Azusa Street: The Arrival of Revival!
All that is known is that the two-story building at 312 was once an African Methodist Episcopal Church; its occupants had long since vacated its shabby walls and left it the quarters of horses.
Hardly could it be compared with Stone’s Folly, the American Castle that housed the initial Holy Ghost revival of the twentieth century. With only leftover boards to form benches and makeshift altars, one would hardly have sought it out for such an occasion of spiritual majesty and power.
And, yet, it was chosen. Just as God would dwell in a palace in Topeka, He was happy to dwell in the ghetto in California. Similarly, just as God was content to infill the educated and the wealthy, He was just as eager to infill and bless the destitute and unlearned!
The Scoop!
It began in Houston with a 34-year-old William Seymour, listening to Rev. Charles Parham teach on the inclusion of tongues with the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Having believed the Word, Rev. Seymour began preaching it in a small church in the city. A young woman from California, Neely Terry, heard him preaching on tongues when she visited the area; convinced of the message herself, she was able to secure a revival for him in Los Angeles.
Upon arriving and discussing his beliefs with the pastor in Los Angeles, Rev. Seymour was promptly kicked out of the church and was forced to hold revival services in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lee. All was quiet until Mr. Lee received the gift of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance.
Rev. Bartleman’s tracts, regarding the revival and the soon coming of the Lord, began to be distributed, bringing men and women from all over the world to witness the revival! The crowds grew larger and larger, until they spilled out into the street!
The Most Vivid Revival
Permanence:
Bethel Healing House, under the direction of Rev. Charles Parham, was shut down just a few months following the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in its upper room, thanks to the greed so prevalent in the Prohibition. Less than a year later, it was completely destroyed by fire as its rooms had been turned into a brothel and a speakeasy, leaving the horizon void of any landmark.
Whilst the Azusa Street revival began at the home of the Asberry’s on North Bonnie Brae Street, it’s long-term residence in a two-story building on Azusa Street was in operation for several years before harsh times lead to its closing. The building had once served as an African Methodist Episcopal Church before being rendered merely a stable in what became the ghetto of the city.
The building itself, though once considered hardly fit for livestock, thrived as a church until 1931, shortly following the death of Rev. William Seymour. Although his wife pastored the church for next few years, the church was unable to withstand the harsh economic times.
The Great Depression meant hard times for everyone—and even more so for those in the ghetto. The building—this monument to the powerful movement of God in America—was torn down shortly thereafter. However, its twenty-five year standing as a house of divine healing, Spirit infilling, and Pentecostal faith had secured it in the American imagination!
Acceptance:
Despite the initial excitement experienced in Topeka, the change of location negatively impacted its progress in the area. The memoirs of Rev. Charles Parham bespeak many exasperating years, attempting to spread the message of God in cities who rejected truth, sometimes with outright hostility!
One theory is that it could have been the audience sought by Rev. Parham. The wealthy and the well-educated were often well-contented with their traditional forms of religion. During the apparent prosperity of the 1920s, few felt a true need for God’s divine interference.
Azusa Street approached a completely different class of people—primarily a people that, despite the prosperity of the middle and upper class whites, were bound by race, poverty, and prejudice. God’s spokesman to them was none other than Rev. William Seymour, the son of two former slaves, who often felt the sting of prejudice himself.
As we so often see in revivals in Ethiopia and other third world countries, the gospel appears to be so much more readily accepted by those who haven’t anything else to turn to. The subjects of the Azusa Street revival didn’t have the money for doctors, nor did they have the social class to be accepted into the well-wrought cathedrals and churches on the wealthy side of town to have their consciences assuaged with soft words.
Their only hope of healing, of salvation, and, yes, even of survival….was Jesus. In Isaiah, God proclaimed, “I will work and who shall let it?” Here was a people so ready and willing to have God work in their lives…that He accepted the invitation!
At Azusa Street, the message went from American castle to the ghetto, from the privileged class of paying Bible students to those steeped in poverty and despair. The revival took the nation by storm, encouraging those of every race, every class, and every creed to investigate…and some to become part of the great outpouring themselves!
Depth of Impact Upon the Community:
Being only forty years beyond the surrender of the Confederate South at Appomattox Courthouse, the racial wounds still ran deep throughout the country. Many whites still believed the African American an inferior class, even an inferior species, as many articles of the time attest.
The beauty of the Azusa Street revival certainly includes then, the conglomeration of saints from every walk of life, every race, every culture, and every background. It was one of the first interracial churches in the United States. The lesson? God blesses unity!
God blessed the unity of belief and prayer by the students at Rev. Parham’s Bible school; later, he blessed those at Azusa Street for their racial unity with phenomenal signs and miracles!
Miracles Following the Believers:
Miracles certainly attended the revivals of Rev. Parham in Kansas. In fact, in his tent revival in Lawrence, Kansas in 1902, there are over 1000 documented miracles and over 800 received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues!
Even before the miraculous revival erupted, the miraculous had accompanied the Holy Ghost outpourings along the way. In 1902, for instance, Mrs. Arthur, a woman who allowed Rev. Parham to hold services in her Lawrence, Kansas home, was healed of her blindness! The account can be found documented in The Winds of God by Sister Ethel Goss.
The miracles continued to attend the outpourings of the Spirit as we can see from an article of the Houston Chronicle, dated August 13, 1905:
“Mysticism Surround Works of Apostles of Faith—Speak in All Tongues Known to Man—Weird Scenes that are Witnessed.
Among the languages spoken by the professors of Apostolic Faith, the government interpreters have made investigation and authoritatively report that all known modern languages have been demonstrated including twenty Chinese dialects.
Among those healed during the meetings here have been Mrs. Hagan of periodical epileptic fits; Mrs. David of Houston Heights of consumption and voice recovered after nine years; Mrs. J.M. Dulaney of paralysis; small boy of Grimes County of curvature of spine and returned to home able to walk; aged Negro, who Friday threw away crutches at command of Dr. Parham.”
At Azusa Street, as faith in God swelled amidst the inability of the people to turn to those in the medical profession, the miraculous increased! The healing lines and services became all-day events, a pace that continued for three years straight without intermission!
Miracles…the Forgotten Element of Azusa Street
In the excitement, only some of the thousands of miracles were effectively documented.
My question today:
Are the days of these phenomenal healings and infillings over?
Or, are there men and women who will once again forsake all and unite in prayer and faith to see the miraculous?
Of which camp are you?
