Happy New Millennium!
Dear Christian friends,
I’m writing this letter in December. Soon we will know whether
the Y2k computer problem was serious or not. It is good to put
aside these concerns and focus on the task God has given
us–reaching our world for Jesus. I was encouraged to read a
report from Mario Murillo about the outreaches he held at the Cow
Palace in October. He reported about 5000 professions of faith,
including many gang members who attended the meetings. Still,
there is much work to be done. San Francisco is far from being a
“Christian” city.
January is a time for making New Year’s resolutions. It is a good
time to examine our lives and pray for direction. I urge each of
you to pray that God will give you a strategy to join with other
Christians in reaching your community for Jesus.
SOS-San Francisco
July 7-15, 2000
We have set the dates for this next year’s SOS outreach, our 21st
year. Again, Glad Tidings Church is opening up their wonderful
facility to us. I hope many of you will join us this summer. Each
outreach is special, and we trust that God will use everyone who
attends to bring people to Jesus.
Chinese New Year Outreach
Sat. February 19
For the past 20 years, we have been witnessing at the Chinese New
Year Parade. This is the largest annual event in San Francisco,
drawing about 300,000 people. We will meet at Union Square,
Powell and Geary St., for a worship rally at 2 PM. We will stay
until 7 PM to witness to those who gather to watch the parade. I
hope many of you will join us for this outreach.
Legal Update
When the San Francisco police began citing us and denying our
permits in 1996, we filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal
court. Unfortunately, the judge assigned to the case (Legge) was
not sympathetic to us. In September he issued a ruling dismissing
our entire case without a trial.
His ruling contradicts the ruling of another judge (Mason) who
decided that the city had acted in an unconstitutional way in
citing me in August, 1998. The same evidence was presented to
both judges. We are appealing Judge Legge’s decision to the US
Court of Appeals, but this process will take at least 3 years.
Meanwhile, the criminal charges against Eric Livingston and me
were both dismissed. The city is appealing both dismissals so the
matter still hasn’t ended.
Our appeal of the federal lawsuit only involves the criminal
issues. It seems we cannot do anything legally to stop the loud
speaker permit denials and restrictions. On November 3, I ap
pealed the one hour restriction at Powell and Market to the Board
of Appeals. The Board consists of five persons. We needed four
votes to win our appeal. One Board member is a Moslem who said
that we should keep our message in the church. Another member
said that loud music “drives him crazy.” So we got only 3 votes
to extend our permit time at Powell and Market and lost the
appeal. The appeal process was expensive and time-consuming,
but I wanted to give it a chance.
This means that the Police can deny or restrict our permits, and
there is nothing we can do about it legally. Fortunately, we are
still able to get permits at a few good locations, even though
they are only for one or two hours. “As long as it is day, I must
do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no man can
work” John 9:4.
The apostle Paul ultimately lost his legal battle and was put to
death. Countless Christians have died or been imprisoned for
their faith. Many believers have faithfully preached the gospel
in places where there is far less freedom than we have in the
U.S. I am saddened by Judge Legge’s ruling, but we intend by
God’s grace to continue preaching the gospel in San Francisco and
Berkeley Battles
Meanwhile, for the first time in over 10 years, we are having
problems with the police in Berkeley. Many of the street vendors
on Telegraph Ave. do not want us on the street, and they complain
to the police every time we are there. There is nothing the
police can do because our activities our legal. The city’s noise
control officer has checked our sound several times, and always
found our sound level is OK.
However, on November 13, we received our first written warning
claiming that we were too loud. For the past few months, Officer
Jones has been checking our sound at every outreach. He spends
several hours each day standing across the street with a sound
meter. I have known Officer Jones for about 13 years. He is
apparently a backslidden Christian who doesn’t like us, once
calling us “Christian crazies.” He claimed that our sound was 86
decibels even though I measured our sound at about 76 decibels.
If in fact he is making dishonest measurements, we will eventual
ly be cited. The only way we can protect ourselves is to have
someone spend the whole afternoon across the street videotaping
our outreach and a decibel meter. Then the judge will have a
choice to believe the police officer’s testimony or our video
tape.
Please pray for us that we will have wisdom in handling this
matter, and can avoid citations in Berkeley. One problem we have
is that the city’s decibel meter and calibrator cost about $4000
while we are using a $50 Radio Shack decibel meter. The citations
in Berkeley involve no jail time but cost up to $500.
Union Square
There aren’t many good places left where we can still get permits
for our San Francisco outreaches. Union Square is now our best
location. We used to get three hour permits here, but now our
permits are limited to two hours on Saturday. Union Square is one
of the oldest parks in San Francisco, located in the heart of the
downtown shopping district. We have been conducting outreaches
here for 22 years.
The Park Department is trying to get local businesses like Macy’s
to pay to renovate Union Square and take over the permit process
there. If they do, the park will be closed for at least six
months and afterwards we may find it difficult or impossible to
get permits there.
For many years, Union Square was filled with homeless people and drug dealers. Recently, the city has moved most of these people
out of the park and brought in tourists and other wealthy people.
Almost every weekend, the park hosts a large art show with dozens
of displays by local artists.
Many street ministries only evangelize the poor, but the rich
also need Jesus. It is much harder to reach them, because many do
not see their need for a Savior. We can at least get the atten
tion of these people through music. Intellectuals and other
“sophisticated” people–people who would never stop to listen to
a preacher–will often stop and listen attentively to a good
gospel music group.
On Saturday November 6, “Children of the Rock” ministered at
Union Square. Hundreds of people came to the park to see the art
show. Many of them stopped to listen to the gospel music and
preaching. We gave out hundreds of tracts and spoke with a few
people.
On November 20, we planned another outreach at Union Square. Last
Days Harvest Church brought a team of Christians from Sacramento.
When they arrived, the police told them that Union Square was
closed because they were putting up the Christmas tree. Our
outreach was canceled.
On Friday night December 4, we again witnessed at Union Square.
Hundreds of Christmas shoppers were in the area. Our “team” that
night consisted of only two persons: Scott Robbins and me. God
blessed us with a parking place on the street a few feet away. We
preached and gave out tracts. At about 9 PM, two police officers
told us we couldn’t use our amplifier. When Scott asked them what
law we were breaking, they said we were disturbing the peace.
“Whose peace are we disturbing?” he asked. One of the officers
pointed to the people who were walking by. Nobody had complained,
but it was the officers who were disturbed by our preaching.
Next they checked our ID. They seemed really angry and we thought
they might arrest us. Twenty minutes later their Sergeant ar
rived. After speaking with him, they looked at our amplifier to
see how many watts it was. I showed them our paperwork that shows
that our amplifier is 9 watts. After looking at it, they said we
could use it until 10 PM and walked away.
On December 5, the Born Again Band from Fremont played at Union
Square. We shared the stage with a 30 foot Menorah (candlestick)
placed by a Jewish group in celebration of Hanukkah. Several Jews
came to the park for the Menorah celebration only to hear about
the Light of the World.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325
the day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday January 14, 21, 28 7:30 PM. Witnessing in various S.F.
neighborhoods. (Call us for meeting location and directions.)
Sat. January 15 Berkeley Outreach. 1:30-5:30 PM. Telegraph and
Haste St.
Sat. January 22 and 29 San Francisco Worship Rally. 12-1 PM
Powell and Market St. 2-4 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary St.)
January 28-30 Super Bowl Outreach, Atlanta, GA. Call (770) 924-
Sat. February 19 Chinese New Year Parade Outreach. 2-7 PM. Meet
at Union Square, Powell and Geary St.
March 1-4 Mardi Gras Evangelism Training and Outreach, Galveston,
TX. Chuck Girard, Scott Hinkle. Call (409) 986-7889.
Ministry Needs
Again, I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support
of this ministry. For over a year, we have been praying for the
right person to live in our ministry house. We now have two new
persons in our house. First, Benjamin Livingston was born on
November 19 (Eric and Cammie’s fourth child). Second, we are
happy to welcome Mike Mills from Riverside, CA to our house. Mike
is a young man who is zealous to serve God and preach the gospel.
Please pray that we will have more workers to help us on Friday
night and Saturday afternoon. Please pray for those who have
written us this past month in response to tracts, including
Stephen (SF), Iola (Oakland), and Dana (San Jose). Please pray
also for Giovanni, whom we met on Union Street. Pray that he will
be delivered from demons and gang involvement.
During Thanksgiving week I visited my mother, three brothers, and
their families in Indianapolis. All are unsaved. My mother is
quite sick. Please pray that they will be saved.
Our Tape of the Month is Adopt a Block by Matthew Barnett. He is
Pastor of the Los Angeles International Church/Dream Center.
Every Saturday, hundreds of church members participate in this
outreach to the neighborhoods around their church.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum