William Seymour
A Black preacher who came from Houston to Los Angeles in 1906 and led the prayer meetings from which the Azusa Street revival grew. He was pastor of the mission and wrote for its newspaper.
Seymour told his own story in the first issue of the mission’s paper: he came to Los Angeles from Houston, Texas, to take charge of a mission on Santa Fe Street, was locked out of it, argued against holiness preachers who held that the baptism with the Holy Ghost was simply sanctification, and went on to the cottage prayer meeting at 214 Bonnie Brae Street where the revival began (The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) vol. 1 no. 1 (September 1906), p. 1). Frank Bartleman, who met him shortly before 26 March 1906, describes him as a “colored man, very plain, spiritual, and humble”, blind in one eye (Bartleman, How Pentecost Came to Los Angeles p. 43).
The same issue prints an article signed by him, “The Precious Atonement”, which teaches forgiveness, sanctification, bodily healing and the baptism with the Holy Ghost as gifts of Christ’s atonement (The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) vol. 1 no. 1 (September 1906), p. 2). In December 1906 the paper called him “simply a humble pastor of the flock” over which the Holy Ghost had made him overseer (The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles) vol. 1 no. 4 (December 1906), p. 1). See the Azusa Street Revival.
In the timeline
- 9 April 1906, firm dateThe Azusa Street Revival
In April 1906 a prayer meeting in Los Angeles led by the Black preacher William Seymour begins to speak in tongues. The mission it opens at 312 Azusa Street meets daily, draws people of many races and sends the Pentecostal message abroad.