Page 220 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

Seymour was invited to Los Angeles to conduct services in a holiness
mission. He chose as his first text Acts 2:4 and he taught that the baptism
in the Holy Spirit had been restored
with speaking in other tongues as
evidence. When he returned to preach
Seymour was used a second time, he was locked out.

of God to guide the “Undaunted, Seymour moved his
meetings to a private home owned by
meetings; the Holy some Baptists.… It was here, in this

Spirit was in control. humble dwelling, that the first
Pentecostal effusion came, the
evening of April 9, 1906, to a company
of black saints” (Menzies, 50). One of
those baptized was Jenny Moore, who later became Seymour’s wife. On
April 12, Seymour enjoyed his personal Pentecost. He had been seeking
for more of God with great passion. He wrote the following about his
experience:

Prior to my meeting with Parham [Seymour’s teacher in Houston],
the Lord had sanctified me from sin, and had led me into a deep
life of prayer, assigning five hours out of the twenty-four every
day for prayer. This prayer life I continued for three and half years,
when one day as I prayed the Holy Ghost said to me: “There
are better things to be had in the spiritual life, but they must be
sought out with faith and prayer.” This so quickened my soul that
I increased my hours of prayer to seven out of twenty-four and
continued to pray for two years longer until the baptism fell on us.
(quoted by Lake in Martin, 142–43)

Crowds began streaming to the house in Los Angeles and asking a
question that the assembled crowd had asked on the Day of Pentecost:
“What does this mean?” As it worked out, the place could not contain the
inquirers and the participants; so they began to look for a larger facility.
Eventually, they found an old building at 312 Azusa Street that had been
converted into a horse barn. They cleaned and repaired it enough to
conduct services, which were held continuously for the next three years.

While Seymour was used of God to guide the meetings, the Holy Spirit
was in control. Frank Bartleman describes Seymour’s demeanor: “Brother

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