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The 125-Year Pentecostal Cycle: From Stone’s Folly to the Digital Fountain

This comprehensive overview outlines the 125-year spiritual and historical cycle of the Pentecostal movement, connecting the foundation of Stone’s Folly to the contemporary digital mission of Bishop Dennis Eversen and the Acts Media Group.

1. The 1901 Catalyst: Topeka and Rome

The cycle began with a remarkable convergence on January 1, 1901, marked by parallel invocations of the Holy Spirit on opposite sides of the globe.

Topeka, Kansas (Stone’s Folly)

At Bethel Bible School—located in the unfinished mansion known as Stone’s Folly—student Agnes Ozman began speaking in tongues. This moment is widely recognized as the theological birth of modern Pentecostalism.

Vaican City

Following appeals from Blessed Elena Guerra, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the 20th century to the Holy Spirit by singing Veni Creator Spiritus at the Holy Spirit window in Vatican City.

https://cbn.com/news/world/century-holy-spirit-how-one-nuns-prayers-1895-led-modern-pentecostal-movement?video=577806&fbclid=IwY2xjawRKF4FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeGEiYwIKW-76tkIbqG-FP7789XIL35Yht9ctCSUoHngLp91ZFe2T0usHXEV4_aem_Sf4s0YqNRtz-5ekJ28TbMg

Verifiable Historical Note

The physical foundations of Stone’s Folly have been confirmed through ground-penetrating radar and are located at:

Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church
https://mphm.com/about/stones-folley

2. The 1906 Crucible: A Paradox of Fire

A pivotal intersection of revival and tragedy occurred on April 14, 1906.

Azusa Street Revival (Los Angeles)

William J. Seymour led the first meeting at 312 Azusa Street, launching a global, interracial Pentecostal revival.

Springfield, Missouri Tragedy

On the same day, a white mob lynched three Black men—Horace Duncan, Fred Coker, and Will Allen—in Springfield, Missouri, triggering a mass exodus of the Black community.

Spiritual Reversal

Early Pentecostal leaders later framed the movement as a spiritual counter to racial hatred—declaring that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit leaves no room for division.

3. The Sparkling Fountain Vision (1907–1913)

Springfield’s role in Pentecostal history emerged through prophetic insight and revival activity.

The Initial Spark (1907)

Evangelist Rachel Sizelove, connected to Azusa Street, brought the Pentecostal message to Springfield. Her sister, Lillie Corum, became the first in the city to receive the experience.

The Vision (1913)

Sizelove later described a vision of a “sparkling fountain” flowing from Springfield to the “four corners of the earth.”

Historical Fulfillment

This vision is often associated with the Assemblies of God establishing its national headquarters in Springfield in 1918.

4. The Contemporary Witness: Bishop Dennis Eversen

Bishop Dennis Eversen and Acts Media Group (AMG) represent a modern continuation of this 125-year cycle through digital ministry and preservation.

The 120th Anniversary (2021)

On January 1, 2021, exactly 120 years after the Topeka event, Bishop Eversen helped manage a digital livestream commemorating the outpouring—broadcast from the original Stone’s Folly site.

Central Assembly (2026)

In April 2026, he delivered a Palm Sunday message at Central Assembly of God—founded through Lillie Corum’s legacy—to a diverse Swahili-speaking congregation.

The Digital Stream

Through Acts Media Group, his work includes:

Digital evangelism
Archival preservation of decades-old recordings
Global distribution of Pentecostal teachings

Metadata Vault & Deep Dive Resources

Fuller text…..

