Bay Area Outreach Ministries Newsletter
SOS MINISTRIES, BAY AREA OUTREACH MINISTRIES TO MERGE
Dear Christian friends,
In 1975, God called me to preach the gospel in San Francisco. When I first arrived, I witnessed mostly by myself, but over the next few years, God brought together several leaders of churches and ministries which desired to evangelize this very needy city. From this union, SOS Ministries was established as an outreach ministry to San Francisco, conducting ongoing outreaches in San Francisco every week, special outreaches, and an annual SOS-San Francisco outreach, which has just completed its tenth year. I served as director of SOS Ministries for eight years, before giving leadership of this ministry to Ron Woodruff and starting a new ministry.
Bay Area Outreach Ministries was established three years ago to expand the ministry in San Francisco to Berkeley and the rest of the Greater Bay Area. God has blessed this ministry tremendously with a house for ministry workers in Oakland, an ongoing outreach in Berkeley, and special outreaches in other cities. This past spring, Ron Woodruff and the brethren who work with him in San Francisco felt that God was moving them into a new direction–namely, to get a boat and use it as a means to do outreaches in coastal U.S. cities and around the world.
After much prayer and discussion as to how the ministry in San Francisco could continue, I have agreed to take over as Director of SOS Ministries, and to merge it with Bay Area Outreach Ministries. Meanwhile, Ron and the brethren at the Sycamore St. house in San Francisco will be beginning a new ministry.
What we intend to do is to alternate our outreaches between San Francisco and Berkeley, leaving room for special outreaches in other cities, especially Santa Cruz. We will continue to organize the SOS-San Francisco outreach, which will become SOS-San Francisco/Berkeley, with several days of outreach in Berkeley.
We are really excited about this expanded vision, even though it also means a lot of extra work. Please pray for us that God will strengthen us during this time and provide for our needs. Pray also for Ron and the Sycamore Street brethren, that God will bless them and lead them in His perfect will.
Battle for Berkeley
With all the problems we had been having in Berkeley from some enemies of the gospel and some of the police, we were a bit apprehensive of doing a big outreach in Berkeley. But God went before us and we had a wonderful time all three days. Over a hundred Christians from all over the West Coast participated in this outreach. We set up a PA system right at the entrance to the University campus for four hours each afternoon! Every day large crowds gathered to listen to the powerful worship and preaching. There were also mockers who tried to disrupt the meetings, but they were unable to stop the ministry of the Holy Spirit. During the evenings, Telegraph Avenue was filled with Christians worshipping and witnessing. On the final day, we had a very unusual September rain and thought we would have to cancel our worship rally. We had brought a tarp to protect the equipment but miraculously, one of the brothers had tent poles in his car and we were able to protect the worship group so they could play for four hours in the rain! In the twelve years I have been doing these kinds of outreaches, this was the first time we had been able to play outside in the rain.
Some of our opponents in Berkeley had thought they would be able to drive us out of the city. But God was faithful to bring in reinforcements and we saw a great victory for our Lord as the enemy was pushed back and the Word of God went forth with great power.
Fort Bragg Outreach
Over Labor Day weekend, we went up to Fort Bragg for the Paul Bunyan Days outreach. We joined with the Caspar Foursquare Church on Sunday afternoon and witnessed to people coming to the Arts and Crafts Fair. Later that day, we went to the train station. As hundreds of tourists arrived on the train from Willits, they were greeted by songs of worship and gospel tracts.
We also did some sightseeing that weekend, but even then God brought us divine appointments. In Mendocino we spoke with four college students from the Bay Area who were very open to the gospel. At the ocean, we spoke with a woman who was backslidden. We met her again when we went swimming at the river two days later. Finally, we saw her a third time when we stopped at a fruit stand. She agreed with us that God was trying to get her attention!
Mike McKendrick 1970-1989
In last month’s newsletter, I told you about the 19 year old boy I met on Polk Street in San Francisco. I took him home and we ministered to him, and found a Christian home to take him in. He left after a few days, but continued to call the family. Sadly, we learned two weeks later that he had been found dead of unknown causes but possibly related to satanism. The police were unable to locate his family. We do not know if he was saved, but know God had been trying to get through to him. It is a very sad story, and a sobering reminder that the work to which God has called us is truly a matter of life and death, for all eternity.
Legal Update
Last month, we also told you that four of us had been arrested for preaching the gospel in Berkeley. After the Battle for Berkeley victory, I was shocked to hear that the charge against me was changed from disturbing the peace to battery against a police officer. Officer Thornton, the Mormon officer who is so antagonistic towards us, is now claiming I pushed him. This will be a much harder charge to fight, since apparently the police intend to lie, and the case will probably require a long trial. Please pray for us and for our attorney Julia Spain who is giving tremendous amounts of time to this case. The legal costs for a court reporter alone will be about $1000, an amount we simply don’t have. Perhaps one of you knows a court reporter who would donate his/her time. If so, let us know immediately. This has become a real strain on us and consumed a lot of time, but we have no choice but to defend ourself against these false charges. With the police willing to lie, it is very possible we could be found guilty. This would make it very difficult for us to continue our outreach in Berkeley as at any time the police could again accuse us of pushing them and we could be imprisoned for increasing amounts of time. We do not believe that God wants this to happen, and ask that you pray fervently for a not guilty verdict in this case.
Community out to gag Southside Preachers
This was the headline of a front-page article about our arrests that appeared in the Daily Californian, the student newspaper, on September 21. Here are some excerpts from the article:
Berkeley prides itself on being a city that values free speech. But a group of residents, merchants and homeless people in Berkeley are teaming up to try to silence a fundamentalist Christian group that preaches on various corners of Telegraph Avenue.
The group working against the preachers is led by an elderly Southside resident named John Region. “Those people get out there screaming and yelling…this goes on every Friday night,” Region said.
The leader of the ministry group, Larry Rosenbaum, denied that they are disturbing the peace and defended his group’s presence in Berkeley. “We believe God wants us to be out there, and the Bible says that Jesus gave us commission…to preach the gospel. We believe God has called us specifically to evangelism in Berkeley,” Rosenbaum said.
But Region, 64, says the preaching outside his apartment aggravates his congested lungs, and that he has a letter from his doctor to prove it. “I hate that stuff so bad. When they get carrying on and preaching, I start hyperventilating…it’s put me in the hospital several times,” Region said.
Region said he has dumped water on the preachers, blasted them with loud “Satanic music,” and applied for a permit to use amplified sound there…to prevent the ministry from legally preaching there.
Rosenbaum’s lawyer, Julia Spain, said the Berkeley police and hecklers are violating her client’s freedom of speech. “Berkeley wants to hold itself as the last bastion of free speech,” she said, “But it’s only free if (Berkeley locals) like it.”
Several vendors on Telegraph Avenue and some homeless people are also angry about the ministers. “We consider those Christians to be a public nuisance,” said Anna Field, a vendor and self-described pagan.
A frequent heckler of the preachers is a member of the homeless community known as “The Hate Man.” “I hate you–the Christians–preaching in the street or in public at all,” he said.
Since Region’s complaints, some of the fundamentalist preachers have been repeatedly arrested for disturbing the peace and in one incident, resisting arrest.
“I want to see (the police harassment) end,” Rosenbaum said. “We want to see some police protection to keep some of the troublemakers away…if their purpose is to harass us.”
Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller defended the department’s handling of the situation. “If the only way to move the crowd is to stop the preaching, then yes, we would stop the preaching,” Miller said.
Ministry Needs
A while ago, I read a best-selling Christian book by Frank Peretti called This Present Darkness. It is a fictional account of a New Age conspiracy to take over a college town. In it, several Christians are arrested by the corrupt police chief on false charges to keep them from interfering with the conspiracy. While the book is fictional, the parallels with our situation in Berkeley are striking. Berkeley is certainly a center of satanic activity. Thirty thousand of the future leaders of the U.S. and world come to the University of California to receive their training. While here, they are indoctrinated with new age thinking, occultism, and anti-Christian attitudes and morality. The last thing Satan wants is a highly-visible, effective Christian outreach on the campus and he is determined to drive us out.
At the same time, the persecution we are experiencing in Berkeley gives us a taste of what Christians across the Western world can expect to experience soon. Attacks on Christians have started with the televangelists, giving people the idea that all Christians are hypocritical thieves. We can expect other targets to be next as “open season” is declared on Christians. How long will an increasingly ungodly nation tolerate our opposition to abortion, homosexuality, occultism, etc.?
The Bible promises that, “All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Paul spent much of his Christian life in prison, and the thing that grieved him the most was that many Christians criticized him for getting put in jail, instead of standing with him and helping him. All that we ask is that you stand with us and support us in prayer during this very difficult time. I realize that some of the things we are describing in this newsletter may seem strange to you. It is hard for many to believe that there could be religious persecution in the U.S. It is tempting to criticize us and think, “They must have done something wrong if they were arrested” or “Why don’t they leave those people alone if they don’t want to hear about Jesus?” While some are very much opposed to the gospel, we have found many who are very eager to hear about Jesus.
Please stand with us and pray for us, even if you don’t fully understand. Pray that God will give us grace to go through this court trial and help us as we take over the work of SOS Ministries in addition to our ongoing outreaches. The changeover will involve a lot of additional expenses, and we certainly welcome any help you can give us with this. Several more workers have been joining us on the streets recently and we can use many more. Also, we have two openings in our ministry house in Oakland.
Our Tape of the Month is Sharing Jesus One on One by Ron Radachy, Director of the Holy Ghost Repair Service in Hollywood. I’ll be seeing him and many other ministry leaders at the National Street Ministry Conference in Dallas next week. Our next month’s newsletter will be come out as the SOS Ministries Newsletter. Until next month—
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
OUTREACH SCHEDULE
WEEKLY OUTREACHES—THURSDAY 10:30 AM-2 PM FRIDAY 6:45 – 11 PM SATURDAY 12-4 PM Meet at 3039 Dakota St., Oakland. Take 580 Freeway to Fruitvale exit. East on Fruitvale to MacArthur. Right on MacArthur to Maple. Right on Maple (2 blocks) to Dakota. Left on Dakota. House is 1/2 block up on right. Call to confirm meetings.
SPECIAL EVENTS—
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4 ROLLING STONES CONCERT OUTREACH Oakland Coliseum. Call us for details.
