William Seymour
William Seymour is highlighted at a blog new to me by charismatic pastor Paul Grabill at State College AoG. His blog is Beside the Point.
He notes that this is the 100th anniversary of the Azusa St. Revival and wants to honor pastor Seymour. A brief biography from here says (italics are mine),
Born on May 2, 1870 in Centerville (St. Mary Parish), Louisiana, his parents had been slaves and his father fought with the Union Army during the US Civil War. Seymour was reared in poverty and began traveling at a young age—living in Memphis, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. At age 25, he worked as a waiter for some of the most upscale restaurants and hotels in Indianapolis.
It was in Indianapolis that Seymour personally accepted Jesus Christ, although during childhood he was affiliated with the Baptist Church and the Roman Catholic Church. (He was christened in the Catholic tradition on September 4, 1870, at the Church of the Assumption in Franklin, Louisiana.) Upon his adult conversion in Indianapolis he joined the Simpson Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church and became firmly established in the rising Holiness movement. A few years later, while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he received a deeper spiritual experience and testified of being “wholly sanctified.” There he joined the Church of God Restoration Movement, also known as The Evening Light movement. This group taught that a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit would precede the return of Christ, and they were committed to a radical holiness doctrine and promoted Christian unity and racial reconciliation.
In 1905 Seymour moved to Houston, Texas, in search of relatives. He attended a black holiness congregation pastored by Lucy Farrow, and soon he served as interim pastor when Farrow moved to Kansas City to work in the home of Charles Fox Parham. Later that year, Farrow returned to Houston and testified of her baptism with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Soon afterward, Charles Fox Parham relocated his ministry to Houston and taught Bible training classes. Seymour faithfully attended these classes despite segregation laws of the time, which forced him to sit in the hallway while listening to Parham and others teach. Seymour was not even permitted to pray with others while seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, Parham later noted that Seymour could recite word-for-word the teachings he learned while sitting under Parham’s ministry.
there are more details on Seymour's life here.
He notes that this is the 100th anniversary of the Azusa St. Revival and wants to honor pastor Seymour. A brief biography from here says (italics are mine),
Born on May 2, 1870 in Centerville (St. Mary Parish), Louisiana, his parents had been slaves and his father fought with the Union Army during the US Civil War. Seymour was reared in poverty and began traveling at a young age—living in Memphis, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. At age 25, he worked as a waiter for some of the most upscale restaurants and hotels in Indianapolis.
It was in Indianapolis that Seymour personally accepted Jesus Christ, although during childhood he was affiliated with the Baptist Church and the Roman Catholic Church. (He was christened in the Catholic tradition on September 4, 1870, at the Church of the Assumption in Franklin, Louisiana.) Upon his adult conversion in Indianapolis he joined the Simpson Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church and became firmly established in the rising Holiness movement. A few years later, while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he received a deeper spiritual experience and testified of being “wholly sanctified.” There he joined the Church of God Restoration Movement, also known as The Evening Light movement. This group taught that a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit would precede the return of Christ, and they were committed to a radical holiness doctrine and promoted Christian unity and racial reconciliation.
In 1905 Seymour moved to Houston, Texas, in search of relatives. He attended a black holiness congregation pastored by Lucy Farrow, and soon he served as interim pastor when Farrow moved to Kansas City to work in the home of Charles Fox Parham. Later that year, Farrow returned to Houston and testified of her baptism with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Soon afterward, Charles Fox Parham relocated his ministry to Houston and taught Bible training classes. Seymour faithfully attended these classes despite segregation laws of the time, which forced him to sit in the hallway while listening to Parham and others teach. Seymour was not even permitted to pray with others while seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, Parham later noted that Seymour could recite word-for-word the teachings he learned while sitting under Parham’s ministry.
there are more details on Seymour's life here.
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