From Ohio To Pittsburgh
Feeling ready to launch out on his own, Norman began to search for a place to start preaching. He apparently did seek Bethesda’s input in doing this. According to other first-hand accounts, Sister Pat (Beall) Gruits, Myrtle Beall’s daughter, who was a leader at Bethesda in her own right, told Norman to choose a major city to start a church, but he wouldn’t listen to her and instead chose the small town of Cadiz, Ohio.
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Norman started preaching in a rented storefront that he called ‘The Church of the Living Word’ sometime in 1966, according to The Remnant Series. To this day, Norman Jr. proudly displays a brick from that old original storefront in his office. But the church in Cadiz failed to gain momentum as a church plant and after 2 years of preaching there were only 4 members, FP, RP, BC and her children, and BL and her children. With this limited growth, the James’s were prepared to move on and, in their own words, and following the example of Jesus, “shake the dust off their feet” from this town where the locals were unprepared to hear their message.
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However, simultaneously, the Charismatic Movement was spreading all through the Ohio Valley, just as it was in the nation at large. Students at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio were responding to the Spirit and searching for leadership. Members of local fellowships in the Pittsburgh area were searching as well.
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So, during the summer of 1968, Norman and Becky went back to visit Bethesda Missionary Temple and it was there that they met a young man, NH. He was heavily involved in a Muskingum College prayer and fellowship group and was visiting Bethesda as well and was pleased to find out during his conversation with Norman that a “Bethesda affiliated church” was located in Cadiz, just over an hour away from his college campus. By the fall of 1968 N.H. began to tell his fellow charismatic group members that they all needed to become a part of a church.
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There were two churches that the students from Muskingum considered becoming a part of and disagreements arose as to which of two churches (Norman’s ‘Church of the Living Word’ or ‘Temple of God’ in Wheeling) was the best representative of Bethesda. They ultimately chose Norman. They did not know him that well, but believing he was endorsed by Bethesda, they put their collective trust in him.
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​​​The group included PW, GC, TS, KL, BZ DZ, BB, JH, DH, and others. At one point the group was over 40 students. The entire core of what would eventually become Lakeview was made up of people that Norman had not brought into the faith, but was, in fact a bible study led by another man that Norman co-opted for his own purposes. ​​
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This would prove to be a prototype for Norman’s ministry in the early days: ingratiate oneself into other intact groups, exert his role as a leader with Bethesda credibility (and later apostolic authority), assimilate the group into his purview of control, initially use and then later marginalize the existing leader, and finally remove said leader. This approach was not exactly the “Go and make disciples” command of Jesus that focused on evangelizing unsaved individuals, but it proved effective, nonetheless. ​​
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Eventually this reinvigorated church was full of these college students every weekend. They attended the morning and evening worship services. After the morning service, people would go over to one of the student’s houses for an afternoon meal and fellowship between services as a drive home in between services would be impractical.
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The students also began having Christian Life classes on Friday nights, which it is interesting to note through our research that the Christian Life Book appears to have been heavily borrowed from a pre-existing work by Pat Gruits, in a book called “Understanding God.” We were aware through interviews that many alleged that there was concern that Norman’s work was for the most part an uncredited work of another. So, in the interest of dispelling or confirming this rumor definitively, we acquired Ms. Gruits’ book to compare. The connection is instantly identifiable. Both books utilize a “catechism”-style of questions and answers. There is probably a 90-95% alignment of the actual theology (or “doctrine”) presented, with several chapters being word for word copies from Mrs. Gruits’ work. Below is just one example for the obvious sourcing, Mrs. Gruits - Understanding God first, and then next to it Norman James - Christian Life Series.
At any rate, in the spring of 1969, before most of the kids headed home for summer, some of the Muskingum group were confirmed as members with laying on of hands apparently from a guest for the graduation, the very same Pat (Beall) Gruits. Her presence at the graduation led further credibility of a sanctioning of Norman’s work by Bethesda.
But based on all available information, the relationship with Bethesda soon fell apart. In those early few years in Cadiz, people from the church attended annual conferences at Bethesda.
