ISEMA Newsletters
“Hooligans” Find Christ
by Lark Higgins (from the Forward Edge Update, 15121-A NE 72nd Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, (206) 574-EDGE).
On June 30, 1991, a Forward Edge team of 10 people from the Midwest left for England. Our mission field: Darlington and Spennymoor, two small industrial towns in northeastern England (where we would invite people to tent crusades)….The people (in Darlington) were hard, untrusting and afraid. Large gangs of youth ranging from 6 to 20 years of age were terrorizing the neighborhoods. The second night of our tent crusade, we experienced some of this violence. A band of approximately 25 youth were around the tent. These boys had thrown eggs at the tent the day before and were disruptive during our nightly meeting. Several of the boys decided to slash the tent ropes with their switchblades.
The Lord reassured me and said, “Love them. Show them my love.” So that’s what I did. I just started talking to them. I knew they could sense His love. I invited them to the tent meeting and asked them to put the word out on the street to leave the tent alone. They promised they would and I knew they would be back. Then, I hugged them.
The net day they were all at the tent waiting for us. They had brought some others. A group of the younger gang members wanted me to go down to the lake with them…When one hit me in the head with a stone, I reached down to this crusty little boy and began tickling him. Everybody began to giggle. The others drew closer (some even cuddling up against me!) as we sat and talked. That night they all came to the meeting. That night, many of the young people turned their hearts over to God.
While in England, we performed drama skits before 2000 or more students and over 25 young people turned their lives over to Jesus at the Darlington tent crusade.
The Effectiveness of High-Visibility Evangelism
by Larry Rosenbaum (from You Shall Be My Witnesses).
The following is the third part of a series of teachings on “High-Visibility Evangelism.” The previous two parts appeared in the January and April issues of this newsletter. Write us if you would like copies.
In San Francisco as in many other cities, the voices advocating sexual immorality, drug abuse, occultic 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, and we need to remind people continually that they have a choice to make which will determine their eternal destiny.
Since so many Christians question the effectiveness of street preaching, tract distribution, carrying signs and other high visibility methods, let me give eight ways in which these methods are effective in advancing God’s kingdom on this earth:
1. They help people to learn how they can be saved. Often, people have read dozens of tracts and may even collect them. They may never have prayed to receive Christ, but they know what they need to do and are familiar with many of the scriptures relating to salvation.
2. They cause people to become conscious of God`s Word and their need to make a decision either to accept or reject Jesus Christ. Each time a person is confronted with the gospel, he must think about Christ and his need for salvation. God can use each witness to draw the person closer to Himself.
3. They leave people without excuse. God has given each person a free will–to accept or reject Him. If he chooses to reject the truth, he will give account of his life before God on Judgment Day. He will not be able to say he never heard the gospel, or had no opportunity to be saved.
4. They cause an entire city or nation to become more conscious of God`s Word. Often, we find that when we witness at major events, people comment that we are everywhere. People get used to expecting Christians to be at rock concerts, parades, downtown parks, etc. They start talking to one another about all the Christian activity. They are also impressed by the dedication they see in these Christians.
5. The atmosphere of a city or neighborhood can change. Demonic principalities lose their hold on an area where Christ is consistently preached and worshipped. As the Holy Spirit descends upon an area, demonic strongholds are broken up and people become more open to God`s Word. Demons cannot stay in a place where Christ’s Lordship has been established.
6. The Christians who participate will be strengthened spiritually. We have found that many of those who participate in our outreaches find that they have become bolder in witnessing in other situations. They become more excited about their Lord, as they see Him using them to witness to others. Their desire to intercede for the lost increases, as does their desire to grow spiritually so that their life will be a better witness for the Lord. Their renewed excitement about the Lord spreads to other Christians.
7. Other Christians are encouraged by our boldness to witness for Christ. After seeing what we are doing, many Christians have been encouraged to witness to their friends, or even to start a street ministry in their own community.
