Cloud of Witnesses
A few weeks ago, I picked up a book that was sitting in our living room and began reading it: From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: a Biographical History of Christian Missions by Ruth Tucker. I had glanced at the book from time to time, but 500 pages is a lot to read. Once I started, I found the book fascinating and before long I had finished.
As I read about Christian missionaries from the book of Acts to the present, I was most impressed with the suffering and sacrifice so many have endured for the Gospel. In the Congo, only one in four missionaries would survive their first term of service. They would see their wives die, their children die, or they would leave their families behind and not see them for many years. They were murdered and sometimes cannibalized by the people they were trying to reach, but most died from diseases such as malaria.
In 1876, Alexander Mackay led a team of eight English missionaries to Uganda, responding to an invitation by King Mtesa for missionaries. By the end of the second year, only Mackay was still alive. There was tremendous persecution of the church there, led by the King who killed 30 Christian boys one year for not submitting to his homosexual passions. Mackay died of malaria in 1890 at the age of 40, but by that time the Uganda church had grown to 65,000!
The book is filled with similar examples of sacrifice. In some cases, missionaries saw much fruit to their labors. In other cases there was little apparent fruit. William Carey labored for seven years in Bengal, India without a single convert. He spent many years translating the Bible into native languages, only to have his work destroyed in a warehouse fire. His first wife was totally opposed to the missionary work. After she lost her 5 year old son, she became totally deranged. Carey’s missionary team had many conflicts and ended up splitting over personality clashes. Despite all this, he inspired hundreds of Christians to enter missionary work. Carey was called the “father of modern missions” because of the way he approached missionary work–being sensitive to the culture of the people he was reaching, instead of trying to substitute western culture.
Why the sacrifice? The only thing that could possibly motivate people to make such sacrifices was the prospect of saving people from eternal Hell. As A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance wrote, “A hundred thousand souls a day/ Are passing one by one away,/ In Christ less guilt and gloom./ Without one ray of hope or light,/ With future dark as endless night,/ They’re passing to their doom.”
Several of our states even include evangelism in their charters as their reason for existence. Virginia’s charter opens with the King blessing the colonists “in propagating the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance.” The Massachusetts Bay charter pledged to “wynn and incite the natives of the Country to the Knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of Mankinde, and the Christian fayth.” The seal of the colony was an Indian crying “Come over and help us.” Connecticut’s charter maintained that “evangelization” was the “onlye and principal end” for the colony’s existence. Similar statements about the need to convert the Indians are in the charters of Pennsylvania and other states. How far have we moved from our origins!
Halloween Outreach
Halloween in San Francisco gets darker each year, but we were able to be a light in a very dark place. The Lord’s Church in San Ramon led a worship rally at the Powell St. BART Station. Thousands of people, many dressed as witches and devils, walked by as we worshiped God. It rained for a few minutes, but the skies opened up around the Plaza, and we were able to continue the rally. A special anointing came upon the worship group, and people started coming forward for prayer. We prayed with people for salvation, healing, and deliverance from drugs and alcohol. A homeless woman with three children, one only two weeks old, rededicated her life to Christ. We arranged for her and the children to stay at a shelter.
That night, we went to Polk Street. Ten years ago, Polk Street was the busiest place in town on Halloween. Cars were kept off the street, which was filled with tens of thousands of homosexuals dressed in obscene costumes. Today, that activity has moved to Castro Street. Polk is much quieter. There were many homosexuals, but also parents with their costumed children, on the street. We had great freedom to preach, give out tracts, and talk with people about Jesus.
Preach Across America
Scott Crawford and his family have recently returned to Willits, CA after a year in Kansas. Scott is one of the founders and a board member of SOS Ministries and the International Street and Evangelism Ministries Assn. (ISEMA) as well as Director of Evangelism for Jesus. According to Scott, “our trip to Kansas has shown us how much of a mission field that the West Coast is in comparison to the rest of the Midwest. I plan to travel and preach extensively this winter in California. God has filled me with a fresh urgency because our country is experiencing the four judgments of a backslidden nation. These are, violence throughout the land, economic disaster, deadly disease and the loss of control over insects, animals and the environment.”
Scott believes the Lord has given him a vision to help organize an event called “Preach Across America” for the Summer of 1993. He is seeking to help mobilize hundreds of Christians to proclaim the Gospel in as many cities and towns in our nation as possible next summer. If 200 Christians would each go to 31 towns this summer to preach for a few hours, every town could be reached. The goal is not in-depth evangelism, but the presentation of a “wake up call for sinners and Christians all across America. It is time to wake up the mighty men, shake off our slumber, and arouse the sleeping giant of the body of Christ. Pastors in every church have been calling for this for years. ENOUGH!!! LET’S DO IT!!!”
If you think God might be calling you to join this effort, contact Scott right away at 234 Alice Dr., Willits, CA 95490, (707) 459-9588. I am happy that Scott is back in the area and look forward to working with him in San Francisco and Northern California. Scott is also in need of financial support as he is seeking to minister full-time.
“The stress of ministering full time and living on inadequate finances finally got to me.” Scott wrote in a recent letter to supporters. “After 20 years of living on faith and ministering, I said, `The heck with this.’ and went to work. What a mistake that was. For me it was like backsliding. You just can’t minister full time and work full time too. Don’t take this wrong. I don’t think everyone is called to full time ministry. But if you are, you better not try to do anything else….I always resisted the idea that some were called to minister full time while others were called to send them. But, now I know that this is God’s plan because you can’t do both. We each have an equally important part.”
A Final Word
Scott’s frank confession reminds me of the dilemma most street evangelists share. Many of us know God has called us to full-time street ministry but we hate to say anything about our financial needs, especially after seeing the dishonest, manipulative tactics of certain “ministers” who have raised millions of dollars for their personal gain. Most mission boards will not send out a missionary unless he or she has raised $30-50,000 per year in personal support, and many have even more support. Yet hundreds of full-time missionaries in this country live on much less. I believe the answer is for Christians to direct their giving where it will do the most good. We need to stop supporting those who are living extravagantly and start supporting those who live simply and use the funds they receive wisely to get the Gospel to the lost. I am very thankful to each of you who supports this ministry financially, and seek to be a good steward of the funds we receive.
Our Tape of the Month is Small Town Evangelism by Scott Crawford. In this tape, Scott shares his experiences witnessing in small towns, which need to be reached as much as our large cities. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, we will have a worship rally every Saturday from 3-6 PM at the Powell St. BART Station. On Saturday December 19, the San Francisco Russian Gospel Temple worship group “Ahsanna” will minister. They have made five worship tapes (three for adults and two for children) which have been distributed by Integrity Hosanna and Campus Crusade throughout the former Soviet Union. Christmas is the time when people are most open to the Gospel. Hundreds of thousands of Christmas shoppers come to downtown San Francisco during this time. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to reach them for Jesus. There isn’t much time left.
I’m sure many Christians are disappointed with the results of the U.S. election (to put it mildly). Our nation has certainly turned far from God. Several TV commentators are blaming the President’s loss on the “Christian right.” We are probably witnessing the most rapid spiritual decline a nation has undergone in world history. It is very painful for us as Christians to see this happen to our nation. It is also terrible to see the epidemic of divorce among Christians, as well as the number of Christians caught up in various sins. We must remember that the scriptures did predict this: “In the last days it is going to be very diffi cult to be a Christian. For people will love only themselves and their money…and will think nothing of immorality….They have dirty minds, warped and twisted, and have turned against the Christian faith” (2 Tim. 3: 1-8 LB). It would seem that only terrible moral and economic conditions would lead the world to submit to the Antichrist.
What are we to do in such times? We must draw close to the Lord, live holy lives, minister to our families, and seek to reach the world with the Gospel. Political involvement and protests are no substitute for evangelism and should not take precedence over evangelism. When the world rejects Christian values, it means Christ’s return is near. When people reject the Gospel, we need to keep reaching out to them with God’s love. Some will come to the end of themselves and ultimately will be saved. Finally, we must remember that we are strangers and pilgrims in this land, and that our citizenship is in heaven.
God, give us a burden for the lost to motivate us to reach people with the Gospel before it is eternally too late! Impress on us the reality of eternal Hell as the destiny for the unsaved and that the Great Commission is our responsibility. You have commanded each of us to take the Gospel to all who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Impress on us the urgency of this task!
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
