Coming Events
See Ministry News and Needs section below for Coronavirus Update.
Friday March 6, 13 5-8 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. March 7 12 – 4 PM 5th and Market St. S.F.
Sat. March 14 12 – 4 PM Berkeley outreach (Shattuck and Center St.)
HOW SOS MINISTRIES GOT STARTED – PART 11
San Francisco Arrests and Lawsuit
Dear Christian friends,
In 1990, after evangelizing mostly in Berkeley for 3 years, I began once again to organize evangelism outreaches in San Francisco. On Friday night we would witness in some busy area of San Francisco. On Saturday afternoon we would often get permits in San Francisco parks. We continued witnessing in Berkeley about once a month on Saturday afternoon.
Occasionally, we would get shut down by the police, especially on Friday nights. Also, we were being denied permits at several locations. In 1994, we were told we could no longer get permits in the area outside the Powell St. BART station. This had been one of our best locations. Also in 1994, the Park Department denied us permits at Dolores Park.
In February 1996, Eric Livingston, who was saved through our ministry in 1990 and was living in our ministry house, was arrested at our outreach at Fifth and Market St. The officer claimed he could hear the event over 250 feet from the audience. In August, 1996, I was arrested during an outreach on Haight St. I was charged with disturbing the peace. In February 1997, Eric Livingston was again arrested at the Chinese New Year Parade on Market St. This time he was taken to jail for 8 hours. He was charged with disturbing the peace.
We got a Christian lawyer, Russell Davis, to defend Eric. The judge dismissed the charges against him, but the city appealed and won. The judge again dismissed the charges but the city again appealed and won. The third time we reached an agreement with the city not to prosecute if Eric was not arrested during the next year. The entire process took 5 years!
In May 1996, the San Francisco Police Department denied our permits at Fifth and Market St. At the hearing, nobody complained about our Fifth and Market outreaches. However, many people complained about our evangelism two miles away on Castro St. and accused us of targeting homosexuals. Later, we were denied permits at several other locations, including 4th and Market, 7th and Market and Fisherman’s Wharf.
In 1997, John Hurst, who was part of our ministry, was arrested for preaching on Broadway St. In August 1998, after we finished a permitted outreach in the San Francisco financial district, a police officer arrested me for disturbing the peace and violating the noise ordinance. He claimed he could hear our event over 250 feet from the audience. He confiscated our sound system and it took us a year to get it back.
Russell Davis defended me. I went to 30 other city events, and found that they all violated the same ordinance I was accused of violating. I videotaped them, complained to the police, and they refused to enforce the law. I testified about this for four full days at my criminal trial. The judge dismissed the charges and declared the 250 foot regulation unconstitutional, since it was not being evenly enforced. She also said I could not have been disturbing the peace, since my speech was protected by the First Amendment.
After all these arrests and permit denials, it was evident that certain city officials were determined to shut down all of our San Francisco outreaches. We decided to file a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit against the City, which we did in September 1996.
At the time, I had no idea how stressful and time-consuming this would be. Our lawsuit against Berkeley was settled relatively quickly and had a positive outcome. However, San Francisco devoted a lot of energy to fighting us. Unfortunately, the judge assigned to our case was not sympathetic to our position. He dismissed our case without a trial. We appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one step below the US Supreme Court, and won in 2001. The 9th Circuit ruling allowed us to argue our case before the same judge. But we lost again. We appealed again to the 9th Circuit, but, unfortunately, this time we lost our appeal in 2007.
Each appeal was heard by a three judge panel, randomly assigned. The first time, two judges ruled in our favor. The second time, only one judge ruled in our favor. We appealed to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit, but they refused to hear our case. I tried to find an attorney to appeal to the Supreme Court, but nobody would take the case. Every Christian legal group told me that the Supreme Court would not hear our case. Our lawyer, Russell Davis, and I spent countless hundreds of hours on the case. Attorney Rick Nelson handled the appeals. Like Julia Spain and Jack Leonard, they never charged us for their services and we could not have afforded to pay them. Alliance Defense Fund covered the costs of the appeals.
Although we lost the case, since 2007 we have had a lot less problems with the city. We are not able to get permits everywhere, but still can get permits in some good locations. We have not been arrested since 2007 and our outreaches are rarely shut down.
In 2018, the Park Department denied our permits at Dolores Park. When we protested, they threatened to increase our permit fees at all parks to $1000 or more for each permit. I contacted Pacific Justice Institute, and Russell Davis again represented us. We reached a settlement with the Park Department to get 2 permits at year at Dolores Park, up to 7 a year at Union Square, and up to 5 a year at United Nations Plaza. Also, we agreed to a permit fee of $143 per permit. This is a lot more than the $56 we had been paying, but was still affordable.
