Our first experience in a setting where people were speaking in tongues was probably between the ages of 15 and 16. This was also our initial encounter with the idea of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of these gifts. The movement we were part of taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which originally referred to sanctification in the old holiness tradition but evolved in the early 1900s to include the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. Although the group we were with was not part of the Pentecostal denomination, many within the group believed that speaking in tongues was the initial evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. We too experienced speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of our baptism in the Holy Spirit and held this view for many years.

As we grew older and attended Bible college, we encounte ...