In the ensuing years, Norman would "prophetically call" and then in short order "send out" an individual pastor with his family and perhaps one or two other couples to various areas to "plant a flag for the Kingdom" and start churches.

​

As a result, in the 1980s and 1990s, the ANTM expanded to Jamaica, Hawaii, Boston, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, Alabama, Maine and the UK.

 

In the 2000s, there were attempts to start churches in Nashville and India.

 

Each of these "church plants" were important to Norman, in that they provided additional avenues of narcissistic control for him to exert his power. They also provided another "flag" to display at the annual Pastor's Conference. But, little impact was felt within the cities to which these men were sent. 

​

Every one of these expansions are now defunct, except for Maine, where Norman Sr. and Becky reside and their son preaches to a small congregation of less than 30.  Hawaii, Boston, South Africa, Nashville all failed to grow and so they were shut down.  Jamaica, Brazil, Japan, Alabama, and the UK followed a pattern of closure consisting of:

​

1) Norman or Becky didn't like particular practices of the pastor or congregations.

​

2) Pastors were accused of being disobedient to Norman and Becky.

​

3) This disobedience was equated to overt rebellion and the pastor of the church was removed and the church either disbanded or went on to operate outside of the ANTM.

​

*There was one situation that met the scriptural grounds for pastoral removal and the pastor was indeed removed, but in the interest of discretion, we will leave out those details.

​

Needless to say, the fruit of Norman's ministry is not one of flourishing or growth. 

​

There have been a couple of efforts over the years in outreach. This basically consists of trying to get acquaintances of ANTM members, who are already Christians, to attend the Christian Life Class. But most of these efforts end when information on the "Jesus' Name" baptismal formula are introduced and attendees balk at the undue emphasis placed on this aberrant doctrine. That and the "unique" praise and worship they produce week in and week out in services foster their ongoing sense of superiority to other Christian churches.

 

Chris Otis seems to be the main driver of the 2019 clamp down on members associating with former members. His anger laden delivery included referring to former members as "covenant breakers" and "spiritual harlots". His role is one of tyranny, suspicion and anger, not servant leadership.

​

In the age of COVID, the remaining congregations in Pittsburgh and Ohio continue to shrink as Chris Otis has assumed the enforcement role of COVID policies and has taken the church into new realms of draconian control of relationships and outside of church activities, as well as COVID policies that run counter to many in the congregation. As a result, many have left over the last 2 years and many more are simply trying to navigate their exits in a way that keeps their family relationships intact, a very difficult thing to do under this regime. 

​

The future seems to be one of continued atrophy as the founding generation reaches their elderly years. Younger people find themselves either spread too thin or questioning what it is all for at this point. It has become apparent that the most important thing is simply maintaining the system, the power structure and the financial levels of support from the congregation. Obedience is preached, Jesus is usually not, except as an example of obedience. The gospel of the atonement is not preached, but the gospel of loyalty and keeping your commitments and avoiding problem family is. 

​

The only new converts come from dating relationships that occur outside the church. These provide opportunity for a narrative that God is still calling "ones and twos", but the result is unfortunately new families outside of the church that get to experience first hand the negative transformation of their loved one into a pharisee and the slow withdrawal of that new convert from their family of origin. It is tragic that this still occurs, but "love" blinds these young ones from objectively weighing what they are getting into and instead they trust the version of events spoon fed to them by their love interests and leadership.  

 

The rate of exit continues to greatly exceed the rate of entry, so it is only a matter of time before this monument to Norman Sr. crumbles.

​

​