The Azusa Street Centennial

By Pastor Justin Jacob

A truly PENTECOSTAL conference, that is the way that I would describe the Azusa Street Centennial Celebration that took place this last week-April 25-29, 2006-in Los Angeles, California. Delegates and participants came from every continent-over 120 nations- to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the great revival that erupted in the city of Los Angeles in 1906. Though the modern day Pentecostal revival started in January 1, 1901 at Topeka, Kansas, in Charles Parham's Bible School, Pentecostal revival is more associated with an African-American preacher named William J. Seymore and the little prayer meeting that began at the Asberry on Bonnie Brae Street and which moved to a rundown building on 312 Azusa Street. The powerful outpouring of the Pentecostal experience that came in that little prayer meeting in April of 1906, on the most unlikely group of people, has touched the entire world and continues to do so. Virtually every Pentecostal denomination or fellowship in existence today finds itself in some kind or relationship to the Azusa Street revival. The revival prompted the greatest international missionary movement and evangelism explosion since the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts.

William J. Seymore, the figure with whom this revival is most associated with was probably the most unexpected person to come to the forefront. He was an African-American with very little education, and at the beginning of the 1900's in the United States of America, to say that he was faced with obstacles and barriers is an understatement.

Seymore was an iteneriant preacher who heard about the Pentecostal experience that came down in a small Bible School led by a gentleman named Charles Parham in Topeka, Kansas. Parham was many things. To his credit he did perhaps inaccurate to a new era that Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the initial formation of the doctrinal basis for it, but he also made some very audacious claims including dubbing himself as the "Father of Modern Day Pentecostalism". Parham was also carried away with the racism that dominated American culture at the time. When Seymore first met Parham in revival services in Houston, Texas, Parham refused to allow him to sit inside the classroom during the morning Bible study sessions. Instead Seymore was "allowed" to sit outside the classroom and listen. And he did. What's more, Seymore often referred to Parham as his "spiritual father"!

In April of 1906, Seymore went back to Los Angeles and his small group of friends who all were expelled from the Second Baptist Church for desiring the Pentecostal Experience and revival. A prayer meeting began in the Asberry family's home on Bonnie Brae Street and the rest is history. During the early part of the month, the power of the Holy Spirit fell among that small group, and first one person then another began speaking in Tongues until that whole group received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. According to the story, Seymore was not even the first one to receive the Baptism, rather a man in this group who had fallen ill was being prayed for by Seymore for healing. At that moment, he received the Tongues experience first. That particular prayer meeting would continue virtually nonstop for the next three years and thousands of people would receive the Pentecostal experience, but not only that. Many signs and wonders of healings, the casting out of demons, and others took place in those services. Even more incredible was the great Evangelism and Pentecostal explosion that took place as a result of this revival. It is a statement of fact that this even was one of the great experiences that altered the religious culture of America (and then later) the rest of the globe.

What started out in places like Topeka, Kansas and Los Angeles with just a few people has now blossomed into the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement that has close to 1 billion people today in over 25000 Christian movements, denominations, fellowships, and churches. It should furthermore be pointed out that the advent of Pentecostalism in the beginning of the 20th century has had profound affects in missionary evangelism all over the world. For one thing, the Tongues experience is not something that any one culture can claim a mandate on, rather it is shared by all people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and this perhaps more than any other facet in modern day Christianity has united the Church all over the world-a uniting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

On the week of April 25-29, 2006, the Azusa Street Centennial Celebration took place in Los Angeles, California. I could not explain why, but I personally felt that I needed to go to this event. Perhaps it was because my family was a direct beneficiary of this revival when the missionary evangelism from it came to India and my grandfather and grandmother accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior and subsequently became the first generation in my family history to come into full time ministry. Perhaps it was because this was the ultimate Pentecostal Conference, and the Maranatha Full Gospel Churches is a Pentecostal fellowship. Our fellowship just had to be represented in this event! Or perhaps, this was a once in 100 years celebration. There will never be another event of this type for another 100 years, should the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ tarry. Or perhaps it was because this event would be the gathering of the foremost Pentecostal personalities of the modern day; people such as Morris Cerullo, Jack Hayford, Benny Hinn, Reinhard Bonke, Rod Parsely, and other men and women from other Pentecostal fellowships in the United States and around the world. (For a Pentecostal preacher, the speaker list of this conference would be akin to the USA Men's Basketball Dream Team as the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games-a truly once in a lifetime gathering!)

More than anything else, I just had to go to this event because I just wanted to leave Dallas for awhile and spend time in prayer. How can I say it? I was not "burned out", but I needed a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit. I just had to feel that Presence that brought back to life the passages of Scripture and the great truth that God lives and that He will work on behalf of His people. For sometime, a type of frustration was setting, the aftermath of prayer without results, at least the results I expected, not to mention the time I wanted results. It just seemed to me that my prayers and intercession was just bouncing of the ceiling right back to me without a change in any of the situations I was interceding over. This caused a kind of backsliding in my faith and I was loosing the expectation that comes with believing that God is going to move on behalf of His people. Little did I expect for what was in store for me!

My experiences with previous Pentecostal conferences could not have been further from this one. I never expected that tens of thousands of people would be coming on the first day of this mighty event! And they were not there for sightseeing purpose (though they were in downtown Los Angeles) or for meeting old friends. They were there strictly to pray and intercede, to study God's Word, to hear and learn from wonderful men and women of God. It was a group of people united for and by the experience of Pentecost.

There were many wonderful sights and sounds. Seminar rooms were packed to overflowing. This conference was actually made up of four different convecations, which was reflected in the fact that the evening services were broken up into four venues-all of them in every night was packed out, or very close to it. The official Azusa Street Centennial Service was at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with each night having an international regional emphasis. Then there was the William J. Seymore Memorial Service, a service that commerates not only the memory of the African-American preacher, but also celebrated the influence of the African-American community in American Pentecostalism. This service was at the West Angeles Cathedral Church of God in Christ. (NOTE: The Church of God in Christ is the first Pentecostal denomination in America, and perhaps in the world.)

There was a service honoring Women Ministries in Pentecost and was conducted at the famous Angelus Temple, the church building that was the place of the premier lady evangelist of the last century, Aimee Semple Machpherson. And finally there was the Believers' Convention, for people of the Faith movement with such individuals as Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, and Fredrick K.C. Price. This convention was at Dr. Price's church complex The Crenshaw Christian Center-the auditorium of which is called the "Faith Dome".

On the first night, Benny Hinn was at the LACC, T.D. Jakes was at the West Angeles Cathedral, Paula White was at the Angelus Temple, and Kenneth Copeland was at the Faith Dome-all four venues were completely packed out.

This writer experienced many things, more than what could go down on this journal, but here are a few of the more memorable ones:

The Church of Jesus Christ does not and will not fail!-Morris Cerullo

We have had the experiences of Pentecost for a 100 years, but what we do in the next 10 years will decide if this Pentecostal revival will continue or just fall into history.-Jack Hayford

Don't pray for the power of God, pray for the presence of God to be more real to you than anything else. The power of God can leave you after you have accomplished God's purpose for which He gave it, but the presence of God will never leave you.-Benny Hinn

Only love can make a miracle-Mahesh Chavda

They say in this country that your children are no longer you children after the age of 18 or 21 depending. That's baloney! Your children are your children forever as long as you and they live. Never stop fasting and praying for them. Do it more than ever!-Ed Silvoso

God can use anybody. Look at me, He's using me!-Carlos Anacondia

As I stand here this morning, I remember that ten years ago I preached the homegoing service of my mentor Dr. Lester Summerall…this was the man who rebuked the demons out of a woman at Bilibip Prison in the Philipeans and 100,000 people accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior, and even today the second largest church in Asia is the one that started there that day.-Rod Parsely

What a mighty God we serve!-E.A. Adaboye

More than anything else, this great conference is for the youth. The final service on Saturday will be a youth convocation in which all the leaders of Pentecost will join together putting aside every barrier so that we can lay hands on a new generation, on young people who will keep this revival fire lit 100 years ago in Asuza going for another 100 years.-Billy Wilson