ISEMA Newsletters
More Summer Outreach Reports
Milwaukee Outreach.
by Ray Jablonski, from the Heart-fire Ministries Newsletter, (Box 14031, W. Allis, WI 53214, (414) 445-9490.
Over 250 workers came from all over the Midwest to minister at seven sites around the Milwaukee area. 600 people responded in receiving Jesus as their Savior. (Hallelujah!) Follow-up is being done by area churches to try to plug these new Christians into local churches. The mime and drama teams did a great job on the streets drawing crowds. Our clowns seemed to draw kids like magnets out of the houses, parks and projects. Many of the sites had singing and worship teams. This seemed to release the Holy Spirit and made witnessing so much easier.
As I stood by the stage at one of the children’s sites, the child evangelist gave a simple gospel message and then the altar call. About 25 children, ages from 4 to 12 years old, responded, some with tears. My heart was greatly moved as workers began to move among them, leading them in the sinner’s prayer. I thought, “If only we could reach all of the young ones before the devil does.” You see my friends, it’s that simple. If we don’t want the lost, the devil will gladly take them. Plan ahead! Plan to attend! Next year’s Milwaukee Outreach will be July 31-August 4, 1991.
Minneapolis Outreach
From the Heart-Fire Ministries Newsletter.
This year’s Minneapolis Outreach was run a little differently. Rather than setting up the sites at the many different area parks as we did last year, we set up three sites at three different churches. Over 60 laborers from the Minneapolis area joined us on August 22-26 to take the gospel to the streets. Over 80 people responded to the invitation to make Jesus their Lord and Savior.
As I was preaching on an outdoor stage, a backslidden Christian lady (also a heroin addict) came and fell on her knees, crying to God, repenting from her sins. As a result of the outdoor rallies, 10 people who had been touched by God came to our Sunday morning service, even though they had never attended there before. The same thing also happened that morning at another church that had been involved in the outreach.
Mario Murillo San Francisco Crusade
From the SOS Ministries Newsletter
From September 9-19, Mario Murillo set up a tent in downtown San Francisco for a crusade. From September 15-19, Scott Hinkle led a street outreach in conjunction with this crusade. On September 15, their workers joined us for our worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. One brother was handing out tracts when a man tried to grab his Bible to tear it up. However, a police man was nearby so instead he began talking with the Christian. He told him how he had been severely injured from the Vietnam war. The brother prayed with him and immediately he received his hearing, part of his sight, and was healed of lameness! He also was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit! I spoke with him that day, spent most of Monday with him, and he brought a friend to Mario’s meeting on Tuesday, who also prayed for salvation.
During Mario’s outreach, we witnessed in the downtown and Mission districts and invited many people to the crusade. Many people we had invited came to the meetings and responded to the altar calls. There were many wonderful testimonies, including two lesbians who were saved and delivered from demons. Youth evangelist Donnie Moore spoke two nights at the crusade. He had spoken to 5000 high school and junior high students in San Francisco that week in school assemblies. School officials were so impressed with the meetings that they gave him permission to speak in every public school in San Francisco and Oakland. Many of the students later attended the crusade, and one night half the Balboa High School football team and the student body president responded to altar calls!
How to Reach Your City through Special Events, 1990-1991
This is the title of a special 20 page Events Calendar put together by Gary Lukas. After working nearly 500 special events or festivals since 1977, Gary has put together this listing of most of the major events across this country. The Calendar includes a teaching on how to find events in your area to evangelize and how to witness at them. Also, it includes a listing of over 800 events listed for all 50 states that should give opportunities for outreach. The events are listed by state and area and also chronologically by date. Many have phone numbers included for further information. This Calendar is available for a gift of $5 from Highways & Hedges, Box 1232, Richmond, TX 77469.
Coming Events
Saturday November 10, November 17, December 1 San Francisco Worship Rally and Outreach 3-6 PM. Powell St. BART station. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
December 29-January 1. Florida Bowl Blitz–Jacksonville to Miami. Contact Rescue Atlanta (Mel Rolls, Director), Box 965039, Marietta, GA 30066, (404) 924-0201.
December 31-January 1. Rose Parade Outreach, Pasadena, CA. Contact Sondra Berry Young Ministries, Box 3044, Newport Beach, CA 92659, (714) 650-0525.
January 19-20. Governor’s Inauguration Outreach, Austin, TX. $75. Contact Rev. David O’Dell, Operation Christlift, 3400 W. Park Blvd. #2117, Plano, TX 75075, (214) 519-0195.
January 27. Super Bowl Outreach, Tampa, FL. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
February 8-13 Mardi Gras Outreach. $100 incl. food, lodging.Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above). Also Christ in Action, Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868.
Some Final Thoughts
It was good seeing many of you at the National Street Ministries Conference. I was excited and greatly encouraged to see about 1000 Christians attend the conference who were either already involved in street ministry or were wanting to get involved. For me, two of the highlights were a message by Tommy Barnett, whose church of over 7000 (First Assembly of God, Phoenix) grew through the establishment of over 100 different evangelistic ministries in the church to meet the needs of various groups of people, and a workshop by Phil Aguilar (Set Free Ministries, Anaheim, CA), whose church of street people and bikers has grown from 400 to 3000 in one year! Set Free Ministries is characterized by a radical dedication to Jesus Christ that is rarely seen today. Also, I was encouraged to hear from John Dawson of the dozens of inter-denominational pastor’s meetings that have been raised up to pray and plan strategies to reach our cities for Jesus, many inspired by his book, Taking our Cities for God: How to Break Spiritual Strongholds.
The National Street Ministries Conference performs a vital function in training and encouraging those who are involved and want to get involved in street ministry. At the same time, we need a service organization to minister to the needs of these people throughout the year. The International Street and Evangelism Ministries Assn. (ISEMA) exists for this purpose–to provide you with teachings on evangelism, information about upcoming outreaches, resources to help you, and someone to talk with about problems you are having in the ministry.
One of our leaders, Scott Crawford, has been involved in street outreach for almost 20 years and helped start the Mardi Gras outreach and SOS-San Francisco. He has a burden to travel around the U.S., ministering to street ministers, helping do outreaches in cities and towns, and helping organize regional evangelism conferences around the country. In order to do this, he will be needing some additional financial support. If any of you would like to help with this need by pledging regular monthly support for Scott or a one-time gift, make your checks to ISEMA and indicate “for Scott Crawford” on the check.
I want to thank you for your continuing prayers and financial support for ISEMA. Our income has dropped significantly the past few months and we do need your support to continue to serve those involved in street ministry. There are many things we would like to do, such as organize regional evangelism conferences throughout the country, but we are hindered by lack of funds.
Also, we need help from ministry leaders who are interested in serving as regional coordinators for ISEMA–to let us know what is happening in your area, minister to the needs of street ministers in your area, and help organize a regional evangelism conference in your area. Let us know if you could do this.
Our Tape of the Month is “In Depth Street Legalities” by Scott Crawford. Scott has studied this issue for many years and is currently working on a booklet on this subject. Pray that God will provide Scott with periods of uninterrupted time to complete this important booklet.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum