Here's what you need to know:

Azusa Street spread from L.A. around SoCal, all over California and up the West Coast.

Florence Crawford started a work in Portland, Oregon, left, and returned in 1907 to start a ministry.

William H. Durham led a church in Chicago that he called the "Azusa Street of the Midwest", with similar stories to what happened in L.A. Durham influenced immigrants who took the Pentecostal movement back to their home countries (for example, Italy). 

He also played a small role in the early ministry of a woman whose ministry we'll begin a discussion in a few weeks on, Aimee Semple McPherson.

G.B. Cashwell helped bring Pentecostalism to the southern United States. His contribution was introducing the radical holiness groups of the South to the Azusa revival and its message of Spirit fullness and speaking in tongues. (p. 115) Coming from a background in which Southern whites (like himself) held racist views of African-Americans, he visited the Apostolic Faith Mission in L.A. and almost left because few whites were present. But he "face(d) down" his prejudices, and he asked for (and got) William Seymour to pray for him to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (p. 113) Cashwell spoke at a meeting of the holiness group Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee. When its leader, A.J. Tomlinson, received the Holy Spirit, Tomlinson brought the group into the Pentecostal movement. Ironically, Cashwell, unable to control things, left Pentecostalism for Methodism in 1909.

Next week: The finished work controversy.

Today, most of you probably will be celebrating this Fourth of July at home, since gas is so high and money needs to stretch a little farther than it did at this time last year.

When you're munching on that burger, watching some kid launch a bottle rocket out in the middle of the street, or spending time with friends and family at a picnic, take a few minutes out and remember what we're celebrating today.

Remember the men and women who died for our country, however imperfect it is, and for the freedoms that you and I enjoyed, that those who came before us enjoyed. 

Remember the men and women who fight for those freedoms today.

Remember Zimbabwe, Iran, Colombia, and every other country where there is religious and political persecution, and let's thank God that He has us Americans living in a country where we're free from all of that.

Happy Fourth of July FTAers!

The Charismatic Century series will continue tomorrow. Pray for and remember each other, and enjoy church this weekend. 

Pinch-hitting for Buster this A.M. 

(You can only pinch-hit once in a baseball game. Am I breaking the blogging laws?)

We've been talking about the history of the charismatic church most Fridays here on the ol' blog. Over at Phoenix Preacher, faith healer Todd Bentley has been the main topic for several weeks, with all kinds of side conversations regarding various aspects of charismatic and faith healing theology.

Some charismatics, like Sam Storms, believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today and still active in Christians' lives, while holding to a Reformed Calvinistic view of Scripture.

Storms wrote a book about his experience in becoming a "charismatic Calvinist" called Convergence. You can purchase a copy at his website, Enjoying God, where he also writes on a variety of topics, including revival, the filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit (parts one and two), Jesus's healing ministry, the baptism of the Holy Spirit (parts one and two) and miraculous gifts (parts one and two).

He also spoke on charismatic theology and his experiences at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville. At this link, you'll have the opportunity to listen to a teaching and Q&A Storms did on July 14, 2007.

(Image taken from Enjoying God Ministries' website)

Have you ever been in a battle or conflict and you knew you were in the right and no matter what, no matter the tools or soothing words spoken, you did not get heard? And worse, did it look like the enemy got the victory?

I have been there several times, enough to not be too surprised when things don’t turn out the way I thought they should. But it was all the harder for me when it happened to a friend. My friend has been wronged and their character challenged and maligned. Through all this, my friend has chosen the better path to go to battle in a most admirable fashion and today, faced what can only look like defeat to someone who is battle-weary indeed.

Has this happened to you? What happens when you make a fight that you are certain you need to (this fight was definitely one to make) and still, the Lord appears not to have heard or have done anything to right the wrong? How do you recover to fight again because the Lord always calls us to stand up for our faith in our daily lives and then before we know it, we are in a Beatitude moment.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:11-12, NKJV)

My friend got to live this out directly. In this midst of their conflict, a comment my friend made about a very dear friend of ours going to home to Heaven a while ago was presented as though they had made a seemingly heartless comment about a death in a co-worker’s family. “He’s in a better place” were the words my friend used to describe the passing of our loved one and that was thrown about as if my friend had no compassion for those who shared the workplace. Absolute madness. And that one thing ticked me off more than anything else.

Lies. There are so many of them about; why do we not tire of them? And why are they still effective?

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:18, NKJV)

It’s very defeating to have these events happen. But we are already on notice that all may not go our way to our view: the Lord was not vindicated in the moment of His murder, either. It remains hard, so very hard, to walk worthy when it looks as if the enemy has engineered a victory for himself but that is exactly what we are called to.

It just bites when you know the person has made a good fight, striving to know and remain in God’s will. I told my friend that I am sure the Lord was pleased, no matter what it looked like to us. That’s cold comfort when you are hurting but it helps you go on. We always know there is another battle to fight. I just hope that I am allowed to see my friend rewarded for this event in Heaven; it has been a huge testimony to me personally and one I will not forget.

John Piper has some very interesting things to say about whether or not one should invest for retirement:

…The way I think about retirement—though I don't believe in "retirement" if you can avoid it—is that you should start doing different things for Jesus. And if you can do them without having to be paid by people because you've set it aside, then that's all the more wonderful.

I think of that like this: I don't want to get rich. I don't want to sit on a pile of money. I just want to be able to survive between the ages of sixty-five and eighty-five. And I'd like to be spent for the kingdom. So if I can have a house and have my bills paid and pour my life out for the kingdom, I would be thrilled.

Laying up treasures for yourself on earth is reflected in the man who built the barns. He had many goods. "What shall I do with them?" he said. "I'll build more barns." But he didn't need all those barns. He said, "I will eat, drink, and be merry." He shouldn't have been eating and drinking and being merry, he should have been using his money strategically to meet needs. But he was just cavalier about having all this money.

So it is the indifference to needs and the storing up of way more than you need that comes under the accusation of laying up for yourselves treasures on earth…

Piper has more to say on this topic, and his comments in their entirety can be found and heard at Desiring God.

If you desire, please leave your prayer requests and praise reports here, and/or tell us what happened at your church's service this weekend. Have a great week and a great Fourth of July!

(Note: dusty's name is listed as the thread author, but BrianD posted it for her this week)

I want to take the time to clarify where I stand on the charismatic movement.

Each Friday, I have been working through a history on the movement titled The Charismatic Century, co-written by Jack Hayford and S. David Moore. 

Over at the Phoenix Preacher blog, there has been much discussion regarding evangelist Todd Bentley and side discussions on various aspects of the charismatic movement.

Because we and PP are sister blogs, with readers and lurkers who regularly read both sites, I wanted to take a few moments to tell you where I stand with all this.

I grew up in the charismatic movement, though I ultimately did not stay there. 

I saw my share of healing evangelists and healing lines. I saw leaders get the people to do the "Jesus jog" around the sanctuary

I have been prayed for and prayed over and went down on the floor a few times myself. Each time I was aware of what was going on around me, often praying to the Lord, but I wasn't transported up into the third heaven

I've seen and read enough Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis to last a lifetime.

Shortly after I got saved, I went through an intense time of doubting the existence of God, a time I now recognize as a spiritual attack from satan. 

The word-faith and prosperity preachers had nothing to say to someone in my predicament, who wanted to believe in God but was afraid there was no evidence for his existence. However, a guy who taught at a Baptist university (Gary Habermas) and another guy who made his living speaking to youth in non-charismatic circles (Josh McDowell) had plenty to say. 

I made it out of that dark time with my faith intact.

In my home and at my church, I was exposed to Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindoll. On the radio I was exposed to J. Vernon McGee and Steve Brown. Through them I began to see the church outside of the tradition I grew up in, and drifted away from my tradition.

I have been in Foursquare, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Calvary Chapel and Southern Baptist churches. Each church believed that Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God, who came to earth to die for sinners and reconcile them to the Father, by dying on the cross and shedding His blood, so that you and I may be saved by believing that Jesus is Lord and confessing our sins and repenting of them.

For that matter, the charismatic churches I have been a part of believe those things as well.

I have learned to test everything I hear and if someone's teaching is grounded in the Bible, then it's good. That plumb line allows me to take the good out of someone's ministry and discern the bad that may be in it.

It helps me to see that one teacher may be grounded in Scripture overall, but one part of his teaching is way off base. It also helps me to see that while another teacher may say some things that are rooted in the Bible, much of what they say is not, and the good doesn't justify the bad in their ministry.

I don't want to be thought of as a closet heretic for writing on the Jack Hayford/S. David Moore book.

I have perceived Hayford as a solid enough teacher in general, but I don't see him as the final authority on anything. 

I'm not a charismatic/word-faith/prosperity/faith healing apologist. My personal views are closest to what Mars Hill Church in Seattle teaches - though I advocate taking the seatbelt off

I'm also not a Todd Bentley apologist. Whatever ministry comes out of there is due to the work of God Himself, not of Bentley nor any other person. 

So why did I choose this book?

I picked up this book because I wanted a solid history of the charismatic movement to work through, and I thought the book fit the criteria. There were very few books out there to choose from, and this was the book I had readily available to me, so I went with it.

And, I want to see this book series through. I've already dropped a couple of book series in mid-stream, and I need to finish what I have started here.

I have tried to present what the authors say about the subject in each chapter, and open it up for you all to discuss. I will continue to do that, and you are more than welcome to finish the book with me if you are interested.

We're working through The Charismatic Century, a book on the history of the charismatic movement we've been discussing for the past several weeks.

We've moved to Chapter 5, The Pentecostal Explosion. Having looked at the Azusa Street renewal, the authors their attention to renewals, worldwide and in the United States, that came out of the Azusa renewal.

This week, we look at the worldwide impact of Azusa, and next week its impact in the United States.

We'll take thumbnail looks at the people co-authors Jack Hayford and S. David Moore mentioned in this chapter, beginning with A.G. Garr.

Garr and his wife prayed "through" a native of India in his own dialect; this event convinced them they were called to be missionaries to India. The Garrs were a confirmation to William Seymour of the idea that tongues were to be used for evangelism; however, Garr did not speak in the local Bengali dialect when he got to India.

Pandita Ramabai, a lady who headed a revival in south India was also a social activist there. She was an advocate of poor women and children and estalished a mission, along with several homes for prostitutes and orphanages in several villages. The revival she led in 1905 emphasized Spirit baptism; on the first night of the revival, the authors tell of a young woman who saw fire coming down upon her, and another woman went to get water to put it out, only to realize it was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Soon, several women were on their knees repenting and confessing sins. Because this revival preceded Azusa, it did not advocate tongues as evidence of baptism in the Spirit.

Minnie Abrams worked with Ramabai in India, and wrote a book on it that was read by Chilean missionary Willis Hoover. He was baptized in the Spirit which, according to Gary McGee, was the act that caused the Chilean Pentecostal revival to be conceived. (104). 

A sereis of revivals in Korea from 1903-07 "gained…momentum" from the Welsh revival going on concurrently. There was very little mention of tongues in the Korean revival meetings but plenty of stories of healings, miracles and exorcisms.

Speaking of the Welsh revival, the authors say that J. Edwin Orr "has argued that Wales provoked a whole series of revivals around the world." (104)

The co-authors say it is impossible to conceive of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements today as we know them, without the influence of Azusa and Topeka (Charles Parham). Some people had only heard of the reports of what was going on at Azusa and were influenced.

Among them was Thomas Ball Barrett of Norway, who heard about Azusa while visiting New York, then returned home and spread Pentecostalism throughout Scandinavia. Some of Barrett's proteges spread Pentecostalism in their own way (Alexander Bodde in England, Jonathan Paul in Germany, Lewi Pethrus in Sweden.)

Finally, two Swedish immigrants living in Indiana - Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren - began a life-long ministry in Brazil. Both were "captivated" by a prophecy repeating the word para, para, which they found to be a place in Brazil. They went there, and began planting churches, which eventually grew into a movement that became Brazil's Assemblies of God, and today Pentecostals in Brazil number nearly 25 million (107).

