High Visibility Evangelism
Often, Christians ask us if it is effective to preach, give out tracts, and carry signs. Isn’t it better to develop a friendship with a single person, and spend a lot of time witnessing to him? Certainly, friendship evangelism is very much necessary, but it does not eliminate the need for mass evangelism. Today, we are obsessed with the need to justify everything with statistics.
We at SOS Ministries are constantly being asked how many people were saved at our last outreach. Of course, we desire to see many people saved, but this does not justify our ministry. Noah was called a preacher of righteousness, and he warned his generation probably for hundreds of years, yet only his family was saved. The important thing is to obey God.
Throughout the Bible, we see God calling His servants to publicly proclaim His word in the public places, to multitudes of people. Jesus preached in the open, as did His disciples. The early believers preached publicly in the city centers wherever they went. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. While one‑on‑one witnessing is a very important kind of witnessing, little is said about it in the Bible and only a few instances are recorded. Preaching, on the other hand, is a major theme in the scriptures from beginning to end. Today, however, very few Christians preach in the public places and many argue that open‑air preaching is ineffective and should be avoided.
Tract distribution is a form of preaching. Many people will not stay around long enough to listen to gospel preaching, so we can put the message on a tract for them to read later. Often a person will leave a tract in his pocket, or stick it in a drawer, and read it at a time when he is depressed, or thinking about the meaning of his life. Many people have been saved through a tract they picked up off the ground. Even if a person isn’t saved through a tract, God can use it to get him to think about his relationship with God, or to understand better what it means to be born again.
Signs are another form of preaching. A person may not take a tract, but he can’t help reading the sign you are holding. God will use that brief message to convict a person of his sin and need for salvation. People who are passing by in their cars will also read your sign.
Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” In this newsletter, I am constantly stressing the need for more workers to witness in San Francisco. In this city as in many others, the voices advocating sexual immorality, drug abuse, occult activities, and Eastern religions and cults are very loud. The voices calling people to turn from such things to faith in God through Jesus Christ have been virtually silenced. As God’s word is continually proclaimed boldly and openly in the public places of the city, people will be continually confronted with their need to make a decision regarding Jesus Christ. Satan is seeking to distract people from that reality. We need to remind people continually that they have a choice to make which will determine their eternal destiny.
On the Streets
During this year’s SOS-San Francisco outreach, we witnessed for the first time at two San Francisco Giants baseball games at PacBell Park. The outreaches went so well that we decided to make this a regular Friday night witnessing location. On Friday July 20, we scheduled an outreach at this location. We had only four Christians helping us – Eric, Joyce, Steve and myself – and Steve had to leave early. For the first two hours, we witnessed to a few people who arrived late for the game.
Once the game ended, I found myself preaching to about 25,000 people who were leaving through the main gate. They all could hear my preaching and see our signs. A few drunks harassed us and broke our microphone. Fortunately, we had a spare one. Another person ran off with one of our signs, but Eric recovered it a block away. We continued preaching until almost everyone had left. We plan to witness at baseball games on August 17 and September 14. We could use a lot of help giving out tracts to the thousands of people who will be attending these games.
On July 21, we witnessed in Berkeley. Paul and Noreen Coca and Tim Moon sang. A team of Brazilian youth from a Portuguese church at El Cerrito Christian Center performed some mime skits. One of them preached in Portuguese. Later that afternoon, I met two men who were from Brazil. They told me they had been walking down the street when they heard someone speaking Portuguese over a PA system. They stopped to listen to the preaching. Please pray for these men.
On July 27, we witnessed on Valencia St. I spoke with David, whom I have known for 30 years. David pastored an evangelical church for 20 years. However, several years ago, his wife left him and became a lesbian. David came to Berkeley to attend a liberal seminary. A few years later, he told me he is gay and now believes he can be a “gay Christian.” He has now graduated from seminary and will be teaching the Bible at a Texas college. Please pray for him.
Is Witnessing Dangerous?
As I wrote about our experiences at the baseball game, I was reminded of a radio interview I did last month. The woman who interviewed me said, “That certainly is dangerous what you do, going out on the streets of San Francisco.” Some of you may have thought the same thing when I told you what happened at the baseball game, and then invited you to join us.
Several thousand Christians have witnessed with us in San Francisco and Berkeley over the past 23 years. Nobody has been hurt. Compared to driving a car, witnessing (at least in the U.S.) is extremely safe. Lots of people are killed in auto accidents, but that doesn’t keep us from driving. However, witnessing is dangerous—to the Devil and his kingdom. That’s why he tries so hard to prevent Christians from witnessing.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531‑5325 or (510) 616-0712 (pager) to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday September 7, 14, 21 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in various S.F. neighborhoods. (Call for meeting location.)
Sat. September 8 San Francisco “Church on the Street” worship rallies. 12-1 PM. Powell and Market St. 1:30-5 PM. United Nations Plaza (7th St. and Market) (Last Days Harvest Church, Sacramento.)
Sat. September 15 San Francisco worship rallies. 12-1 PM Powell and Market St. 2-5 PM. Washington Square (Columbus & Union St.) (Son House)
Sat. September 22 Berkeley Outreach. 12:30‑4:30 PM. Telegraph & Haste St.
Ministry Needs
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Our website, www.sosmin.com, is still not completed. We need some one who can help us finish the web site. We also need Christians who can witness with us on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. We welcome those who minister through music, drama and dance to join us.
When we filed a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit in 1996, it was assigned to Judge Legge. He was totally unsympathetic to our claims of discrimination by the city of San Francisco for arresting Eric Livingston, threatening to arrest us, and denying and restricting our permits. He dismissed our case, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his decision. Judge Legge has now retired so the case will be assigned to another judge. Please pray that it will be given to a judge who will be sympathetic to our claims.
Please pray for those who wrote us this past month in response to tracts, including Tanya, Raymond (Santa Cruz), Cresencio (Burlingame), Michael (San Mateo), Issa (means “Jesus” in Arabic, South San Francisco, age 11) and Justin and Rosetta (SF).
Our Tape of the Month is Starting a Street Witnessing Team. This is a teaching I did several years ago at an evangelism conference in San Diego.
God bless you all. Please continue to pray for us. I hope you will join one of our outreaches this next month.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
