SOS Monthly Newsletter - July 2002

Effective Street Preaching

Dear Christian friends,

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
Then said I, "Here am I; send me" Isaiah 6:8.
When evangelist Luis Palau came to San Francisco in 1980, he gave five reasons for having a mass evangelistic crusade:

A wise man receives instruction. Often the world of street preachers in one of anarchy, where everyone does what is right in his own eyes and nobody listens to anyone else. First of all, I believe that God would have each of us be part of a home church and be accountable to its leadership. We need to have a teachable spirit, so we can learn from others. Ask other Christians to listen to your preaching and make suggestions as to how you could improve. Try to avoid getting defensive when people

More of Jesus, less of me. We need to be careful not to allow our carnal nature to affect our preaching. For example, we may have had a hard day at work, but we don't want to take our frustrations out on the people we preach to. Or someone on the street may have cursed at us, but we don't want to respond out of carnal anger.

Spend time in one-on-one ministry. We need personal contact with unbelievers so we can listen to them and learn to relate better with them. We need to become proficient at listening as well as talking.y a united church.

Preaching is communication. In order to preach effectively, our message must be heard and understood by the people we are preaching to. We need to speak distinctly and present our message in a manner that the people standing around us or walking by can understand. If our audience is moving by rapidly, we need to adjust our message so they can benefit from the short segments of our preaching they can hear. We could be preaching a wonderful message, but people could be walking by so fast they can't understand what we're talking about. Ask a Christian to listen to you and let you know if you can be heard distinctly and if you are clearly presenting the gospel.

Seek to become all things to all men. We are to consider our audience, using language and speaking of topics they can relate to. We can be contemporary and at the same time speak in a dignified manner, as befits the gospel.

Responding in the opposite spirit. If people are argumentative and proud in their reaction to us, we should respond in a gentle, humble manner. Don't descend to their level. Try to be kind, polite, and respectful to those who interrupt and heckle you. If possible, have a Christian with you to talk with people who ask you questions while you're preaching.

When we preach about judgment and Hell, we must do so in an attitude of love towards the people we are speaking to. Avoid any hint of self

Stick to the Gospel. Don't get sidetracked by other issues. Avoid alienating the people you are trying to reach by making controversial statements about peripheral issues. We don't want people to reject Jesus simply because they disagree with us on views about matters not central to the gospel. Most controversial issues, especially political ones, are not keeping people from salvation and do not need to be dealt with before a person is saved. Keep illustrations brief and non

On the Streets

This newsletter is being written before the SOS-San Francisco outreach. We intend to include a report on SOS-San Francisco in next month's newsletter. On May 18, a worship group from Jews for Jesus ministered at Powell and Market St. I witnessed to a young Jewish man from Morocco named Jose. I shared about the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Afterwards, I mailed him the book More than a Carpenter and some more information about these prophesies.

We had two music groups scheduled for our U.N. Plaza outreach that afternoon. Unfortunately, both groups canceled at the last minute. Fortunately, Tim Moon, who had come to operate the P.A. system, was able to sing for almost three hours. Several people preached the gospel. We prayed with several people that afternoon.

Once a week I have been teaching evangelism at the AIM school, a one-year ministry training school sponsored by Promised Land Fellowship in San Francisco. On May 28, I took the team to Fisherman's Wharf. Several hundred high school students from Marin County were eating lunch there. The team sang songs, preached the gospel, and witnessed to many of the students. On June 5, we went to Powell and Market. Again, the team sang worship songs, gave testimonies, and preached to the people in this area. A police officer told us we could not use our amplifier because it was not "hand held." I offered to hold it and he said that would be OK.

Please pray for those who wrote us in response to tracts this past month: George, John, Mark and Francine (SF), Ramesh (San Leandro), Felix (age 61, Evans, CO), and Pat (Tracy CA prison).

	People on stilts walk past our Berkeley outreach on June 8
	Christie Livingston sings "Jesus Loves Me" in Berkeley on June 8.
	John witnesses to man at Fisherman's Wharf on Friday night.
	Paul and Noreen Coca sing in front of our new banner, replacing the one that got cut.

Coming Events

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

June 21-29 SOS-San Francisco 9AM and 6 PM Temple Baptist Church 3355 19th Ave. (near Ocean) San Francisco. Call (510) 541-3147 or (510) 333-5509 for information. Please pray for this important outreach.

Friday July 12, 19, 26 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods (Call for location).

Sat. July 13 San Francisco "Church on the Street" worship rallies. 1-3 PM. Washington Square (Stockton and Columbus St.) 4-6 PM. Powell and Market St.

Sat. July 20 San Francisco "Church on the Street" worship rallies. 12-1 PM. Powell and Market St. 1:30-5 PM. United Nations Plaza (7th St. and Market)

Sat. July 27 Berkeley Outreach. 12:30

Ministry Needs

Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. We still need a spiritually mature Christian with a burden to reach the lost for our ministry house in Oakland. Call or write us if you are interested. We also need Christians to witness with us on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.
Above all, we need you to pray for us. Without prayer, our work will bear little fruit. Please pray for those who heard the gospel during this year's SOS-San Francisco outreach that God would continue to work in their lives and send other Christians to witness to them until they are saved. Satan often attacks the Christians who witness with us -- before, during and after the SOS outreach. Please pray for our workers. Please pray that God will send more laborers to help us reach the people of San Francisco and Berkeley for Jesus.

Our Tape of the Month is Open Air Preaching by Scott Crawford. Scott is one of the founders of SOS Ministries and has preached on the streets for many years.

Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum