Azusa Street Revival Research Paper

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William Seymour was the primary person who started the Azusa Street Revival. The revival movement eventually grew into the Pentecostal Outpouring and Charismatic Movement.
Seymour was born to slaves in Louisiana and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church but attended New Providence Baptist Church. Louisiana had high incidents of racial violence that affected Seymour’s emphasis on racial equality. He traveled to northern cities like St. Louis and Indianapolis and became a born-again Christian in Indianapolis.
While in Houston, Seymour attended Charles Parham’s Bible School. Eventually he received his ministry license from Parham’s Apostolic Faith Movement. Parham was teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When Neely Terry, an African American Seymour visited family in Houston, she visited Seymour’s church. After she heard him speak about receiving the Holy Spirit, she invited him to speak in Los Angeles. Parham encouraged Seymour to go by giving him a financial blessing.
In February, 1906, two days after Seymour arrived in Los …show more content…

White families also came to the meetings, and the group prayed regularly to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jennie Moore who later became Seymour’s wife also spoke in tongues. On April 12, 1906, Seymour spoke in tongues after praying all night. News about the meetings quickly spread, and African Americans, Latinos and White residents would gather to hear preaching from the porch of the Asberry home. The people came from all income levels and religious backgrounds. The entire congregatioin from Hutchins’s church were attending the meetings, and Hutchins eventually spoke in tongues. The front porch collapsed, and the group was forced to look for a new meeting place. Historian Vinson Synan wrote that a neighbor describe the meetings at 216 North Bonnie

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