Taking San Francisco for God!
SOS-San Francisco – Coming August 17-25
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Then said I, “Here am I; send me” Isaiah 6:8.
When evangelist Luis Palau came to San Francisco in 1980, he gave five reasons for having a mass evangelistic crusade:
1. The gospel goes to many thousands more people than if just one or two churches were involved.
2. The whole city becomes “God-conscious” for the period of the outreach, making Jesus Christ and the Bible common topics of discussion among all groups of people for much longer.
3. The powers of darkness are disrupted as the light of Christ is firmly held up by a united church.
4. As a result of this disruption of Satan’s strongholds, evangelism becomes easier.
5. Churches grow and plant new churches in areas of the city where crusade decisions reveal a need.
In 1980, we held our first SOS-San Francisco outreach. We held two large worship rallies in Union Square with over 1000 Christians at each, gave out 400,000 tracts, and the whole city truly became conscious of Jesus Christ during that week. The next year, about 3000 people came against us at Union Square, blowing whistles in our ears and tearing up our Bibles. They had been told that we “hated homosexuals” but God showed us we were only to worship Him, and the opposition dispersed as we sang “Oh the Blood of Jesus” over and over. Since that time, several new churches have begun and are growing in San Francisco. Several thousand Christians have obtained experience in evangelism through SOS and many are now involved in outreaches in their own communities. Major city-wide outreaches patterned in part after SOS-San Francisco have been established in at least a dozen cities around the U.S. And only in heaven will we know how many people have been saved from eternal Hell because of those of you who took the time to come to SOS-San Francisco.
San Francisco is one of the most strategic cities in the world to reach for Jesus Christ. Many destructive trends have begun in San Francisco and quickly spread across the U.S. and around the world. The first of the violent 1960’s political protests began in 1960 at San Francisco city hall. San Francisco was saw the initiation of the topless bar, the drug movement, “acid rock”, the “gay” rights movement, the “Church of Satan”, the beginnings of numerous cults and new age philosophies, etc. Last month, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to approve testing of RU-486, the abortion pill. Faced with such ungodliness, we need to remember that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corin. 10:4). God has given us powerful spiritual weapons to come against Satan’s work: united prayer, worship, and proclamation of the Gospel. SOS-San Francisco is simply a vehicle through which Christians can unite for these purposes.
We need your help!
We have printed 7000 posters and 30,000 bulletin inserts to let people know about SOS-San Francisco. Please help us get this literature to churches, Christian bookstores, and Bible schools in your area. Also, you can give them out at Christian concerts and other events. A card has been enclosed to order literature. Also, talk with your pastor and Christian friends and encourage them to get involved. Set aside the week of August 17-25 to attend the SOS outreach and bring a friend.
We have enclosed a registration form with this newsletter. If you register by July 1, you will also receive a free SOS T-shirt. Free housing is available at the Russian Gospel Temple. Bring a sleeping bag and foam pad. If you prefer, we can send you hotel information. This year, we are only able to serve breakfast and lunch (starting Monday August 20. No meals the first weekend.) However, there are inexpensive restaurants nearby to get dinner. If you live in the Bay Area and must work, you may join us at night and on weekends. Please call or write us if you have any questions.
DON’T DELAY. SEND IN YOUR REGISTRATION FORM TODAY!
Ministry News
As I was writing this letter, a 15 year old boy called me, having received a tract in San Francisco on Saturday. He had just come to Jesus and wanted to receive a Bible and find a good church near him. Two weeks ago, a homeless man in his 40’s was witnessed to in the Haight-Ashbury and is now part of the discipleship program at the Richmond Rescue Mission and is doing really well spiritually. We also learned recently about a street person one of our house members took to our house over a year ago who is now saved and part of a discipleship program at another mission.
We have been seeing a really powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the worship rallies at the Powell St. BART station. Last Saturday, Christians prayed with several people for salvation and for other needs. Friday night, we witnessed at a party at the Embarcadero Plaza for runners in the “Bay to Breakers race.” A few thousand “yuppies” drank and danced to several rock bands at the plaza. We brought our signs, and the lead singer of one band read the gospel message on one of our signs over the microphone to the hundreds of people listening to him! It reminded me of the party King Belshazzar had in Babylon when the handwriting suddenly appeared on the wall.
Legal Update
A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to participate with our lawyer, Julia Spain, on a national Christian TV show, “Great Life Today” hosted by Rich Wilkerson. We spoke about the legal problems we have been having in Berkeley. Rich was surprised to hear that Christians in the U.S. were being put in jail for preaching the gospel. Just last Friday, the same Berkeley officer who has imprisoned several of us threatened another brother with arrest unless he stopped preaching. We have filed a lawsuit against the city of Berkeley for violating our constitutional rights and imprisoning us falsely. We had hoped to work out a settlement with thecity but they recently told us they were unwilling to talk with us, so it looks like we will need to proceed with the lawsuit. It will be a David and Goliath situation with our one lawyer and no money against their team of high-priced lawyers and unlimited funds. Please continue to pray that God would give us wisdom in handling this situation.
Evangelism Training Opportunity
We have a new brother living in our house, Tim Burgess. Tim attended Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas and was involved in street ministry in Palm Beach, FL, and Hollywood, CA.
We are happy to have Tim living with us. We still have several openings in our house and need Christians (men and women) with a burden for evangelism to live here. To my knowledge, this is the only house of its kind where Christians can receive practical training in street ministry. Please call or write me soon if you are interested. There is tremendous warfare against those who determine to preach thegospel. Christians who live here come against considerable satanic attack. Nonetheless, God desires to raise up an army that can withstand these attacks and be victorious in preaching the gospel in San Francisco and Berkeley. Never before have we been so short of workers to help us as we prepare for SOS-San Francisco. Please pray about this situation, that God would quickly fill our house with the right people.
Ministry Needs
Again I want to thank each of you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. In the last newsletter I mentioned our need of a generator. My home church purchased a generator that they are letting us use for outreaches. Hallelujah! At the same time, I want to make you aware of a serious problem we have. For the past four years, our income has been steadily decreasing. Obviously, this trend needs to stop. One of the goals of SOS Ministries is to serve the local church by training Christians in evangelism and integrating new believers into local churches. However, we need the help of the local church in providing workers for outreaches and also in providing finances. Even though we have been working with local churches for twelve years, very few churches are presently supporting us financially.
What I would ask you to do is to go to your church board or missions board and find out if they support SOS Ministries. If not, ask them to consider putting us on their missions budget. Perhaps you could ask if part of your giving could be designated to SOS Ministries. I believe that most churches would allow you to do this. This would help us with our financial problem and provide a way that local churches could participate in a greater way in the support of urban evangelism ministries. Please pray about what I am saying and consider helping us in this way.
Tape of the Month
Our Tape of the Month is “Leading People to Jesus” by Richard Nash. Richard is an elder at Calvary Chapel in San Francisco and this is a simple, practical teaching to help you become a more effective soul-winner. This teaching is from the 1988 SOS-San Francisco outreach.
God bless you all. Remember to pray for us. Come join us for a worship rally the first and third Saturdays of each month at the Powell St. BART station. Don’t forget to send in your SOS-San Francisco registration form.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
