Newsletter November 1989

Bay Area Outreach Ministries Newsletter

SOS MINISTRIES, BAY AREA OUTREACH MINISTRIES TO MERGE

Dear Christian friends,

In  1975,  God called me to preach the gospel in  San  Francisco. When I first arrived,  I witnessed mostly by myself, but over the next few years,  God brought together several leaders of churches and  ministries which desired to evangelize this very needy city. From  this union,  SOS Ministries was established as an  outreach ministry  to San Francisco,  conducting ongoing outreaches in San Francisco every week,  special outreaches,  and an annual SOS-San Francisco  outreach,  which has just completed its tenth year.  I served  as  director of SOS Ministries for  eight  years,  before giving leadership of this ministry to Ron Woodruff and starting a new ministry.

Bay  Area Outreach Ministries was established three years ago  to expand the ministry in San Francisco to Berkeley and the rest  of the Greater Bay Area.  God has blessed this ministry tremendously with a house for ministry workers in Oakland, an ongoing outreach in  Berkeley,  and special outreaches in other cities.  This past spring,  Ron  Woodruff and the brethren who work with him in  San Francisco  felt that God was moving them into a  new  direction–namely,  to  get a boat and use it as a means to do outreaches in coastal U.S.  cities and around the world.

After  much prayer and discussion as to how the ministry  in  San Francisco could continue,  I have agreed to take over as Director of  SOS  Ministries,  and  to  merge it with  Bay  Area  Outreach Ministries.  Meanwhile,  Ron and the brethren at the Sycamore St. house in San Francisco will be beginning a new ministry.

What  we intend to do is to alternate our outreaches between  San Francisco  and Berkeley,  leaving room for special outreaches  in other cities, especially Santa Cruz. We will continue to organize the  SOS-San  Francisco  outreach,   which  will  become  SOS-San Francisco/Berkeley, with several days of outreach in Berkeley.

We are really excited about this expanded vision,  even though it also means a lot of extra work.  Please pray for us that God will strengthen  us during this time and provide for our  needs.  Pray also  for  Ron and the Sycamore Street brethren,  that  God  will bless them and lead them in His perfect will.

Battle for Berkeley

With  all the problems we had been having in Berkeley  from  some enemies  of  the  gospel and some of the police,  we were  a  bit apprehensive  of doing a big outreach in Berkeley.  But God  went before  us  and we had a wonderful time all three  days.  Over  a hundred  Christians from all over the West Coast participated  in this outreach. We set up a PA system right at the entrance to the University campus for four hours each afternoon!  Every day large crowds gathered to listen to the powerful worship and  preaching. There  were also mockers who tried to disrupt the  meetings,  but they were unable to stop the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  During the  evenings,   Telegraph  Avenue  was  filled  with  Christians worshipping  and  witnessing.  On the final day,  we had  a  very unusual  September  rain and thought we would have to cancel  our worship rally. We had brought a tarp to protect the equipment but miraculously,  one of the brothers had tent poles in his car  and we  were able to protect the worship group so they could play for four  hours in the rain!  In the twelve years I have  been  doing these  kinds of outreaches,  this was the first time we had  been able to play outside in the rain.

Some of our opponents in Berkeley had thought they would be  able to  drive  us out of the city.  But God was faithful to bring  in reinforcements  and  we saw a great victory for our Lord  as  the enemy  was pushed back and the Word of God went forth with  great power.

Fort Bragg Outreach

Over  Labor Day weekend,  we went up to Fort Bragg for  the  Paul Bunyan Days outreach. We joined with the Caspar Foursquare Church on  Sunday afternoon and witnessed to people coming to  the  Arts and Crafts Fair. Later that day, we went to the train station. As hundreds of tourists arrived on the train from Willits, they were greeted by songs of worship and gospel tracts.

