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SOS Ministry Newsletter - September 2009
SOS San Francisco Outreach Report
Dear Christian Friends,
Please pray for all those we ministered to during SOS week. I cannot begin to tell you everything that God did during this week. Loretta sent me daily emails with dozens of testimonies in them. Last week, I received three letters from prisoners who had somehow received one of our tracts. I want to thank all those who helped us during the SOS-San Francisco outreach, and especially Park Presidio Bible Church for once again opening up their facility to us.
For the 30th year, Christians came from around theU.S. to bring the gospel to the people of San Francisco and Berkeley. For the 4th year, a youth group joined us from Payson, Utah. The outreach began with a flurry of police activity. As the team was witnessing at the Sony Metreon entertainment complex Friday night, seven police officers suddenly arrived, batons in hand. They had received a report that a preacher had pushed someone with an amplifier. Fortunately, they left after realizing that it was a false report.
On Saturday, the band Machaira ministered at UN Plaza. Many people stood around, listening to the excellent music. Lt. Balma, who had arrested me 11 years ago and confiscated our PA system for a year, approached me and asked to see our permit. He didn't do anything, but he drove back several times, and appeared to be writing some kind of report on our activities. We haven't had any arrests since 1998, and hope this continues. Usually during SOS week, at least one team gets shut down by the police, but it didn't happen this year.
We may have spared the police from a big problem that day. A man approached us, saying he was on the way to kill someone for money. He heard the music, stopped, and God convicted him that what he was going to do was wrong. He said he wanted to give his life to Christ. The Utah youth prayed with five people that afternoon. Several others also prayed with people that day.
Paul Coca and Tim Moon ministered with us every day, starting on Monday. Chuck Girard ministered Thursday through Saturday. On Monday and Wednesday, we witnessed at Fisherman's Wharf. On Monday, the Utah team ministered through music and ?human videos.? On Wednesday, a youth band from Church of the Valley, Morgan Hill, ministered there. Each time, a large crowd gathered to listen. We had many good conversations at the Wharf. On Monday, Jeff and Lorretta witnessed to Wi, a Vietnamese man who is living in Hong Kong. They gave him a book by Max Lucado that explains the Christian faith. Craig ministered to Robert, a Christian who came to San Francisco from Alabama looking for work. He was homeless, so he took him to the church. We ministered to him and helped him get a bus ticket home. Kim gave a tract to Lawrence, a young man on a bike. He returned and said he really needed prayer. He has cancer and no family, and is homeless. Jeff and Loretta prayed with him.
On Tuesday and Thursday, we witnessed in Berkeley. The Utah team ministered on Tuesday. On Thursday, Chuck Girard and Zack and Christian ministered. Zack is 13. He writes songs and is an excellent guitar player. His brother Christian is 8 and plays drums. Both live in Nashville, where Zack is learning music and starting to record some songs. On Tuesday I witnessed to Amir, a Berkeley student from Iran. He asked me about evidence that Christianity is true. I showed him some of the Old Testament prophesies that were fulfilled by Jesus.
On Tuesday, Jeff spoke with a different man named Zack. He said he used to harass us when he saw our team on the streets. He said he would try to come up with intellectual arguments to mock us. Now, however, he is a Christian! On Thursday, Paul spoke with a man who was selling pornographic videos from a cart. At first, he tried to justify his actions, but eventually he admitted that what he was doing was wrong. Terry spoke with Filipa, a woman from England. She asked her, "Does God love gay people?" Terry said "yes" and ministered to her for an hour. Filipa was raped and beaten by her father, which she said is why she became a lesbian.
On Friday, we witnessed at Haight St. near Masonic. Mary spoke with Pat, an Irish woman. Her son is a heroin addict. She said she wanted to know Jesus, and Mary prayed with her. She also ministered to a man who was heckling my preaching. He had played in a Christian worship band for 8 years, but was now very angry at the church, he said, for political reasons.
That night, we also witnessed on Haight St. A large event had been planned that night involving local businesses and a street closing. The event was canceled, leaving our outreach the only thing going on. Frank spoke with Jesse, age 21, from New Jersey, who said he was interested in spiritual things. He shared his testimony and gave him a Bible. Later, he offered three people a New Testament as they passed by. Two said no, but one girl turned around and said she wanted one.
We finished our outreach on Saturday afternoon at Dolores Park. It was a warm, sunny day, and by the end of the day there were at least 1000 people in the park. Tim, Paul and Chuck ministered with music and Larry DuBois and I preached to the crowd. At the end of the day, Jeff spoke with me. Jeff lived in our ministry house when he was 19. However, he has been backslidden into the homosexual life for 30 years now, and I had not spoken with him for about 20 years. He gave me his email address and asked me to contact him.
Please pray for all those we ministered to during SOS week. I cannot begin to tell you everything that God did during this week. Loretta sent me daily emails with dozens of testimonies in them. Last week, I received three letters from prisoners who had somehow received one of our tracts. I want to thank all those who helped us during the SOS-San Francisco outreach, and especially Park Presidio Bible Church for once again opening up their facility to us.
Coming Events
Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or 926-3299 to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday Sept. 4, 11, 18 Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. 7:30 - 10 PM
Sat. September 5 San Francisco Outreach U N Plaza (7th St. and Market) 11 AM - 4 PM.
Sat. September 12 San Francisco Outreach Fisherman's Wharf (Jefferson St. near Mason) 11:30 AM - 4 PM.
Sat. September 19 Berkeley Outreach Telegraph and Haste St. 12:30 - 4:30 PM.
Ministry Needs
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry.
We have three openings in our Oakland ministry house. We are looking for men in their 20's or 30's who are spiritually strong and are committed to evangelism. We need to train younger believers in evangelism - to reach a new generation and help us continue this work of evangelizing San Francisco and Berkeley. We are also open to having older Christian men live in this house.
We have been trying for five years to find younger Christians to join our ministry. So far, we have not been successful. It seems that very few Christian youth are interested in evangelism. This certainly needs to change if there is any hope for our nation. Last March, I joined Facebook (facebook.com/sosmin), a social networking site with 100,000,000 members around the world, including over 1 million Christians. I have been using it to contact Christian youth and speak to them about evangelism. I now have over 2500 "friends." Currently, I am asking 30 California Bible college students a day to be my "friend." About a dozen people have expressed interest in our house, but so far nobody has actually moved in. Several people have come to our outreaches through Facebook.
Please pray that God will bring the right people for our house. Please continue to pray that the Berkeley City Council will not take away our freedom to minister in that city. Our CD of the Month is The Gospel in Today's World by Winkey Pratney.
I hope many of you will join us for an outreach this next month.
Yours in His Love,
Larry Rosenbaum
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