Here's the bottom line.

I'm not just doing this because of idiot lawmakers or companies looking to cut down on the rising cost of health care…though I would like not to lose my health insurance

I'm doing this for myself.

If you're in any situation, whether it's being in debt, being overweight/obese, addicted to drugs, an alcoholic, in a bad job…your tipping point likely comes when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired and you decide to do something about it.

Plenty of people want better for themselves. Few of them decide to do the hard work it takes to get out of where they are.

We live in a culture where we're bombarded with advertising promising us that we can get rich quick; take a pill and lose weight without a drop of sweat; get the girl if we buy this product.

Probably all of us have fallen for that kind of thing at one time or another in our lives. Too many of us accept it and keep looking for the easy way out.

We look for the secrets of the rich to save us, because we don't want to work our way out of our mess.

Well, today is your lucky day, reader, because I'm going to let you in on two of the secrets of the rich.

You ready?

Here goes.

There is no easy way out. And the way out will involve work, discipline and persistence.

I guarantee you that you will never see someone on a commercial tell you that

But it's the truth.

Another thing you can do is educate yourself.

Let's take health.

I decided to stop eating at fast food restaurants because I had noticed that over time, when I ate a "value meal" it may have satisfied my palate but it also left me feeling a little run down. I also knew that the food was bad for my health, and that long-term it would kill me.

And I know at some point, I'll fall off the wagon, because no one undertakes something like this and follows it through 100 percent of the time. 

The people who write up the diet plans know this, and that's why they build into their menu a time for "cheating".

But you have to, and need to, make the commitment.

Once you make that commitment…you can educate yourself about good health and nutrition and how to make healthy choices.

One inexpensive way to do so is from the public library. You can walk in, read a book, and if you like it check it out, at no cost.

I confess that I'm finding it harder with nutrition to find the quality, no-nonsense help that I did with personal finance (Dave Ramsey, Crown, David Bach, Suze Orman…more on them another time), because I've found a lot of books pushing one particular diet or another.

Diets don't work long-term. Good, solid long-term, permanent choices that are good for you and you will stick with do work.

That is why I am looking for good general advice. I have some books I'm reading thru and if they are helpful I will recommend them to you in the next week or so.

I've had better luck so far finding resources online.

One resource is Dr. Bryant Stamford, a professor at Hanover College in Indiana, whom was recommended to me by a former doctor of mine. I have found him to be a solid, no-nonsense resource in regards to nutrition and exercise.

Another good resource, one that I remember from the radio several years ago, is Dr. Dean Edell. His website is Health Central.

While I warn you that his views on creationism and evolution aren't evangelically-friendly that isn't why I'm recommending him.

He's similar to Stamford in that he offers solid, no-nonsense advice about health, and I've learned quite a bit just listening to his radio show, which you can download by clicking on the download link for 1-2 p.m. from KGO Radio.

The resources are out there, if you need them.

Whether you'll use them, is up to you (I'm preaching to myself on this, too).

I'm giving you part 1 now; part 2 comes later today.

I've talked about my resolve to get my finances in order.

Tonight I may have reached my other tipping point - my health.

I don't want to die with a ton of fat on my body and a ton of debt on my credit report.

Bottom line - I want to get rid of the excess. 

I'm much more motivated at the present moment to get rid of the debt. I know how to do it and am learning more each day about financial health.

I know generally what to do with my health, but have much to learn.

I've forsaken (largely) the fast food meals I used to eat, and have been shopping more in the fruits and vegetables section of the supermarket. Tuna instead of double cheeseburger, grapes instead of Doritos out of the vending machine.

I still need to get off my butt and exercise.

Much easier said than done.

But it needs to be done.

I don't want my bad health to keep me from getting a good job or having health insurance.

I don't want to have the dreaded tightness and pain of the chest.

I don't want diabetes, don't want high blood pressure….don't want to die young.

Time to do something about it.

More on this later…