The Azusa Street Revival April 1906

Was it a coincidence or did God have a purpose on pouring out His Holy Spirit in such a manner as to set of the fire that was the Pentecostal movement on Pesach weekend of 1906, also known as Easter? Here are some excerpts from the Renewal Journal that document what happened then. I am convinced that there is a pattern for the manifestation of the glory of God that we know as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It seems rather clear that God begins by pouring out a desire to pray which then culminates in these incidences where He shows up and does only what He can do. William Seymour was a man whom all the odds were against but had one important trait….a hunger for God. That hunger was so intense that he enrolled himself into classes that he could not sit in due to the segregation laws of the day. When the hunger overtook him he accepted a call to be a pastor at a church in Los Angeles but was immediately fired after his first sermon was made which was based on Acts chapter 2 and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

He then began a fellowship at what is now a monument to the beginning of the outpouring in a shabby little space that again demonstrates that God is not interested in our productions and buildings and adornments but is interested in our hearts. This is a common thread in His manifestation everywhere, beginning with a child king born in a manger and sealed by the worst death possible on a cross with thieves. Revival is about to break out with a level and force that has never been experienced before. 2021 will go down in the history books, but there may not be time to write them as this is the last great outpouring. People are having dreams and visions of the Messiahs return, the bridegroom coming to get His bride, and a hunger and thirst is building that is unprecedented. The trumpet is about to sound and the bride is being prepared.

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Early in 1906 William J. Seymour (1870-1922), the Negro Holiness pastor, studied briefly at Charles Parham’s short term Bible School in Houston, Texas. Segregation laws in that state prohibited Negroes from joining the classes. Most reports indicate that he sat in the hall and listened through the doorway.

Julia Hutchins, the pastor of a small holiness church in Los Angeles, heard of Seymour from a friend, Luci Farrow, who had visited Houston. Hutchins invited William Seymour to preach in her church with the possibility of becoming pastor of the church. His first sermon there, from Acts 2:4, emphasized being filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues. He soon found himself locked out of the building.

Seymour then began cottage meetings in the home of Richard Asbery at 214 Bonnie Brae Street, which still exists as a Pentecostal landmark. Many there, including Seymour, fell to the floor and began speaking in tongues at the prayer meeting on Monday, April 9. Numbers grew until the weight of the crowd broke the front verandah, so they had to move. They found an old two-story weatherboard stable and warehouse at 312 Azusa Street which had previously been an African Episcopal Methodist church.

So Seymour, now leader of The Apostolic Faith Mission, began meetings there on Easter Saturday, April 14, 1906. About 100 attended including blacks and whites. The Spirit of God moved powerfully on that little mission. Many were baptized in the Spirit with speaking in tongues and prophecies. Four days later on Wednesday, April 18, the day of the San Francisco earthquake, the Los Angeles Times began carrying articles about the weird babble of tongues and wild scenes at Azusa Street.

Not only was the racial mixture unusual, but the newspaper reports, usually critical of those noisy Pentecostal meetings, drew both Christians and unbelievers, poor and rich, to investigate. Soon crowds crammed into the building to investigate or mock. Hundreds were saved, baptized in the Spirit and ignited for apostolic style mission which included prayers for healing and outreach in evangelism and overseas mission.” – Renewal Journal

It is said the services ran non-stop for three years, if at all you would call them services, as there was generally no order. Frank Bartelman gives the following account of his first hand experience there:

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Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty shoe boxes, one on top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there. The services ran almost continuously. Seeking souls could be found under the power almost any hour, night and day. The place was never closed nor empty. The people came to meet God. He was always there. Hence a continuous meeting. The meeting did not depend on the human leader. God’s presence became more and more wonderful. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors, God took strong men and women to pieces, and put them together again, for His glory. It was a tremendous overhauling process. Pride and self-assertion, self-importance and self-esteem, could not survive there. The religious ego preached its own funeral sermon quickly.

No subjects or sermons were announced ahead of time, and no special speakers for such an hour. No one knew what might be coming, what God would do. All was spontaneous, ordered of the Spirit. We wanted to hear from God, through whoever he might speak. We had no “respect of persons.” The rich and educated were the same as the poor and ignorant, and found a much harder death to die. We only recognized God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in His presence. He could not use the self-opinionated. Those were Holy Ghost meetings, led of the Lord. It had to start in poor surroundings, to keep out the selfish, human element. All came down in humility together, at His feet. They all looked alike, and had all things in common in that sense at least. The rafters were low, the tall must come down. By the time they got to “Azusa” they were humbled, ready for the blessing. The fodder was thus placed for the lambs, not for giraffes. All could reach it.”

May we hunger and thirst for the outpouring that fills us with His presence and transforms the world. I do not know about you, but I am eagerly looking forward to those days that are about to come upon us, for in His presence there is fullness of joy and restoration.