Many Paths: The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 changed life in America

I truly believe that the power of Pentecost is the one true path to racial healing. Today, America teeters on the brink of destruction; the end of democracy as we have known it for 247 years. Why have we arrived at this often dismissed and misunderstood threat to our nation? The answer is simple: we are both perpetrator and victim.

Many demands liberty and justice for themselves but limit it for those who look and act differently. There is pervasive spirit in America that permeates our society.

It is the belief that one race is superior to or better than all others. The proper response to this viewpoint is the truth. None of us pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps. There are no self-made men or women.

Here are my questions to you, the reader: do you have compassion for your fellow man? Second, do you have the courage to right a wrong when you see one committed? Third, are you committed to the ideals of liberty and justice for all?

Consider these words by James E. Faust, "Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.”

The historical context for understanding the significance of the Azusa Street Revival 117 years ago is paramount for our national survival.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was the 26th president of the United States, sugar was for cents per pound, eggs were a penny a piece, the Wright brothers, Orville, and Wilbur, had successfully flown the world’s first motor-operated airplane, and Segregation was on the rise.

The nation failed its most critical test, Reconstruction, 1865-1877 which left millions of Americans of African descents free on paper but enslaved in practice.

The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 captured the imagination of the world through people and names that you may not have ever heard of like, Joseph Smale, Charles F. Parham, James Bartleman, Lucy Farrow, William J. Seymour and Jospeh A. Warren.

The Azusa Street Revival begins with a request sent to William J. Seymour to come to Los Angeles to serve as pastor of a colored holiness church. His first message caused such a stir within the congregation that a pad lock was placed on the door to bar his entry.

With the door of ministry seemly closed, William Seymour was invited to stay in the home of Eward Lee, located at 214 Bonnie Brae St. Rejected and dismissed, Seymour began to pray earnestly, praying for hours, sometimes 5 to 7 hours the day.

During this time, he was asked to hold a bible study meeting in the home of Edward Lee. Those meetings generated tremendous headlines. An eyewitness said in one of the articles, “They shouted three days and three nights. The people came from everywhere. By the next morning there was no way of getting near the house. As the people came in, they would fall under God’s power; and the whole city was stirred.”

The Azuza Street Revival began with colored folks but soon drew whites, Chinese, Mexican, Russians, and Jews from all walks of life. The mixing of the races causes such an uproar that the Los Angeles Daily Times called speaking in tongues, “weird babel of tongues which no rational person could ever understand.”

The Apostolic Faith, a newspaper founded by William Seymour during the revival read, “Pentecost has come.” I agree with this headline written by William Seymour, Pentecost had indeed come.

For me, the greatest miracle from the Azusa Street Revival happened later. Here my breakthrough thought: why not calculate the years from 1906 to 1960? The number was approximately 54 years. Check this out, on May 17, 1954, a decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education case declared the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional, Hallelujah to the King.

The Azusa Street Revival not only changed the hearts of the attendees.

It also changed American life as well through genuine compassion, renewed courage, a steadfast commitment, and a sincere devotion to Christ.

Andrew Jowers is a minister in Galesburg.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Many Paths: The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 changed life in America