At one of those conferences Norman had a private conference with “Ma” Beall and Jim Beall. Norman questioned whether or not “Ma” Beall could scripturally be a pastor as a woman. Norman claimed that the Bealls refused to discuss the issue with him and at that point the relationship with Bethesda pretty much ended. We do know that several years later, when Myrtle Beall was on her deathbed, she contacted Norman and he went to Bethesda and they had a reconciliation of sorts. But it is important to note that Norman was not willing to maintain relationships with “those over him”, the very thing for which he would deride people who would later leave his church.
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Over the summer of 1969 NH’s mother invited friends she had met at a Faith at Work church building event to visit the church in Cadiz. DH and EH started travelling from Sistersville, West Virginia to attend services. During this time period Norman and Becky bought a nursing home and Norman quit his job at TRW. SM was a resident of this home and began attending. She and DH and EH were the next Christian Life class.
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Soon after, Norman and Becky pushed hard to have all members that were attending Church of the Living Word to leave their current homes and instead live in Cadiz. Pressure was applied to MH, DH, EH to move. Over the winter, friends of Norman and Becky, MK and GK and their three girls moved to Cadiz on the promise of eventual eldership. DH resigned his position in Sistersville and moved his family to Cadiz. Norman would not make DH an elder unless he moved. MH eventually moved to Cadiz as did NH and DH. DB and RB also started coming to the church. DH’s sister joined the church as well. This promise of ministry as a motivator of control coupled with coercion to obey Norman would become a hallmark of his ministry. Manipulation and power struggles were common even in those early days.
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The Muskingum College group continued to meet in New Concord with GC providing oversight there. A second wave of students started attending, including DG, RB and others. Others who graduated in N.H.’s college class moved to the Columbus area to form a church nucleus there.
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Norman and Becky sold their house in Cadiz and moved to Columbus and presided over the church there. At this point Norman began to see himself as an apostle over these locations, with MK and DH presiding and ministering in Cadiz, GC in New Concord, and Norman and Becky in Columbus. This continued for several years.
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When PW went back to Pittsburgh, he met and organized a group of Mt. Lebanon high school students who became students in a Christian Life Class and another nucleus for a church. TS went there to oversee this group and Norman travelled there to teach the catechism.
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As this Pittsburgh class neared completion, Norman was faced with consolidation. By this time, most of the Cadiz members were transplants to other locations, as GC was drafted for military service. Norman decided that all the small churches should all move to Pittsburgh to create the South Hills Christian Center. BC would not, or could not move, but everyone else was told to find a job in Pittsburgh and move. All were told to find residence in Mt. Lebanon if they could afford it, surrounding communities like Dormont if not. This consolidation created the base for the eventual Lakeview.
For many years the church rented halls and offices. During this time Norman began to see himself as not only a pastor, but as an apostle and began to exert his control over other groups. In this season, Norman connected with two other pastors in the area who were accepting his ministry. One was D. Beard in Uniontown, Pa, and the other was E. Miller in Meyerdale, Pa. Both leaders eventually decided to move their people to Pittsburgh, when Norman offered them both co-pastor positions. They were to be equals, but the actual dynamic morphed into Norman taking the primary position and explained that he was "first among equals". He used the same double speak to explain his authority over his elders. Eventually both men resigned, but with people who now had migrated from Columbus, New Concord, Cadiz, and South Hills, Norman had a sizable nucleus of families and began to plan on building a church. When these other pastors resigned from their positions, Norman kept as much of their flocks as he could. During this merger the church bought the current property in Cecil Township and the first phase of construction was completed before either D. Beard or E. Miller departed.
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This phase of ministry revealed several aspects of Norman’s personality, which would color his congregations and ministry over the ensuing decades. To put it plainly, Norman was a poacher of other people’s sheep. He was unable to maintain relationships with people that he would see as an “equal” or “over him”. He relied on heavy handed manipulation and coercion to control the lives of a few hundred people in Ohio, Pennsylvania and beyond. But with his power consolidated and having no rivals, Norman began to envision sending out pastors throughout the world, pastors firmly under his control.
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Next: Black Sunday