Frank Bartleman

As noted in the previous chapter, there were reports in the press of scattered revivals in many areas of America between 1900 and 1904 that preceded the worldwide revival of 1905. To gain a broad perspective and penetrating insight into the events and outworking of the American edition of the 1905 revival and the 1906 Pentecostal revival, we can look to the life and work of a young minister who became both a participant in and historian of the great American awakening during the first decade of the twentieth century. Born in rural Pennsylvania in 1871, Frank Bartleman became a journalist and traveling evangelist for forty three years to the time of his death in 1936. His participation in both the American Awakening of 1905 and the Pentecostal movement’s embryonic stirrings in 1906 coupled with his extensive, first-hand accounts give the modern reader an unparalleled view of those momentous times in church history.

Bartleman grew up on his family’s farm but left at age seventeen. He was converted in the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia in 1893. Within a year he felt a call to full-time ministry and was soon ordained by the Temple Baptist Church. He ended his association with the Baptists in 1897 and chose “a humble walk of poverty and suffering” which characterized his wondering lifestyle for the remainder of his life. In 1900, he married Anna Ladd who at that time was the head of a Pittsburgh home for wayward girls. Following a brief pastorate of a Wesleyan Methodist church, he left for the more emotional and expressive Holiness movement. His departure from the Wesleyans eventually led to his departure from Pennsylvania. In 1904, Bartleman, his wife, and the first of their four children arrived in California where he became the appointed director of the Peniel Mission located in Sacramento, one of several Holiness rescue missions located in California. In December 1904, the family moved to Los Angeles where his daughter died in January 1905.[1]

It was only a week after the death of his daughter that the grief-stricken father plunged himself into ministry as he began preaching twice each day at the Peniel Mission in Pasadena. His labors bore considerable fruit as several young men experienced substantial spiritual growth, some of whom were called into full-time service for the Lord. In April, Bartleman was greatly inspired by F. B. Meyer, the great English evangelist, who while visiting California gave a first-hand account of the great revival in Wales. Recall from the previous chapter that Meyer, a close friend of D. L. Moody, was greatly used by God to minister many young Welsh ministers through the Keswick movement to deepen spiritual life. Meyer was instrumental in bringing revival to the British Isles in 1905. As a result of Meyer’s influence, Bartleman was inspired to write and distribute thousands of tracts in and around Los Angeles. He prayed incessantly for revival.[2]

A great revival broke out around the first part of May at the Lake Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Young men from the Penial Mission attended this church and began praying for a revival in Pasadena and then for Los Angeles and the whole of southern California. In June Bartleman attended the First Baptist Church which was pastored by Joseph Smale who had just returned from visiting Evan Roberts in Wales. The church was seeking the same visitation of the Holy Spirit as had been experienced in Wales. Bartleman continued writing articles, preaching, visiting various churches in the Los Angeles area, and praying in “soul travail” for revival throughout the remainder of 1905. He began corresponding with Evan Roberts and asked him to pray for a revival of the church in California.[3]

Praying for a Pentecost

Bartleman was unaware that a new tributary of the 1905 revival was about to surge forth in early 1906.

We had been for some time led to pray for a Pentecost. It seemed almost beginning. Of course we did not realize what a real Pentecost was. But the Spirit did, and led us to ask correctly. One afternoon, after a service in the New Testament Church, several of us seemed providentially led to join hands and agree in prayer to ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit speedily, with “signs following” (Mark 16:20)…We did not have “tongues” in mind. I think none of us had ever heard of such a thing. This was in February 1906…

On March 26, I went to a cottage meeting on Bonnie Brae Street (in Los Angeles). Both white and black believers were meeting there for prayer. I had attended another cottage meeting shortly before this, where I first met a Brother Seymour. He had just come from Texas. He was a black man, blind in one eye, very plain, spiritual, and humble. He attended the meetings at Bonnie Brae Street.[4]

Another account states that William Seymour actually lived at the cottage on North Bonnie Brae Street and was invited to also hold meeting there. At one of the meetings it was reported that a man was healed instantly after being anointed with oil. Following a second prayer, the man began to speak in tongues, but Seymour did not speak in tongues until April.[5]

On Sunday morning, April 15th, Bartleman went to Burbank Hall, the New Testament Church, where a black woman had spoken in tongues. When he learned that the Spirit had also fallen almost a week earlier on April 9th at the small cottage at Bonnie Brae Street, Bartleman went there that afternoon and found that the working of the Holy Spirit was still being manifested. The small group had been seeking for some time for an out pouring of the Holy Spirit. Many had been praying for months for a Pentecostal outpouring. Bartleman recognized that this little group that met outside of any established mission was the place where God “could have his way.” The Pentecostal pioneers at Bonnie Brae Street “had broken through for the multitude to follow.”[6]

On that same Sunday (April 15) when Bartleman attended the New Testament Church and learned of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Bonnie Brae Street cottage, he felt a great burden to begin ten days of special prayer. On Wednesday three days later, the great San Francisco earthquake (April 18) occurred and devastated the city and surrounding region. The following day Los Angeles was struck by a small earthquake. When the earthquake struck the Los Angeles area, Bartleman was attending a noon meeting at Peniel Hall, 227 Main Street. He went home and then was impressed to go to a meeting that evening at 312 Azusa Street to which the Bonnie Brae group had moved since the previous Sunday because of the increasing size of the crowds. That evening Bartleman gave his first message at the Azusa Street Mission. After the message, two of those in attendance spoke in tongues, and many great blessings followed.[7] But it would be Friday, June 15th, before the Holy Spirit would “drop the ‘heavenly chorus’ into my soul. I found myself suddenly joining the rest who had received this supernatural gift.”[8]

Bartleman wrote that the April 18th and 19th earthquakes had opened many hearts to spiritual concerns, but most of those occupying the pulpits throughout the land were vigorously attempting to dispel the fears of the people by denying the earthquakes in San Francisco and Los Angeles were a judgement of God on a wicked people. But Bartleman believed the Holy Spirit was striving to reach the hearts the people by convicting them of their sin. By the following Wednesday Bartleman had received a message from God regarding the earthquakes in Los Angeles,had written it, had it printed, and began distributing thousands of tracts in Los Angeles. By May 11, Bartleman had finished his “Earthquake” tract distribution. In only three weeks, Bartleman had published and distributed with the help of others seventy-five thousand tracts in Los Angeles and other southern California cities. When describing the consequences of his tract distribution efforts, Bartleman wrote that, “All hell was stirred.”[9]

The revival at Azusa Street lasted about three years before the power was lifted in 1909. Bartleman wrote that by then (1909) those attending had come under bondage for there was a “spirit of dictatorship.” Every part of the meeting was planned and programed which did not allow for the Holy Spirit to move and work in freedom. Bartleman returned to Los Angeles from an overseas trip in late February 1911 and found that William H. Durham, a former Baptist minister from Chicago, had begun to hold meetings at the Azusa Street Mission (now called the Apostolic Faith Mission) in the absence of William Seymour. Under Durham’s preaching revival had broken out once again with as many as five hundred being turned away on one Sunday. But the trustees of the church quickly summoned Seymour back from the East Coast where he had been preaching. On May 2, 1911, Seymour and his trustees padlocked the doors of the Apostolic Faith Mission to keep Durham out because they didn’t like his message. But they also “locked God and the saints out from the old cradle of power.”[10]

The Pentecostal movement

The Topeka Bible School in north-central Kansas was under the leadership of Charles Parham. On December 31, 1900, at 7:00 p.m., just five hours before the beginning of the twentieth century, Agnus Osman asked Parham to lay his hands on her so that she might receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Parham did as she requested, and “a glory fell upon her, a halo seemed to surround her head and face.” As the eighteen-year-old Agnus received the baptism she began speaking in tongues. Revival historian Mathew Backholer wrote of Ozman’s experience. “This was the beginning of the first fruits of the Holy Spirit being poured out en masse at the very dawn of the twentieth century.”[11]

Prior to 1900, instances of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) had been reported in Tennessee which was followed by some fanaticism. After the occurrences at Topeka, the manifestations spread to other cities such as Houston, Texas. But the real explosion of Pentecostalism began with those who ministered at and participated in the Azusa Street revival. Soon the Pentecostal revival spread to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the British Isles.[12]

Only a minority reached in the American revival of 1905 would become Pentecostals.[13] Dr. Orr estimated that in 1906 there were approximately ten thousand to fifteen thousand people considered to be Pentecostal, and twenty years later that number had increased ten-fold. By 1950, it was estimated that all Pentecostal denominations included more than a million adherents in the United States. The Assemblies of God established in 1914 was by far the largest of these. The Foursquare Gospel Church that grew out of the ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson’s Los Angeles ministry was another Pentecostal denomination of note.[14]

In describing the early Pentecostal movement, Dr. Orr wrote,

There was worldwide opposition to the new manifestations and the most violent attacks came from some of the most evangelical leaders and teachers among Protestants. In “Pentecost,” no John Wesley had risen to guide by wisdom or recommend by acknowledged scholarship. There were extremes and extravagances that the later Pentecostal leaders deplored…As opposition increased, Pentecostals began to withdraw membership from other denominations and form Pentecostal congregations…As early as 1907, missionaries were proceeding to far off mission fields from American Pentecostal Assemblies…[15]

The worldwide Awakening of the early 1900s and the Pentecostal revival that sprang from it were both similar and different in many respects. Of course the principal difference was that the widespread awakening of 1905, although charismatic in many ways, was not glossolalic. Early Pentecostalism also differed from the general awakening in that it stressed the spiritual gifts of tongues and healing. However, both movements rose from the common people, both were unmistakably interdenominational movements, both relied on the unplanned and sovereign ministry of the Holy Spirit, both were generally demonstrative in their worship and preaching, and both suffered from occasions of fabricated emotionalism and exploitation of feelings to achieve “religious” experiences when a genuine move of the Holy Spirit was not present.[16]

In defense of the early Pentecostal movement, it can be said that its failings in many respects were similar to the failings of the first century church which also sought to find its way without an historical pattern. Similarly, early twentieth century Pentecostals had to find their way given that the Pentecostal distinctives had generally not been operational within the body of Christ for almost two thousand years.

It was in the remainder of the twentieth century that the Pentecostal movement would span the globe and claim eight hundred million adherents by 2012.[17] By the middle of the century the Pentecostal movement had eclipsed the Awakening of 1905 to such an extent that modern historians and the church itself appear to be unaware of the magnitude and reach of the general awakening that occurred in the first decade of the twentieth century.[18]

Other American revivals in the twentieth century

There have been many revivals in America during the remainder of the twentieth century following the awakening of 1905 and the Pentecostal revival that sprang from it in 1906. However, most of these revivals occurred in the local church or community. But even local revivals have largely disappeared from the American evangelical landscape since the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the rise of the monolithic Church Growth movement which does not include the message of Holy Spirit led revival.

In the twentieth century, district and regional revivals were very rare, and it can be safely said that there has not been any true national revival or a general awakening in America since the first decade of the twentieth century. However, there have been some local revivals that have received national and even international notoriety but cannot be classified as having been truly national in character even though efforts to transplant these revivals to other parts of the country have met with very limited success. Realistically, the awakenings of the first decade of the twentieth century can be said to be the last chapter in the history of widespread American revivals and awakenings with one minor exception known as the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Jesus Movement contained some rudimentary but incomplete elements of revival among the hippies, druggies, bikers, and others in the late 60s and early 70s who found their drug-saturated, free-love lifestyle to be empty and unfulfilling. These West Coast counter-culturalists were drawn to Jesus’ teachings of love and peace. The movement was somewhat Pentecostal in its nature due to the emphasis on healing, signs, and miracles. Their new-found Christian faith included certain aspects of their old lifestyle such as communal living and modern music. A byproduct of the Jesus Movement was the development of Calvary Chapel and Vineyard churches, but the Jesus Movement as a separate recognizable entity largely died out in the 1980s.[19]

A unique occurrence in the twentieth century was the rise of several errant revivals that stand in fundamental opposition to the biblical nature and character of revivals from the first century through the worldwide awakening of the first decade of the twentieth century. These revivals have been deemed counterfeit when measured against biblical standards and the historical record of other evangelical revivals and awakenings in America.

It must be remembered that there are always those in every revival that come under the influence of self or demonic forces who knowingly or unknowingly attempt to inject the false or counterfeit into a revival. The influence of the counterfeit in revivals grew considerably in the last half of the twentieth century as the church entered the great end-times apostasy prophesied in the Bible. Apostate leaders, those who are merely deceived, and even those who lack a measure of discernment have made it possible for Satan to place false teachers and/or demonic leaders in the church in positions of power and influence to initiate, promote, and conduct counterfeit revivals that are unparalleled in church history.

The general decline of American revivals in the twentieth century

The general decline of American revivals in the twentieth century has occurred in both quantity and quality. There has been a dramatic decline in the number of local revivals coupled with a significant decline in the sustainability of the results of revival in churches and the lives of individuals. The quality of revival has been marred by increasing numbers and magnitude of counterfeit revivals based on false teachings and aberrant manifestations purported to be the work of the Holy Spirit.

The church has failed to distinguish between true revival and the counterfeit. True revival is measured by its impact on the individual, the church, and the community. Is Christ the center of revival? Is sin exposed and conviction present? Are believers revived? What is the depth of the spiritual renewal in the individual heart and church body? Is there a general spiritual and moral uplift of the individual, church, community, and beyond?

By contrast, counterfeit revivals are leader-centered; identified with bazaar manifestations that are not consistent with the history of authentic, biblically sound revivals and awakenings; are not Christ-centered; have brought widespread reproach upon the church; have little positive impact on the community; and substantially ignore sin, conviction, repentance, and living a holy lifestyle.

There are several elements that have greatly contributed to the decline of revivals in the twentieth century and include:

• The Protestant split between the liberals and fundamentalists during the early twentieth century.
• Two world wars and the Great Depression over the brief span of thirty years.
• The cultural suicide of Western civilization as it embraced and became dominated by humanism and its anti-God worldview that invaded the culture, the state, and much of the church.
• The substitution of mass evangelism for revival, the essential prerequisite for evangelism.
• The late twentieth century domination of the evangelical church by the Church Growth movement, its philosophies, and seeker-sensitive methods of doing church which stand in opposition to the message of revival.

These and other causes are discussed in the chapter on hindrances to revival.

For those contrite and lowly Christians who yearn for and seek revival of the church, it is difficult to close this section on the history of revivals on such a low note. However, we must remember the words of John, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.” [John 16:20. KJV] We must also remember that it is when the hour is the darkest and the situation the bleakest that Christians must pray with “soul travail” for revival. Heartfelt prayer has been the precursor for every revival in the history of the church, and it is no different for us today.

I close by repeating the words of comfort from Isaiah that I gave in the first chapter of this book. “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” [Isaiah 57:15. NIV] [emphasis added]

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Frank Bartleman, Azusa Street, (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1982), pp. 169-170.
[2] Ibid., pp. 7-8.
[3] Ibid., pp. 12, 14-15.
[4] Ibid., pp. 37-38.
[5] Mathew Backholer, Revival Fires and Awakenings-Thirty Six Visitations of the Holy Spirit, (ByFaith Media, 2009, 2012), p. 85.
[6] Bartleman, Azusa Street, p. 39.
[7] Ibid., pp. 44-46.
[8] Ibid., p. 53.
[9] Ibid., pp. 47-49.
[10] Ibid., pp. 117-118.
[11] Ibid., p. 84.
[12] J. Edwin Orr, The Flaming Tongue – The Impact of 20th Century Revivals, (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1973), pp. 179, 181-183.
[13] Ibid., p. 178.
[14] Ibid., p. 184.
[15] Ibid., p. 185.
[16] Ibid., p. 185.
[17] Backholer, Revival Fires and Awakenings, p. 83.
[18] Orr, The Flaming Tongue, p. 178.
[19] “Who were the Jesus freaks? What was the Jesus Movement?” Compelling Truth.
https://www.compellingtruth.org/Jesus-freak.html (accessed March 10, 2018).