02 Dec Whole Lotta Shakin’
The Pentecostal movement — the Christian sect including baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, charismatic preachers, healings — that must have started in the Deep South, right? Actually, it started right here in L.A. in Echo Park.
William J. Seymour, a black, one-eyed preacher who was the son of slaves, had come out from the Midwest and built a small but avid following at the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry at what is now called the Bonnie Brae House. On April 9, 1906, when this group of African-Americans had gathered to fast and pray to receive the holy spirit, one of them, Edward S. Lee, began speaking in tongues, and six others followed. It was an ecstatic moment of outpouring of Divine energy, and the intensity blossomed and swelled. It filled up the house, and poured down the street, and entered the hearts and spirits of willing Angelenos.
It spread out so far that within three days the House and the surrounding streets were jam-packed with crowds of all income levels and ethnicities — blacks, whites, and Latinos — speaking in tongues, singing, and shouting. People reported being knocked to the ground by the power of spirit. Cries of joy could be heard throughout the neighborhood. The worshipping went on continually night and day until finally, the front porch of the house started shaking and collapsed from the rapturous celebration.
Seymour’s preaching must have been phenomenal, because the word is still spreading. You can imagine how high the energy must have been – utterly joyful, ecstatic, blissed out. A bit of that vortex power remains – can you feel it?
214 N Bonnie Brae St, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Tours are available at the Bonnie Brae House, and even overnight stays. If interested, call ahead. On the other hand, when we went to view the house on our own, a neighbor came up and told us the inside story and more. Maybe you’ll be so lucky.
Azusa Street Revival
The congregation moved to a location on Azusa Street, growing to 1500 people attending a day. Services went on 24/7, and thousands and thousands of people were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Azusa Street is considered the birthplace of the Pentecostal movement by most everyone. By 1913, the enthusiasm had waned at Azusa Street, but Pentecostalism spread rapidly around the globe and is today the fastest-growing religion in the world, second only to Roman Catholicism, numbering over six hundred million believers.
Azusa Street Revival
312 Azusa St. (now part of the Japanese-American Cultural and Community Center)
© 2020 Catherine Auman
This is an excerpt from Catherine Auman’s book Guide to Spiritual L.A.: The Irreverent, the Awake, and the True
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