Assemblies of God USA

==== Charles Parham ====
[[Charles Parham]] was a leading figure in the early development of the Assemblies of God. Parham was a member of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] and served as an [[Ordination|unordained]] supply pastor in Eudora, Kansas, from 1893 to 1895.{{Sfn|Blumhofer|1993|p=45}} Parham believed in the Methodist doctrine of [[entire sanctification]] as a [[second work of grace]]. He was also an adherent of the [[holiness movement]] and believed that [[faith healing]] was provided for in [[Atonement in Christianity|Christ's atonement]]. Parham had some contact with the [[Fire-Baptized Holiness Church]] led by Benjamin H. Irwin. He accepted Irwin's teaching of a third experience of grace identified with the "baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire".{{Sfn|Synan|1997|p=89}}

After 1895, Parham left the Methodist Church and became a nondenominational [[Itinerant preacher|evangelist]].{{Sfn|Synan|1997|p=89}} As a [[Restorationism|restorationist]], he rejected traditional denominations as incompatible with true, biblical Christianity, which he referred to as the "apostolic faith". By 1900, he concluded based on his study of the Bible that [[glossolalia]] (speaking in tongues) was the evidence of receiving [[baptism with the Holy Spirit]]. While other people had claimed to speak in tongues before Parham, he was the first to connect glossolalia with Spirit baptism. His Apostolic Faith Movement was strongest in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. He established several congregations around Galena, Kansas.{{Sfn|Blumhofer|1993|pp=45–47 & 51–56}}

In 1905, Parham moved his headquarters to Houston, Texas, and opened a Bible training school. One of his students was [[William J. Seymour]], an African American holiness preacher. In 1906, Seymour moved to Los Angeles, California, where his preaching ignited the interracial [[Azusa Street Revival]]. Seymour initially considered himself under Parham's authority, but Parham's criticism of the revival led to a permanent split between the two men.{{Sfn|Synan|1997|pp=93 & 102}} The Azusa Street Revival soon eclipsed Parham’s influence over the nascent Pentecostal movement.{{Sfn|Blumhofer|1993|p=55}}

In 1906, Parham's movement had an estimated 8,600 members concentrated in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas.{{Sfn|Robeck|2005|loc=II.A. The Church of God in Christ and the Assemblies of God: Siblings or Offspring?}} In that year, he appointed Warren Fay Carothers as general field director for the United States. [[Howard A. Goss]] was appointed field director for Texas to supervise around 60 full-time evangelists. Around this time, L. C. Hall and D. C. O. Opperman joined the movement. Both men were prominent former members of [[John Alexander Dowie]]'s Christian Catholic Apostolic Church.{{Sfn|Blumhofer|1993|p=82}} Parham attempted to gain control of [[Zion, Illinois]], the utopian community established by Dowie. As a result, a number of Dowie's followers accepted the Pentecostal message.{{Sfn|Creech|1996|p=416}} 

In 1907, Parham was charged with [[sodomy]] while in San Antonio, Texas. The scandal led evangelists to renounce his authority, and his organization dissolved.{{Sfn|Blumhofer|1993|p=82}}