Third Annual Azusa Lecture Is Tonight at North Cleveland
“Fire in the Tent: The 1908 Cleveland Revival” is the topic of the third annual Azusa Lecture to be held October 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the North Cleveland Church of God. As part of the event, Dr. T.L. Lowery will be presented the Spirit of Azusa Award for his many years of evangelistic ministry. The lecture and a reception honoring Lowery is free and open to the public.
According to Roebuck, the 1908 tent revival was one of the most significant revivals in the history of Cleveland, Tenn. The revival lasted two months and brought great growth and stability to the ministry of the Church of God. Pastor A.J. Tomlinson became a public leader in the Cleveland community, and new ministers such as F.J. Lee, namesake of Lee University, came into the Church of God movement. According to reports, 5,000 people attended the revival at its peak.
An ordained bishop and assistant professor at Lee University, Roebuck is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and historian of the Church of God. As a recognized scholar of the Pentecostal movement, he is frequently published in books related to Pentecostalism as well as the Church of God Evangel in which he edits the column “Church of God Chronicles.” Some of his recent publications are “From Azusa to Cleveland: The Amazing Journey of G.B. Cashwell and the Spread of Pentecostalism” in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy (Pathway Press, 2006), “Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism: The Changing Face of Evangelicalism in America” in Faith in America (Praeger Publishers, 2006), and “Pentecostalism at the End of the Twentieth Century: From Poverty, Promise and Passion to Prosperity, Power and Place” in Religion in the Contemporary South (The University of Tennessee Press, 2005). Among his other activities, he is a member of the Church of God Historical Commission and is the Executive Director of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. The Society for Pentecostal Studies serves over 600 Pentecostal scholars including an annual conference and the journal Pneuma.
The Azusa Lecture is sponsored by the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, the International Center for Spiritual Renewal, and the North Cleveland Church of God. Located 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 students at Lee University and the Church of God Theological Seminary, numerous scholars travel to the Center to study about the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement.
The International Center for Spiritual Renewal works to bring before the Church the primary need for revival and renewal, both personal and corporate. The Center seeks to accomplish this purpose through the conducting of research, the development of material, the facilitating of special meetings, and the sponsorship of an academic chair. William (Billy) Wilson is Executive Director of the Center, which was established by the late Dr. Robert E. Fisher and works with all denominations, as well as non-affiliated local churches and ministry agencies.
The North Cleveland Church of God was established on October 10, 1906. As the oldest continuing Church of God, the congregation has served as a “mother church” to the denomination and provides ministries for worship, evangelism, education and service. The congregation’s International Prayer Center is a witness to the importance and power of prayer. Founding Pastor A.J. Tomlinson served as pastor for seven years after conducting tent meetings Church of God in 1909. The early history of the North Cleveland Church was closely tied to the development of the Church of God movement.
Following the lecture will be the presentation of the Spirit of Azusa Award to Dr. T.L. Lowery in honor of his life-time of evangelism and leadership in the Pentecostal movement. A reception for Lowery will follow Roebuck’s presentation (see Faith News on October 29, 2008 for complete information on the honoree).
The purpose of the Azusa Lecture is to honor the rich heritage of the Pentecostal movement and to provide the Cleveland community an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of the Pentecostal revival. The Dixon Research Center launched the annual Azusa Lecture in 2006 in honor of the centennial of the extraordinary 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 the twentieth century has been called the “Century of the Holy Spirit.” 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 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 late Robert E. Fisher was the visionary leader of the 2006 centennial celebration of the Azusa Street revival, which was coordinated by the local International Center for Spiritual Renewal.
Today Cleveland, Tennessee, continues to impact the Pentecostal movement through numerous international ministries. These include denominations such as the Church of God, Church of God of Prophecy, and Zion Assembly Church of God, parachurch ministries such as the International Center for Spiritual Renewal, and international ministries such as the T.L. Lowery Global Foundation, Perry Stone Ministries and Judy Jacobs’ His Song Ministries.
For more information contact the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center at 614-8576.
