Pentecost to the Present

Without knowing the Holy Spirit's work in history, we cannot possibly understand what He is doing today, much less prepare for what He will do. In this third and final installment, the reader will learn how Charles Parham founded the modern Pentecostal baptism with speaking in tongues, how Evan Roberts gained worldwide attention through the 1904-05 Welsh revival, and how William Seymour spearheaded an international Pentecostal movement from Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906. The reader will learn how Pentecostalism spawned new denominations, national and international ministries, global renewal movements, and inspired innovators to take modern revivalism to a whole new level. Then when Pentecostalism penetrated American Middle-class Protestantism, many observers began speaking of a "third force" in Christianity. Meanwhile, revolutionary changes in the Catholic Church opened the door for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Then, just as the charismatic movement was beginning to subside in America, it went global, as charismatic mega churches, Bible schools, and television networks took the message of renewal to the world. The twenty-first century has witnessed a dramatic shift in Christianity to the Southern Hemisphere fueled, in part, by the global rise of Pentecostalism, with many new movements on the horizon. Jeff Oliver is the founder and president of Global Wakening, a ministry that is inspiring and equipping a new generation with a supernatural Christian worldview to ignite a global wakening of God's church. Jeff says, "Suddenly, the 21st-century global church finds itself thrust into the very climate in which the events, triumphs, and opportunities of the New Testament occurred, but we can win our global culture to Christ the same way the early church did--through faith and fearlessness in the face of persecution, loving acts of kindness, and the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. All we need is the fresh, prayerful, united effort of ordinary Christians stirring up the gifts of God that are within them." (2 Tim 1:6-7)