2024 Summary

The spring brought with it,  the Church of the Living Word in Maine formally closing its doors and selling its building. Most members moved back to Pittsburgh.

 

Additionally, Northridge Christian Life Church in Cleveland was disfellowship by Chris Otis, after its Pastor sought to find out the details on the removal of Norman Jr. on his own instead of trusting Chris' assessment of the situation. This ultimately resulted in the church having no pastor, after Toomey resigned. Many have left NCLC, and it is essentially now the Falk family and a few others. They meet, share a little, someone occasionally preaches. Time will tell what will become of this unsustainable situation.

 

The summer brought a name change and PR reboot to Lakewiew, now known as Wellspring Church. All ties and references to the James family have been removed.

 

In early September 2024, founding pastor and self-proclaimed apostle, Norman Harvey James, Sr. died. There was no memorial service held in any ANTM church. "Dad James," a man who encouraged so many to break ties and shun family over the years, was, in the end, shunned by his own church family and was to be remembered no more. The circle of family rejection is now complete. What a tragic irony.

​​

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap." Galatians 6:7 

​

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

​

Fall 2024 update:

​

In the fall of 2024, Lakeview CLC changed its name to Wellspring.
Is it a Wellspring or a Whitewash?
 
We all love a good story where the villian has a change of heart, whether it be The Grinch, whose heart grew 3 sizes that day or Scrooge, of whom it was said in his later years learned to keep Christmas well. Stories of redemption are really at the heart of Christianity after all. 
 
And so, the latest chapter has arrived in our dealings with Church of the Living Word,  no wait, South Hills Christian Center, no, we mean Lakeview Christian Life Church, (checks his notes), apparently now it's Wellspring Church. 
 
In the Bible, we see that name changes mark a transition point in the character, behavior and trajectory of a person's life. Look no further than Saul the persecutor becoming Paul the apostle. What will become of this name change remains to be seen.
 
Honestly, it could go either way. It really could be a turning over of a new leaf, a final break with the way of the James clan (their name appears nowhere on the new site). More cynically, it could simply be a reset in public and internet perception with a name change that distances itself from the wake of negative press from stories of broken families.
 
This approach would callously be labeled as a whitewashing of their history, which indeed seems to be the representation of how their new website weaves the abridged Sparks' notes version of their history. For a more comprehensive read, we recommend our site's retelling of the history of that place, which in no point is at odds with their own version. Ours, however opens the whitewashed tomb to reveal the dead men's bones inside, metaphorically speaking.
 
The old adage, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me aptly applies here. So we will cautiously grant a modicum of a benefit of the doubt that some sort of gene splicing to the the DNA of that place has actually occurred and will observe how family relationships are navigated under this new moniker.
 
I, for one, have reached out to several people in the church and have been completely ignored. So, pardon my hesitation to go all in on yet another "new day". I hope to be proven wrong. We all do,  and as always, we are just a text or phone call away.
 
​As expected, once launching their site, they have enthusiastically left 5 star reviews for themselves. Keep in mind, over 80% of those leaving reviews of how great their church is, were born there. They have never attended any other church! Not exactly an informed assessment.
 
And unfortunately, they have chosen to systematically remove dozens of relevant 1 and 2 star reviews. Since their posture of manipulation has apparently not changed, we felt that renaming this site to follow them along would be prudent to protect any newcomers. 
​
Honestly, a reboot of this church should have started off with an open letter to the community, apologizing for the negative impact they have had in harming families throughout the area. And then, like any truly repentant group, they would actively make ammends to restore relationships. But that is not what we are seeing​. So, for now, what we are seeing is simply more of the same.
​
In closing, we find it ironic that they chose the name Wellspring Church. For there is in rural Ohio, just a few hours away, a retreat center dedicated to helping people who have freed themselves from cultic churches and are in need of support, recovering and healing. It, too, is called Wellspring and is affiliated with International Cultic Studies Association. Actually, several former members of South Hills, Lakeview, etc. have resided at Wellspring treatment center
to recover from what is now known as Wellspring church.
 
We still urge an abundance of caution for anyone considering to give this church a chance. This site provides ample warning and there are many safer local alternatives out there.

Peace.

​​

​​