ISEMA Newsletters
Youth Invades Miami for Jesus
(From the Messenger)
During the week of July 24 many of Mount Paran Church of God’s (Atlanta) youth joined forces with over 80 other young people from the state of Florida for an all out invasion of the city of Miami. The event was the second annual Miami Outreach and Discipleship Camp hosted by the Florida district and organized by Mount Paran’s youth pastor, Mel Rolls, along with Tom Benigas and Rocky Whiteside of Florida, and Bobby Chance of Dallas, Texas.
Workshops were held Monday through Wednesday mornings, equipping young people to become “Holy Ghost Hit-men for Jesus.” Teams of young people were sent door to door throughout the communities, praying for people and leading many to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. One of the teams came upon a group of young people getting ready to snort cocaine. After the youth team shared Jesus with the group, they turned to Jesus instead of drugs.
Each evening the young people worked the streets of downtown Miami, ending the evening with a great praise and worship rally at a local, popular shopping mall. When walking across the intercoastal waterway bridge one night, one of the teams ran into a girl getting ready to jump and commit suicide. Both her body and soul were saved that night!
Thursday was spent at a South Florida migrant camp. Teams sat in homes praying with entire families. Others played games with the children. Many people received Christ at an outdoor rally that evening.
On Friday, 100 young people traveled to the inner city to feed the hungry. Afterward, they began a praise and worship march. With a 12 foot cross and worship leaders leading the parade, the young people marched around Miami lifting up the name of Jesus. People on the streets stared in disbelief. Some applauded, some heckled, and some even joined the march. Several people were saved. One woman was healed of emphysema as she marched along praising God.
Over 35,000 tracts were given out that week and over 100 quality conversions were reported. It was great to see the young “rookies” turn into “RAMBOS” (Radical Active Men on Biblical Offense).
Some Ideas for Door-to-Door Outreach
by David Ridenour, 7216 Long Pond Rd., Cable, OH 43009, (513) 834-2296.
Perhaps this report will be helpful for people who go door knocking. We went to a local H.U.D. type housing project in our local town. Once a person answered the door, we would say, “Hi, my name is John Smith and this is my friend Bill. We’re Christians and we’re out knocking on people’s doors to see if there’s any way we can help them and telling them about Jesus. So is there anything we can do to help you?” If they say no or aren’t sure, we ask if we can give them a tract with our phone number and tell them to call us if they ever need a piece of heavy furniture moved or something like that.
One lady asked us if we could give her a new mind. We said no, but we knew someone who could! We asked if we could pray for her that Jesus would show her His love for her. She let us. Later as we were leaving the project she sent her daughter to ask us to come talk to her again. We visited her the next evening and shared Jesus’ command to repent and call on the name of Jesus for forgiveness. A few days later she went to an elderly lady she had cursed out the week before and repented to her. The elderly lady began weeping and forgiving her.
This offer of helping people (with the stiffer ones we even offered to mow their lawn) really disarmed almost everyone and people were noticeably more receptive and almost sheepish.
Gay Pride Day Outreach
(from the Exodus Standard, Box 2121, San Rafael, Ca 94912, (415) 454-1017)
Members of the Broken Yoke ministry shared “the truth of change” at a gay pride weekend in Madison, WI last May, according to director Bill Windel. “About 20 of us were there carrying very positive signs proclaiming Jesus’ love of the world, and the good news that many gays have been changed,” says Bill. “We had the chance to share with one young man, and I was interviewed for a video that the gay coalition is doing to document the rally and parade.” Bill said he’s long felt a conviction to “do something” to reach gays with the truth. “Twenty of us marching before 3000 of them was a little scary,” Bill added. “But we had the peace of God and the assurance of His protection.” The Broken Yoke has an ongoing weekly support group in Madison for those leaving homosexuality and can be reached at 3122 Highway 13 North, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494, (608) 258-6017.
Butterfly Parade Outreach
by Jim Clark, P O Box 1641, Seaside, CA 93955, (408) 394-6958.
Last Saturday we was the yearly Butterfly Parade in nearby Pacific Grove. It is a short parade with the school children dressed in theme clothes and the high school band. For our area it gets a big turnout. Having watched it last year I saw how easy it would be to fall in line after the marching band and walk the parade route handing out tracts. So this year I enlisted the help of our local cross-bearer and another friend and went for it! Walter carried an 8 foot cross, Dan and I passed out tracts to the crowd and as the parade went along more and more of the audience fell in line to follow their kids to the end of the parade route.
It was glorious! People were accepting our tracts, Christians cheered us on, and God protected us from any confrontations with the police…until the parade organizers saw us and had a fit. On the last leg of the parade, a policeman confronted us and requested that we move to the sidewalk. We said we would be happy to do this if they made everyone else that was following the parade do the same. Of course they weren’t going to do this, but he did manage to stall us until the parade was a block or two away. We asked him if we were violating any specific law and he said no. We wonder if we should file some kind of complaint or how we should handle this situation the next time it comes up. Any ideas?
Coming Events
December 31-January 1 Florida Bowl Blitz. Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl, Citrus Bowl. Contact Youth Department, Trinity Assembly of God, 7255 S. Military Trail, Lake Worth, FL 33463, (407) 965- 4166.
December 31-January 1 Rose Parade Outreach, Pasadena. 17th year. Contact Sondra Berry Young Ministries, P O Box 3044, Newport Beach, CA 92659, (714) 650-0525.
February 22-27 Mardi Gras Outreach. New Orleans, LA. $75. Deadline Dec. 29. Contact Christ in Action, Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868.
May 24-26 Indianapolis 500 Outreach. Indianapolis, IN. $40. Deadline March 29. Contact Christ in Action (address above).
It’s Time To Renew Your ISEMA Membership!
We have often used the scripture from Ecclesiastes, “Two are better than one… and a threefold cord is not easily broken.” We urge you to become a member of ISEMA if you have not already done so, linking up with other evangelism ministries and Christians who believe in the Great Commission. If you are already an ISEMA member, now is the time to renew your membership for 1990. We who are in leadership in ISEMA are doing all we can to bring together evangelism ministries, but we can’t do it without your help. As an association of street and evangelism ministries, ISEMA depends on your active involvement.
Ministry Needs
I want to thank each of you who has written to send us reports of what has been happening in your area. Several of these are included in this newsletter. Please continue to send reports of what is happening in your area, ideas for evangelizing more effectively, and a schedule of upcoming outreaches.
As we enter a new year and a new decade, we want to encourage you to consider ISEMA as one of the ministries you support on a regular basis. Like most ministries, ISEMA operates on a shoestring budget. It costs money to print and mail out this newsletter, to put together the ISEMA street ministry directory, and provide other services for our members. Our desire is to see a dramatic increase in the funds available for evangelism ministry. This will only happen as God’s people get a vision for what we are doing, and see the importance of giving to evangelism ministries. One of the purposes of ISEMA is to help God’s people get this vision, and we believe all evangelism ministries will benefit as a result. Most of our bills, like yours, come due every month. Please consider supporting us on a monthly basis.
Our “Tape of the Month” is called “Solomon’s Porch: the Church in Public Places” by Richard Paradise. This teaching, soon to be expanded into a book, presents a strategy for involving the entire church in public evangelism outreach. It is an exciting concept that has proven its effectiveness in many places. Richard Paradise is Director of New Horizons Christian Ministries and is involved in outreaches to Sacramento, Berkeley, and LaPaz, Mexico.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
