The 2,100-seat auditorium at King's Park International Church in Durham is packed with a multi-racial sea of people who sway to the music -- a blast of electric guitars, saxophone, drums and keyboard.

"Jesus, I believe in you," they sing, their arms raised, their eyes shut.

"Jesus, I belong to you," they cry as if their very being depends on it.

At King's Park, Christianity is not just a set of beliefs, it's an intense spiritual experience. That experience has its roots in the Pentecostal movement, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary today -- Pentecost Sunday, the day Christians mark the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Jesus' disciples 50 days after his resurrection.

It was in a former Los Angeles livery stable that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were revisited upon an interracial gathering of Christians, marking the start of the Pentecostal movement. The revival on Azusa Street in 1906 was marked by an exuberant worship and a set of spiritual gifts that King's Park and other churches uphold to this day. Those include gifts such as the power to heal, prophesy and work miracles, as well as speaking in tongues -- characterized by an intense prayer experience in which people are moved to speak in a language they may not know.

Since then, the Pentecostal movement has spread across the globe, becoming the fastest-growing expression of Christianity, with an estimated 580 million adherents worldwide. Many church historians consider it the most significant development of the the 20th century.

King's Park remains independent and has not joined the historic Pentecostal denominations. But the church's practices reflect the roots of the movement as well as its future. Like the historic Pentecostal churches, King's Park upholds the doctrine of "spirit baptism," in which Christians at their conversion or afterward are blessed with miraculous powers.

Unlike most mainline churches, King's Park is one of the most diverse congregations in the Triangle. While Sunday morning remains the most segregated time in America, the 1,400 members of King's Park have kept the promise of racial harmony that characterized the worship at Azusa Street. Forty percent of the church's members are black, 40 percent are white, and the remaining 20 percent are Asian American, Latino or other ethnicities.

"Our prayer is that God's kingdom will come on Earth as it is heaven: an undivided, unsegregated body of people who love and worship God," said Ron Lewis, King's Park founder and senior minister. "We want to see ourselves as a suburb of heaven."

King's Park is part of the second wave of the Pentecostal movement, sometimes called "charismatic renewal." The church began in the 1980s as a campus ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University, organizing as a congregation in 1990. But in its short history, it has mirrored the expansion of Pentecostalism internationally.

On any given Sunday, worshippers hear about the 25-plus churches the congregation has helped start in places such as China and the Ukraine. Two weeks ago, the focus was Asia. On two big screens in the church auditorium, worshippers watched a video of a secret Christian gathering in China.

Christopher McKoy, a floor finisher at Duke Hospital, said that international focus is exciting.

"When I came here and saw everyone coming together, it was special to me," said McKoy, who attends a class for new members. "I feel the love here."

'Azusa Street East'

That a church such as King's Park should emerge in North Carolina is no surprise. In the early 1900s, North Carolina, and especially the Harnett County town of Dunn, were dubbed "Azusa Street East."

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