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SOS Monthly Newsletter - October 2005Is San Francisco Next?Dear Christian friends, On December 1, 2001, Houston Chronicle Science Writer Eric Berger wrote, “Earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country. The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.” For years, some Christians have wondered why God has not destroyed San Francisco. New Orleans is also notorious for homosexual activity. The 34th annual Southern Decadence street party was scheduled for September 1-4, bringing an expected 100,000 people, largely homosexual, to New Orleans. It has been described as a “gayer” version of Mardi Gras, involving public sex acts. I don’t know if this hurricane is God’s judgment. However, I do know that God’s judgment will soon come on a wicked, unrepentant world. When Jesus was asked whether those who died when the tower of Siloam fell were worse sinners than others, he replied, “No, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5). Faced with a tragic event, Jesus preached repentance and the coming judgment. When we preach a hard message, as Jesus did on this occasion, we need to make sure we are preaching with an attitude of love and humility. We need to pray for everyone whose lives were terribly affected by Hurricane Katrina. We need to help the victims of this hurricane. Many Christian organizations are doing a great work and deserve our support. While we are helping meet people’s physical needs, we also need to do everything we can to meet their spiritual needs. Our task of bringing the gospel message to every person is even more urgent as we see the day of Christ’s return approaching. The Shiloh ReunionI was saved in a ministry called Shiloh in 1970. Shiloh was the largest of the Jesus People ministries, with a network of about 100 houses and several thousand members at its peak. The ministry was founded in 1968, as an outgrowth of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, CA (Pastor Chuck Smith). Thousands of hippies were getting radically saved during this time. Many of them were living together in communes. Like the early Christians in Acts 2:44, we had “all things in common.” We worked and gave our entire paychecks to the ministry. The leaders distributed the funds as there was need. When I moved to San Francisco in 1975, I stopped living in a communal house. However, I continued fellowshipping with the San Francisco Shiloh house until the ministry closed in 1978. What we experienced was true revival. We were all radical Christians who were very much committed to evangelism. We opened our houses to anyone who needed a meal or place to stay for the night. We preached the gospel to every visitor, and regularly witnessed on the streets of the cities where we lived. In 1973, while I was living in Eugene, Oregon, at least one person was radically saved almost every day. Regularly, we would see a drug-crazed hippie come to us, get saved, and become a totally transformed person within a few weeks. That’s what happened to me. Most of those in Shiloh were in their late teens or early 20’s. My first pastor was 19. Some of our pastors were as young as 16! Despite their youth, God anointed them with great wisdom to oversee these communal houses. According to Christianity Today, about 100,000 persons were saved in 10 years through Shiloh ministry. From August 19-21, I had the opportunity to attend a Shiloh reunion in Eugene, Oregon. The reunion was held at the farm that formerly was our headquarters. About 120 former Shiloh members attended, of whom I knew about 70. At one time I knew many of them quite well, since we lived together. However, I had seen very few of them in the past 30 years. Fortunately, almost all are still serving God. A few are pastors or missionaries. At the last meeting, I spoke to the entire group for 45 minutes. I shared my testimony, how I got saved, the work God did in my life in Shiloh, and what He has done since then in raising up SOS Ministries. I encouraged them to make their final years count for God by seeking ways to reach unsaved people with the gospel. ON THE STREETSOn Saturday August 13, Last Days Harvest Church from Sacramento ministered at Washington Square Park. Roy Romero gave his testimony of how he was completely healed of AIDS when he was saved. On Friday August 26, we witnessed at the Giants baseball game. It was one of the most peaceful outreaches we have seen at SBC Park, as thousands of people heard our preaching and many received gospel tracts. On Saturday August 27, we held two outreaches. A band made up of Christians from several Calvary Chapel churches ministered at Fisherman’s Wharf. It was our first outreach there since the police shut us down in July. We had no problems with the police that day. Next, Paul and Noreen Coca ministered at Union Square. This is the heart of San Francisco’s tourist season, so we witnessed to many people from all over the world at these two locations.
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