Many churches that are Charismatic or Pentecostal have roots that stem from The Azusa Street Revival, and that is why the revival of 1906 in Los Angeles is widely regarded as the key event that launched the 20 th century Pentecostal movement. 1 The revival was characterised by meetings of people shrieking, shouting, dancing and falling over under the power of God, miraculous healings and most of all, by speaking in tongues, which was considered to be the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 2 Below is an explanation of why this revival is considered to be the birthplace of the international Pentecostal movement, and also the people and ideas that were influential in its emergence. Before looking into the events of the 1906 revival, mention must be made that the phenomenon of speaking in tongues and of amazing miracles was not new. Examples of these phenomena had been attested to in the Mukti Mission in India in 1905, in the Welsh Revival of 1904, and in many Holiness churches in the United States. 3 One of the Holiness Methodist preachers, Charles Parham, ran Bethel Bible school in Kansas and on the 1 st of January 1900 one of his students started speaking in tongues, reportedly Chinese. 4 This started when Parham has his students study what the New Testament said about the gifts of the Spirit, and if they still applied to them. Together they became convinced that the gifts were indeed still available to them. 5 Charles Parham taught there were 1 Ruth Tucker, Parade of faith : a biographical history of the Christian church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2011).447 2 Jonathan Hill, Zondervan handbook to the history of Christianity (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006).452 3 Justo L. González, The Reformation to the present day, 1st ed., The Story of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984).255, Tucker, Parade of faith : a biographical history of the Christian church.444-45 4 Hill, Zondervan handbook to the history of Christianity.452, Tucker, Parade of faith : a biographical history of the Christian church.447 5 Tony Cauchi, "William Seymour and the History of the Azusa Street Outpouring," http://www.revival- library.org/pensketches/am_pentecostals/seymourazusa.html., Cecil M. Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission and revival : the birth of the global Pentecostal movement (Nashville: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2006); Robert R. Owens, Speak to the rock : the Azusa Street revival : its roots and its message (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2001)., Stanley Howard Frodsham, With signs following the story of the pentecostal revival in the twentieth century, Rev. ed. (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Pub. House, 1941), microform.