ISEMA Newsletters
Open Air Preaching
Dear Christian friends,
“It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe” (1 Corin. 1:21). Throughout the Bible, God called His servants to proclaim His word in the public places. People were warned to repent of their sins and get their lives right with God. In some cases, many repented and were spared God’s judgment. The entire city of Ninevah, for example, repented at the preaching of Jonah. In other cases, few or no people repented. Noah was called a preacher of righteousness. As he built the ark, he warned of God’s judgment, yet only his family was saved.
God told the prophet Ezekiel, “Go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them…whether they listen or not” (Ezek. 3:4,11). Some will claim that preaching the gospel is not effective, or that you will only “turn people off.” It is very important that we preach with love, gentleness and sensitivity. Even when we do this, however, some will be offended at the gospel.
Bill Bright, the founder and director of Campus Crusade for Christ, said, “Effective witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, leaving the results to God.” God has called us to walk by faith. We must obey God and continue to preach the Gospel, whether or not we see results.
The apostle Paul had a powerful ministry and saw much fruit amid much opposition. But the thing that disturbed him most was not the persecution by unbelievers, but the criticism and lack of support by other believers. Even those who were saved in churches he had started, criticized him and forsook him. They said he was not a true apostle. They said he had no right to receive financial support. “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” (1 Corin. 9:11) They criticized his speaking ability. “His bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible” (2 Corin. 10:10). At the end of his life, as he was awaiting death in a Roman prison, he wrote Timothy, “Take your diligence to come to me. For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world….Only Luke is with me….At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me” (2 Tim. 4:9-16). Truly, the life of God’s servant is difficult, but God is faithful to comfort and strengthen us. “Nevertheless, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear” (2 Tim. 4:17).
Preaching the Gospel Today
Today, there is much criticism of open-air preaching by other Christians. Despite the tremendous Biblical support for this approach, many Christians think that this approach is ineffective, out-of-date, and only “turns people off” to the gospel. Generally, friendship evangelism, mercy ministry, and inviting people to church are proposed as inoffensive alternatives.
I witnessed on the streets for about seven years before I began street preaching. When I came to San Francisco, I saw a number of street preachers who would preach at Market and Powell, near the cable car turnaround. Many of them spent a lot of time arguing with one another, calling one another “devils” because they disagreed on some doctrine. Many of these street preachers did not have any regular church involvement. What I saw definitely did not make me want to be a street preacher.
After a few years, I met some other street preachers who joined us for our outreaches. They were good, solid Christians who preached under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the message was strong, emphasizing the holiness of God. At other times it was very gentle, emphasizing the love and mercy of God. After listening to them, I decided to give street preaching a try.
I was very nervous when I first started preaching, but I found that the Holy Spirit would give me words if I would open my mouth. While some preachers can preach comfortably without an amplifier, I find that using an amplifier helps me to speak loudly without yelling or straining my voice. I usually use a “Maximouse amplifier” (available from SOS Ministries, (415) 552- 2300), which contains a rechargeable battery, produces good- quality sound and is also excellent for music.
Today, I preach several times weekly at Sather Gate, at the University of California, Berkeley. This location was famous for the “free speech movement” in the 1960’s and the place where “Holy Hubert” and other preachers came daily. Once someone starts preaching here, one or more hecklers will usually start ridiculing the message. Before long, a crowd of several hundred people, mostly students, will gather. Often they will stay around for hours. Sometimes we will have question and answer sessions with people in the crowd.
When we try to witness or give out tracts on this campus without preaching, we find that most people refuse tracts and don’t want to talk with us about Christ. When someone is preaching, however, this apathy is removed. People become eager to talk about Jesus and the Bible. While some are hostile and many are skeptical, many excellent conversations develop in response to the preaching and a number of people now know the Lord as a result.
Several local ministries and churches have joined together for a major outreach to Berkeley on September 14-16, called Battle for Berkeley. We have found that new students are most receptive to the gospel early in the school year, before they have time to be corrupted by the ungodliness in Berkeley. Thousands of foreign students from over fifty nations attend the University of California. Many of these students come from places where it is illegal to witness, and many will be returning to their homelands as leaders. We welcome you to join us for this outreach. Overnight housing will be provided (bring a sleeping bag). For more information, contact Bay Area Outreach Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325. We also have openings in our evangelism house in Oakland for Christians who have a desire to work in an evangelism ministry and receive training in evangelism and Christian ministry.
Coming Events
AUGUST 30- SEPTEMBER 3 MINNEAPOLIS OUTREACH Contact Mile Shields, 1315 Portland Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404, (602) 332-2409.
SEPTEMBER 2-4 PAUL BUNYAN DAYS OUTREACH, FT. BRAGG, CA Contact Bay Area Outreach Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
SEPTEMBER 9-23 CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA OUTREACHES $1495- 1995. Contact Forward Edge, Box 4976, Eureka, CA 95502, (707) 443-6315.
SEPTEMBER 14-16 BATTLE FOR BERKELEY Outreach to University of California and city of Berkeley, sponsored by several local churches and ministries. Contact Bay Area Outreach Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
SEPTEMBER 28-30 NATIONAL STREET MINISTRIES CONFERENCE DALLAS, TX Winkie Pratney, Sonny Arguinzoni, John Dawson, Mario Murillo, and many others. Contact NSMC, Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 331-6902.
Ministry Needs
The purpose of the International Street and Evangelism Ministries Association (ISEMA) is to help evangelism ministries help one another and to encourage Christians to get involved in evangelism. We need your assistance in doing this. Over twenty major city-wide outreaches and many other smaller outreaches took place this summer. If you attended one of these outreaches, send us a report of what happened. We’ll try to print as much as we can in our newsletter.
Also, let us know what you’d like to see in this newsletter: topics for discussion, teachings, questions you have about evangelism, etc. We want to know how we in ISEMA can serve you better.
In keeping with this month’s newsletter theme, our Tape of the Month is “Open Air Preaching” by Scott Crawford. Scott has been preaching on the streets for the past twenty years and has much wisdom to give us on this subject.
God bless you all. Lord willing, I’ll be at the National Street Ministries Conference in Dallas, and I hope to see many of you there.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum