SOS Outreach Report 1999

October, 1999

SOS-San Francisco Outreach Report

Dear Christian friends,

For the past 20 years, we have sent out an “SOS” call for Christians

to  help  us reach the people of San Francisco  for  Jesus.  Each

year,  God has been faithful to bring many Christians to help  us

reach  this city. This year, teams of Christians joined  us  from

Canada,  and  from  Salem, Oregon, and  from  Redding,  Paradise,

Leggett and Riverside, California.

We were blessed to meet at Glad Tidings Church this year. We  had

held our SOS outreach in this church from 1981-1986. They have  a

large facility for meetings, sleeping, meals, and even a  parking

lot. Our workers took showers at the YMCA two blocks away. We are

so grateful to Pastor Jeff Green and the rest of the Glad Tidings

congregation for opening up this wonderful facility to us.

On Saturday morning, evangelist Mario Murillo spoke to our  group,

giving  a word of encouragement and congratulating us for 20  years

of  outreach  in  this city. Mario is involved in a  major  outreach  in

San Francisco this summer, culminating with a week of meetings at

the Cow Palace in October.

That  afternoon we held a five hour worship rally at  United  Nations

Plaza  in downtown San Francisco. This area is filled with  homeless

people, drug addicts and drug dealers. We prayed with many people

that  afternoon,  including  Ray, a security guard  who  had  been  a

crack addict for 13 years.

A week before the outreach, a friend told me about Arthur  Blessitt’s

web site. When I looked at it, I noticed that he was planning to be in

San  Francisco during SOS week. I e-mailed him and he  responded

that he would be happy to speak at our outreach.

Over  the past 30 years, Arthur Blessitt has carried a cross  for

33,000  miles — in every sovereign nation on earth. He has  wit­

nessed  to  world leaders and thousands of other  people  on  his

journeys.  He also was arrested 24 times and once faced a  firing

squad.  On  Tuesday and Wednesday nights, he shared some  of  the

things  God had taught him through these experiences.  We  joined

him on a cross walk through San Francisco on Monday and Wednesday

afternoon. On Wednesday, he preached at Justin Herman Plaza.  His

involvement in this year’s outreach was a great encouragement  to

us.

This  year, San Francisco has restricted our permits. It is  hard

to get a permit over an hour long anywhere in the city on a  week

day. However on Tuesday, we managed to get a four hour permit  at

Haight and Masonic Street. We kept our volume so low that  people

across  the street could barely hear us. Still, a police  officer

ordered us to turn down our volume even further.

Fortunately,  this  was the only time the  San  Francisco  police

complained about our sound level all week. The police could  have

arrested us and confiscated our sound system at any time, as they

did last year, but this never happened.

Mark  Zulim took two days off work to attend the SOS  outreach  on

Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, he had two long conversations with

Michael  and Peter at Justin Herman Plaza in the  financial  dis­

trict. Michael prayed with him to rededicate his life to  Christ.

Peter  was  a Hindu, but was open to Mark’s  witness.  Amazingly,

Mark saw both Michael and Peter the next day at Haight and Masonic and spoke with them further. This is a totally different  part

of the city, filled with hippies, not businessmen.

On Wednesday night, some Christians from Michael Long’s team  met

a family of five from Lake Elsinore who had locked their keys  in

their  van at Fisherman’s Wharf. They witnessed to them, and  the

whole  family said they wanted to receive Christ. They  had  been

waiting  for  a  tow truck for over an hour. At  10:52  PM,  they

prayed  that a tow truck would come before 11 PM. At 10:59  PM  a

tow truck (not the one they called) drove by. The driver  stopped

and unlocked their van for them.

Also  that  night,  Paul  and Noreen Coca saw  some  street  kids  on

Haight  Street that they had witnessed to in San Jose.  They  invited

them to get a hamburger at McDonalds. By the time they got  there,

20 street kids had joined them. The restaurant wouldn’t let the kids

inside,  but  Paul  and Noreen bought  them  hamburgers  and  wit­

nessed  to  all the kids. They also prayed with  several  of  the

kids.

Castro  Street is the center of militant homosexuality. On  Thursday

night,  some  Christians were praying for a  divine  appointment  on

Castro  Street. A minute later, a man approached them and said  he

wanted  to be saved. They prayed with him. On another night  Greg,

who  came  from  a Christian family in  Atlanta,  prayed  with  some

Christians on Castro Street. He said he wanted to get out of the  gay

lifestyle and came to Glad Tidings the next day.

Andre  gave  his  testimony  at our Friday  service.  He  had  been  a

Mormon,  but some Christians had witnessed to him in  the  Haight

and he felt that God was leading him out of the Mormon church. He

joined us for our outreaches on Friday and Saturday.

On  Friday  night,  Derek  Scholl  witnessed  to  Christy,  a   psychic

woman  on Haight Street. As he spoke with her, she started  to  cry.

She said, “I know that what you’re saying is the truth.”

Please pray for those whom we prayed with that week, and who  re­

ceived  a  gospel witness, including  George,  Marcus,  Laurence,

Yolanda, Dimitri, T.C., Ralph, Craig and Guy (SF), Armando, Lucy,

Jessica,  Jacki, Margaret and Lucy (Lake Elsinore,  CA),  Chandra

(San Luis Obispo, CA), and Emma (Brentwood, CA).