July / August 1991
SOS-San Francisco Outreach Report
God has done many wonderful things over the past 12 years of SOS-San Francisco, but this past outreach was certainly one of the best and most diverse. Youth With a Mission (YWAM) teams joined us from New Zealand, Hawaii, Seattle, Denver, and Northern California. Individuals came from as far away as Minnesota and Texas. Over 600 Christians participated in this year’s outreach, with about 300 involved on a daily basis throughout the week. One of the brothers who joined us was Eric Livingston. Eric was saved last summer in the Berkeley jail. We met him the day he was released during last year’s SOS. He participated in the last half of the outreach and entered the Watsonville Teen Challenge program, which he has almost completed.
Over a hundred of those who participated were part of the King’s Kids, children from 6 to 16 years old who ministered in song and dance. Ten of the children came from an orphanage in Mexico! A dozen were from a San Francisco ghetto church. The faith, innocence and love of these precious children would melt the hardest heart. God opened doors through these children that are normally closed to us. They were able to minister at Pier 39, the third biggest tourist attraction in the U.S. The police allowed them to set up a P.A. without a permit at the Marina Green on July 4, while thousands were waiting to see the fireworks display. One of the King’s Kids groups was a “Hands” team, a group of teenagers that was involved in service projects, such as cleaning up Golden Gate Park and giving out clothes to the poor. Many of the teenagers were involved in a Torch Run, carrying a torch into every area of San Francisco, praying for that area and giving out tracts to people who watched them. Some Russian immigrants were involved in this ministry.
The YWAM team from New Zealand sang local native songs from their country, using them in evangelism. Calvary Chapel of San Francisco led a prayer team to neighborhoods throughout the city. One team worked with Asian teenagers in the Tenderloin district. Another team did some door to door witnessing with a local church in the Glen Park district and witnessed at City College. We had six drama teams in various areas. One brother ministered using sketchboard illustrations. On July 4, we fed and witnessed to hundreds of Hispanics in the Potrero Hill district.
The New Life Christian Church worship group led us in worship throughout the week–both at church and on the streets–that was truly anointed. We received some outstanding teaching in evangelism. On the first Friday and Saturday nights, John Goodfellow taught us effective ways of reaping a harvest. John is a teacher with YWAM who organized a summer evangelism outreach in Amsterdam for many years. Ray Comfort was with us on Tuesday and Wednesday. He taught us how to use God’s law to bring conviction of sin and real conversions. On Friday night, Pastor Michael Brodeur from Vineyard Christian Fellowship–a San Francisco church that has grown to over 500 in six years–spoke about the place of signs and wonders in evangelism.
Sunday was a day off for us, but it was also the day of the annual “Gay Parade” which drew an estimated 200-500 thousand people. Several Christians witnessed at the parade. One brother shared that as he walked by the parade he began to intercede. One of the homosexuals walked up to him, noticing his Christian T shirt, and asked him to pray that he would be delivered from this bondage. Unlike last year, we had no opposition from “gay” or other groups this year.
We had three worship rallies at Union Square and two at Embarcadero. The first rally at Embarcadero was on a very hot day and over a thousand businessmen were in the plaza. We gave out 100 New Testaments that day. On Wednesday, we did our first outreach in seven years at Lower Sproul Plaza on the University of California campus in Berkeley. Afterwards, Ray Comfort preached without an amplifier and drew a crowd of over a hundred people. He gave out free dollar bills to illustrate that salvation is a free gift that we must humble ourselves to receive.
On Saturday, 200 Christians from Set Free Christian Fellowship in Anaheim joined us for a rally at Washington Square. Most of these people had been saved from intense involvement in drugs and gangs. Hundreds of unbelievers were drawn to the rally. Afterwards, we marched from Washington Square to the Powell St. BART station. We carried a hundred banners and sang worship songs as we marched through Chinatown and downtown San Francisco.
That night Set Free Pastor Phil Aguilar spoke about the need to be a doer of God’s Word. We already have too much head knowledge of the Bible, he said. We need to start practicing what we already know–to take on the ministry of inconvenience–to inconvenience ourselves to meet the needs of others. We concluded the outreach Saturday night with prayer for San Francisco on Twin Peaks.
I realize that it is impossible to adequately convey the excitement of participating in the outreach, or the powerful influence it had on many thousands of people. God also did a work in our lives as took on the ministry of inconvenience, sacrificing our time and money to minister to the people of San Francisco. God is faithful to reward us with an eternal treasure. I believe that treasure will be many people added to His kingdom.