We  also  did some sightseeing that weekend,  but even  then  God brought us divine appointments.  In Mendocino we spoke with  four college  students  from  the Bay Area who were very open  to  the gospel.  At the ocean, we spoke with a woman who was backslidden. We  met  her again when we went swimming at the  river  two  days later.  Finally,  we  saw  her a third time when we stopped at  a fruit  stand.  She agreed with us that God was trying to get  her attention!

Mike McKendrick 1970-1989

In last month’s newsletter,  I told you about the 19 year old boy I  met on Polk Street in San Francisco.  I took him home  and  we ministered to him,  and found a Christian home to take him in. He left after a few days,  but continued to call the family.  Sadly, we learned two weeks later that he had been found dead of unknown causes but possibly related to satanism.  The  police were unable to locate his family.  We do not know if he was saved,  but  know God  had  been  trying to get through to him.  It is a  very  sad story,  and  a  sobering reminder that the work to which God  has called us is truly a matter of life and death, for all eternity.

Legal Update

Last  month,  we also told you that four of us had been  arrested for  preaching  the  gospel in Berkeley.  After  the  Battle  for Berkeley victory,  I was shocked to hear that the charge  against me  was  changed from disturbing the peace to battery  against  a police  officer.  Officer Thornton,  the Mormon officer who is so antagonistic towards us,  is now claiming I pushed him. This will be  a much harder charge to fight,  since apparently  the  police intend  to lie,  and the case will probably require a long trial. Please pray for us and for our attorney Julia Spain who is giving tremendous  amounts of time to this case.  The legal costs for  a court  reporter alone will be about $1000,  an amount  we  simply don’t have.  Perhaps one of you knows a court reporter who  would donate  his/her time.  If so,  let us know immediately.  This has become  a real strain on us and consumed a lot of  time,  but  we have no choice but to defend ourself against these false charges. With  the police willing to lie,  it is very possible we could be found  guilty.  This  would  make it very  difficult  for  us  to continue our outreach in Berkeley as at any time the police could again  accuse  us of pushing them and we could be imprisoned  for increasing amounts of time. We do not believe that God wants this to  happen,  and  ask that you pray fervently for  a  not  guilty verdict in this case.

Community out to gag Southside Preachers

This  was the headline of a front-page article about our  arrests that appeared in the Daily Californian, the student newspaper, on September 21. Here are some excerpts from the article:

Berkeley  prides itself on being a city that values free  speech. But  a  group  of residents,  merchants and  homeless  people  in Berkeley  are  teaming  up  to try to  silence  a  fundamentalist Christian  group  that preaches on various corners  of  Telegraph Avenue.

The  group  working against the preachers is led  by  an  elderly Southside resident named John Region. “Those people get out there screaming  and yelling…this goes on every Friday night,” Region said.

The leader of the ministry group,  Larry Rosenbaum,  denied  that they  are disturbing the peace and defended his group’s  presence in  Berkeley.  “We believe God wants us to be out there,  and the Bible says that Jesus gave us commission…to preach the  gospel. We  believe  God  has  called us specifically  to  evangelism  in Berkeley,” Rosenbaum said.

But  Region,   64,  says  the  preaching  outside  his  apartment aggravates his congested lungs, and that he has a letter from his doctor  to prove it.  “I hate that stuff so bad.  When  they  get carrying on and preaching, I start hyperventilating…it’s put me in  the hospital several times,” Region said.

Region  said he has dumped water on the preachers,  blasted  them with  loud  “Satanic  music,”  and applied for a  permit  to  use amplified  sound  there…to prevent the  ministry  from  legally preaching there.

Rosenbaum’s  lawyer,  Julia Spain,  said the Berkeley police  and hecklers are violating her client’s freedom of speech.  “Berkeley wants  to  hold itself as the last bastion of free  speech,”  she said, “But it’s only free if (Berkeley locals) like it.”

Several  vendors on Telegraph Avenue and some homeless people are also angry about the ministers.  “We consider those Christians to be  a  public  nuisance,” said Anna Field,  a  vendor  and  self-described pagan.

