Newsletter January 2000

Happy New Millennium!

Dear Christian friends,

I’m  writing this letter in December. Soon we will  know  whether

the  Y2k computer problem was serious or not. It is good  to  put

aside  these  concerns  and  focus on  the  task  God  has  given

us–reaching  our  world for Jesus. I was encouraged  to  read  a

report from Mario Murillo about the outreaches he held at the Cow

Palace  in October. He reported about 5000 professions of  faith,

including  many  gang members who attended the  meetings.  Still,

there is much work to be done. San Francisco is far from being  a

“Christian” city.

January is a time for making New Year’s resolutions. It is a good

time to examine our lives and pray for direction. I urge each  of

you to pray that God will give you a strategy to join with  other

Christians in reaching your community for Jesus.

SOS-San Francisco

July 7-15, 2000

We have set the dates for this next year’s SOS outreach, our 21st

year.  Again, Glad Tidings Church is opening up  their  wonderful

facility to us. I hope many of you will join us this summer. Each

outreach is special, and we trust that God will use everyone  who

attends to bring people to Jesus.

Chinese New Year Outreach

Sat. February 19

For the past 20 years, we have been witnessing at the Chinese New

Year  Parade. This is the largest annual event in San  Francisco,

drawing  about  300,000  people. We will meet  at  Union  Square,

Powell  and Geary St., for a worship rally at 2 PM. We will  stay

until 7 PM to witness to those who gather to watch the parade.  I

hope many of you will join us for this outreach.

Legal Update

When  the  San Francisco police began citing us and  denying  our

permits  in  1996,  we filed a civil rights  lawsuit  in  federal

court. Unfortunately, the judge assigned to the case (Legge)  was

not sympathetic to us. In September he issued a ruling dismissing

our entire case without a trial.

His  ruling contradicts the ruling of another judge  (Mason)  who

decided  that  the city had acted in an unconstitutional  way  in

citing  me  in August, 1998. The same evidence was  presented  to

both  judges. We are appealing Judge Legge’s decision to  the  US

Court  of Appeals, but this process will take at least  3  years.

Meanwhile,  the criminal charges against Eric Livingston  and  me

were both dismissed. The city is appealing both dismissals so the

matter still hasn’t ended.

Our  appeal  of the federal lawsuit only  involves  the  criminal

issues. It seems we cannot do anything legally to stop the  loud­

speaker  permit  denials and restrictions. On November 3,  I  ap­

pealed the one hour restriction at Powell and Market to the Board

of  Appeals. The Board consists of five persons. We  needed  four

votes  to win our appeal. One Board member is a Moslem  who  said

that  we  should keep our message in the church.  Another  member

said  that loud music “drives him crazy.” So we got only 3  votes

to  extend  our  permit time at Powell and Market  and  lost  the

appeal. The appeal process was expensive and time-consuming,

but I wanted to give it a chance.

This means that the Police can deny or restrict our permits,  and

there is nothing we can do about it legally. Fortunately, we  are

still  able to get permits at a few good locations,  even  though

they are only for one or two hours. “As long as it is day, I must

do  the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no man  can

work” John 9:4.

The apostle Paul ultimately lost his legal battle and was put  to

death.  Countless  Christians have died or  been  imprisoned  for

their  faith. Many believers have faithfully preached the  gospel

in  places  where there is far less freedom than we have  in  the

U.S.  I  am saddened by Judge Legge’s ruling, but  we  intend  by

God’s grace to continue preaching the gospel in San Francisco and

Berkeley Battles

Meanwhile,  for  the first time in over 10 years, we  are  having

problems with the police in Berkeley. Many of the street  vendors

on Telegraph Ave. do not want us on the street, and they complain

to  the  police  every time we are there. There  is  nothing  the

police can do because our activities our legal. The city’s  noise

control  officer has checked our sound several times, and  always

found our sound level is OK.

However,  on November 13, we received our first  written  warning

claiming that we were too loud. For the past few months,  Officer

Jones  has been checking our sound at every outreach.  He  spends

several  hours each day standing across the street with  a  sound

meter.  I  have  known Officer Jones for about 13  years.  He  is

apparently  a  backslidden Christian who doesn’t  like  us,  once

calling us “Christian crazies.” He claimed that our sound was  86

decibels even though I measured our sound at about 76 decibels.

If in fact he is making dishonest measurements, we will eventual­

ly  be  cited. The only way we can protect ourselves is  to  have

someone  spend the whole afternoon across the street  videotaping

our  outreach  and a decibel meter. Then the judge will  have  a

choice  to believe the police officer’s testimony or  our  video­

tape.

Please  pray  for us that we will have wisdom  in  handling  this

matter, and can avoid citations in Berkeley. One problem we  have

is that the city’s decibel meter and calibrator cost about  $4000

while we are using a $50 Radio Shack decibel meter. The citations

in Berkeley involve no jail time but cost up to $500.

