Although William
J. Seymour is acknowledged as the leader of the Azusa Street Revival, it was a
black woman, Lucy Farrow, who provided the initial spark that ignited that
revival. According to Mother Cotton, an early participant in the revival, no
one spoke in tongues until Farrow arrived and began laying hands on the people
and praying for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Farrow, who was the niece of the
famous abolitionist, Frederick Douglas, had been Seymour’s pastor in Houston
and he first heard of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues
from her. That she was held in high esteem by Seymour, is indicated by the fact
that he specifically asked her to come to Los Angeles.
After a time in Los Angeles, Farrow ministered
with power across the southern United States and in Liberia in West Africa. She
lived out her final years in Los Angeles where there were reported healings and
remarkable answers to prayer through her ministry.
She is an incredible example for the
church today of how one can overcome pain, prejudice and social obstacles and
make an eternal impact on this world.
Farrow
Overcomes Prejudicial Opposition
Little is known of Farrow’s early
life including the exact date of her birth. What is known is that she was born
into slavery in the state of Virginia. As a black woman living in the South
during Reconstruction, life would not have been easy.
Nonetheless, she became a powerful
voice in the early Pentecostal revival and provided the spark in Los Angeles
that ignited the revival that has spread around the world and impacted all of
Christendom. She is an example of how one can become a force for God and good even
in the most difficult and aggravating circumstances
Somewhere along the way Farrow moved
to Houston, TX, probably around 1900, and became the pastor of a small, black, Holiness
congregation. In Houston she would have lived under southern Jim Crow laws that
were passed by southern states to keep blacks “in their place.”
These laws mandated racially
segregated public facilities including separate public restrooms and drinking
fountains, and separate seating in restaurants and on buses. Public schools were
segregated and voting laws made it next to impossible for blacks to vote in
elections.
These laws, however, were only
outward manifestations of a deeply ingrained prejudice and hatred that Farrow
faced every day of her life. But instead of becoming bitter and taking on a
victim mentality, she allowed the faith of God and the love of God to so fill
her heart that she was able to be used by God to bring down racial barriers and minister powerfully to both
blacks and whites in the fledgling Pentecostal revival.
Divine
Connections
While pastoring in Houston, Farrow
met Charles Parham who came there from Baxter Springs, Kansas in October of
1905 to hold a meeting in Bryan Hall. Parham was preaching a message about a
baptism in the Holy Spirit that would be accompanied by speaking in tongues,
which he called the “Bible evidence.”
He also told about the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit that had occurred in his Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas
in January of 1901 when virtually every student had been baptized in the Holy Spirit
and spoken in tongues.
Farrow attended these meetings
(in a segregated area) and was intrigued by what she heard. She
acquainted herself with Parham and his wife, Sarah, and they obviously were
impressed with her, for when they returned to Baxter Springs they invited
Farrow to go with them. Farrow accepted their invitation and turned the
pastored of her congregation to one of her young parishioners named William
Seymour.
While in the Parham home Farrow
experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. This proved to
a turning point in her life that positioned her to be an important catalyst in
what would turn out to be the most dynamic and fastest growing movement in
modern Christendom—the modern Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement.
When the Parhams returned to Houston
in December to begin a Bible school in the New Year, Farrow returned with them and
reconnected with her congregation. She told Seymour of her experience of being
baptized in the Holy Spirit and encouraged him to enroll in the Bible school.
Seymour followed her advice and enrolled
in the school where he learned more about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and
the “Bible evidence” of speaking in tongues. Although he did not receive the
experience while in the school, he was convinced of its veracity and began to
preach it to others. Farrow, demonstrating the true humility of her character,
volunteered to be the cook for the school.
Seymour
Precedes Farrow to Los Angeles
Seymour was in the school for about
six weeks before departing for Los Angeles to accept the invitation to pastor a
small store-front church in that city. When, however, he broached the subject
of a baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues, the elders
decided he was preaching heresy and locked him out.
The Edward Lee family then invited
Seymour stay in their home and they began attending prayer meetings being held in
the Asberry home at 214 Bonnie Brae Street. Seymour soon became the recognized
leader of the group and even though he had not received the baptism in the Holy
Spirit himself, he shared with the people what he knew and encouraged them to
pray for this Pentecostal experience.
Seymour also shared with the group
about Farrow and how the baptism in the Holy Spirit had impacted her life. The group
was so stirred that they took up a collection to purchase a train ticket for her
to come to Los Angeles. They sent off the ticket with their invitation and a
prayer that the Lord would speak to her to accept their invitation.
Farrow
Sparks Pentecostal Revival in Los Angeles
Probably out of her deep sense of
need, Farrow had developed a radical dependence on God and a rare sensitivity
to His Holy Spirit. This dependence on God characterized every part of her life
and ministry.
She did not have an “assembly line”
approach in praying for people but only prayed as she was prompted by the Holy
Spirit. This sort of radical dependence on God and sensitivity to the Spirit
would characterize the revival that would break forth through her ministry in
Los Angeles.
She arrived in Los Angeles probably
in late March and was taken to the Lee home where she would be hosted. Shortly
after her arrival, Edward Lee arrived home from work and met the woman Seymour had told them so much about.
Lee was so hungry for the baptism in
the Holy Spirit that, after a brief introduction, he pleaded, “Sister, if you
will lay your hands on me I believe I will get my baptism right now.” Farrow humbly
replied, “I cannot do it unless the Lord says so.”
Shortly thereafter, while eating the
evening meal, Farrow laid down her fork and pushed her chair back from the
table. She arose and walked around the table to Edward Lee and said, “The Lord
tells me to lay my hands on you for the Holy Ghost.” She then laid her hands on
Lee who immediately fell out of his chair, and while lying on the kitchen
floor, began speaking in tongues.
Revival
Breaks Forth
That same evening the Lees and Farrow
departed for the prayer meeting at the Asberry home with their hearts
overflowing with the presence and joy of the Lord. As Edward Lee walked through
the door, he lifted his hands and began speaking in tongues.
The power of God fell on those
present and several fell to the floor and began speaking in tongues. Different
gifts of the Spirit began to manifest. A young woman, Jenny Moore, who had
never had a music lesson and played no musical instrument, arose from her seat
and seated herself at a piano that was in the room. She then began playing
beautifully and singing in tongues.
Word spread quickly that God was
pouring out a new Pentecost on Bonnie Brae Street and people began to come from
every direction. The house filled with people and the crowed overflowed onto
the porch and into the yard. One participant said, “By the next morning there
was no way of getting near the house.”
Realizing they needed more space,
they searched and found an old abandoned building in downtown Los Angeles at
312 Azusa Street. They moved the prayer meeting to that location and had their
first meeting on April 14, 1906. For the next three years the meetings ran
around the clock as thousands flocked to Azusa Street from across America and form
other nations as well.
Revival
in Houston
After the move to Azusa Street, Farrow
remained in Los Angeles for another four months, ministering with Seymour and
providing a much-needed stability in the early days of revival. In August, she
departed for Virginia, planning from there to go to Liberia in West Africa from
whence her ancestors had been brought as slaves to America.
On her journey eastward she stopped
in Houston and preached in Parham’s summer camp meeting. The large white audience was electrified as she told about the revival that was underway
in Los Angeles.
She then prayed for many to be
baptized in the Holy Spirit and, again and again, as in the book of Acts, they
would break forth speaking in tongues as she laid her hands on them. One
participant, Howard Goss, said, “She had an amazing gift for laying hands on
people and them receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.”
It was an amazing demonstration of how real revival breaches racial and cultural barriers. Here was a black woman in the Jim Crow south preaching in a white camp meeting and laying hands on the participants who were being powerfully touched by God and baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Revival
in Virginia & Africa
Farrow lived by faith, having no
settled fund from which to draw, but trusting God to meet every need as she
walked in obedience to Him. From Houston she traveled on to Virginia and in
Portsmouth held a series of meetings that lasted several weeks. It was reported
that about 200 were saved and 150 received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Sensing an urgent call to Africa but
realizing the powerful work that had begun in Portsmouth needed care, Farrow
contacted Seymour and asked that a replacement be sent so she could continue on
in her mission to Africa.
After help arrived from Los Angeles,
Farrow traveled to New York and then sailed for Africa. She settled in Johnsonville
about 25 miles from the capital of Monrovia from where she carried on a
ministry of preaching, teaching, praying for the sick and leading people into
the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was reported that many were brought to
Christ during her short stay in that country.
Final
Years in Los Angeles
Farrow returned to Los Angeles and
lived out her final years in a small “faith cottage” located behind the Azusa
Street Mission. Many visited her there to receive of her wisdom and her
prayers. Many testified of being healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit, or to having
received a “greater” infilling of the Spirit through her prayers. The time and
circumstances surrounding her death are unknown.
Sadly, Lucy Farrow's name was, for the most part, left out of accounts of the Azusa Street Revival. And to this date no one has located a picture or painting of her. Though forgotten on earth, I am sure the angels rejoiced and gave her a hero's welcome as she entered her eternal home. No doubt, she heard those priceless words from the Lord, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23).
Dr. Eddie Hyatt is the author and creator of the Revival History course, consisting of the textbook, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity, its companion Study Guide, and 20 video lessons. The textbook and Study Guide are available from Amazon and His website at www.eddiehyatt.com. The video lessons are available on a USB drive from his website but can also be accessed free of charge on the youtube channel, "Advanced Christian Learning Center." https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW7oGkkZBrEa40U9uJdwPRgat
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