A Pivotal Moment In Time

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A Pivotal Moment In TimeCalled Out of
Obscurity (I Cor.
126-29)

• Presented By
• Dr. Marlene Groomes C.A.P.P
• MDC/Homestead Campus
• School Of Arts and Science

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Back to the FutureThe Event that Shook the
World
68th Top Event of the Millennium
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The Times
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Jim Crow The American Caste System

• 1877 - 1960, Jim Crow was more than a series
  of rigid anti-Black laws. It was a way of life.
  African Americans were relegated to the status of
  second class citizens it was the legitimization
  of anti-Black racism.
• Even many Christian ministers/theologians
  taught that Whites were the Chosen people, Blacks
  were cursed to be servants, and God supported
  racial segregation. Craniologists, eugenicists,
  phrenologists, and Social Darwinists, taught the
  belief that Blacks were innately intellectually
  and culturally inferior. Politicians gave
  speeches on the great danger of integration the
  mongrelization of the White race.

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The Horrors of Jim Crow

• Blacks could not shake hands with Whites it
  implied social equality
• Blacks and Whites were not allowed to eat
  together/or area must be partitioned
• Black male never to light cigarette for White
  female (it implied intimacy)
• Blacks could show no public affection, especially
  kissing, it offended Whites.
• Whites didnt use titles of respect to Blacks,
  only first names. Blacks used titles to Whites,
  no first names.

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1906 Timeline

• 1903 -- Ford sold first automobile
• 1905 Einstein's Theory of Relativity
• 1906
• 1/31 Earthquake in Ecuador (8.6).
• 4/7 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates
  Naples.
• 4/18 - San Francisco Earthquake (7.8) - The most
  disastrous earthquake in America's history,
  killed 3,000 250,000 homeless
• 9/18 - Typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated
  10,000 persons in Hong Kong.
• 9/22 - Race riots in Atlanta, Georgia. Killed 21
  blacks and their business district is severely
  damaged. Atlanta, GA
• 9/27 - Pensacola Hurricane
• 10/11 - San Francisco public school board ordered
  Japanese students to be taught in racially
  segregated schools.
• 10/23 First Powered Flight In Europe
• 12/4 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first
  intercollegiate Greek- fraternity for African
  Americans, was founded at Cornell.
• 12/24 - Fessenden makes the first radio
  broadcast DeForest invented triode electron
  tube, allowing amplification of electric signals,
  critical for long-distance telephones, radio/tv.

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The Red Summer of 1906
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Los Angeles, CA Circa 1906

• Settled in 1781 by 11 men and their families -3
  Spaniards, 2 blacks, 2 mulattos, 4 Indians.
• By 1900 there were over 100,000 residents of the
  city. A popular destination for many wanting to
  live the American dream.
• In April 1906, the city was impacted by an
  earthquake that devastated San Francisco.
• It became a center of oil production in the early
  20th century.
• The city was warned that the county would soon
  dry up unless they built an aqueduct.
• L.A. was a growing metropolis with a richness of
  racial and ethnic groups. Mexican, European,
  Asians, blacks, and Indians .
• There were over 6,000 blacks in the city, whose
  population had doubled from the prior 10 years.
• It was called the Promised Land/ the New or
  American Jerusalem.

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The Great San Francisco Earthquake April 18,1906
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Azusa Street- Los Angeles, CAColor lines were
washed away.

• Services conducted in a small holiness mission on
  Azusa St. birthed a global spiritual renewal.
• When revival started, thousands converged on the
  city from all over the world to attend.
• They found a renewed sense of purpose by being
  saved, sanctified, or filled with the Holy Spirit
  with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. 
• In one meeting over twenty nationalities were
  counted.
• Fine ladies could be found lying on the floor
  next to domestic servants and washer women.
  Prominent churchmen and government officials sat
  next to field hands.
• It was the great social equalizer for race,
  gender, age, and class.

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William J. Seymour
The Leader and His Legacy
Revival is like a fire that is carried by the
windits sparks will ignite the dry wood in every
direction it blows. (Joyner, 2001)
1870-1922
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His Life and the Greatest Revival of the 20th
Century
Verdunville, LA 1870
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Chosen Leader

• Son of former slaves
• Illiterate
• Self-taught by reading Bible
• Blind in one eye
• Severely scarred from Smallpox
• Called the humble, faithful Pastor
• Hailed the founder of the modern Pentecostal
  Movement
• Helped spark spiritual renewal in the U. S. and
  the world.
• A man - ahead of his times and bigger than his
  is environment

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Stumbling Block to Education

• Segregation Laws/Teaching Any instructor who
  shall teach in any school, college or institution
  where whites and blacks are received and enrolled
  as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty
  of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof,
  shall be fined.
• Seymour was barred from the room, listened to
  Parham through an open door in his Houston Bible
  school. He was not even permitted to pray with
  others while seeking the baptism of the Holy
  Spirit.
• Seymour didn't let that stop him from pursuing
  God.
• He soon had grasp all of Parham teachings and was
  
• released to start a negro work in California.

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Humble Beginnings
Frank Bartleman
Azusa St. Committee
Prayer meetings on Bonnie Bray
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A Father Kills His Son

• Seymour- the message was about Jesus and racial/
  gender reconciliation. At Azusa blacks and
  whites, men and women were in leadership under
  Seymour-unprecedented in the days of Jim Crow.
• Seymour-"No instrument that God can use is
  rejected on account of color or dress or lack of
  education."
• His dream was shattered when his mentor Charles
  Parham visited Azusa Street in October of 1906.
• The educated, white Parham was appalled at what
  he called "darky camp meeting stunts
• Parhams racist views were hardening. By 1910 he
  had become Klan supporter
• Parham challenged Seymours authority and
  unsuccessfully tried to take his church. He
  start a nearby rival ministry which soon failed.
• Before 1906 had ended, most Azusa leaders left to
  form congregations, such as the 51st Street
  Apostolic Faith Mission, the Spanish AFM, and the
  Italian Pentecostal Mission, which consisted
  primarily of immigrant or ethnic groups, the
  poor, outcasts, newcomers, and/or the low-wage
  laborers.

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From Beauty to AshesScattered all over
the Earth

• It is hailed as one of the greatest events in
  Christian history.
• However, the Azusa revival was destroyed by
  racism, jealousy, factioning, division and thief.
• Clara Lum a leader in the ministry stole the
  mailing list of 50,000 monthly subscribers,
  because she was heartsick Seymour married. She
  started another church in Oregon
• Because of these problems the sparks of revival
  and the gospel were carried all over the world.
  Twenty-five churches were started in L.A. in the
  first four years.
• Many denominations were born from this movement,
  ex. Assemblies of God. But, racial segregation
  was institutionalized
• Today, this great symbol of Gods moving in the
  earth is a parking lot.

We are on the verge of the greatest miracle the
world has ever seen." William J. Seymour
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The Fire That Ignited the World

• Some factors make this movement significant in
  large cultural terms
• The massive number of adherents makes this the
  most important spiritual event of the 20th
  century
• At least for a few years corporate worship
  transcended racial, gender, and age hierarchies
  dominated by Jim Crow paternalism.
• It often overshadowed other mainline
  denominations, especially in the South.
• The press was critically important in sustaining
  its national and worldwide exposure. (Stephens,
  2002)

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Parallels and Paradigm Shifts

• Bethlehem stable and Azusa stable
• Humble shepherds and Seymour
• Political and Social Oppression
• Past and Present Global impact
• Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem

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• THE FLAME of Pentecostalism was first lighted in
  1901 that speaking in tongues was a sign of
  baptism in the Holy Spirit. It might have
  sputtered if not for William Joseph Seymour, a
  black preacher
• He set out for L A, where his own baptism in the
  Spirit in 1906 brought him an enthusiastic
  following. He founded a the Azusa St. mission in
  an abandoned livery stable
• Within two years his multicultural ministry sent
  missionaries to 25 countries.
• Pentecostalism is a religion of the heart. Since
  a personal experience of God is as important as
  doctrine, it is an adaptable faith.
• By the end of the 1960s, Protestants and
  Catholics had embraced the gifts of the Spirit in
  Charismatic renewal movements. Their worship
  services may feature speaking in tongues, and
  spiritual healing.
• Today about a half billion are Pentecostal or
  Charismatic, and Pentecostals alone outnumber
  Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians
  combined they are the second largest sub-group
  of global Christianity.

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From Seed to Fruits of Harvest

• Lakewood Church is a megachurch of 30,000 adult
  in Houston, Texas

The impact from this small seed is continuing.
Through this Pentecostal Revival and subsequent
Charismatic Renewal more ministers, missionaries,
churches have been planted, and people brought to
salvation than any other movement in church
history. Soon the numbers of those impacted will
eclipse all other religious movements put
together. Rick Joyner
Yoido Full Gospel Church Seoul Korea 800,000
members Largest church in the world
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Global Impact of Pentecostalism

• Pentecostals/Charismatics- Segments of
  Christianity which believe in and experience the
  dynamic work of the Holy Spirit including
  supernatural demonstration of Gods power, with
  dynamic and participatory worship and zeal for
  evangelism. (Ma,2004)
• Worldwide Impact
• Educational reform and the establishment of many
  Colleges, Universities, and Seminaries at home
  and abroad.
• Social and political liberation through legal and
  governmental reform.
• Worldwide improvements and modernization of
  health care.
• Racial and gender equality and justice.
• Positive changes in socio-economic conditions.
• Establishment of innumerable publications and
  periodicals.
• Establishment of multimedia conglomerates- which
  utilizes radio, film, TV, and internet to preach
  the Gospel. Ex. TBN the largest Christian
  network, and possibly the largest of any in the
  world.
• Supernatural phenomena millions of documented
  healings, miracles, salvations, revivals,
  psycho-social and socio-economic transformations.
• Growth of a massive underground church movement
  in Asia, which will lead billions to Christ.

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Lessons For Us 100 Years Later

• Destiny and purpose doesnt have to be limited by
  your circumstances or environment, race, gender,
  or age.
• Dont let your perceived limitations define
  you.
• Seymour modeled, sound judgment, spiritual
  balance, personal integrity, and faithfulness He
  demonstrate the value of racial unity and
  cultural harmony. (Martin, 1999)
• One man with God can change the world.
• True and rich treasures can come to us from
  studying history
• Those who look to the past, find
  the future. (Joyner, 2001)