Union Square

There aren’t many good places left where we can still get permits

for  our San Francisco outreaches. Union Square is now  our  best

location.  We used to get three hour permits here, but  now  our

permits are limited to two hours on Saturday. Union Square is one

of the oldest parks in San Francisco, located in the heart of the

downtown  shopping district. We have been  conducting  outreaches

here for 22 years.

The Park Department is trying to get local businesses like Macy’s

to pay to renovate Union Square and take over the permit  process

there.  If  they  do, the park will be closed for  at  least  six

months  and afterwards we may find it difficult or impossible  to

get permits there.

For many years, Union Square was filled with homeless people  and drug  dealers. Recently, the city has moved most of these  people

out of the park and brought in tourists and other wealthy people.

Almost every weekend, the park hosts a large art show with dozens

of displays by local artists.

Many  street  ministries only evangelize the poor, but  the  rich

also need Jesus. It is much harder to reach them, because many do

not  see their need for a Savior. We can at least get the  atten­

tion  of  these  people through music.  Intellectuals  and  other

“sophisticated” people–people who would never stop to listen  to

a  preacher–will  often stop and listen attentively  to  a  good

gospel music group.

On  Saturday  November 6, “Children of the  Rock”  ministered  at

Union Square. Hundreds of people came to the park to see the  art

show.  Many  of them stopped to listen to the  gospel  music  and

preaching.  We gave out hundreds of tracts and spoke with  a  few

people.

On November 20, we planned another outreach at Union Square. Last

Days Harvest Church brought a team of Christians from Sacramento.

When  they  arrived, the police told them that Union  Square  was

closed  because  they  were putting up the  Christmas  tree.  Our

outreach was canceled.

On  Friday night December 4, we again witnessed at Union  Square.

Hundreds of Christmas shoppers were in the area. Our “team” that

night  consisted of only two persons: Scott Robbins and  me.  God

blessed us with a parking place on the street a few feet away. We

preached and gave out tracts. At about 9 PM, two police  officers

told us we couldn’t use our amplifier. When Scott asked them what

law  we  were breaking, they said we were disturbing  the  peace.

“Whose  peace are we disturbing?” he asked. One of  the  officers

pointed to the people who were walking by. Nobody had complained,

but it was the officers who were disturbed by our preaching.

Next they checked our ID. They seemed really angry and we thought

they  might  arrest us. Twenty minutes later their  Sergeant  ar­

rived.  After speaking with him, they looked at our amplifier  to

see how many watts it was. I showed them our paperwork that shows

that our amplifier is 9 watts. After looking at it, they said  we

could use it until 10 PM and walked away.

On  December 5, the Born Again Band from Fremont played at  Union

Square. We shared the stage with a 30 foot Menorah  (candlestick)

placed by a Jewish group in celebration of Hanukkah. Several Jews

came  to the park for the Menorah celebration only to hear  about

the Light of the World.

Coming Events

Note:  All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510)  531-5325

the day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday  January  14, 21, 28 7:30 PM. Witnessing in  various  S.F.

neighborhoods. (Call us for meeting location and directions.)

Sat.  January 15 Berkeley Outreach. 1:30-5:30 PM.  Telegraph  and

Haste St.

Sat.  January  22  and 29 San Francisco Worship  Rally.  12-1  PM

Powell and Market St. 2-4 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary St.)

January  28-30 Super Bowl Outreach, Atlanta, GA. Call (770)  924-

Sat.  February 19 Chinese New Year Parade Outreach. 2-7 PM.  Meet

at Union Square, Powell and Geary St.

March 1-4 Mardi Gras Evangelism Training and Outreach, Galveston,

TX. Chuck Girard, Scott Hinkle. Call (409) 986-7889.

Ministry Needs

Again, I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support

of  this ministry. For over a year, we have been praying for  the

right  person to live in our ministry house. We now have two  new

persons  in  our house. First, Benjamin Livingston  was  born  on

November  19  (Eric and Cammie’s fourth child).  Second,  we  are

happy to welcome Mike Mills from Riverside, CA to our house. Mike

is a young man who is zealous to serve God and preach the gospel.

Please  pray that we will have more workers to help us on  Friday

night  and  Saturday afternoon. Please pray for  those  who  have

written  us  this  past month in response  to  tracts,  including

Stephen  (SF), Iola (Oakland), and Dana (San Jose). Please  pray

also for Giovanni, whom we met on Union Street. Pray that he will

be delivered from demons and gang involvement.

During Thanksgiving week I visited my mother, three brothers, and

their  families  in Indianapolis. All are unsaved. My  mother  is

quite sick. Please pray that they will be saved.

Our Tape of the Month is Adopt a Block by Matthew Barnett. He  is

Pastor  of  the Los Angeles  International  Church/Dream  Center.

Every  Saturday, hundreds of church members participate  in  this

outreach to the neighborhoods around their church.

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum