Lucy F. Farrow: The Forgotten Apostle of Azusa

Lucy F. Farrow was born in Portsmouth, VA. Unfortunately, her origins there have not been yet fully traced. Her involvement appeared around the summer of 1905 while working as governess in Parham’s home in Houston.

While in Houston, Farrow met Charles Parham, who came there from Baxter Springs, Kansas, in October 1905 and held meetings in Bryan Hall. Parham was preaching about the earlier outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had occurred in his Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, in January 1901.

Other sources claim, Lucy F. Farrow received the Holy Ghost a little bit earlier on September 6, 1905 after Parham opened up a month-long meeting in Columbus, Kansas. Along with Parham she witnessed events unfold in Zion, Illinois, where John Alexander Dowie was faltering.

Lucy Farrow was the niece of renowned black abolitionist Frederick Douglass. She was serving as pastor of a holiness church in Houston in 1905 when Charles Parham engaged her to work as a governess in his home. Farrow carried the Pentecostal embers back to Texas, on to her home state Virginia and later to Liberia. Her aptitude for igniting the supernatural gifts among others was evident at a 1906 camp meeting near Houston when some 25 seekers stood lined up in a row in front of her. When Farrow “laid hands upon them…many began to speak in tongues at once.”

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. About the time when Seymour departed to Los Angeles in January of 1906, Lucy Farrow and J. A. Warren also arrived there independently. Other sources claim, they had been sent by Parham to help Seymour with his meetings.

Seymour began his meetings at the Santa Fe Mission on February 24, 1906 but was quickly shut down by the pastor Julia W. Hutchins on March 4, 1906 after a consultation with the South Californian Holiness Association.

The meetings then moved to 214 Bonnie Brae St., home of Richard and Ruth Asberry. As a result, Edward S. Lee was the first one was baptized in the Spirit and spoke in other tongues in the late afternoon when William J. Seymour and Lucy F. Farrow laid hands on him for healing at his house. At 7:30 p.m., the group went back to Bonnie Brae for the evening meeting and before the night was over, Jennie Evans Moore and several others joined him.

It has been said that no one associated with the prayer meeting led by Seymour had spoken in tongues until Farrow, at Seymour’s request, arrived on the scene and began laying her hands on people and seeing God fill them with the Holy Spirit as in the book of Acts. She also 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.

The Church of God: A social history

The Church of God: A SOCIAL HISTORY
by Mickey Crews

The University of Tennessee Press, KNOXVILLE

Copyright © 1990 by The University of Tennessee Press / Knoxville. All Rights Reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. First Edition.

The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.

READ the full text here: https://archive.org/details/churchofgodsociacrew

DOWNLOAD as PDF file here: https://archive.org/download/churchofgodsociacrew/churchofgodsociacrew.pdf

AJ Tomlinson baptized while interpreting tongues?

A recent covenant group rereading of the personal diary of Rev. AJ Tomlinson brought up several questions as per the exact timing of his personal baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The first explanation proposed a problem, namely: does one have to be baptized in the Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues in order to operate the gifts of the Spirit? One specific problematic area in the discussion was the interpretation of tongues, since we know that many in the Bible prophesied without being baptized in the Spirit. A second explanation proposed that AJ Tomlinson was baptized with the Holy Spirit or at least witnessed and experienced a Pentecostal experience prior to 1906. Here are several passages from his personal diary which refer to early baptism with the Holy Spirit:

Vol. 3. p. 13 “Received the Holy Ghost about March, 1896”

Vol. 3, p. 36 August 4, 1904 “Just arrived home from Drygo, Tenn., where we held a ten days meeting. Some converted, some received the Holy Ghost.”

Vol. 3, p. 49 June 14, 1907 “Glorious results. Speaking in other tongues by the Holy Ghost.”

Vol. 3, p. 52 August 19, 1907 “One received the baptism with the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues.”

Last but not least, we have a detail record of a tremendous financial struggle through which AJ Tomlinson expressed deep dependence on the leadership and supplication of the Holy Spirit throughout the whole year of 1901 and forward. This record should be regarded as formational for the whole financial structuring of the upcoming church organization and its later institutionalization.

Source: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067290775;view=1up;seq=42

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (1901-1902)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (January, 1901)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (April, 1901)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (August, 1901)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (September, 1901)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (January, 1902)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (February, 1902)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (March, 1902)

Samson’s Foxes published by Rev. A.J. Tomlinson in Culberson, N.C. (May, 1902)

Selected Publications by Rev. Charles Fox Parham

The Life of Charles F. Parham

The Evelasting Gospel Charles F. Parham

Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Selected Sermons of Charles Parham

CHARLES FOX PARHAM: Founder of the Apostolic Faith
In a time when divine healing and moves of the Spirit had scarcely been heard of, Charles Parham introduced the American Church to the power available through pursuing a Spirit-filled life. He revealed to the church the life-giving power found in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was evidenced by speaking in other tongues. He sought to bring a balance of both the intellectual and experimental to the Body of Christ: as a teacher, rooted and grounded in the Word of Truth, as well as a healing evangelist moved by compassion, commitment, and an amazing faith.

CHARLES PARHAM and the Apostolic Faith Bible College
In early 1899, Parham opened a home for divine healing. Sarah, Parham’s wife, named it “Bethel.” The purpose was to minister to the sick around the clock. Powerful teaching services were held daily while individual prayer was offered several times throughout the day and night. It was through this healing home that the Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, started and experienced a glorious batism in the Holy Ghost on January 3, 1901.

We believe that this outpouring of the Holy Ghost was the latter rain that is referred to in the Scriptures. This Bible College, founded by Parham, is still in operation today. It is now known as the Apostolic Faith Bible College, located in Baxter Springs, Kansas. No tuition has ever been charged of any student. Their room and board, along with meals is provided by the sacrifice and generous donations of Apostolic Alumni and friends. The Apostolic Faith Bible College teaches the inspired word of God and works to prepare each student for his or her ministry.

From envisioning and founding a Healing Home to establishing Bible Schools, Charles Parham studied to show himself approved unto God with a rare diligence while fervently working to prove the truth of God’s Word through the demonstration of faith. His ministry contributed to over two million conversions, and his light still shines. His story is an example for the students today. Charles Fox Parham died quietly on January 29, 1929 at the age of fifty-six, but his legacy lives on.

20 Signs of the LAST DAYS revisited