8. Many people do get saved as a result of preaching. However, we only get to see a small percentage of the fruit. Some come to the Lord on the street and we are able to follow-up on them. Others are saved on the street but we lose track of them, or we do not see an immediate change in their life. In many cases, the person may not get saved until much later. The person who witnessed to him may never learn about it in this life.
Coming Events
June 5-7 Harborfest ’91 Outreach, Norfolk, VA. Contact Paul & Dana Powers, Youth Evangelism Ministries, Inc., Box 1908, Newport News, VA 23601, (804) 595-9523.
June 10-15 Rescue Atlanta ’91. Contact Rescue Atlanta, Box 965039, Marietta, GA 30066, (404) 924-0201.
June 21-29 SOS-Hollywood. Contact SOS-Hollywood, Box 2809, Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 469-3027.
June 28-July 6 SOS-San Francisco. Guest speakers include Ray Comfort and Phil Aguilar. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
June 28-July 4 Taste of Chicago Outreach. Contact Christ in Action Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868.
July 2-4 Freedom Festival & Freedom Parade ’91, Houma, LA. Contact Pastor Jules Boquet, Christian Community Fellowship, 1105 Little Bayou Black Dr., Houma, LA 70360, (504) 876-7213.
July 6-15 Jesus Loves You-New York. Contact Abounding Grace Ministries, 7040 Colonial Rd.#3-G, Brooklyn, NY 11209, (718) 836- 2957.
July 21-24 Evangelism conference and outreach, Salt Lake City. 300,000 attend Mormon Parade on July 24. Contact Jack Perry, Metro Fellowship, Box 1626, Salt Lake City, UT 84110, (801) 363-0564.
July 25-August 3 Twin Cities for Jesus, Minneapolis-St. Paul. Contact Forerunner Ministries, Box 6084, Minneapolis, MN 55406, (612) 722-0751.
July 29-August 3 Miami Outreach. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
July 31-August 4 Milwaukee Outreach. Contact Heart-fire Ministries, Box 14031, W. Allis, WI 53214, (414) 445-9490.
August 17-25 Rosebud, ND Outreach. Witnessing to American Indians. Contact Forward Edge, 15121-A NE 72nd Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, (206) 574-EDGE.
August 30-31 St. Louis V.P. Fair. Contact No Greater Love Box 263, DuQuoin, IL 62832, (618) 542-4503.
September 26-28 National Street Ministries Conference, Dallas, TX. Contact Scott Hinkle Outreach Ministries, Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 331-6902.
International Street & Evangelism Ministry Directory
It’s finally done. Literally dozens of hours went into getting the 1991 Directory into its new form. The Directory is now typeset, so it can be easily read. It also has an index, so ministries can be located by the name of ministry and name of the director as well as by address. Much thanks to Neil Ginsberg, who applied his computer expertise to this project. I believe the Directory will be a very helpful resource in locating ministries all over the world. Most entries contain a brief description of the ministry. At the back are separate listings of Tract and Bible Sources and Christian Legal Resources. The Directory is available only to ISEMA members. If you haven’t joined ISEMA yet, this will give you a good reason to do so.
Our Tape of the Month is “How to Reach your City for Christ” by Larry Rosenbaum. This is a teaching on how to organize a city-wide outreach in your own community. Also, many of you have never read my book–You Shall Be My Witnesses: How to Reach Your City for Christ. This book tells the story of SOS Ministries, and contains teachings on how to do various kinds of outreach in your own community. Some of the topics discussed in the book include–starting a street witnessing team, witnessing to homosexuals, witnessing at shopping centers, rock concerts and schools, and witnessing to children, the elderly, Catholics, Jews and cultists. If you already have a copy of this book, perhaps you will want an extra copy to give to a friend, or to your pastor.
We are now entering our twelfth year for our SOS-San Francisco outreach. I hope to see many of you at this outreach–June 28-July 6. Our Coming Events calendar lists many city-wide outreaches this summer. Pray about which to attend, but I strongly encourage you to participate in at least one of these outreaches this summer. It will change your life.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