Under Construction

The 125-Year Pentecostal Cycle (1901–2026): A Longitudinal Analysis of Historical Convergence, Theological Frameworks, and the Digital Manifestation of the ‘Sparkling Fountain’

The historical development of modern Pentecostalism is not merely a series of disjointed religious fervor events but rather a structural progression that follows a discernible 125-year cycle. This period, beginning with the January 1, 1901, outpouring at Topeka’s Stone’s Folly and extending to the projected spiritual and digital convergences of 2026, represents a transformative arc in global missiology and religious expression. Central to this arc is the geographical and spiritual hub of Springfield, Missouri, where the movement transitioned from a localized phenomenon into a global headquarters. This transition was marked by a profound crucible: the intersection of the 1906 racial terror of the Springfield lynching and the 1907 ‘Sparkling Fountain’ vision that prophesied a global deluge of living water. In the contemporary era, Bishop Dennis Eversen and the Acts Media Group (AMG) serve as the primary agents for making the ‘Invisible made Visible’ through digital streaming, effectively fulfilling the multi-language, multi-ethnic vision of the early twentieth century through advanced technological mediums.

The Genesis of the Cycle: Stone’s Folly and the Architecture of Faith

The initiation of the 125-year cycle is rooted in the physical and spiritual failure of a Topeka residential project known as Stone’s Folly. Built in 1887 by Erastus R. Stone, a nurseryman and real estate capitalist who specialized in fruit trees, the mansion was designed to be the finest residence in Kansas. Architecturally, the building was a bizarre amalgamation of styles, described as a gothic castle with Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern embellishments. Constructed of red brick with white stone accents at the corners and windows, the three-story, 30-room mansion sat empty for a decade due to economic depression, earning its moniker “Stone’s Folly” from locals who viewed the unfinished structure as a testament to hubris and financial devastation.

The transformation of this site began in October 1900, when Reverend Charles Fox Parham and his wife, Sarah, opened the Bethel Bible School within the mansion’s vacant halls. Parham, an independent holiness preacher who had previously established the Bethel Healing Home in Topeka, sought to create a non-denominational training center focused on a restorationist view of the Book of Acts. The school operated without formal tuition, requiring students to dedicate themselves to prayer and the study of biblical truth regarding the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”.

Historical Archeology of Stone’s Folly	Data Points and Findings	Source Reference
Original Builder	Erastus R. Stone (Nurseryman)
Construction Style	Gothic-Chinese-Japanese Hybrid
Bethel School Start	October 15, 1900
2020 Archaeological Dig	Discovery of nails, bricks, pottery, ash
Ground-Penetrating Radar	Identified foundation north of the rectory
Destruction Date	December 1901 (Fire)

The theological breakthrough at Stone’s Folly occurred on the night of December 31, 1900, leading into New Year’s Day 1901. Parham had instructed his 40 students to search the scriptures for the initial physical evidence of Spirit baptism. The group unanimously concluded that speaking in tongues was the biblical signifier. At approximately 11:00 PM on January 1, student Agnes Ozman began to speak in a language she identified as Chinese, reporting an inability to speak English for three days. This event is widely regarded as the birth of the modern Pentecostal movement, transforming the “Folly” from a failed real estate venture into a spiritual cornerstone.

The subsequent history of the site reflects a pattern of desecration and repurposing. Following the departure of Parham’s group to Houston, Texas, the mansion was sold to Harry Croft, a notorious bootlegger and “jointist” who transformed the Bible school into a gaudily furnished roadhouse and brothel. The building’s ultimate destruction in a mysterious fire in late 1901 left only the sandstone foundations, which would later be built upon by the Owens family and eventually purchased in 1946 by the Catholic Church to establish the Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish. Recent ground-penetrating radar scans in 2020 by the Kansas Geological Survey confirmed the exact location of the Folly mansion, uncovering artifacts of melted glass and ash that physically validate the fiery end of the movement’s first headquarters.

The Papal Synchronicity and the Global Upper Room

A critical, often overlooked dimension of the 125-year cycle is the temporal alignment between the Protestant outpouring in Topeka and the liturgical actions of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1895, Blessed Elena Guerra, founder of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Lucca, Italy, began writing a series of twelve confidential letters to Pope Leo XIII. Guerra, dubbed the “Apostle of the Holy Spirit” by Pope John XXIII, urged the Pope to lead the Church back to the “Cenacle” or Upper Room, advocating for a permanent and universal novena in preparation for Pentecost.

