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Lakeview Christian Life Church Is Now ​Wellspring Church 
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ANTMQuestions.com Is Now Wellspringquestions.com 
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Latest post 3/12/25 
 

And Then There Was One:

The End Of An Era
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As we continue the end-stage of the ANTM (whatever the current name), the irony and historic echoes loom larger than they have in many years. The most famous line in a movie almost no ANTMers have seen is “I don’t know how to quit you,” and it couldn’t be more apropos in this moment. 

 

In the late 60s, Norman Sr shook the dust off his feet as he left Cadiz, Ohio, a town that failed to appreciate or notice the nascent apostle in their midst. In the late 70s, Norman tried to leave Ohio for good, conglomerating his little flocks on the I-70 corridor, moving for once and all to Pittsburgh. And yet the call of Ohio remained, new churches sprung up (or were recruited!) and for decades the Cleveland and Columbus locations remained as outposts, the most loyal of the feathers in the global ANTM cap. When other branches withered or failed to take root, the Ohio groups remained. 

 

And now we find that at last even the final holdout, Columbus, is gone. In ANTM parlance, for the first time since 1966, The Gospel of the Kingdom is not being preached in the state of Ohio. What began with such promise has, finally, ended. And maybe it’s important to note here that, no matter how sarcastic or cynical we may be in retelling it, we cannot compete with the vicious cynicism displayed by the erstwhile pastorate of Columbus in making the collapse of the church, or its closing, or abandonment—be about the sheep in that flock. Just as Norman’s failure to make a mark in Cadiz was somehow the fault of the denizens of Harrison County, the Columbus Pastor’s final kiss-off to his truly faithful flock became about their ability to be pastored. This is of course transparent nonsense. And along with everything else, it’s just mean. One pictures the former Apostle’s wife nodding approvingly from her new digs in the beyond. And indeed, such base meanness has come to be a characteristic of the reported behavior of the erstwhile Costa Concordia, er, Columbus pastor. 

 

So to recap, Sunday morning, the Columbus flock gathered to celebrate their place in God’s chosen remnant, and by the end of the service, their faithfulness was impugned and their church fellowship no longer existed. 

 

There are thousands of words to spend on this, truly the end of an era. One remembers the first multi-church summer camps, now nearly 40 years gone, where the children of the various churches met and befriended others on the same path. Of course we remember the excitement and purpose of Pastor’s conferences, with opening remarks by a plethora of pastors from places far and nearer. 

 

But that’s all gone now. And one thinks of the gospel of Mark where Jesus insists, in several parables, that his kingdom would grow and spread and become, as one parable states, a haven for all the birds of the field. This is perhaps not the story playing out in the ANTM as it continues to shrink and indeed the birds find themselves without a tree in which to take their weekly rest. Remnant theology is all well and good, but…how do you not succeed in Ohio? It’s the 23rd most devout State, more so than Pennsylvania, even stronger when you filter for Protestants. Ohioans want to believe. And you tell on yourself when you suggest otherwise. For shame. Stop being pointlessly mean. 

 

Of course what’s actually happening is the slow motion financial collapse of the ex-ANTM. One way or the other, the loss of their biggest supporters explains everything we’ve seen since the Mr. and Mrs. Apostle shuffled off this mortal coil. Certainly the churches were not in the robust, glowing health that Jesus hints at, had they been indeed painting a true and gracious picture of His kingdom, but generous financial backing can keep the illusion going for, it turns out, years. 

 

And so the last pushpin on the metaphorical bulletin board map of the formerly glorious ANTM has been removed. There are no outposts for the Kingdom anywhere on the planet except for Bridgeville itself. And it would seem that there’s not much left, but that belies the wreckage in its wake, families torn apart by misapplied scripture—and, we can’t emphasize this enough, just plain meanness—as the faithful have given thousands of dollars and decades of their life…for what? To be abandoned, insulted one last time by the most feeble of shepherds? What was the point of all of that, then. 

 

As always we invite anyone referred to or otherwise involved to correct any mistakes in attestation, interpretation, or comprehension which we will absolutely consider and amend if necessary.