of Berkeley to stop the arrests for preaching the gospel has now been served. Our court case has been postponed at least until March and we will attempt to mediate the dispute in January. Please pray that God would provide fair mediators to help and that we would not have to pay the expenses for this mediation. Also, please pray that we would reach a fair agreement that will allow us to preach the gospel without being arrested and that the charges against us will be dropped.
On December 15, the University student paper, the Daily Californian, featured a front page article on the lawsuit and the free speech issues involved. This is the second front page article they have had on our ministry. Also in October, Blondie’s Pizza, a popular hangout on Telegraph and Durant, had featured a humorous advertisement about our street witnessing. As a result of all the publicity, large crowds are now stopping to listen to us whenever we preach, even when we don’t have anyone heckling us.
Reports of the lawsuit appeared on the Associated Press wire and we received numerous calls from newspapers and radio and TV stations. Our lawyer instructed us not to talk to any of the media because we are trying to mediate this dispute with the city and she does not want us to air our grievances at this time before the press. Nonetheless, the Oakland Tribune featured a front page article and we were on KCBS news and possibly other places.
On December 19, I was invited to appear on a Christian talk show in Placerville. I was the only guest so I was able to talk about evangelism for 90 minutes. The station owner said that 180,000 people listen to this program, so we were able to encourage a lot of Christians to get involved in evangelism. I offered all the viewers a free copy of my book, You Shall Be My Witnesses.
SOS-San Francisco
We are beginning to make plans for next summer’s SOS-San Francisco outreach, now entering its 11th year. We should have the dates in next month’s newsletter. We believe that there are many people God wants to save in San Francisco, and that He wishes to use ordinary Christians like you and me to reach them. When God asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah answered immediately, “Here am I, send me.” Will we follow his example?
The Army of God
This month we are offering a four-tape series by Chuck Girard, “The Army of God: a Vision for End Times Evangelism.” Chuck led worship and spoke at last summer’s SOS-San Francisco outreach and this tape series outlines a strategy for Christians mobilizing to reach our cities for Jesus in these last days. Every day new, dramatic events are occurring in this world, reminding us that we are living in the last of the last days. I believe that God wants to send the latter rain of His Spirit in one last great harvest of souls before He returns. He wants to use You in this great army He is raising up.
Ministry Needs
San Francisco is a very difficult city to reach and many ministries have come here with great expectations and left in discouragement. By God’s grace, SOS Ministries has continued an ongoing outreach in San Francisco for the past twelve years. As God permits, we intend to continue and expand our outreaches in San Francisco, as well as conduct occasional outreaches in other cities in Northern California.
During November and December, SOS Ministries experienced a dramatic decrease in income, especially among regular contributors. Already, we are feeling the effects: we can’t print any tracts and are falling behind in some of our financial obligations. Also, we have two special needs: a generator (so we don’t have to rent one several times a month) and a video camera. We don’t want to pressure anyone to give. All we ask is that you pray about these needs and consider supporting us on a monthly basis. SOS Ministries operates on a very small budget, about $2000 per month. When our income drops below this as it has the past few months, it is hard to make ends meet. We don’t know why so many regular contributors have stopped giving. Perhaps there is still confusion about the recent ministry changes. Please write or call me if I can help clarify things or reassure you that we intend to continue to fulfill the original vision of SOS Ministries.
The Effectiveness of Open Air Evangelism
I believe that SOS Ministries has had a tremendous impact on the people of San Francisco and many others from all over the world. We have printed and given out several million gospel tracts. We have trained thousands of Christians in evangelism, many of whom are now witnessing in their own communities. We have personally witnessed to thousands of people. We often receive calls and letters from people who were saved through this ministry. Countless others we will only learn about in heaven. We know God’s Word does not return void and that if we sow abundantly, we will reap an abundant harvest of souls for our Lord.
Last week, I was reading a biography of John and Charles Wesley. These men, along with Whitefield, preached out of doors several times weekly to as many as 25,000 people at one time, without an amplifier! Most churchgoers regarded them as fanatics for preaching outside the church, as they do today. They also often found themselves in the middle of riots, and were stopped from preaching by the police.
As John S. Simon wrote, “If Methodism had not come into contact with the mob it would never have reached the section of the English people which most needed salvation. The `Religious Societies’, shut up in their rooms, would never have reformed the country. It was necessary that a race of heroic men should arise, who would dare to confront the wildest and most brutal men, and tell them the meaning of sin, and show them the Christ of the Cross and of the Judgment Throne. The incessant assaults of the mob on the Methodist preachers showed that they had reached the masses. With a superb courage…the Methodist preachers went again and again, to the places from which they had been driven by violence, until their persistence wore down the antagonism of their assailants. Then, out of the once furious crowd, men and women were gathered whose hearts the Lord had touched.” (The Revival of Religion in the Eighteenth Century)
When we are willing to obey the Great Commission of our Lord and follow in the footsteps of His disciples in the Book of Acts, God will bless our labors and bring forth much fruit. Come join us for the Chinese New Year Parade Outreach on February 10. We will also be having a special outreach the following Saturday, February 17, with Jerry Brandt, Director of Action Evangelism, who has a dynamic outreach especially directed to reaching the homeless.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
