Azusa street revival.

Welsh Revival reaches America

In 1904, the 1908-1978 Welsh Revival took place, causing approximately 100,000 people in Wales to convert to Christianity. Internationally, Evangelical Christians took this event to be a sign that a fulfillment of the prophecy in the Bible's book of Joel, chapter 2:23–29 was about to take place. Joseph Smale, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles, went to Wales personally in order to wittness the revival. Upon his return to Los Angeles, he attempted to ignite a similar event in his own congregation. His attempts were short-lived, and he eventually left First Baptist Church to found First New Testament Church, where he continued his efforts. During this time, other small-scale revivals were taking place in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas. By 1905, reports of speaking in tongues, supernatural healings, "physical demonstrations of emotion", and significant lifestyle changes accompanied these revivals. As news spread, evangelicals across the United States began to pray for similar revivals in their own congregations.

North Bonnie Brae Street

Seymour and his wife, Jennie. An African American preacher named William Seymour came to Los Angeles from Texas. Raised in a Catholic home, Seymour was drawn as an adult to a fledgling sect that stressed the need for believers to receive "baptism in the Holy Spirit," as described in the Bible's Book of Acts. His notions about speaking in tongues did not go over well at the storefront church in L.A. that he had been asked to lead as pastor; within days of his arrival, the church kicked him out. 35 year old Seymour and his small group of new followers soon relocated to the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry, at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street. White families from local Holiness Churches began to attend as well. The group would get together regularly and pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On April 9, 1906, after five weeks of Seymour's preaching and prayer, and three days into an intended 10-day fast, Edward S. Lee spoke in tongues for the first time. At the next meeting, Seymour shared Lee's testimony and preached a sermon on Acts 2:4 and soon six others began to speak in tongues as well, including Jennie Moore, who would later become Seymour's wife. A few days later, on April 12, Seymour himself spoke in tongues for the first time, after praying all night long. Seymour and the others saw their experiences with speaking in tongues as confirmation of his sermon on Acts 2:4.

The Asberry home on 214 North Bonnie Brae Street.
News of the events at North Bonnie Brae St. quickly circulated among the African American, Latino and White residents of the city, and for several nights, various speakers would preach to the crowds of curious and interested onlookers from the front porch of the Asberry home. Members of the audience included people from a broad spectrum of income levels and religious backgrounds. Hutchins eventually spoke in tongues herself as her whole congregation began to attend the meetings. Soon the crowds became very large, and were full of people speaking in tongues, shouting, singing and moaning. Finally, the front porch collapsed, forcing the group to begin looking for a new meeting place. A resident of the neighborhood described the happenings at 214 North Bonnie Brae with the following words:

“They shouted three days and three nights. It was Easter season. The people came from everywhere. By the next morning there was no way of getting near the house. As people came in they would fall under God's power; and the whole city was stirred. They shouted until the foundation of the house gave way, but no one was hurt.”

Revival at Azusa Street

Conditions

312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles, California, prior to its purchase by the revivalists.
The group from Bonnie Brae Street eventually discovered an available building at 312 Azusa Street, which had originally been constructed as an African Methodist Episcopal Church in what was then a black ghetto part of town. The rent was only $8.00 a month. A newspaper referred to the downtown Los Angeles building as a “tumble down shack.” Since the church had moved out, the building had served as a wholesale house, a warehouse, a lumberyard, stockyards, a tombstone shop, and had most recently been used as a stable with rooms for rent upstairs. it was a small, rectangular, flat-roofed building, approx. 60 feet (18.28m) long and 40 feet wide (12.19m), totaling 2,400 feet2 (222.96 m2), sided with weathered whitewashed clapboards. The only sign that it had once been a house of god was a single gothic-style window over the main entrance.
Discarded lumber and plaster littered the large, barn-like room on the ground floor. Nonetheless, it was secured and cleaned in preparation for services. They held their first meeting on April 14, 1906. Church services were held on the first floor where the benches were placed in a rectangular pattern. Some of the benches were simply planks put on top of empty nail kegs. There was no elevated platform, as the ceiling was only eight feet high. Initially there was no pulpit. Frank Bartleman, an early participant in the revival, recalled that “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…. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors..."
The second floor at the now-named "Apostolic Faith Mission" housed an office and rooms for several residents including Seymour and his new wife, Jennie. It also had a large prayer room to handle the overflow from the altar services below. The prayer room was furnished with chairs and benches made from California Redwood planks, laid end to end on backless chairs.
The Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street, now considered to be the birthplace of Pentecostalism.
By mid-May of 1906, anywhere from 300 to 1500 people would attempt to fit into the building. Since horses had very recently been the residents of the building, flies constantly bothered the attendees. People from a great diversity of backgrounds came together to worship: men, women, children, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, rich, poor, illiterate, and educated. People of all ages participated in the happenings. They flocked to Los Angeles with both skepticism and spiritual hunger. What is particularly notable about the intermingling of races is that 1906 was the height of the "Jim Crow" era of segregation. Also noteworthy, was the groups encouragement of women in church leadership, as women in the United States did not receive the right to vote until 1920, and the Equal Rights Amendment was not even proposed until 1972.

Services and Worship
Worship at 312 Azusa Street was frequent, spontaneous, and ecstatic, with services going almost around the clock. Among those attracted to the revival were not only members of the Holiness Movement, but Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and Presbyterians. An observer at one of the services wrote these words:

“No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir- the angels have been heard by some in the spirit. No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the Holy Ghost is the leader."

Among first-hand accounts were reports of the blind having their sight restored, diseases cured instantly, and immigrants speaking in German, Yiddish, and Spanish all being spoken to in their native language by uneducated black members, who translated the languages into English by "supernatural ability"Singing was sporadic and in acappella or occasionally in tongues. There were periods of extended silence. Attenders were occasionally slain in the Spirit. Visitors gave their testimony and members read aloud testimonies that were sent to the mission by mail. There was prayer for the gift of tongues. There was prayer in tongues for the sick, for missionaries, and whatever requests were given by attenders or mailed in. There was spontaneous preaching and altar calls for salvation, sanctification and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many people would continually shout throughout the meetings. The members of the mission never took an offering, but there was a receptacle near the door for anyone that wanted to support the revival. The core membership of the Azusa Street Mission was never much more than 50-60 individuals, with hundreds and thousands of people visiting or staying temporarily over the years.