A  frequent heckler of the preachers is a member of the  homeless community known as “The Hate Man.” “I hate you–the  Christians–preaching in the street or in public at all,” he said.

Since Region’s complaints,  some of the fundamentalist  preachers have been repeatedly arrested for disturbing the peace and in one incident, resisting arrest.

“I want to see (the police harassment) end,” Rosenbaum said. “We want   to  see  some  police  protection  to  keep  some  of  the troublemakers away…if their purpose is to harass us.”

Berkeley  Police  Capt.  Bobby Miller defended  the  department’s handling of the situation.  “If the only way to move the crowd is to stop the preaching,  then yes,  we would stop the  preaching,” Miller said.

Ministry Needs

A  while  ago,  I  read a best-selling Christian  book  by  Frank Peretti  called This Present Darkness.  It is a fictional account of  a  New Age conspiracy to take over a  college  town.  In  it, several  Christians  are arrested by the corrupt police chief  on false charges to keep them from interfering with the  conspiracy. While the book is fictional,  the parallels with our situation in Berkeley are striking.  Berkeley is certainly a center of satanic activity.  Thirty thousand of the future leaders of the U.S.  and world  come  to  the University of California  to  receive  their training.  While  here,  they  are  indoctrinated  with  new  age thinking,  occultism,  and anti-Christian attitudes and morality. The  last  thing  Satan  wants  is  a  highly-visible,  effective Christian outreach on the campus and he is determined to drive us out.

At the same time, the persecution we are experiencing in Berkeley gives  us a taste of what Christians across the Western world can expect  to experience soon.  Attacks on Christians  have  started with  the  televangelists,   giving  people  the  idea  that  all Christians are hypocritical thieves.  We can expect other targets to  be next as “open season” is declared on Christians.  How long will  an  increasingly ungodly nation tolerate our opposition  to abortion, homosexuality, occultism, etc.?

The Bible promises that, “All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall  suffer persecution.” Paul spent much of his Christian life in prison,  and the thing that grieved him the most was that many Christians  criticized  him for getting put in jail,  instead  of standing with him and helping him.   All that we ask is that  you stand with us and support us in prayer during this very difficult time. I realize that some of the things we are describing in this newsletter   may  seem  strange to you.  It is hard for  many  to believe that there could be religious persecution in the U.S.  It is  tempting  to criticize us and think,  “They  must  have  done something  wrong if they were arrested” or “Why don’t they  leave those people alone if they don’t want to hear about Jesus?” While some are very much opposed to the gospel,  we have found many who are very eager to hear about Jesus.

Please  stand with us and pray for us,  even if you  don’t  fully understand.  Pray  that God will give us grace to go through this court  trial  and  help  us  as we take  over  the  work  of  SOS Ministries in addition to our ongoing outreaches.  The changeover will  involve  a  lot of additional expenses,  and  we  certainly welcome any help you can give us with this.  Several more workers have been joining us on the streets recently and we can use  many more.  Also,  we  have  two  openings in our  ministry  house  in Oakland.

Our Tape of the Month is Sharing Jesus One on One by Ron Radachy, Director  of the Holy Ghost Repair Service in Hollywood.  I’ll be seeing him and many other ministry leaders at the National Street Ministry  Conference  in  Dallas  next  week.  Our  next  month’s newsletter  will  be come out as the SOS  Ministries  Newsletter. Until next month—

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum

OUTREACH  SCHEDULE

WEEKLY OUTREACHES—THURSDAY 10:30 AM-2 PM FRIDAY 6:45 – 11 PM  SATURDAY 12-4 PM  Meet at 3039 Dakota St., Oakland. Take 580 Freeway to Fruitvale exit. East on Fruitvale to MacArthur. Right on MacArthur to Maple. Right on Maple (2 blocks) to Dakota. Left on Dakota. House is 1/2 block up on right. Call to confirm meetings.

SPECIAL EVENTS—

SATURDAY  NOVEMBER  4  ROLLING STONES  CONCERT  OUTREACH  Oakland Coliseum. Call us for details.