Guerra’s prophetic framework suggested that the “mystery of Pentecost is a permanent mystery” and that the empire of Satan would be broken by a renewed outpouring of the Spirit. Pope Leo XIII responded to these prompts by publishing the encyclical Divinum Illud Munus in 1897, which focused on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and recommended a devotion to the Spirit as a means of societal renewal and Christian unity.

The 1901 Convergence: Papal and Protestant	Event and Significance	Metadata and Timing
Pope Leo XIII	Intoned Veni Creator Spiritus for the century	Jan 1, 1901
Agnes Ozman	First recorded speaking in tongues at Bethel	Jan 1, 1901
Theological Goal	Return to the Cenacle/Upper Room	Continuous (1895–1903)
Ecumenical Theme	Renewal of the face of the earth	Common to both

On January 1, 1901—the same day Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at Stone’s Folly—Pope Leo XIII sang the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Creator Spirit) in the name of the entire Church, invoking the Spirit’s presence upon the new century. Some theologians postulate that the Topeka event was a direct, observable answer to the Pope’s prayer, representing a “New Pentecost” that transcended denominational boundaries. This synchronicity highlights the structural nature of the 125-year cycle, where the “Century of the Holy Spirit” began with a unified, albeit geographically separated, invocation of divine power.

The Crucible of 1906: Azusa Street and the Springfield Paradox

By 1906, the Pentecostal message had reached Los Angeles through William J. Seymour, an African American preacher who had studied under Parham in Houston. The Azusa Street Revival, beginning on April 9, 1906, was characterized by its radical interracial fellowship, where “the color line was washed away in the blood”. This spiritual zenith occurred simultaneously with a descent into racial terror in Springfield, Missouri, creating a historical paradox that would define the movement’s relationship with social justice.

On the night of April 14, 1906—the Saturday before Easter—a white mob of several thousand participants abducted Horace Duncan and Fred Coker (also known as Jim Copeland) from the Greene County jail in Springfield. The men had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a white woman, despite their employer providing an alibi and the victims’ protestations of innocence. The mob dragged them to the public square, where they were hanged from the Gottfried Tower, an iron structure topped with a replica of the Statue of Liberty. The bodies were burned to ashes in a pile that remained on Easter Sunday morning. A third man, Will Allen, was subsequently lynched by the same mob.

The 1906 Nexus: Spiritual vs. Social Reality	Azusa Street (Los Angeles)	Springfield (Missouri)
Key Event	Interracial Revival	Racial Terror Lynching
Date of Intensity	April 9–14, 1906	April 14, 1906
Participants	Multi-ethnic, rich, and poor	White mob of ~3,000
Outcome	Birth of global movement	Exodus of Black residents
Atmosphere	“Heavenly” and “Spontaneous”	“Domestic Terrorism”

The implications of this temporal overlap are profound. While the Azusa Street Mission was criticized by secular media for its “howlings” and “weird rites,” the real “hideous” behavior was displayed by the lynch mobs of the Midwest. The archival record from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center indicates that the early Pentecostals in Springfield were forced to reconcile their spiritual identity with this environment of violence. A notable narrative involves “Brother Geisler,” an alcoholic participant in the 1906 lynching who repented after hearing a Pentecostal preacher declare the participants to be “murderers”. Geisler’s conversion and Spirit baptism were frequently cited as evidence that the indwelling of the Spirit leaves no room for racial hatred, effectively positioning Pentecostalism as a spiritual antidote to the era’s systemic racism.