On the Streets
On Friday October 11 we witnessed at Powell and Market. A team of 14 Christians from World Changers for Christ in Denver joined us. I had not seen their leader, Art Neyland, for over 30 years. I also met his son, A.J., 19, who is a serious Christian who loves to evangelize. They witnessed in San Francisco and Berkeley for five days. Alex witnessed to Don, who had been listening to his preaching. Don thanked Alex for sharing the gospel with him. Alex also witnessed to Jason, 23, who said he was a skeptic. He gave him evidence for the faith and spoke about our conscience and the need to have a foundation for morality. Mike ministered to Zia, who said he was a believer but asked for prayer. He invited him to City Impact and saw him again the next day. Mike witnessed to Sarah, who is addicted to heroin and alcohol. He had seen her previously at Union Square.
The next day, we held our last park outreach of the year at UN Plaza. Sonny Lara and Star of David Ministries ministered, along with Paul and Noreen Coca. Alex witnessed to Mona, who is a meth addict. He shared his testimony of being freed from heroin with her. He also ministered to Red, who had been a zealous Christian but was backslidden. Mike had lived with him at City Impact about 6 years ago when he was walking with the Lord. He has a serious alcohol problem. Alex shared his testimony, and spoke about the deceitfulness and destructiveness of sin. Mike and Alex also witnessed to Ron, 54, who has a brother who is a backslidden Christian. His brother started using drugs and mistreating his child. Mike invited him to City Impact. He attended church and Bible study the next day and wants to volunteer there. I witnessed to Glen, 31. He said he had stopped drinking for two days but was experiencing serious withdrawal symptoms. I encouraged him to get into a Christian discipleship program and suggested Teen Challenge. He said he had attended Teen Challenge in Texas but left after one month. I asked him why he left, but he couldn’t give me a reason.
On Sat. October 19, we witnessed in downtown Berkeley. We were blessed to have Brian and Yvonne Clift and Vera Pifer with us. They have been with our ministry since the early 1980’s. Mike witnessed to Rocco, an Asian student at UC Berkeley. He asked him if he believed in God. “Not yet,” he replied. Mike shared the gospel with him and encouraged him to find a Christian group on campus. Alex witnessed to Danny, a woman who was raised Christian but believes everyone is going to Heaven and everything that happens is God’s will. He witnessed to Elizabeth, who initially was angry that the city gave us a permit, but after Alex spoke with her, she decided it was OK for us to preach God’s word. Mike and Alex both witnessed to Philip, who was yelling at us and trying to stop Brandon from preaching. As Alex ministered to him, his heart softened. Philip knew a lot of scripture and quoted Romans 7 “what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” He admitted that he did not understand why he seemed not to have control over his behavior. Alex shared how he could have victory over sin.
How SOS Ministries Got Started
Part 1: 1975-1979
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201903
Part 2: 1980
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201904
Part 3: Leadership
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201905
Part 4: 1981
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201906
Part 5: 1984-1985
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201908
Part 6: Discipleship Houses
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201910
Part 7: The Laborers are Fewer
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201911
Part 8: Division
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=201912
Part 9: Berkeley
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=202001
Part 10: Berkeley Lawsuit
http://www.sosmin.com/?m=202002
Ministry News and Needs
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry.
Because of the Coronavirus situation, San Francisco area counties have all issued “Shelter in Place” orders requiring that those who do not live in the same household to stay 6 feet from each other in public places and only go outside for “necessary business.” The streets are virtually empty.
For over 40 years, we have had an ongoing evangelism outreach in San Francisco. I have almost never had to cancel an outreach. But I see no way we can hold organized evangelism outreaches under these circumstances. We will continue doing outreaches as soon as we can.
Please pray for us as we seek God for wisdom as to what we should be doing. Please contact me if you have any suggestions.
Also, virtually every church in the area has cancelled their meetings. Please pray for our church leaders that they would have wisdom as to how to proceed.
Meanwhile, we encourage Christians to be in prayer for our nation and seek ways to share the gospel with others.
Perhaps this crisis will end quickly and we can resume our regular outreaches.
On the other hand, if this crisis continues, our economy will be devastated as millions of people lose their jobs, businesses are forced to close, our health system is overwhelmed and our government increases its national debt by trillions of dollars. Perhaps this will cause millions in our nation to humble themselves before God, repent of their sins, and put their faith in Jesus Christ.
We all will die one day (if Jesus doesn’t return first), but those who die without Jesus are in big trouble.
Stay healthy, walk close to Jesus, and seek Him for ways to share the gospel with others.
Don’t allow the news to make you fearful.
For the present, I recommend that all of us consider becoming online missionaries. Here is a good site with helpful information: https://bloggersforthekingdom.com/internet-evangelism-church-priority/.
“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” John 9:4.
We still have room for two men in our ministry house. We are looking for spiritually mature Christians who are seriously interested in doing street evangelism. We are also looking for younger Christians, as our desire is to see this ministry continue for many decades. As Jesus said, “the harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
