Bethel Bible College - Pentecostalism Begins

Pentecostalism Begins

Forty students including Agnes Ozman and William J. Seymour had gathered to learn the major tenets of the Holiness Movement from Parham. Parham wondered about the New Testament evidence for baptism in the Holy Spirit. He went on a three-day trip and asked his students to ponder this question while he was gone. They concluded that glossolalia or speaking in tongues was proof that the Holy Spirit had fallen on an individual. Ozman was the first student to speak in tongues and Seymour would take this teaching Los Angeles where he would start the Azusa Street Revival. Today many Pentecostal denominations trace their beginnings to Bethel and Azusa Street.