TUPELO, MS -- Tupelo is an out of the way place located in the top part of the state of Mississippi. Tupelo’s most famous citizen was Elvis Presley. He was raised in one of the poorest families in the city. His father borrowed $800.00 from the bank to build a new home for his bride during the great depression. On January 8, 1935, Elvis Aaron Presley was born in that little two room house. It was a place of joy for the Presley’s but it was also a place of sadness. Elvis’ twin brother was born dead and was buried near the little home. His middle name was the name of the priesthood but he would go on to do other things. The hardware store where his mother bought his first guitar is still in business today. Elvis at the time didn’t want a guitar but tried to get his mother to buy him a gun to hunt with. It was in an Assembly of God Church in Tupelo that Elvis began to sing as a child. Old Shep was a song about his dog that he sang in front of the congregation. While the church was burned to the ground the memory of the shadow of this Mississippian is still cast over the world. When, "ELVIS," is mentioned people still 23 years after his death remember it, they knew him by his first name. Coming from a poor family that believed in God and tried to follow Him, Elvis’ father lost their home and moved to Memphis in later years, but the first touch of music Elvis ever had was in the humble beginnings of a country church.

Tupelo today is a hub city. By day more than a 100,000 people travel to this city, at night it shrinks to 40,000 inhabiting the city. Several factories that manufacture furniture are located in the city. There has been a stirring in the city among the clergy. Pastor Cecil Pumphrey is a native Mississippian but he has been close to some of the most anointed people in Pentecost. At 18 years of age he was ordained to the ministry -- one week after leaving high school. On a vacation he had the opportunity to meet Ralph Wilkerson of the Melody Land Church in Los Angeles, California. In those days the Jesus movement was in full swing. Ralph was impressed with the young minister and asked Cecil to come to Los Angeles to help him. Cecil was a man of faith, he packed up his family and started out to Southern California from Tupelo. He had no promise of a job and joined the staff at Melody Land Church without a salary. It was this kind of loyalty that caught the eye of Ralph Wilkerson. Wilkerson saw in Pumphrey a man he could trust. The associate pastor at the time was called somewhere else and Cecil was asked to become the Associate Pastor of Melody Land Church.

Pumphrey learned about Azusa Street and had the opportunity to meet two people who were in the move of God. The old building of Azusa had just been torn down and pavement for a parking lot replaced it. The initial move of God was birthed on Bonnie Bray Street near the old Azusa location. "It happened in a living room -- Brother James Seymour had not received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost yet, but as he was teaching the presence of God filled the room and he was filled at that time. Matty Cummins was nine at the time and Brother Catledge who pastors a church in Pasadena was 10-years-old. They were at the little house when the move of God began during the initial outpouring. The stable they selected was on Azusa Street, it had been a Methodist Church. Most every Pentecostal denomination can be traced back to that initial move of God," said Pumphrey.

Matty Cummins and Catledge were both healed at the meetings. One was healed of tuberculosis. When I was associate pastor of Melody Land Church it was my responsibility to take the seminary students out to do street evangelism, we had a total of 600 students in our school of theology. I taught on outreach in the school and we used to take the students down to 7th and Broadway to preach on the street. The old Clifton Cafeteria was located there, the birth place of The Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship. We took ten students over to the place where the Azusa Street revival was and parked our motor home right on the spot of the old building -- at the time it had just been paved. That day a Baptist Minister from back east came to the old place. You could still feel the anointing on that spot, and as we prayed for him, he was instantly Baptized in the Holy Spirit. There is still a powerful anointing there, it was like that -- there was still a lingering anointing over that place.

As we drove to the Methodist Church we parked our car and went in to meet a variety of pastors. In the small room were gathered a cross section of denominations calling out to Jesus for revival. It was a call from Belinda Upchurch that opened the door for The Remnant to come to Tupelo. After reading the article about New Year’s Eve, the Spirit of God fell on her and she said, it is time for Tupelo to touch the face of God. After reading the article about Bill Easter she felt the anointing of God cut through her heart as she called Cecil Pumphrey and asked his group to take her to prayer. She then called The Remnant Editor to come and visit the men of God in the city. Editor Jerrell Miller was at the early morning prayer meeting at the United Methodist Church. "Men were very close there as they sat at first around a table and took requests for prayer. As the group moved to the sanctuary the petitions of healing and salvation were brought before the altar of God. The young Methodist Minister, Jeff Switzer, was the last to pray in the group. As he prayed you could feel the river of God flow through his mouth. Later Tommy Galloway, the former UPC Minister, said to me, "Did you feel that when he prayed. There is a powerful anointing on him." Tommy had gone through his own persecution for joining the group. Tommy was disfellowshipped by the leadership in the United Pentecostal Church for joining with other denominations to pray and preach in their churches. Tommy took me to his sanctuary. It was a brand new church and Tommy said he only started with just 20 people a few years ago. The power of God began to hit the small group and little by little it rose. "I believe the one thing that helped us grow as fast as we have grown is prayer, and the willingness to join others. The day we got rid of religion was the day God began to sweep our church with mighty power. I realize that we will never make it without our other brothers in Christ. The more I began to walk in that light the more the brothers with whom I had fellowshipped for years began to pull away. Very often I preach for the Methodist Pastor and I allow him to preach for me."

There is a hunger for the move of God in this city. There are still those who will always walk leaning on the religion of denomination but these chosen few have banded together with others in the city to seek the face of God. Tupelo is the home of American Family Radio and Don Wildman is a member of the church where we prayed in the morning.

Cecil Pumphrey brought another person to me that couldn’t be at the prayer meeting early that morning. He was a Baptist Minister who felt the touch of God so powerful after returning from several meetings. He knew there was more than the denominational religion that he was caught up in. After making a trip to the Brownsville Revival he found himself in the pulpit telling his Southern Baptist Congregation that the move of God was real in Pensacola. From that day on the battle of religion and Spirit went on until those who wanted more pulled away from those who wanted religion. The price he paid was a hard lesson but he looked at me in my face and said, "Where else will we go -- I will lose everything I have but I’m not going back. What is there to go back to but dead religion." Jim Varnon never left the Southern Baptist Convention an is still pastoring an SBC church in Tupelo today.

That day the Spirit of God wasn’t through as Cecil Pumphrey drove me back to the church he pastors (Good News Church). Cecil asked me to pray for some of the young people in the high school. As the oil bottle was brought out they were touched at the front of the church altar . Weeping and shaking started happening as words were spoken over the young people who had come for ministry. It was spontaneous as people started coming into the sanctuary from the main office and those who worked in the church, it was spontaneous as many were touched and comforted.

When Cecil and I sat in the back room with Belinda Upchurch we knew God was moving on the city. The expectant spirit was among the people, old and young.. Everywhere we traveled among those who were believers, the talk was about a move of God for the city. Tupelo is known as the birth place and home of Elvis Presley but a new fire of desire has sparked hope among those who love Jesus in the city. That afternoon Cecil and I looked at the 9,000 seat auditorium and agreed it would be the perfect place to start a fire. Prayer is on the altar right now and the hope is high, come Lord Jesus.