Coming Events
(Outreaches subject to change. Call (510) 282-5629 a few hours before the outreach to confirm)
Friday August 9, 16, 30 5-8 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. August 10 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM Union Square (Powell & Geary St.)
Sat. August 17 12 – 5 PM U N Plaza (7th St. and Market) Isaiah band.
Sat. Aug 31 12 – 4 PM Berkeley outreach. (Shattuck & Center St.)
How SOS Ministries Got Started – Part 5
Dear Christian friends,
In 1984, the Democratic Convention came to San Francisco and we planned our summer outreach to coincide with the convention. Thirty churches and ministries joined with us in the outreach and we planned two large Christian rallies in front of the Moscone Center, where the convention was held. Many protest groups had converged on the city that week and were planning large protest rallies. Thousands of media people were here from all over the world. City officials worried about riots and bloodshed. On Thursday, Jerry Falwell spoke at a meeting in San Francisco. A massive demonstration against him resulted in violence and several arrests.
On Sunday, there were two marches by labor unions and gay rights advocates, each with over 100,000 participants.
Monday featured a massive anti-war rally with about 60,000 demonstrators outside the Moscone Center. Among them were tens of thousands of punk rockers and “skinheads” who had come here for the convention. Several dozen of them were arrested. Tuesday afternoon featured a pro-marijuana rally at the Moscone Center. At the same time, a thousand Christians gathered at Union Square and marched through downtown San Francisco to the Moscone Center for a worship rally with Chuck Girard. Many of the punk rockers at the marijuana rally stayed for our rally, and we witnessed to them. As we worshiped the Lord for several hours, the spiritual atmosphere in the rally area changed.
The next day we had another worship rally at the Moscone Center with evangelist Mario Murillo. Again, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the area was strong. After our rally, a “Peace in El Salvador rally” was planned featuring Martin Luther King`s widow. We stayed to witness. Their rally only drew about 200 people. The Christian presence was so strong in the area–with hundreds of Christians preaching, carrying signs, and witnessing–that people would arrive in the area, see all the Christians, and leave, thinking it was a Christian rally! The next day, the National Organization of Women, one of the most influential groups in the country with over 250,000 members, had planned a rally on the day the first woman was nominated as Vice-President. We sent all our workers there to pray, worship, and witness. Again, their demonstration fizzled with at most 300 demonstrators, all of whom heard about Jesus. During the week, we witnessed to many of the delegates, including Gary Hart and George McGovern.
In January 1985, the Superbowl came to Stanford Stadium. We planned a large outreach in San Francisco and at the stadium in Palo Alto. Evangelist James Robison joined us for this outreach. He preached in downtown San Francisco and at the Superbowl. His TV crew filmed the outreach and put together two shows that went on national television, informing a million Christians about the evangelistic work in San Francisco. In July 1985, several Christian ministries in southern California held the first annual SOS-Hollywood outreach, a citywide outreach to that city patterned after SOS-San Francisco. In August 1985, our sixth annual SOS-San Francisco outreach featured a march through downtown San Francisco and a baptism of thirty-one people in the fountain in front of City Hall.
Also in 1985, we began working with evangelist Jerry Brandt, who worked with singles ministries throughout Northern California and hosted a program on Christian TV in the San Francisco area. Jerry got his singles groups involved in feeding the poor at our outreaches. He also began praying for the sick at the outreach, and we saw several people get healed. At our Christmas outreach, he raised the funds to purchase a thousand sleeping bags to give away to the homeless. All three network TV stations featured stories on the outreach and the Sunday newspaper had a large article on it. This outreach was a powerful witness of the love of Christ to the people of San Francisco. For too long, non-Christian groups have been helping the poor while Christians have been doing very little. This was an opportunity to demonstrate Christ’s love by helping with people’s physical–as well as their spiritual–needs.
On the Streets
I am writing this newsletter right after our 40th annual SOS-San Francisco outreach, July 10-13. The outreach went very well. I will include a report on this outreach in next month’s newsletter. Meanwhile, I’ll try to catch up on reports from earlier outreaches. Last month, I got as far as April 26.
On Sat. April 27, we held our first park outreach of the year at Union Square. Takin’ it to the Streetz Ministry from Sacramento ministered for three hours. They had excellent singers, some Spanish musicians, and some rappers. Many of them shared their testimonies. Their leader, Raymond, met Gregory in the park and invited him to share his testimony. Gregory had been a transsexual for 40 years (since he was 16) and had been in prison for 35 years. He was saved 4 years ago and got out of prison a month ago.
Alex and Mike witnessed to Michael, 25, who was addicted to video games. He had a lot of questions and was looking for answers. Kathy ministered to Alex, 60, who had been working for 5 years but was living in a shelter. He asked why he didn’t hear from God. Mike witnessed to Ryon, from Indonesia, who works at Union Square and turns on the electricity for us. He grew up in a church. Mike asked if he believed in God. He said, “I’m done with that.” He said he had some bad experiences with church people. Mike said, “Don’t let those people to keep you from Heaven.” Mike also witnessed to Chad, who was watching our performance with his wife. They are Mormons from Utah and he is an engineer. Mike shared that Christ’s work was sufficient and that He said the gates of Hell would not prevail against his church. Mike also shared his testimony, since he went to the University of Utah.
On Friday May 3, we witnessed at 16th and Mission. After Alex finished preaching, Jose told him that his preaching really touched him, even though he does not believe in God. Mike witnessed to Alexis, a homeless man who listened to the gospel. He invited him to City Impact. Dave witnessed to Nick, 24, whose brother was a JW (Jehovah’s Witness) and who had read the Bible. He had attended a JW meeting and knew something was wrong. He took a gospel of John. Dave also witnessed to Matt, 25, who said he had a friend who had invited him to some Bible studies. Finally he witnessed to Helen, a Filipino Catholic. She said she had relatives that were born again.
The next day, we witnessed at 5th and Market. Dave and Steve ministered to Rafael, from Brazil. He believed in Jesus but was not really serving Him. Dave challenged him, “Don’t go to Heaven empty handed.” Dave also ministered to Michael, who was a believer but said he didn’t really understand what salvation is. Alex witnessed to Hassim, who thought God is energy. However, as Alex shared scriptures with him, he agreed with them and started changing his beliefs. He was selling shoes he had painted and stood by our outreach for 4 hours. Alex and Kathy ministered to Teresa. She had three children but had lost two of them because of her drug and alcohol use. She had been backslidden but seemed to want to get right with God. Alex and Steve witnessed to Kevin, a Hebrew-Israelite.
Ministry Needs
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Thank you also for praying for the pain in my knees. They are much better.
I rarely speak in churches, but in July, I had the opportunity to speak at the Full Gospel Korean Church in San Francisco and Church of the Valley in San Martin. Scott Crawford and I also spoke on the Lifeline radio program on KFAX.
Sadly, we are losing two members of our ministry house. This is a very big loss to us. Dave St. Marie has been with us for 9 years. He is moving to Nevada. Cal Grant has been with us for 3 years. He is moving to London, England.
This leaves us with room for 2 persons in our ministry house. We are looking for spiritually mature Christians who are seriously interested in doing street evangelism. Whenever we announce openings in our house, we get many inquiries from Christians who lack spiritual maturity or only want a cheap place to live. We are also looking for Christians who are under 50. Sadly, it is very hard to find younger Christians who want to witness on the streets for Jesus.
I hope many of you will join us for an outreach this next month.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum