Coming Events
(Outreaches subject to change. Call (510) 282-5629 on day before outreach to confirm.)
Friday Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and 14 5 – 8 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. Dec. 1 Berkeley outreach 12:30 – 4:30 PM Shattuck and Center St.
Sat. Dec. 8 and 15 5th St. and Market 12-4 PM.
PRIORITY ONE – NEW ORLEANS
Dear Christian friends,
On October 24-30, I went to New Orleans to speak at the PriorityOne Street Evangelism Conference. Paul and Noreen Coca, Scott Crawford, and Chuck Girard also spoke at the conference. I had never met Troy Bohn, the organizer of the Conference, but Scott knew him well and encouraged me to go. Troy first started witnessing in New Orleans 20 years ago and began an outreach ministry there 15 years ago called Raven Ministries.
Today they have a large three-story outreach center, five staff members, and 11 interns. They have planted evangelistic churches in several cities. They use a number of different approaches to their witnessing, including preaching on Bourbon Street, feeding the homeless, block parties, and witnessing at a local bus station. Their facility has dorms for men and women and a commercial kitchen so they can host teams of Christians who want to do evangelism throughout the year.
About 100 Christians attended the conference. Almost all are presently involved in street evangelism. Many were from Raven Ministries in New Orleans and their other church plants. Three of the speakers, Scott Hinkle, Bobby Chance, and Bill Henderson, have been doing street ministry for well over 30 years. They also helped organize the National Street Ministries Conference, which began in 1984 and drew about 1000 Christians each year for its first eight years.
I taught two classes. In these classes, I discussed a number of issues facing Christians who do street evangelism. I went over my personal testimony of how I got involved in evangelism. I went over the history of SOS Ministries and my involvement in the International Street Ministries Association in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Then I spoke about some issues in street evangelism:
- The tendency for our preaching to get harsher in response to rejection. Instead, as people’s hearts get harder, we need to be gentle and loving, without compromising the message.
- The tendency of street ministries to get more involved in helping with people’s physical needs and neglecting their spiritual needs.
- Dealing with rejection – both from non-Christians and from other Christians who don’t believe in street evangelism.
- Perseverance in street evangelism. I know very few Christians who have continued doing street evangelism for more than a few years. Yes, God calls some Christians in a different direction. But does God want all Christians to stop witnessing on the streets after a short time?
This last point is the most troubling to me. I have seen countless street ministries come and go. I have seen countless Christians get very involved in street evangelism for a few years and then suddenly stop and never witness on the streets again. I have seen large evangelism ministries that moved away from evangelism and into social action after their founders retired or died.
I was encouraged to see the evangelistic churches that Troy has raised up in New Orleans and other cities. While the vast majority of Christians and churches in the US today are not involved in street witnessing, it is good to see there is a remnant in the church that is committed to reaching the lost.
On the Streets
I realize that I am writing about July outreaches in our December newsletter. In order to get caught up, I will need to leave out quite a few testimonies. I hope the ones I share here encourage you, as they encourage me.
On Fri. July 13, we witnessed at 16th St. and Valencia. Dave and I met Toni. She was saved 1 ½ years ago. Before that, she was a lesbian for 38 years! She wanted to start doing evangelism. Kathy saw Martha walk by and she said “God bless you.” Martha stopped and asked if she could talk about something. As a baby, her father sold her to a drug dealer. She is now saved and has forgiven her father. Her father had recently died and she wanted advice about whether to attend his funeral.
On Sat. July 21, we witnessed at Union Square. The band Machaira played. Many people stopped to listen to their excellent music. Dave witnessed to Lucas, 19, an agnostic from Brazil. He also spoke with Jessica, who had been saved two years. A year ago, her brother died in a car accident. However, he lived for one hour after the accident. During that time, a Christian came by and shared the gospel with him. He was saved before he died.
On Sat. Aug 4, we witnessed at UN Plaza. Mike ministered to Tammy, a Christian who asked for prayer. Her husband and kids were all estranged from her and all practice black magic. He also ministered to Jimmy, a Christian who struggles with pornography. As a child, he went over a dam, but was saved from drowning by an angel. Dave witnessed to Elissa, from Thailand. He had spoken to her before. She said the devil was trying to suck her soul and take her life. Dave had told her when that happens, to command him to leave in the name of Jesus. She said she did that, and it worked.
On Sat. Aug 18, we witnessed at Union Square and 5th and Market. Bridgepoint Community Church, Pacifica, played excellent worship music and drew a crowd. I preached at the end about the vanity of life without God. I spoke about working at the same job for 30 years and retiring with a gold watch. Two people came up afterwards to talk with me. The first, Marvin, 70, told me that he worked at his job for about 30 years and left with a gold watch! He also was wondering about the meaning of life. I encouraged him to read the Bible and seek the truth. The second, Arselito, lives in Berkeley. He is an ex-homosexual who was attending a Christian church on Sunday morning and a JW Kingdom Hall in the evening. As I was writing this newsletter in November, Dave gave me this update: Arselito no longer studies with the JW’s and has committed his life to Christ. He has been witnessing with some Christian friends of ours. Dave also witnessed to Laney, a Chinese law student at UC Berkeley. She has a Korean Christian roommate. He also witnessed to Shiraq, 16, who lives in Jerusalem. He read Isaiah 53 and also Numbers 21 and John 3, about the bronze serpent Moses raised up. He said, “I’m going to think about this.”
On Sat. Sept 1, we witnessed at Union Square and 5th and Market. A worship group from Love International Church in San Francisco played music at Union Square. Dave witnessed to Norris, a Jehovah’s Witness. He was raised in that cult and was in his 40’s, but was not familiar with the scriptures Dave shared with him. He told Dave, “I don’t know how to answer you.” Mike witnessed to Josh, who had read the Quran in jail but was open to the gospel.
On Sat. September 8, we held our last park outreach of the year at UN Plaza. Dave witnessed to Riley, a male airplane pilot who was transitioning to become a “woman.” He also witnessed to Ben and Brianna, both Biology graduates from SF State. Ben was raised in a Christian family and Brianna was raised Catholic. Ben agreed with the gospel message but admitted he was not right with God. He fell away from Christ at college. I witnessed to Kramer. His great-grandfather was a street evangelist. He had attended Pentecostal churches and had experienced the power of God. However, he was not saved.
Several of us, including me, ministered to Lori. She had done street evangelism when she was with Victory Outreach. However, she had been backslidden for 10 years, using drugs and alcohol. She also had a lot of anger. After we prayed with her, she said that she was able to smile for the first time in many years. Mike invited her to City Impact, and she went there the next day.
Ministry Needs
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry.
For the past month, John Wardlaw has been staying with us. He lives in South Carolina, but wanted to learn how to do street evangelism.
On Nov. 10, we held our first outreach at the newly remodeled BART station in downtown Berkeley. This is a great location for us.
We have an opening in our ministry house for a Christian who is serious about evangelism. Please pray that God will bring the right person. We are also looking for a ministry intern.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We all tend to get involved in shopping and family activities, but Christmas is a great time to preach the gospel. We need to remind people of the reason for the season. I hope many of you will join us for an outreach this month.