The worshipers gathered at 312 Azusa Street, in downtown Los Angeles. They were lively, and seemed to carry on nonstop. They shouted words that people outside the church couldn't make out. Their leader was a charismatic Holiness preacher. This was a Christian revival. Most people today wouldn't bat an eyelash at such a scene, but in 1906 this new church, the Apostolic Faith Mission, suddenly seized the attention of the average Angeleno.
The local interest—and skepticism—was in the congregation's unorthodox practices, such as "speaking in tongues." And the preacher, Rev. William Joseph Seymour, and most of the congregation were black—but black or white, all the people were worshiping together. It was stated that the Holy Ghost had washed away the color line. Little did the skeptics realize that this church would later be recognized as the cradle of a legitimate religious movement known as Pentecostalism.
Little did critics realize that this church would grow.