The 1907 ‘Sparkling Fountain’ Vision: Prophetic Missiology

The connection between the Azusa Street Revival and the future headquarters of the Assemblies of God was solidified by Rachel Sizelove, a Free Methodist evangelist who had been baptized in the Spirit at Azusa in July 1906. Sizelove felt a divine call to visit her sister, Lillie Corum, in Springfield in May 1907. Her arrival was marked by a radiant countenance and her speaking in a “heavenly language,” which catalyzed an all-night prayer meeting on June 1, 1907. During this meeting, Lillie Corum became the first person in Springfield known to receive the Pentecostal baptism, forming the nucleus of what would become Central Assembly of God.

In August 1913, Sizelove experienced a vision of a “beautiful, bubbling, sparkling fountain” in the heart of Springfield. She reported seeing rivers of living water flowing from the fountain to the east, west, north, and south until the “whole land was deluged”. The vision included a divine message: “I’m going to do a mighty work in Springfield that will astound the world”. This prophetic event was interpreted as a divine precursor to the relocation of the Assemblies of God national offices and publishing house to Springfield in 1918.

The “Sparkling Fountain” vision represents a shift in the movement’s focus from the localized “folly” of Topeka to a decentralized, global missions outreach. It effectively established Springfield as a spiritual reservoir intended to serve the global community, a role that would be further expanded in the 21st century through digital technology.

Bishop Dennis Eversen and the Metadata of Ministry

Bishop Dennis Eversen stands as a modern bridge between the 1901 foundations and the 2026 completion of the 125-year cycle. His verifiable metadata provides a portrait of a leader whose personal history mirrors the movement’s shifts. Born on March 30, 1966—exactly 65 years after the Topeka outpouring—Eversen’s physical birth was later used as an analogy for the “born again” spiritual transition from a place of comfort to a world of “noise and light”.

Growing up in a devout Roman Catholic family, Eversen’s transition to the Assemblies of God occurred after his parents surrendered their hearts to the Lord. His theological framework emphasizes a personal call from the Holy Spirit and a primary allegiance to Jesus as the “King of Kings,” a stance he contrasts with modern protests against secular authority.

Metadata Profile: Bishop Dennis Eversen

Category	Verifiable Detail	Source
Birth Date	March 30, 1966
Ecclesiastical Shift	Roman Catholic to Assembly of God
Central Ministry	Central Assembly of God, Springfield, MO
Swahili Outreach	Direct ministry to the Swahili congregation
Key Testimony	Fulfillment of the Crystal Fountain vision

Eversen’s ministry at Central Assembly (located at 1301 N Boonville Ave) is particularly focused on the Swahili congregation, where services are a blend of English and Swahili translation. He views this multi-language, multi-ethnic body as the living fulfillment of Rachel Sizelove’s vision of rivers flowing to all nations. This outreach is not only spiritual but utilizes digital converters and archival technology to preserve messages for global distribution, ensuring that the “fountain” continues to flow in a virtual environment.

Acts Media Group: Making the ‘Invisible made Visible’

Acts Media Group (AMG) serves as the primary engine for making the ‘Invisible made Visible’ in the final decade of the 125-year cycle. Originating from Acts Ministry, which was founded by Dr. Paul Collins, AMG Broadcasting has expanded its mission to include social justice, environmental issues, health, welfare, and global education. The organization’s philosophy, as articulated by Bishop Eversen, defines truth as an “objective reality” that humans discover rather than create, utilizing both reason and spiritual insight.

The role of digital streaming in AMG’s framework is not merely a method of broadcasting but a theological act of manifestation. By capturing the worship of the Swahili congregation and broadcasting it globally, AMG makes the “invisible” work of the Spirit in a local Ozarks community “visible” to the entire world. This is achieved through a multi-platform approach, including the “Acts Media Group Podcasts,” which are released weekly and cater to regional audiences across Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas.

