Newsletter May 1999

Legal Update

You  may have heard about the permit granted to the  “Sisters  of

Perpetual  Indulgence” for a street closing in San  Francisco  on

Easter  Sunday. The Catholic Church had opposed them, since  this

group, consisting of homosexual men dressed as nuns, mocks Chris­

tianity  and  the Catholic church. Twenty years ago,  this  group

often appeared at our outreaches, ridiculing our beliefs.

The  story made national news. San Francisco gay supervisor  Mark

Leno appeared on one show. He said that the purpose of the  First

Amendment  is to protect unpopular groups. The “Sisters” are  not

an  “unpopular  group” but part of  San  Francisco’s  politically

powerful  homosexual community. Meanwhile, the city continues  to

trample on the rights of Christians.

During  Easter week, we spent two days at a hearing at  which  we

were  trying to prove that the city was prosecuting me  for  laws

that don’t apply to any other group. By the second day, it seemed

that Judge Mason was totally on our side. She asked the  District

Attorney,  “So  what you are saying is that Mr. Rosenbaum  had  a

lawfully permitted activity and that one person complained  about

it?”  He  had  to admit that this is what their  whole  case  was

about.

However,  Judge Mason didn’t want to take the time to go  through

all  our videotaped evidence. She asked us to write  down  every­

thing we claim is proved by these tapes. Then the prosecution can

try to refute our claims. This process will take a month and will

delay the end of this matter and the return of our sound  system.

The hearing will continue on May 6. Please pray that Judge  Mason

will  dismiss the charges against me and that she will rule  that

the sound ordinance is being enforced in a discriminatory manner,

and therefore is unconstitutional.

More Persecution

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did.  On

Saturday  March 27, after our outreach at Powell and  Market,  we

moved  up a block to Powell and Ellis. We had been there  several

times  using  our 9 watt amplifiers, with no  problems  from  the

police. According to the San Francisco noise ordinance,  amplifi­

ers  10  watts  and under do not require a  permit.  But  Captain

Mannheimer  told  us  we couldn’t use our  amplifiers  without  a

permit.  We preached and sang the rest of the  afternoon  without

amplification.

When  I  got  home, the following message was  on  our  answering

machine:  “I just want to thank you for your brochure.  it’s  the

best thing that’s ever been handed to me. Thank you for your good

work.”

The  following  Saturday, the day before Easter, we  had  another

permit  to  hold  a one-and-a-half hour outreach  at  Powell  and

Market.  At  the beginning of the outreach,  somebody  stole  our

large banner that reads “Open your heart to Jesus” and “Only  one

way  to God: Jesus.” It was our best banner. One  musician’s  car

broke  down on Market Street. This delayed our outreach.  Another

musician’s  voice  gave out while he was  singing.  One  outreach

worker’s  car  window  was broken during  the  outreach.  Another

worker  had a pipe break at his house. He had to go home  to  fix

it.

Shortly  after we began, a police officer approached us. He  said that Captain Mannheimer had told him we need  an  “entertainment

permit”  to  use  our amplifier. We showed  him  our  loudspeaker

permit  but he said this was the wrong permit. He ordered  us  to

shut  down our sound system. He said if he came back and we  were

using the system he would cite us.

After all our legal problems, I really try to obey police  orders

and avoid arrests. But this was too much. This officer was  tell­

ing  me to shut down because I didn’t have a nonexistent  permit.

We continued our outreach and the officer didn’t cite us.

We had planned to use a 9 watt amplifier at Powell and Market the

rest  of  the afternoon, but we couldn’t do this because  of  the

officer’s  threat. Instead, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf.  As  we

drove  down Jefferson Street, we saw four bands using full  sound

systems  without a permit, in violation of the law.  “Surely  the

police will not bother us here,” I thought.

We set up our 9 watt amplifier on the same block. Immediately, we

were  attacked by street vendors. They started screaming  at  us.

One threatened to use his sorcery against us. Another vendor  got

his  motorcycle  and  tried to drown out my  preaching  with  its

noise. All they did was draw a huge crowd.

We  didn’t  want to upset the vendors, but this seems to  be  the

only  place we can go where the police will leave us  alone.  And

we’d  rather disturb the vendors than get arrested.  The  vendors

didn’t mind the other four bands on the block, but they  couldn’t

stand our gospel preaching and music.

