From Latter Rain To Bethesda Temple
It’s been more than 50 years since the establishment of the Association of New Testament Ministries (ANTM). The founding church, Lakeview Christian Life Church, now boasts 3rd and 4th generation members. One thing that we have noticed in talking over the group’s history is just how little these later generations know about the ANTM’s beginning years. We thought it might be valuable to capture some of this history, especially since we are fortunate to have members from the beginning still with us.
Our intent is simply to tell the story of the ANTM from a historical perspective. Interviews and firsthand accounts along with source documents from the Sword and Trowel and transcripts from previously preached sermons were used in formulating the history. Any errors are unintentional but are possible when relying on the collective memories of many people with events that occurred over 50 years ago in some cases.
Prior to delving into the history of the ANTM, a little historical background is necessary to help place ANTM in history. It’s crucial to understand the history of the Pentecostal movement in the 20th century to properly place the church in its correct context. The simplest way to state it is that around the turn of the century a massive revival took place in California in Azusa Street in San Francisco. The extraordinary thing is that millions of Pentecostals, which remains the fastest-growing Christian movement, trace their roots to this moment in 1905 and 1906. The second thing to understand is that several streams flow from this river, and ANTM belongs simultaneously in at least two of them.
The explosive beginnings of the Pentecostal movement caused its spread throughout North America but by the 1930s it had cooled off. The next big revival was Latter Rain, a movement which began in Western Canada. A housewife living in Detroit heard of this and drove dozens of hours into Canada up to North Battleford, Saskatchewan in search of what God had for her. This was Myrtle “Ma” Beall, and she brought back what she had seen and heard and founded one of the great Latter Rain churches, Bethesda Temple, which exists to this day.
By 1960 Pentecostalism had begun to be mainstreamed into American denominations. Prior to this, the gifts and signs were not seen as compatible with mainstream American Christian practice. The Spirit “broke through” in an Episcopalian church service in, again, California, and once again Pentecostal experiences began to spread.
The crucial thing is that by 1966 the momentum of the original Latter Rain movement had receded. Just as Latter Rain was descended from, but also a tangential reigniting of what had started in Azusa Street, the Charismatic Movement was a non-linear descendant of Latter Rain. What was actually happening in the United States was a movement from which sprang hundreds of independent, non-denominational churches all across the nation. A huge counter-cultural religious awakening was happening. This impacts the ANTM story because Norman James was perfectly positioned in this moment in time to seize the opportunity. So, who is Norman James? This is the first question we should ask, as it is best to begin any history of a movement by considering the life of the founding leader himself.