Speaking in Tongues in America Prior to the Azusa Street #ourCOG

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The Church of God was a part of the holiness movement and believed in entire sanctification as a definite experience occurring after salvation. While individuals had spoken in tongues in the 1896 revival, tongues were not understood as the initial evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit. As news of the Azusa Street Revival began to spread and reach the Southeast, Church of God adherents began to seek and obtain Spirit baptism. Tomlinson was one of these seekers. In June 1907, he traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to attend a meeting of M. M. Pinson and Gaston B. Cashwell. After being baptized in the Spirit at Azusa Street, Cashwell returned to the South spreading the revival and bringing many holiness groups into the Pentecostal fold. Tomlinson invited Cashwell to Cleveland, Tennessee, and it was under Cashwell’s preaching that he received the Pentecostal blessing. After Tomlinson’s experience, the Church of God would firmly identify as a Pentecostal church.[35]

In 1910, the official publication, The Church of God Evangel, was founded and remains the oldest continuous Pentecostal publication. Growth followed in the years after organization. In 1902, there was one church with 20 members. By 1910, there were 1,005 members in 31 churches throughout the Southeastern United States.[36]

John Kissinger [03/12/2016 1:40 PM]
Was AJ Tomlinson baptized while interpreting tongues? http://cupandcross.com/aj-tomlinson-baptized-while-interpreting-tongues/

Troy Day [03/12/2016 6:30 PM]
David Lewayne Porter I just learned from this discussion today that Dunn, NC was like the East Coast Azusa from where Cashwell started and brought the Holy Ghost baptism to AG and COG as early as 1907

David Lewayne Porter [03/12/2016 7:37 PM]
My wife and I have been praying for a renewal along those lines for 5+ years, we have attended and the been part of the annual Pentecostal Celebration in Falcon NC for over 8 years now (Remembering Azusa Street East).

Timothy Carter [03/12/2016 11:43 PM]
The Christian Union, of the North Carolina Mountains, is the beginning of Church of God.

Troy Day [03/13/2016 9:02 AM]
Timothy Carter Which ministers did you mean exactly? Most of them were ordained Baptists or Methodists at the time. Were there ministers ordained by cog prior to first gen. assembly? Christopher Hart may have a valid point here in terms of more official channels.

A momentous service followed the third Assembly in 1908 that radically transformed the life and ministry of A. J. Tomlinson. Following a sermon by guest evangelist G. B. Cashwell, Tomlinson received his long-sought-for experience of Spirit baptism. Although perhaps one hundred or more people had experienced the baptism with the Holy Spirit following the Shearer Schoolhouse revival in 1896, they apparently did not fully understand the nature and the work of the Holy Spirit at that time. Those who did receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit had not preached that this was an experience for all to seek and obtain.

Tomlinson serves as an excellent example of how countless people in the Holiness movement came into the full realization of the work of the Holy Spirit. The record shows that like many others he sought for a deeper experience following his sanctification. He likely heard people in the Camp Creek community speaking in tongues and may have heard tongues speech when he visited Sandford’s Shiloh community in Maine in 1901. Yet, he personally credited William Seymour with developing the doctrine of “the baptism with the Holy Ghost and the speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance as the evidence.”[17] According to Tomlinson, he “became more fully awakened on the subject” in January of 1907 and spent the entire year preaching about and seeking for the experience. He wrote,