No one imagined the world would be changed out of an old, dilapidated building at 312 Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles. Yet in the aftermath of the Azusa Street revival (1906-09), the Pentecostal message spread as fast as word of mouth could carry it, shaping history from that point on.
As hundreds of independent Pentecostal churches and missions were birthed throughout the country, however, problems and confusion arose along with them. Strange teachings surfaced, and many Pentecostal preachers with little or no formal education didn't know how to address doctrinal aberrations. Problems also cropped up on the foreign mission field, with some missionaries returning home without establishing a lasting work and others seeming to spend most of their time traveling to and from the field. Some leaders began to realize the need for some sort of cooperative fellowship that would quell the problems independent churches could not handle on their own.
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