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SOS Monthly Newsletter - January 2005Whole City EvangelismDear Christian friends, In October, 2000, I attended the National Street Ministry Conference in Dallas. About 1000 Christians from around the nation attended the conference. I was blessed to see all the different ministries God has raised up around the country. Still, our ministry was quite different from the other ministries at the conference. Almost every other ministry was focused exclusively on reaching the poor--the homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, and gang members. Our ministry may have been the only one seeking to reach an entire city—the middle class and the wealthy as well as the poor. In general, the poor are more receptive to the gospel. Often, one can get homeless people to listen to a gospel message by offering them food, clothing, or shelter. They know their lives are a mess, and often desire some kind of change. The gospel certainly needs to be preached to the poor. However, about 90% of San Francisco residents, and millions of tourists, are not poor. To my knowledge, we are the only ministry that preaches the gospel to these people. A middle or upper class person is less likely to stop and talk with a stranger on the street or listen to a street preacher. Still, our Lord’s Commission is to reach everyone with the gospel, not just the poor. It is possible to evangelize middle and upper class people on the streets. Many will stop and listen to good quality music or drama. They will listen to short testimonies and gospel presentations between songs. They will read intelligently-written gospel tracts. When the Apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa, he said, “I testify to small and great alike.” We need more evangelism ministries that minister to an entire city, not just the poor. Many Christians are not comfortable witnessing to middle class and rich people. Often these people are well educated and raise objections that we have difficulty answering. Some walk right by us, pretending we do not exist. Nobody likes being ignored. We need to remember that we are not witnessing so that we will feel good, but so that others can be saved. This past year, we have held most of our Saturday outreaches at Fisherman’s Wharf. In one afternoon, perhaps 50,000-100,000 people hear something about Jesus through the music, preaching, signs and tracts. Most of these people are tourists from all over the world. Many are not being witnessed to at home. Fisherman’s Wharf is the top tourist attraction in San Francisco, drawing almost 12 million visitors annually from all over the world, according to the SF Chronicle. About 90% of these people are unsaved. If we had enough workers to send a team to witness there every day, we could preach the gospel to 10 million non-Christians every year! The team would consist of musicians, preachers, and personal evangelists. Imagine: ten full-time workers could reach 10 million people per year — that’s a million each! Billy Graham preached the gospel to millions of people, but how many “ordinary Christians” have this opportunity? Please pray that God will provide the workers and finances to allow such a team to be raised up. ON THE STREETSFisherman’s Wharf is filled with street performers. On a Saturday afternoon, there are usually three Peruvian bands, a reggae band, a blues band, some break dancers, and several men who paint themselves silver and do mime – all within two blocks. We set up our sound system right in the middle of this area. Although many unbelievers think that Christian ministers are greedy for money, we are the only group that is not seeking donations from the tourists. One other difference: many non-Christian street musicians are there 100-200 hours a month. We are there 10-12 hours a month. On November 20, we witnessed at the Wharf. Paul and Noreen Coca, Mark Whitehead, and John Land played music from 11 AM to 5 PM. At the end of the outreach, John preached a short message and gave an altar call. Dmitri, who grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, heard the message across the street and responded to the altar call. He told John it was the most powerful message he had ever heard. John prayed with him to receive Christ. His father was a preacher in the underground church in Russia, but Dmitri had never been saved. “Now I understand why my father was willing to break the law,” he told John.
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