LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9, 2012 /
Christian Newswire/ -- The Los Angeles Revival which burst open recently has spread to Azusa Street this weekend.
Recently Verna Linzey, a 'daughter' of the Azusa Street Revival was ministering in the Los Angeles Mission in Torrance when revival unexpectedly broke out with ecstatic utterances, prophecy, shaking, and salvations and this has continued at that mission. This weekend she was invited to the Azusa Street Revival Commemoration called "Honoring the Holy Spirit for the Past and Seeking God for the Future," an event coordinated by Rev. Fred Berry. This event took place on Friday in the sanctuary at Union Church, which is on the back side of the square block shared by Azusa Street.
Photo: The Los Angeles Revival. Verna Linzey, assisted by son Jim is shown praying for man on his knees. Union Church, December 7, 2012. Photo by Tom Grode
Rev. Berry had the vision of such an event and worked for years to make this happen and shared how the Holy Spirit brought the event together. Rev. Barry Deguchi was the emcee. Dr. Mel Robeck who teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary gave a seminar in the morning session on the history of the Azusa Street Revival. Rev. Verna Linzey was invited to greet the audience since the Holy Spirit had recently ignited the revival at the Los Angeles Mission in Torrance through Verna Linzey. When she greeted the audience she gave this word from the Lord: "The Holy Spirit is working mightily in Los Angeles and we have begun to see greater manifestations of revival in the Los Angeles basin. We are honoring the Holy Spirit for the past and seeking God for the future. What we are seeking is now happening. So let us pray that the flames of revival that have been ignited in the Los Angeles basin recently sweep across Los Angeles and the world once again."
At the conclusion of the morning session is when revival suddenly hit at the Azusa Street Commemoration. Rev. Berry initiated an altar and invited Verna Linzey to minister to those who would come forward. About 30 people came forward. Among them, about 17 people received the baptism with the Holy Spirit as confirmed by speaking in tongues for the first time in their lives, including a seven-year-old girl, as Verna and her son Jim laid hands on them. Many shook under the power of the Holy Spirit with vehement quaking and gyrations as the Holy Spirit moved upon them. Some exhibited much body heat and sweating or shedding of tears under the anointing. Some asked for inner healing or guidance. Two pastors asked for prayer for divine guidance. A few men asked for generational blessings and wisdom to build upon the spiritual foundations established by their predecessors. Others wanted more of the Holy Spirit, anointing and influence to have a positive impact at work and in the ministry. Verna and her son Rev. Jim Linzey who assisted her gave prophetic words, exhortations and discerning prayers over many people with the laying on of hands. The vast majority of them were Japanese.
The event resumed on Saturday at the very site where the Azusa Street Mission used to stand, almost adjacent to Union Church. Rev. Linzey and her son waited inside the Union Church sanctuary until the event began at the Azusa Street Mission site. While waiting at the altar area a Japanese pastor came in and ask for prayer, whereupon Rev. Linzey laid hands upon him and the Holy Spirit hit him with a fresh anointing and words of exhortation from Rev. Linzey.
Then upon approaching the premises of the Azusa Street Mission site before the event of day two began, the Holy Spirit hit again. Two native Chinese women who had come from Vancouver approached Rev. Linzey and asked her to pray for them. Manifestations erupted with the speaking in tongues, tears, and some physical movement.
The service then began in which the large crowd, again mostly Japanese, broke into dancing before the Lord, shouting and singing, followed by testimonies. One was a testimony of the miraculous: After Friday's event one woman had a dream that night of an angel. When she awoke in the morning she discovered a large angel feather had miraculously appeared as a sign and was resting on two of her ceramic angels. It appeared out of nowhere. She showed a photo of it at the meeting.
When Rev. Linzey was again asked to bring greetings, she gave this word from the Lord: "It brings me great joy to be here today to commemorate the Azusa Street Revival. The Holy Spirit is not merely present with us. But He is present within us empowering us to stir up the gifts that he distributed among us that He may flow from within us as streams of living water as Jesus prophesied in John 7:37-39. Move now among us Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ I pray. Amen."
Throughout the remainder of Saturday's event the Holy Spirit was indeed strongly felt as much history was again shared about the historic revival and the site. Then a grapefruit tree was planted in memory of William Seymour's legacy due to a historic grapefruit tree which used to be there. The event ended with this declaration given by Rev. Deguchi: "In Jesus name we recognize and honor what God through the Holy Spirit did on this land through the Azusa Street revival. And we ask for a release of the Spirit in an even greater measure to bless the nations and establish God's kingdom and presence. To God be the glory! Amen."
Rev. Berry has scheduled Verna Linzey to preach and minister at the historic Bonnie Brae Street house on December 14 at 7:00 pm at 216 N. Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, CA. Pentecostals and Charismatics are praying for the flame of revival to continue hitting Los Angeles.
Rev. Jim Linzey is asking Pentecostals throughout the world to host revival prayer meetings in their homes one night per week and invite others to meet with them and cry out to God, seek the face of God and to seek to know the Holy Spirit in an intimate way. They do not have to lead them because the Holy Spirit will lead. Since the Holy Spirit will show up, the least Pentecostals can do is also show up with an open heart and cry out to the Holy Spirit as they seek more of Him. The Holy Spirit will take it from there.
Verna (Hall) Linzey, a 'daughter' of the Azusa Street Revival, was influenced by ministers who were there. One such minister was Ernest S. Williams who received the baptism with the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street and became the General Superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God for twenty years during which Verna became an Assembly of God church planter and pastor. Rev. Williams' leadership and teaching on the Holy Spirit influenced Verna's. She was also impacted by some, such as PC Nelson, who became Pentecostal due to the influence of ministers who were at the Azusa Street Revival. PC Nelson and his ministry team routinely visited the homestead of Verna's parents when she was growing up. She would listen to Rev. Nelson share at the family kitchen table about prophecy, healings, and salvations which occurred at the meetings he had just conducted. Verna later attended Southwestern Bible School he founded while he was president.
Verna reflects the classical Pentecostal message in the main book she authored, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit. As Russell Spittler, Provost Emeritus of Fuller Theological Seminary, stated in the foreword, Verna stands in the tradition of Frank Boyd, Ernest Williams and PC Nelson. This book was sent to 100 Bible Schools as a text book in the Far East by Wonsuk Ma who is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Missions Studies. Verna received the Best Non-Fiction of the Year Award for it on the exact day of the Centennial Celebration of the Azusa Street Revival. James D.G. Dunn stated, "Verna M. Linzey's book is a restatement of classic Pentecostal convictions on baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues, with the same ingenuousness and fervour which lit the flame of Pentecostalism one hundred years ago."
The new Los Angeles revival has caught Los Angeles on fire and is spreading.
