In 1896, in the mountains of western North Carolina, a group of believers gathered in the Shearer Schoolhouse near Camp Creek. Led by R.G. Spurling and W.F. Bryant, they were hungry for something more than cold religion. They prayed, studied the Scriptures, and sought holiness. As they waited on God, the Holy Ghost was poured out. People began speaking in tongues, trembling under the power of God, crying out, and falling to their knees. They hadn’t seen it before, hadn’t been taught it, but they knew it was real. It was the book of Acts all over again.
Word began to spread. Meetings broke out in homes and brush arbors. Some were healed, some filled, some set free. The established churches rejected them, but they kept meeting anyway. What happened in that schoolhouse laid the foundation for what would become the Church of God. This happened before Azusa Street, but it was the same Spirit. They didn’t try to start anything. They just followed what they saw in the Word and obeyed what God was doing right in front of them. Revival had come, and it would not be stopped.
Revival Press