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Coming Events
Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 282-5629 to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday October 5, 19, 26 6 – 9 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. October 5, 19 12 – 5 PM UN Plaza 7th St. and Market SF.
Sat. October 26 12:30-4:30 PM Call for location. Berkeley.
CLOUD OF WITNESSES
Dear Christian friends,
A few years ago, I picked up a book that was sitting in our living room and began reading it: From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: a Biographical History of Christian Missions by Ruth Tucker. I had glanced at the book from time to time, but 500 pages is a lot to read. Once I started, I found the book fascinating and before long I had finished.
As I read about Christian missionaries from the book of Acts to the present, I was most impressed with the suffering and sacrifice so many have endured for the Gospel. In the Congo, only one in four missionaries would survive their first term of service. They would see their wives die, their children die, or they would leave their families behind and not see them for many years. They were murdered and sometimes cannibalized by the people they were trying to reach, but most died from diseases such as malaria.
In 1876, Alexander Mackay led a team of eight English missionaries to Uganda, responding to an invitation by King Mtesa for missionaries. By the end of the second year, only Mackay was still alive. There was tremendous persecution of the church there, led by the King who killed 30 Christian boys one year for not submitting to his homosexual passions. Mackay died of malaria in 1890 at the age of 40, but by that time the Uganda church had grown to 65,000!
The book is filled with similar examples of sacrifice. In some cases, missionaries saw much fruit to their labors. In other cases there was little apparent fruit. William Carey labored for seven years in Bengal, India without a single convert. He spent many years translating the Bible into native languages, only to have his work destroyed in a warehouse fire. His first wife was totally opposed to the missionary work. After she lost her 5 year old son, she became totally deranged. Carey’s missionary team had many conflicts and ended up splitting over personality clashes. Despite all this, he inspired hundreds of Christians to enter missionary work. Carey was called the “father of modern missions” because of the way he approached missionary work–being sensitive to the culture of the people he was reaching, instead of trying to substitute western culture.
Why the sacrifice? The only thing that could possibly motivate people to make such sacrifices was the prospect of saving people from eternal Hell. As A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance wrote, “A hundred thousand souls a day/ Are passing one by one away,/ In Christless guilt and gloom./ Without one ray of hope or light,/ With future dark as endless night,/ They’re passing to their doom.”
Several of our states even include evangelism in their charters as their reason for existence. Virginia’s charter opens with the King blessing the colonists “in propagating the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance.” The Massachusetts Bay charter pledged to “win and incite the natives of the Country to the Knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of Mankind, and the Christian faith.” The seal of the colony was an Indian crying “Come over and help us.” Connecticut’s charter maintained that “evangelization” was the “only and principal end” for the colony’s existence. Similar statements about the need to convert the Indians are in the charters of Pennsylvania and other states. How far have we moved from our origins!
On the Streets
We took the weekend off Aug. 2-3, but Mike decided to preach at Market and Powell on Friday night. Joshua listened to him the whole time. Afterwards, Mike ministered to him and prayed with him for deliverance from drugs. Mike returned to San Francisco the next two days to meet with him. A church in Texas is praying for him, and some Christians are working on helping him return there.
On Fri. Aug. 9 we witnessed at Market and Powell. Dave witnessed to Gabriel and Calvin, both young Catholics who were quite receptive to the gospel. He also witnessed to Brian, an atheist who was familiar with Ray Comfort’s videos. He was polite, and thanked him for the conversation. He also ministered to Misty, who is a Christian but had not been reading her Bible or praying. Finally, he witnessed to John from New Orleans. John was interested in studying the Bible so Dave invited him to join Eric Martinez’s Bible study.
On Sat. we witnessed in Dolores Park. It was a sunny day with over 1000 people in the park. James Croci and Paul and Noreen Coca played music. Dave met Wayne, a Christian from Nigeria, and Adriana, her 14 year old foster child. Adriana is unsaved, but listened as Dave shared the gospel with her. He also witnessed to Brandon, who is 30 and homeless. While intoxicated, he fell 45 feet and survived after crushing his feet. Dave told him his survival was a miracle and shared the gospel and prayed with him. Eddie and Allan witnessed to Gabby, 30, who approached them as they sat on the grass. Gabby has a Christian background and was open to the gospel.
On Fri. Aug. 16 we witnessed at 16th St. and Valencia. This is a difficult neighborhood like Dolores Park, with a lot of young professional people who are often quite hostile towards the gospel. I spoke with Simon, a young man from Sweden who was visiting a friend. Unlike many Europeans, he was quite receptive to the gospel. Francisco was listening to Eddie’s preaching and afterwards spoke with Eddie and Dave. He had a lot of questions about Christianity and seemed quite interested. Mike witnessed to Peter, an amputee with bone cancer.
The next day, we were driving to the Bay Bridge on the way to our outreach at Fisherman’s Wharf when one of the tires on our van blew out. We put on our spare, but it was no good. We got a tow back to our house and put everything into Mike’s truck and got to the outreach at 12:45 PM. Mike witnessed to the tow truck driver in Spanish and gave a gospel tract to his son, who was riding with him.
In addition to our Friday night and Saturday outreaches, several of our house members witness regularly during the week. Larry Dubois witnesses six days a week. Dave generally joins him on Wednesday in Oakland. Mike ministers in San Francisco on Sunday with City Impact. On Wed. Aug. 21, Dave witnessed to Anisa. She is from a nominal Muslim family in Algeria. Her husband had been abusing her so Dave ministered to her and took her to a woman’s health center. He shared the gospel with her and gave her a tract. The next day she called and said she had received the help she needed. Also, she read the tract and prayed to Jesus. She said she was overcome with peace and wanted to attend church with Dave. She attended church with Dave the next Sunday and loved the service.
On Fri. Aug. 23, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. Mike witnessed to Russ and Kim. Larry DuBois and James witnessed to a young homeless man named Mike. He said he prays to Jesus but didn’t understand salvation, so they shared the gospel with him and prayed for him. The next day, Mike Sheafe saw him at the Wharf and ministered to him some more.
Crime in Oakland
Oakland has the highest crime rate of any city in the U.S. California is under a court order to reduce its prison size, so many criminals are being released and others are not being prosecuted. The police are overwhelmed and don’t really deal with small crimes in which nobody is seriously injured.
I have lived in Oakland for 27 years. I got mugged a few years after I moved here, but have not had any problems until this year. A few months ago, my wallet and keys were stolen from a gym locker. As a result, we had to replace all the locks on our house. A few months later, the window in my car was broken, but the thief didn’t get anything of value. Still, I had to replace the window.
Then, last month, as I was walking near our house about 11 AM, a man tried to steal my wallet. He knocked me on the ground and I hit my head on the sidewalk. Fortunately, I was not seriously hurt. Two years ago, another brother was robbed near our house at night. He wasn’t hurt and didn’t lose anything.
Crime is a sad reality in our world. Please pray for our safety – not just on the streets, but also as we go through our daily lives.
Ministry Needs
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for the ministry. After the tire blew out on our van on August 17, we had our tires inspected and they all needed to be replaced. We also needed to replace our shocks. Mike Sheafe is a mechanic and donated the labor. The cost for the materials was $970. The steering in the van is also bad and will cost $240 to repair.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum