Light the Bay
On Saturday September 2, about 3000 Christians from around the San Francisco area joined an event in San Francisco called “Light the Bay.” I had participated in several of the pastor’s planning meetings and attended the event. During the morning, Christians walked through almost every neighborhood in San Francisco, praying for the people house by house and leaving a door hanger on their door. The door hanger let people know that they had been prayed for, and that Jesus is offering them help with problems such as sickness, a troubled marriage, and lack of purpose, as well as everlasting, abundant life. It also offered a phone number at which they could find help. About 80% of the households in San Francisco were prayed for and received a door hanger.
That afternoon, the Christians joined together for an outdoor prayer rally at Civic Center. The rally consisted of worship music and a dozen prayer booths, where people could receive prayer for such things as healing, deliverance, employment, and salvation.
The event concluded with an indoor evening rally at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, next to Civic Center. An offering of $65,000 was taken and was given to the city to help people with AIDS and HIV. The offering was given to Mayor Brown, who spoke at the meeting and thanked participants for their prayers and gift. City supervisor Amos Brown, who is the Pastor of Third Baptist Church, also spoke at the meeting.
The event was sponsored by a ministry called Harvest Evangelism as the conclusion of their 20th anniversary conference, held in San Jose. Their President, Ed Silvoso, has been involved in a spiritual revival in Argentina. Many leaders of that revival spoke at the conference.
Lighthouses of Prayer
At the rally, Christians were encouraged to start “Lighthouses of Prayer (LHP).” At least a million LHP’s have been established around the nation. One large organization that leads the effort to establish these LHP’s is Mission America. Mission America is a coalition of over 360 national Christian leaders who represent 70 denominations, over 200 parachurch ministries and 57 ministry networks. According to their website, (www.missionamerica.org) “A Lighthouse is a gathering of 2 or more people in Jesus’ name for the purpose of praying for, caring for and sharing Christ with their neighbors and others in their sphere of influence.” The front page of their web site goes into detail about how the Lighthouses can be used to share the Gospel with our neighbors. The vision of Mission America is to “pray for and share Christ with every person in America by year-end 2000.”
Some Thoughts
After the Light the Bay rally, I began doing some research about the Prayer Movement of which it is part. This is a very large movement, involving several million Christians nationwide from most major evangelical denominations. Mission America presents the “Lighthouse of Prayer” concept in a clear, Biblical manner.
However, some of the organizations involved in this Prayer Movement have less scriptural presentations. According to the web site of one major ministry, “A Lighthouse of Prayer (LHP) is one of the most non threatening, totally convenient, simple, yet profound methods of reaching the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Based on Luke 10, a Lighthouse of Prayer does not talk to their neighbors about God, they simply spend as little as 30 seconds a day talking to God about their neighbors. What they tell God is positive. They bless, or speak well about their neighbors.” “Being a LHP is Non-Threatening. You are NOT talking to your neighbors about God…You ARE talking to God about your neighbors!”
This approach disturbs me. First, it gives the impression that one can reach the lost through prayer alone, without speaking to others about God. This is clearly unscriptural. “How shall they hear without someone preaching to them” (Romans 10:14). The term they sometimes use, “Prayer Evangelism,” reinforces this impression. Prayer is talking with God. Evangelism is talking with people about their need for Christ. Prayer is of course a necessary ingredient in evangelism, but prayer is not evangelism. The approach is advertised as “Non-Threatening.” Christians often avoid witnessing because they fear rejection or persecution. One is unlikely to be persecuted for silently praying for people. I am concerned that Christians will be deceived into thinking they can reach the lost without speaking to them and risking persecution. If only Jesus and Paul had known!
Second, they are promoting a form of prayer that involves only blessing people, pointing to Luke 10 for scriptural justification. In Luke 10, Jesus is giving instructions to 70 disciples. He instructs them to bless only the person who opens up his home for them to stay, not the entire town. Even then, if the person turns out to be unworthy of their blessing, “your peace … will return to you.” Finally, they are to proclaim God’s word, “the Kingdom of God is near you.” “But when you go into a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town…we wipe off against you.’” Jesus proceeds to pronounce a curse on the cities of Korazin and Bethsaida. The 70 returned rejoicing that they had cast out demons. Nothing was said about whether anyone repented or received their message.
God’s Word is always balanced. There is a blessing to those who obey and a curse to those who disobey. We are to preach holiness and grace, judgment and mercy. We need to ask God for wisdom so we can pray intelligently for others. Sometimes, God will want to bless people with health or prosperity. At other times, He will want to afflict them so that they will repent. Of course, He always wants to bless people with salvation. If that is all that is meant by prayers of blessing, I fully agree.
We need Prayer and Evangelism. Fervent prayer should precede and accompany our evangelism efforts, but it must not be allowed to replace them.
On the Streets
On Saturday September 9, Paul and Noreen Coca brought some Japanese Christians to minister at Powell and Market St. with them. They sang in English and Japanese. There are many Japanese tourists in this area. We met a new believer named Jascha Rosenbaum, who is from an Hassidic Jewish background. Please pray for him. He desires to minister to other Hassidic Jews, as well as play Christian music. Later that day, Children of the Rock ministered at Union Square. Many people stopped to listen, and even the vendors at the art fair were happy.
On September 16, while we were ministering at Powell and Market, Pastor Tom Mooney from Last Days Harvest Church approached me. His church had arrived at Union Square, but the whole park was taken over by a giant wine festival. Last December, his church had come all the way from Sacramento to minister at Union Square, but were not able to do so because a Christmas tree was being set up. I didn’t want this outreach to be canceled.
When I arrived at Union Square, our cause seemed hopeless. Apparently two permits had been issued for the same day at the park. There was no way this group was going to let us minister. I found the police officer in charge, and explained the situation to him. I told him that the church had taken the entire day off to come from Sacramento. I asked him if we could be given some place in the park to minister. At first he resisted, but finally he allowed us to set up our sound system in a grassy area by Stockton Street. Soon after we began, a street musician from across the street called the police, complaining about our music. The police officers sided with us, so he called more police. He caused a major disruption, almost shutting us down, but finally an officer told him to leave. Despite the opposition, we were able to minister to many people that afternoon.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531‑5325 the day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday November 3, 10, 17 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in various S.F. neighborhoods. (Call for meeting location.)
Sat. November 4 Berkeley Outreach. 1:30‑5:30 PM. Telegraph and Haste St.
Sat. November 11, 18 San Francisco Worship Rally. 12-1 PM Powell and Market St. 2-4 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary St.).
Ministry Needs
Last month, I wrote about the continuing prosecution of Eric Livingston on four year old charges of disturbing the peace. Judge Mellon had asked for transcripts of my case, wanting to use them as a basis for dismissing charges against Eric. While getting the transcripts, we learned that the District Attorney is also appealing the dismissal of charges against me. He did this a year ago, but never told us. Apparently, he isn’t required to do so. We thought this would be a major problem for us, but the judge wants to proceed. We think he still intends to dismiss the charges against Eric. Please pray that he will do so in a manner that will not be overturned on appeal.
Again, we thank you for your prayers and financial support of this ministry. Please pray for us as we prepare for next summer’s SOS outreach. Pray that God will provide us with the right meeting place, and bring many laborers to help us reach San Francisco for Jesus. Our Tape of the Month is Praise, Worship and Evangelism by Chuck Girard. This message was given at New Life Christian Church, Castro Valley, during this year’s SOS outreach.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
