By Larry Rosenbaum
In 1901, a few believers at a Topeka, Kansas Bible School gathered for prayer and began “speaking in other tongues.” In 1906, William J. Seymour, the son of slaves, moved to Los Angeles to speak about this new phenomenon, one he had never experienced. On April 9, 1906 a janitor named Edward Lee began speaking in tongues and three days later, Seymour received this gift, along with a special empowering by the Holy Spirit. He began holding prayer meetings at a house on Bonnie Brae St., but the meetings grew and moved to a vacant mission at 312 Azusa St. On April 18, the Los Angeles Times published an article on these meetings. “Devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement,” it read. That same day, a devastating earthquake hit San Francisco. The Azusa Street revival continued for three years, with people coming from all over the world to participate.
Los Angeles today is known more for immorality than Christian faith. Hollywood produces movies that have a profound influence on the world. Much has been said about the recent Academy Awards, which honored several movies promoting homosexuality and transsexuality. However, there are hundreds of thousands of born-again Christians in the Los Angeles area, and many large gospel-preaching churches.
San Francisco is likewise known for immorality. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, Glad Tidings Temple held meetings with revivalists like Smith Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson that drew several thousand people. Today, there are no large evangelical churches in San Francisco and few in the SF area. Only about 4% of San Francisco residents attend any kind of church.
New Orleans also has a world-wide reputation for immorality, especially voodoo, paganism and sexual immorality. Six months ago, Hurricane Katrina largely destroyed the city, interrupting the 34th annual Southern Decadence street party scheduled that week. This event, which is known as a “gayer” version of Mardi Gras, normally draws 100,000 people to that city and involves public sex acts. New Orleans held its 150th annual Mardi Gras in February, but it was much smaller than usual. The city’s population today is less than half what it was before the hurricane. Despite billions of dollars of government spending, little has been done to rebuild the city. Every year, hundreds of Christians witness at the Mardi Gras. It is possibly the largest annual street outreach in the world.
Throughout history, spiritual revivals have been birthed in prayer. In recent years, many Christians have been getting very serious about prayer. For over six years there have been Christians praying 24 hours a day at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. Many Christians are fasting and praying for 40 days from March 1 to April 9, 2006. They are praying for revival in the US in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the Azusa St. revival. They are also praying about the US Supreme Court and the situation in the Middle East.
In San Francisco, a House of Prayer has been established at Treasure Island on the SF Bay (www.sfhouseofprayer.org). Christians gather on Fridays each week for an all-night prayer meeting. A team of eight young people from Justice House of Prayer in Washington DC has come to San Francisco to pray. They pray from midnight to 6 AM six nights a week. Another group has moved into a Berkeley house to fast and pray for 40 days.
As Christians pray for lost souls, God will move on them to “put feet on their prayers” and seek to reach people with the gospel. The Azusa Street revival resulted in a tremendous outpouring of evangelism around the world. Today, about 600 million believers are part of the worldwide Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
Teen Mania ministry, which has mobilized thousands of Christian teens to participate in mission trips in the inner cities of the U.S. and around the world, organized a Battle Cry event at SBC Park in San Francisco on March 24-25. They are seeking to mobilize tens of thousands of San Francisco area youth to reach their generation for Jesus. Also, thousands of Christians are expected at a Solemn Assembly on Treasure Island, SF, on April 15 from 8 AM to 8 PM with Lou Engle, Dutch Sheets, and others.
“I solemnly urge you…to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not” (2 Tim 4:1). “And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).
Greetings in the Name of our Wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many of you getting this newsletter haven’t received one from us since last year. If you would like to get this letter monthly, and will read it and pray for us, please indicate this on the enclosed response sheet. We hope this letter will be a blessing to you, and will help you to grow in your knowledge and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the past forty years, Christians have been moving out of our cities into the suburbs. Without a strong gospel witness, city people turned to drugs, sexual immorality and crime. When these problems spread to the suburbs, we could no longer ignore them. Despite the billions of dollars we have spent on social programs, education and law enforcement, things have only gotten worse. The only solution is for people to turn to Jesus Christ.
Twenty-three years ago, God called me to preach the gospel to the people of San Francisco. During the early years of this ministry, some Christians believed that God would save multitudes in this city within a year or two as a result of our prayers and evangelism. Others were just as convinced that God would soon destroy this city because of its wickedness.
Americans are used to instant foods and instant cash machines. But God’s ways are not our ways. It takes time for prayer and evangelism to bear fruit. A day is with the Lord as a thousand years. So twenty-three years is but a few minutes according to God’s time. God never told me the timing or size of the harvest we would see in this city. He only told me to keep preaching the gospel here.
Noah preached God’s word for perhaps 600 years, but only his family was saved. Jonah preached a message of judgment without love for a few days, and everyone in Ninevah repented. Will the people of San Francisco be judged like the people of Noah’s day, or will they repent like Nineveh?
San Francisco is certainly one of the most influential cities in the world, along with New York, Los Angeles and a few other places. Its influence has been almost totally for evil. While most San Franciscans have heard about Jesus, they have seen a lot more religious hypocrisy than real Christianity. And there are thousands of children, immigrants and tourists here who have never heard the gospel. This city is still the third most popular tourist destination in the world.
So for the nineteenth year we are sending out an “SOS” — a call for Christians to “preach the Word of God urgently” (2 Tim. 4:1) to the people of San Francisco. God also wants to use this outreach to shake us from our spiritual apathy and luke warmness and give us a new excitement about serving Jesus. Those who think Christianity is boring have never been to SOS-San Francisco.
Celebration in the Streets
Many San Franciscans are turned off to “organized religion.” They view Christians as self-righteous hypocrites who are unhappy themselves and want to spoil other people’s fun. Many have never been to a church where people love Jesus and are filled with God’s joy. If they will not come inside a church building, we can bring the church to them.
Twice a month throughout the year and every day during our SOS- San Francisco outreach, we hold a worship service on the streets. We set up a sound system in a park or on a street corner. Led by a music group, we worship God, preach the gospel, share testimonies, and invite people to receive Christ. As people walk into the area, they see a group of Christians filled with God’s joy and often sense God’s presence. The Bible says that Satan, the “god of this world,” has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. We believe that as we worship God, Satan’s hold over these people is momentarily disrupted and they are more receptive to a gospel witness.
Last summer, Pastor Gary Goodell from the San Diego Vineyard brought a team from his church, including worship leader Mark McCoy, to join our outreach. Another group of youth from Canada, led by Trey Bourette, also joined us. They led us in a very joyous form of worship at our outdoor outreaches, celebrating our joy in knowing Jesus through music and dance. These groups will be with us again this summer.
Last year was also the 30th anniversary of the “Summer of Love.” In 1967 and 1968, thousands of “hippies” (including myself) came to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco looking for love and peace. What we found then was a counterfeit, but now we have found the real thing. This summer, we will be ministering throughout the city, but especially to the youth in the Haight-Ashbury district. We have applied for permits to hold two rallies at Sharon Meadow, near “hippie hill” in Golden Gate Park.
Thousands of youth are still coming to San Francisco each summer, seeking the same things the “hippies” were looking for 30 years ago. Several dozen of these youth have come to know Jesus. We hope many more will be saved this summer. Jesus said, “the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
