Contact: Fred Berry, Azusa Street Mission, 323-692-7268, azusastreetmission@yahoo.com

LOS ANGELES, April 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Over a century ago, a partially-sighted African American minister came from Texas to Los Angeles to spread the Pentecostal ministry.  His early efforts to preach the Pentecostal message were rejected.  Church leaders were suspicious of his religious doctrine and his teachings, but he persevered and kept on praying.  Then in April of 1906, a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred within his small group of worshipers. There were physical and mental healings, speaking in unknown languages and many other miraculous and inexplicable occurrences.  Word spread and soon hundreds of people started coming from all over to the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street to receive the Holy Spirit.  The Azusa Street revival lasted over three years and is widely considered to be the primary catalyst that sparked the worldwide Pentecostal movement.  Currently, it is estimated that over 600 million Pentecostals in the United States, Latin America, Africa and Asia can trace their religious origins to the Azusa Street Revival and Bishop William Joseph Seymour. 

At the Azusa Street Festival on Saturday April 25, Pastor Sunday Adelaja, Senior Pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations in Kyiv, Ukraine, will receive the first International William J. Seymour Award.  This award is given to ministers who exhibit the characteristics of the Lord's humble servant William J. Seymour.  This year we will award an international and national recipient: The international recipient will be Pastor Sunday Adelaja who is a Nigerian-born leader with an apostolic gift for the twenty-first century. In his mid thirties Pastor Sunday has already proven to be one of the world's most dynamic communicators and church planters and is regarded as the most successful pastor in Europe with over 25,000 members as well as daughter and satellite churches in over 35 countries worldwide.

The national recipient will be Dr. Pat Bailey-Jones who has created tremendous impact for more than 25 years in over 100 countries around the world, bringing deliverance and salvation to countless thousands. Dr. Bailey-Jones is a lecturer, author, and founder of Master's Touch Ministries, a mission outreach that has headquarters in North Carolina, Los Angeles, and London, England. MTM has also founded Y.U.G.O. (Young Adults United for Global Outreach), Global Leadership Training Center, a program designed to teach global strategies that will empower leaders to impact nations, and Sister to Sister, an international outreach to women in foreign countries. Dr. Bailey-Jones has focused her efforts in the 10/40 window, which includes North Africa and the Middle East, an area that is the most populated, but least evangelized in the world.

The Azusa Street Festival is a four-day gospel music festival commemorating the Azusa Street Revival.  The festival will take place April 23 -26 at 312 Azusa Street, the current location of the Japanese American Cultural Community Center Plaza (JACCC) in Little Tokyo. The plaza stands on the original location of the Apostolic Faith Mission. Each day, the Azusa Street Festival will feature a guest speaker and music from a different Pentecostal region from around the world.   The festival is sponsored by the Azusa Street Mission & Historical Society.  Pastor Sunday Adelaja  is also the Honorary Chairperson of the festival.

Fred and Wilma Berry founded the Azusa Street Mission and Historical Society in 2006.  The purpose of the ASMHS is to educate the public about the historical significance of the Azusa Street Mission and the global Pentecostal Movement's impact on society. For more information call (323) 692-7268 or visit www.azusasstreetmission.org.