The Dixon Pentecostal Research Center conducted the annual Azusa Lecture with special guest speaker Cecil M. Robeck Jr. An award winning author and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, Robeck’s topic was “The People of Azusa Street.” Along with the Azusa Lecture, the Research Center presented the second ‘Spirit of Azusa Award’ to Dr. Ray H. Hughes Sr. The lecture and a reception took place at the North Cleveland Church of God in Cleveland on October 23.
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Cecil ‘Mel’ Robeck |
An ordained minister, Robeck is Professor of Church History and Ecumenics and Director of the David du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. An authority on the Pentecostal movement, he is the author of The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement (Thomas Nelson). He has also edited Charismatic Experiences in History (Hendrickson) and co-edited The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy (Pathway Press) and The Suffering Body: Responding to the Persecution of Christians (Paternoster). For nearly a decade he was editor of Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He has authored many articles on Pentecostalism in a range of historical, theological, and ecumenical journals.
“Few people venture beyond the idea that the Azusa Street Revival was anything other than an event …” Robeck stated. “They don’t think about it as being a local congregation …. It really was a local congregation. Most people missed the fact that Azusa Street was first and foremost a local congregation that experienced something new and then welcomed people from around the world to join them in this new thing.”
Following the lecture, the presentation of the Spirit of Azusa Award was given to Dr. Hughes in honor of his life-time of preaching and leadership in the Pentecostal movement around the world. Along with being one of the most influential preachers in the Pentecostal world, Hughes has served the movement with distinction. A long-time leader in the Church of God, he held the office of general overseer on three different occasions. Outside of the Church of God, he led the National Association of Evangelicals and the Pentecostal World Fellowship. A reception for Dr. Hughes followed Dr. Robeck’s presentation.
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Ray H. Hughes, Sr. |
“I have yet a yearning in my soul for the salvation of men and women,” Hughes said upon accepting the award. “I have no other goal in mind that I can reach as many people as I can reach. I thank God that a boy from the red clay hills of North Georgia found an experience that made it possible for him to go all over the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m humbled when I think about it … I have done it according to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and anointing of the Holy Ghost.” According to Dr. David G. Roebuck, director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, the purpose of the Azusa Lecture is to honor the rich heritage of the Pentecostal movement and to provide the community an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of this great revival. Founded in 1971 on the campus of Lee University, the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center is one of the world’s most significant collections of Pentecostal materials as well as the archives of the Church of God. In addition to serving students, numerous scholars travel to the center to study the history and theology of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement.
The Research Center launched the annual Azusa Lecture in 2006 in honor of the centennial of the extraordinary Pentecostal revival that began in Los Angeles in 1906. Church of God historian Charles W. Conn noted that the Los Angeles revival, which lasted from 1906 to 1909, “is universally regarded as the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement.” The revival began when the African-American preacher William J. Seymour preached a message of Spirit baptism following salvation. What started as a home prayer meeting attracted throngs of seekers and was moved to an abandoned church building at 312 Azusa Street. Hundreds traveled to the Azusa Street Mission, received a personal baptism of the Holy Spirit, and took that message to their homes, churches and communities. The Pentecostal movement quickly became a great missionary movement, and some scholars say that Christians who emphasize the Holy Spirit now number over 600 million people around the world.
Several people who visited the Azusa Street revival later became members of the Church of God, but one of most significant local connections involved the visit of G.B. Cashwell in 1908. The North Carolina minister traveled to Los Angeles in late 1906 and brought the Pentecostal message back to the southeastern United States. A.J. Tomlinson, pastor of the newly organized Church of God in Cleveland invited Cashwell to come to town. When Cashwell preached at the Cleveland church on January 12, 1908, Tomlinson received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The first recipient of the Spirit of Azusa Award was presented posthumously last year to the late Dr. Robert E. Fisher, a visionary leader of the 2006 centennial celebration of the Azusa Street revival. Fisher passed away in September 2005, but his vision was carried out seven months later when over 50,000 attended the Azusa Centennial celebration in Los Angeles April 25-29, 2006. The event was coordinated through the ministry founded by Fisher, the International Center for Spiritual Renewal.