Acts Media Group Mission Matrix

Sector	Focus Area	Goal / Objective
Social / Welfare	Veterans, autistic individuals, homeless	Finding innovative solutions for challenges
Education	Social and religious issues	Informing people about global social justice
Environmental	Ecological quality incentives	Promoting stewardship of the environment
Technological	Digital converters, streaming, archives	Preserving and disseminating spiritual truth

The integration of scientific faith and the pursuit of truth is a distinguishing characteristic of AMG’s contemporary output. In conversations with scientists like Dr. Wen Chen, Eversen explores how scientific exploration and spiritual faith coexist harmoniously, viewing science as a humble pursuit of universal laws that reflect a higher order. This intellectual expansion marks a significant evolution from the movement’s early years, where the focus was primarily on ecstatic experiences and “performances for the press”.

Objective ‘Benefit Data’ and Socio-Economic Impact

The investigation of “benefit data” in Springfield, Missouri, reveals a tangible socio-economic impact stemming from the spiritual initiatives of the Assemblies of God and Acts Media Group. This data is derived from impact analyses and cost-benefit ratios of community-focused programs.

Spiritual Impact and Community Integration

The growth of the Pentecostal movement in Springfield has resulted in the establishment of over 30 Assemblies of God congregations, many of which are multi-ethnic. The spiritual “benefit” is measured through consistent baptisms and testimonies of “USHUHUDA YA WALIYO BATIZWA” (Testimonies of those who were baptized) in the Swahili congregation, which provides a stabilization and support network for immigrants in the Ozarks.

Socio-Economic Benefit Analysis

Objective data regarding children’s programs, such as “ParentCorps,” indicates that faith-based early education and home visiting interventions have a positive cost-benefit ratio. These programs improve academic test scores and reduce behavior problems, yielding long-term societal benefits. Furthermore, the requirement for drug and alcohol testing for contractors building elementary facilities in Missouri, a standard supported by faith-based welfare initiatives, ensures a safer and more professional community environment.

Socio-Economic Indicator	Data / Findings	Relevance to AMG Mission
Early Childhood Interventions	Positive cost-benefit ratio in 8 of 11 programs	Supports the “education and welfare” mission
Impact Analysis	Respondents favored infrastructure projects	Demonstrates community engagement awareness
Employment Stamping	Drug testing requirements for contractors	Promotes “health and professional ethics”
Veterans Support	Rehabilitation engineering and devices	Focuses on “special needs” and vulnerable groups

The AMG framework for “benefit data” also includes the evaluation of humanitarian trust acts and environmental quality incentives, where funds are directed toward secondary education facilities and capital investment grants for transit and Corridors. These initiatives reflect a “missional church” movement where the focus has reoriented from attracting non-members to actively engaging with and reflecting the gospel in secular society.

Future Outlook: The 2026 Convergence

As the 125-year cycle approaches its terminus in 2026, the movement finds itself at a unique historical and technological junction. The upcoming dates of April 12, 2026 (Welcome to Central) and July 6–17, 2026 (Israel tour with Pastor Jim Bradford) signify a globalized, established movement that continues to seek fresh spiritual outpourings. The schedule of services for Palm Sunday 2026 and Resurrection Sunday 2026 at Central Assembly serves as a focal point for this final year, drawing together the themes of “Night of Worship,” “Holy Baptism,” and the “Sparkling Fountain” vision.

The role of Acts Media Group in 2026 is projected to be the “digital converter” of the 125-year history, ensuring that the testimonies of the past are shared through modern channels. Bishop Eversen’s use of flash drives and digital converters to transfer tapes from 28 years ago symbolizes the movement’s determination to ensure that the “invisible” spiritual fire is made “visible” to future generations.

The cycle that began with a single student speaking in an unknown tongue in a “folly” mansion concludes with a multi-national digital media network capable of reaching every continent simultaneously. This progression from Stone’s Folly to the Digital Fountain validates the prophetic worldview of early Pentecostals, who sensed that the history unfolding before them would be essential for the restoration of apostolic faith in the 21st century. The 125-year cycle thus stands as a documented testament to the interplay of divine timing, social resilience, and the relentless pursuit of making the spiritual reality of the “invisible” God visible to a world in need of “living water.”