History of SOS Ministries

Disturbed by the spiritual condition of San Francisco and the lack of a visible Christian witness, twenty pastors and ministry leaders met together in January, 1980 to organize the first SOS-San Francisco Outreach. We sent out an "SOS" distress signal to Christians to come to San Francisco for a week-long evangelism outreach. That year, 1500 Christians from over 50 different churches joined us in witnessing to the people of this city. We planned large outdoor rallies, gave out 500,000 tracts, and saw hundreds respond to the gospel message.

In 1981, three thousand homosexuals and occultists demonstrated against us at two outdoor rallies. However, God showed us to praise Him in the midst of this opposition. As we did, those who were opposing us became confused and dispersed. Since that time, we have had great freedom to preach the gospel in this city. Since 1980, we have organized an SOS-San Francisco outreach each summer, inviting Christians from all over the United States to join us for an intensive, week-long evangelism outreach.

Thousands of Christians have participated in these outreaches and had their lives transformed through them. Some have begun ministries in their own cities or been called to missionary work. Today, over a dozen cities have annual outreaches patterned largely after SOS-San Francisco.

SOS Ministries also organizes "Church on the Street" outreaches throughout the year. We invite local churches to bring their worship group and conduct a church service in a downtown park. We have found this a very effective way to bring the gospel to people and also to get whole churches involved in evangelism.

SOS Ministries operates a ministry house in Oakland. We have a yearlong evangelism training program for Christians who want practical experience in evangelism. We also have a weekly evangelism team that witnesses on the streets of San Francisco and Berkeley. Like San Francisco, Berkeley is a trendsetter with great influence worldwide. The University of California trains many of the future leaders of this and other nations.

SOS DIRECTOR

Larry Rosenbaum: Raised in a Jewish home, Larry Rosenbaum studied psychology at Yale University (B.A.) and Brandeis University (M.A.) before receiving Christ in 1970. Larry has been involved in evangelism ministry for the past twenty years. He is the author of the book You Shall Be My Witnesses: How to Reach Your City for Christ. Several thousand copies have been sold nationwide, helping many to start outreaches in their own communities. He has taught at churches and evangelism conferences throughout the country.