A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
who was blind in one eye. Born in Louisiana, he now lived
in Houston. In early 1906, Seymour traveled to Los
Angeles in response to an invitation from a small Holiness
church there.
Seymour preached the Pentecostal message in Los
Angeles, even though he had not yet received the Holy
Ghost. The leader of the church rejected this doctrine and
locked Seymour out of the building. (She later joined the
movement, however.) He continued services in the homes
of two sympathetic families: first in the home of Edward
Lee, where he stayed, and then in the Asberry home on
Bonnie Brae Street.
On April 9, Lee received the Holy Spirit at his home
while praying with Seymour and Lucy Farrow. Farrow was
a black Holiness pastor in Houston who had entered the
Pentecostal movement through Parham, and she had
introduced Seymour to Parham. She was very effective in
laying hands on people and praying for them to receive
the Holy Ghost, and she had come to Los Angeles to help
Seymour achieve a breakthrough.
That night, at the service on Bonnie Brae, when
Seymour related what had just happened to Lee, the Holy
Ghost fell. Jennie Moore, who later married Seymour, and
several others received the Holy Ghost. Three days later,
Seymour and others also received the Spirit.
The small group rented an old, two-story building on
Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles and began services
on April 14. The Azusa Street Mission held services
daily for three years, from 1906 to 1909. Many miracles,
healings, and baptisms of the Holy Spirit occurred. There
were documented accounts of the dead being raised. 12
The meetings were characterized by spontaneous,
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