Newsletter – September 2010

SOS – San Francisco Outreach Report

September 2010

Dear Christian friends,

A few days before the SOS-San Francisco outreach, we had a one-day outreach with 60 youth from First Baptist Church in Stockton. After I gave a brief teaching on evangelism, we went to UN Plaza to pass out 200 lunches and witness to people in this park.   This is the second time we had worked with this church’s youth group.

A week before the outreach, I emailed KFAX radio, the largest Christian station in the SF area, and asked if I could go on their afternoon Lifeline program to publicize the outreach. I used to go on KFAX every year when Craig Roberts was hosting that program, but he left a few years ago and I had not been able to get on the show. Craig Roberts was back, and he invited me to go on the show the next day. I had 40 minutes to share about SOS-San Francisco with thousands of Christians. Craig said he would also do public service announcements to publicize the event.

We held the outreach at a new location, the Bridge Ministry, and this facility worked out very well for us. Ten youth from Christian Life Assembly of God, Payson, Utah joined us from Friday through Wednesday. It was the fifth year they had been with us. On Saturday morning, we witnessed at Washington Square. I witnessed to two young people from France. They had never really heard the gospel before. Afterwards, we had a march through Chinatown. We gave out over 500 Chinese tracts that day. Later that afternoon, we had an outreach at Union Square and at night, we witnessed at the Metreon. Tim Moon played music, as he did throughout the week. The Utah team performed their “human videos” at all our outreaches while they were with us. Often, a large crowd gathered to watch them. They also shared their testimonies after doing their skits.

On Monday and Friday afternoons, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. Loretta witnessed to two Mennonite boys. Karol prayed with two girls, aged 12 and 13. I passed out tracts to a large group of high school students. They were part of a Rotary Convention, were from 100 different nations, and all spoke English!

Tamara, Karol, and Carol ministered to a young Christian woman from Singapore, Andrina. She thought she was pregnant, and was considering an abortion. Tamara took her home that night. She told her if she is pregnant and doesn’t want to care for the child, she would adopt the child! Talk about going the extra mile…

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we witnessed in Berkeley. Frank witnessed to Mike, an 20 year old homeless man from Fresno, who kept all his possessions and his dog in a shopping cart. At first, he was hostile towards the gospel, but they ended up talking for an hour. On Thursday, Tamara visited each shop within two blocks of our outreach, sharing her testimony of salvation and deliverance from Eastern religion with each shopkeeper.

An employee from Amoeba Records, which is across the street from us, parked his car illegally across the street from us. He purposely kept his car alarm going for 1 ½ hours, almost nonstop, in order to disturb us and everyone else on the street. Taking the BART from Berkeley, Loretta witnessed to a Chinese scientist. He had lived in the US for 5 years, but had never seen a Bible.

On Wednesday afternoon, we witnessed at Haight St. and Masonic. Soon after I arrived, I saw Jamie. I have witnessed to him for 30 years, and each time I see him he is in worse shape, due to his drug and alcohol addictions. Frank witnessed to Evan, a young man who worked for Greenpeace. He was from a Presbyterian background, but had never read the New Testament. Frank gave him one, and he said he would read it. Several Christians ministered to Joseph and Marissa, a young couple from Hawaii who were living on the streets. Christians from our team bought them a sleeping bag and some food. They were quite receptive to the gospel, and read the literature we gave them.

On Tuesday night, we witnessed at 16th St. and Mission. Frank witnessed to Valenti, a 20 year old man from London. He was from a Hindu background, but was interested in Jesus. Frank explained the gospel to him. On Thursday night, we witnessed at Powell and Market. Janice and Loretta spoke with Marc, who interrupted our preaching with his comment, “There is no hope. We are all going to hell.” Marc was a backslidden Christian who is involved in homosexuality. They ended up praying together.

Pastor Mark Whitehead was with us most afternoons, bringing several people from his church, Victory Assembly in Ceres. Chuck Girard and Paul Coca were with us on Friday and Saturday, with Noreen Coca joining us on Saturday. We concluded the outreach with a rally at UN Plaza on Saturday afternoon. Chuck, Paul and Noreen, and Mark ministered, along with a worship group and some rappers from Word of Grace Church in San Francisco. We prayed with  at least 50 people that afternoon, and gave out several dozen Bibles. I spoke with Daniel, a drug addict and bought him a BART ticket so he could get to a Christian discipleship program in Richmond, CA.

They day after our SOS outreach ended, we had our first outreach with Teen Challenge in Oakland. Tim Moon and I brought 13 men from their program to Fisherman’s Wharf. Tim sang, I preached, and we passed out hundreds of tracts. This was the first time these men had witnessed on the streets. They were nervous, but excited. We hope to witness with them once a month.

Despite the tens of thousands of Christians who heard about the outreach through Spirit West Coast, KFAX, and Facebook, the SOS outreach does seem to get smaller each year. Still, God did a great work through our small team. Thank you for your prayers and financial support, which made this outreach possible. Only in eternity will we see all the fruit of our labors.

A few days ago I received an email from a missionary couple in Ecuador. In last April’s newsletter, I mentioned witnessing to a young man named Joel who attends SF City College, is backslidden, and whose parents are missionaries in Ecuador. Through a common friend, this couple found out what I had written and wrote me, saying they had a son named Joel who was backslidden, living in San Francisco. It turns out I had witnessed to their son.

Coming Events

Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 761-6120 to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday September 10, 17, 24 Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. 7:30-10 PM (Call for location).

Sat. September 11 Berkeley Outreach. 12:30-4:30 PM Telegraph & Haste St.

Sat. September 18 San Francisco Outreach. 11:30-1:30 Washington Square (Columbus & Union St.) 3:30-5:30 Union Square (Powell & Geary) Shelter Cove Church, Modesto.

Sat. September 25 San Francisco Outreach. 1-5 PM Dolores Park (19th St. and Dolores) Sonhouse.

Ministry News and Needs

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Please pray for all those we witnessed to during the SOS-San Francisco outreach, that many will be saved and become disciples of our Lord.

We gave out a lot of gospel tracts during SOS and need to print some more. It will cost about $1200 to print 60,000 tracts.

We have another new member in our evangelism house. Dave St. Marie worked with Christian Equippers Ministry for 12 years and has been witnessing with us for half a year. Please pray for Dave, Leife, and Dan as they all need to find employment. The job situation is quite bad in this area. If you know of any jobs in the SF area, please let me know. While we would like to have enough funds so that our house members could witness full-time, right now we do not have enough funds, so our house members need to work during the week.

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum

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Utah youth perform “human videos” at Fisherman’s Wharf.

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Frank witnesses to Mike in Berkeley.

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John from Utah sings at Union Square.

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Pastor Brad preaches during march through Chinatown.

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Joseph and Marissa read tract on Haight St.