History of Glad Tidings
Dear Christian friends,
On June 26, four months after Eric Livingston was charged with six counts of “Disturbing the Peace,” a hearing was finally held on our “Motion to Dismiss.” A visiting judge, William Burleigh, took three minutes to dismiss all the charges! He said that Livingston “should never have been arrested. Having been arrested, charges should never have been filed.” He noted that the policy of San Francisco’s D.A. is to dismiss many serious criminal cases that would not be dismissed in any other county in the U.S. The judge signed an order to dismiss the case, return our bail and return our amplifiers to us.
When we went to the property room to get our amplifiers an hour later, the officer said he had spoken with the D.A., who said she talked with the judge and that he had revoked his order because she was planning to appeal his ruling. He refused to return our amplifiers. We spoke with the D.A. and she told us the same thing. Our attorney called the judge’s clerk and learned that the judge had not revoked his order. We returned to the property room and (threatened with a contempt of court citation) they finally returned our amplifiers.
Apparently the D.A. is planning to appeal the ruling. Please pray that the appeal will fail and that the D.A. and police will leave us alone, so we can preach the gospel freely in San Francisco.
100,000 Souls!
Recently, I met with Pastor Tim Zemanek from Glad Tidings Temple in San Francisco. He gave me a book called Looking Back to Our Future, a history of Glad Tidings and of San Francisco. San Francisco was “discovered” in 1775 by a Spanish Captain Juan Manuel de Ayala. Soon after, Franciscan friars founded Mission Dolores, seeking to convert the local Indians. In 1847, only 459 civilians lived in San Francisco. After the discovery of gold in 1848, thousands came to the city. By 1882, 300,000 people were living in San Francisco.
“`Shanghai,’ `hoodlum,’ `hatchetman,’ and `gangster’ are terms born in the Barbary Coast [of San Francisco]. So violent and criminal was San Francisco in its early days that there was an average of 230 homicides each year. Today with the city seven times larger, there were 75 murders…. God was nevertheless at work in those years to touch the city with His saving grace. The Salvation Army was active in conducting street meetings and distributing literature.” On April 9, 1906, the Azusa Street Revival began in Los Angeles. Nine days later, a great earthquake devastated San Francisco. Hundreds of people died and 250,000 were left homeless.
Five years later, Robert J. Craig founded Glad Tidings Temple, which began meeting in a Congregational Church and later in Corbett’s saloon. Brother Craig’s passion was for souls: “Pray that we might have restored to us the real fervor of the early days of the Church….Then the love for souls such as we have not had would fall upon us. [Then we would] have a passion for souls.” A prophecy was given to the church in the early 1920’s that “If we would dig deep into God and would proclaim the Word on every corner of the city, that God would give us 100,000 souls…” According to the book, at least this many people have been saved through the ministry of Glad Tidings and those sent out from the church. The church grew rapidly, along with the Glad Tidings Bible Institute, which is now Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz. Evangelistic crusades were held by Smith Wigglesworth, Aimee Semple McPherson, and William Booth-Clibborn (grandson of the Salvation Army founder.)
(According to a book by Albert Hibbert, when Wigglesworth “visited San Francisco, so many people wanted to hear him that he preached and ministered by walking the streets. The people brought out their sick and laid them on mattresses so that the shadow of Wigglesworth could pass over them. As it did, the sick were healed” [Smith Wigglesworth: The Secret of His Power, p. 69]).
“There are few parks or street corners in San Francisco that have not had a service conducted there by ardent soul winners from Glad Tidings.” The book includes photos of outdoor street meetings held in various parts of the city from 1920-1950.
It also tells about how homosexual activists in the 1980’s failed to stop the church from purchasing some land owned by the city. “Homosexual activists were falsely accusing the church of holding meetings `to continue their assault on gays.’ Further, they alleged the church was publishing literature that `homosexuals should be coupled with murderers.’ Pastor Johnson was likened to Hitler and said to believe like the KKK….Approximately 100 people, who could have crowded the hearing chamber, gathered at the church engaged in a `hearing’ with a higher Authority…. The vote was 7- 0 in our favor.” At the time, we were holding our summer outreaches at Glad Tidings, and they were being persecuted because some homosexuals did not want us to witness in “their” neighborhoods. Despite the pressure, the church continued to support us.
The 1960’s brought a dramatic cultural change. It began largely in San Francisco and quickly spread around the world. God’s people were not very well prepared to reach out to this new “counterculture.” Many evangelical churches lost members as Christians moved to the suburbs. After several decades of decline, some churches are once again starting to grow. And several new churches have been planted in this city. For example, Vineyard Christian Fellowship in the South of Market district has about 700 members. The Hosanna Foursquare Church in the Castro district has several hundred members. And the Providence Christian Center has two hundred street people attending each Sunday in the Tenderloin district.
Will San Francisco again experience judgment as in 1906? A devastating earthquake interrupted the World Series here in 1989. The damage was great, but not comparable to the 1906 earthquake. I don’t know how much time we have left before Jesus returns. However, I do know that God wants us to do everything possible to reach as many people as we can for Jesus. “Pray that we might have restored to us the real fervor of the early days of the Church….Then the love for souls such as we have not had would fall upon us. [Then we would] have a passion for souls.” God, give us a greater burden for the lost!
Coming Events
EVERY FRIDAY 7 PM. Witnessing in various S.F. neighborhoods. Meet at Vineyard, 7th St. and Harrison, San Francisco. Call (510) 531- 5325 for more information.
July 31-August 11 People for Missions World Outreach, San Francisco and San Jose, CA. Call (717) 840-9011.
Saturday August 16 12-6 PM San Francisco Evangelism Outreach. Call (510) 531-5325 for meeting location.
Saturday August 23 12-5:30 PM Berkeley Outreach. Call (510) 531-5325 for meeting location.
Saturday August 30 12-2 PM San Francisco worship rally. Union Square, Powell & Geary St. “Sound Advice.” (Call first to confirm.)
September 26-October 19 San Francisco area Billy Graham crusades.
Ministry News
On Saturday June 14 and June 21, we had two excellent outreaches at 5th St. and Market. Each day, we prayed with many people for salvation and other needs. June 21 (the longest day of the year) was also the annual “Making Waves” event. Loudspeaker systems were set up at 20 locations on Market St. and the Embarcadero for secular music. Hundreds of people walked by us while going from one stage to the next. Often we had a crowd of over 100 people listening to our music and hearing the gospel. We gave out thousands of tracts that afternoon.
You may be wondering why “Making Waves” can get all these permits while we can’t. (We can’t get permits on Market St. so we can only use nine-watt amplifiers.) They even had a giant stage and sound system (several thousand watts) at the Powell St. cable-car turnaround! It was the first time I had ever seen a sound system there. At most locations, they were much louder than we have ever been. I measured their sound at several locations at 100 to 106 decibels. This is 100 times as loud as a loud orchestra. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, exposure to 105 decibels of sound for over one hour is dangerous. Yet hundreds of people were exposed to it all afternoon at “Making Waves.” When I complained to a police officer about the noise at “Making Waves,” he said he couldn’t do anything because the event was put on by the Mayor.
Most of the problems we have had getting permits come from nearby businesses who say we are disturbing them. When Eric Livingston was cited in October, I measured the sound level in the nearest business at 62 decibels. At “Making Waves,” I measured the sound level at the nearest business at 96 decibels–several thousand times louder. (The decibel measurement is exponential.) I asked people who worked in these businesses if the noise at “Making Waves” disturbed them. They all said, “No”!
So why do we get so many complaints? Of course, the problem is the message, not the loudness. We know this, but it is not so easy to prove it in court. Please pray for us and our lawyer, Russell Davis, as he defends Eric against criminal charges and we proceed with our lawsuit so we can once again get permits on street corners and not be arrested for preaching the gospel.
I learned this past month that our friend Bill Bonner has gone on to Heaven after many years of service to our Lord. He attended New Hope Christian Fellowship in Sacramento and attended almost every SOS outreach since the beginning. Most recently, he joined us at this year’s Chinese New Year Parade outreach. Bill was a real encouragement to us in his faithfulness, his joy, and his zeal to witness for Jesus.
Please pray for those who have written us in response to tracts this past month: Ronald and Mary (SF), Mike (Oakland), G.M. (Mountain View), Jim (Citrus Heights), Kevin (Santa Cruz), and Hollis (Solano prison). Please pray also for Tommie, a street person with AIDS. We prayed with him on June 14 and took him to Oakland Teen Challenge. He left two days later and we spoke with him on June 21. He said he couldn’t keep up with the program.
Our Tape of the Month is Legal Issues in Evangelism by Michael Infeld. This is one of the clearest teachings I’ve seen on our right to preach the gospel. A report on this year’s SOS-San Francisco outreach is scheduled for next month. God bless you all as you serve our King.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
