Miracle
on Azusa Street
Two mighty shakings occured in California in 1906: the great
San Francisco earthquake and a spiritual shaking in Los Angeles
in a humble mission at 312 Azusa Street. Miracle
on Azusa Street is a powerful musical drama
that tells the story of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
at the turn of the 20th Century. The musical drama takes you
along the spiritual journey of Rev. Charles White, a prominent
clergyman in Los Angeles, and his wife and daughter, as their
lives are touched by the Azusa Street revival.
The cast re-creates the electric atmosphere that was a hallmark
of the Azusa Street meetings, but also explores the skepticism
and doubt that accompanied this great move of the Spirit.
Vintage Pentecostal singing and music, with its own unique
style and rhythms, punctuate the fluid pace of the story.
When you are not tapping your toes, you will be smiling, laughing,
or maybe wiping a tear as the drama unfolds on stage. One
thing is for sure, you will definitely be on the edge of your
seat.
"Miracle on Azusa Street made the Holy Ghost more real
to me. After each performance I watched people come to the
altar who didn't have the Holy Ghost and who probably had
never stepped inside a Pentecostal church before. I saw them
raise their hands and cry out, desperately wanting and needing
something more than they had. Then I saw those same people
speaking in tongues. " - Sherralyn
Background
 The
Azusa Street Mission at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California
became world famous as the birth place of the modern Pentecostal
movement that swept across the globe. Life Magazine
named the Azusa Street revival as one of the top 100 events
of the past millenium that changed the world.
The revival began in April 1906, when a mild-mannered
black holiness preacher, William J. Seymour (1870-1922), who
had been guided by the ministry of Charles Parham (1873-1929),
began preaching the gifts of the Spirit, holiness, and baptism
of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by "speaking with other
tongues" at the home of one of his saints. After five
weeks of preaching, prayer, and fasting Seymour and his saints
began speaking in tongues for the first time. News of the
events quickly spread. Soon the crowds became too large, so
Seymour moved the group to  an
abandoned warehouse at 312 Azusa Street. The first meeting
was held on April 14, 1906. By mid-May of 1906, upwards to
1500 people would pack the building on Azusa Street to participate
in the revival around the clock. The revival was marked by
fervent prayer, healing, and an outpouring of the Holy Ghost
like that on the Day of Pentecost mentioned in chapter two
of the Book of Acts.
The revival rapidly attracted attention from
the secular media, including the Los Angeles Times,
which critically reported in an article entitled, "Weird
Babel of Tongues," that the "night is made hideous
in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers, who
spend hours swaying back and forth in a nerve racking attitude
of prayer and supplication. They claim to have the 'gift of
tongues' and be able to understand the babel."
The revival ended in 1915, but not before launching
one of the largest growing Christian movements in history.
Today, there are an estimated 600 milllion Pentecostal believers
across the globe. |
