Sean Fuecht and the City of Angels
I was vaguely aware of something going on around the country called Let Us Worship with Christian musician Sean Fuecht. A part of me was very interested but I ignored that part of me. Let Us Worship was all about protesting COVID restrictions on Sunday church services.
I then came across something online, I think in late October, saying Let Us Worship was heading towards Azusa Street on New Years Eve. I didn’t do any research, but I knew if that was true it would become my number one issue.
On November 27, it became my number one issue.
I lived in Skid Row from 2013 to 2017 and continue to be heavily involved in Skid Row advocacy and activism. The highest profile Skid Row street preacher is Pastor Cue with the Church Without Walls. On his Facebook page, he posted a November 27 article by Religion News Service where he spoke at length on the dangers of Sean Fuecht coming to Azusa Street to do a New Years Eve worship concert given the close proximity to the vulnerable street unhoused population of Skid Row.
When I read the article I immediately contacted the Mayor’s Office. I also reached out to the Los Angeles Poor Peoples Campaign where I’m one of many people on the Steering Committee. I was very happy how the Poor Peoples Campaign Los Angeles and California quickly responded with emergency meetings, specifically their Faith Based group and Legal group.
And then Let Us Worship changed their plans. Instead of a New Years Eve concert on Azusa Street attracting anywhere from five to ten thousand people at a time when COVID was ravaging Los Angeles, the concert was switched to Valencia, 30 miles away from Azusa Street, and outreaches into Skid Row and Echo Park were added along with a smaller gathering at Azusa Street.
When Let Us Worship came to Los Angeles on December 30 and 31, it got extensive local and national publicity, mainly because of what happened in Skid Row.
Then the Insurrection/Coup took place on January 6 and parallels between that and Let Us Worship were explored during a January 13 press conference by Clergy 4 Black Lives. I thought the press conference was excellent. Here is an article about it:
But everything I’ve just said is introduction to why I’m writing this blog. With the understandable emphasis on COVID and Christian Nationalism, the reason why Let Us Worship came to Los Angeles as the climax to 2020 has not been given much attention: seeking revival.
The Book of Genesis 26:18 explains what Let Us Worship is trying to accomplish and why numerous large Pentecostal/Charismatic/ Evangelical Christian churches and high profile leaders you think would know better because of COVID are supporting this effort: “Isaac dug out again the wells that were dug during the time of his father Abraham”.
For people who pay attention to American history as it relates to “Christian revival”, Southern California is the mothership. The Azusa Street Revival of 1906 birthed Pentecostalism and today around 70 million people worldwide identify themselves as Pentecostal Christians. In 2000, Time-Life named the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 #68 on their list of One Hundred Most Important Events Of The Past One Thousand Years 1000AD-2000AD. Number 67 was the 1851 Invention of the Sewing Machine. Azusa Street is the “well of wells”.
Azusa Street today is little more than an alleyway in the southern tip of Little Tokyo, very close to Skid Row. But even though the site is obscure, and Downtown Los Angeles barely acknowledges it, Azusa Street is pilgrimage for Pentecostal Christians. And so, in that world, Let Us Worship coming to Azusa Street and partnering with a local church organization, the Azusa Street Mission, is a really big deal and considered foundational to a massive new revival about to sweep America. Let Us Worship (Sean Fuecht) and Azusa Street Mission (Fred Berry) together planted a Unity Tree.
Let Us Worship also came to Echo Park, specifically Echo Park Lake. At the Lake is the DreamCenter. The DreamCenter is a name fifteen years old for Angelus Temple. Angelus Temple was founded in the 1930’s by Aimee Semple McPherson, one of the most famous people in America and the first woman to get a radio license in the country. She is the founder of the Foursquare denomination. Angelus Temple/Aimee Semple McPherson is a major “well”.
Another major “well” is the Jesus Movement from the 1960’s and 70’s. Called Jesus People then Jesus Freaks, the Jesus Movement brought many thousands of young people, mainly hippies, to Christianity. One reason the Jesus Movement was extremely controversial is it made rock and roll (the Devil’s music) a major part of church music.
Sean Fuecht has called himself, and others call him, the leader of a new Jesus Movement. That’s why Let Us Worship is coming to Corona del Mar in Orange County on January 23. The beaches of Orange County were the site of many thousands of hippies being baptized in the ocean.
My focus in all of this is the meaning of the word Azusa. Azusa is a Tongva word, Native indigenous people of Los Angeles, and it means Healing.
Here is a blog article I wrote in December 2012 for a Skid Row community blog, Trees On San Pedro Street.
Healing On San Pedro And Azusa by Tom Grode | Trees on San Pedro Street Project (wordpress.com)