Unleashing the Church

Frank Tillipaugh is (or was) pastor of Bear Valley Baptist Church

in  Denver,  a church of over 1000 meeting in  a  sanctuary  that

seats  275. Instead of building a big, expensive facility in  the

suburbs that would be full only on Sunday morning, they chose  to

hold  multiple  services and spend their resources  on  outreach.

They  hired  several full-time ministers to  lead  outreaches  in

various communities–such as to international students, refugees,

and street people. Tillipaugh’s experiences are related in a book

he  wrote: Unleashing the Church: Getting People out of the  For­

tress and into Ministry.

“The  fortress church puts up its building, starts  its  programs

and  concentrates  primarily within its  walls….In  the  church

unleashed  an individual’s primary ministry may be within one  of

many traditional church programs such as Sunday School. But there

is an equal chance that his ministry may be in a prison or  work­

ing with a foreign student.” In the fortress church, most members

participate only as spectators on Sunday morning.

According to Tillapaugh, since the 1930’s there has been a  shift

in  which  most  outreach ministry is now  done  by  “parachurch”

organizations  like Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and  Campus

Crusade. In 1982, Campus Crusade had over 11,000 overseas  staff,

compared  to  3,000 for the largest  denomination  (the  Southern

Baptist  Convention). In contrast, the local church  has  concen­

trated  on  ministering almost exclusively  to  the  middle-class

family.  But  most Americans no longer belong  to  “middle  class

families.”  Tillapaugh is not opposed to parachurch  ministries,

but  believes that the local church should also be involved in  a

variety of outreach ministries.

“Any Bible-believing church can have an effective ministry in the city.”  But  “the  biggest  obstacle  to  unleashing  the  church

is…the senior pastor.” If he wants to release church members to

minister,  the  church will develop effective outreaches.  If  he

wants  to control everything, the church will remain a  fortress.

“I  believe that if he is really committed to the concept of  the

church unleashed, he can see it happen within five years.”

March for Jesus

Saturday May 22

Every year, millions of Christians from around the world unite to

take  the  joy  of knowing Jesus into the  streets  with  prayer,

praise,  and  proclamation of the gospel. This  year’s  March  is

scheduled for May 22. The San Francisco march will begin at 9  AM

at the Embarcadero. We will be marching to Civic Center. For more

information about the San Francisco march, call Pastor Carlos  at

Glad Tidings Church, (415) 346-1111. For marches in other cities,

call (512) 416-0066.

Coming Events

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

day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday May 7, May 21, June 4 7:15 PM. Witnessing in various  S.F.

neighborhoods.  Meet at City View Church, 884 Rhode  Island  near

20th St., SF. (Call us for directions.)

Sat. May 1 and May 8 San Francisco Outreach. 12-5 PM Meet at Pow­

ell and Market. We will be moving to another location at 1:30 PM.

Sat. May 22 March for Jesus (see information above).

August 13-21 SOS-San Francisco. Set aside this week to join  us

for our 20th annual outreach to the people of San Francisco.

Ministry Needs

Again, we thank you for your prayers and financial support for  this

ministry. Pray that God will bring a quick end to our legal  struggles

and  give  us  victory so we can get  loudspeaker  permits  for  5

hours  at  Powell  and Market and at  other  locations,  and  can

minister without fear of arrest. Pray for us as we plan our  SOS-

San   Francisco  outreach,  that  many  Christians  and   church

groups would join us and that many will be saved.

Enclosed  is an SOS-San Francisco flier. Please plan to  join  us

for  this  outreach and tell your pastor  and  Christian  friends

about  it. Please pray for those who wrote us or prayed  with  us

this  past  month,  including Ben  (Brussels,  Belgium),  Marvin,

Naran,  and  Kathleen (SF), James  (Oakland),  Lorna  (Berkeley),

Larry (Fernley, NV), and Bobby (Childress, TX prison).

We  need  many  more  Christians  to  join  our  outreaches   on

Friday  nights  and Saturday afternoons.  Over  100,000  Chris­

tians  live  in the San Francisco area. Surely,  there  are  many

that  God  is  calling to witness with us, and  who  are  resisting

that  call. We also need one spiritually-mature Christian with  a

calling in evangelism to live in our ministry house.

Our  Tape of the Month is Open Air Preaching by  Scott  Crawford.

Jesus  was a street preacher. We can follow his example.  I  hope

many of you will join us for an outreach this month. We need your

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum