​To look at the website of Wellspring Church, you might assume it shares the familiar origin story of many local congregations - a small group gathering, slowly growing, and eventually becoming an established church. ​​But the whole story of Wellspring Church traces back to its founder Norman James, who passed from this life into the next in September of 2024.

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In 1966, after spending some time under the influence of Bethesda Missionary Temple, Norman James felt compelled to begin his own ministry in Cadiz, OH. As his storefront church struggled to grow, something much larger was stirring throughout the region. The Charismatic Movement was moving rapidly through the Ohio Valley, mirroring the wave sweeping across the country.

 

Students at Muskingum College in New Concord were experiencing spiritual renewal and searching earnestly for someone who could guide them.  Small student fellowships in other cities including Pittsburgh were feeling the same hunger, groups of young believers encountering the Spirit but unsure where to turn for pastoral leadership or doctrinal direction. The atmosphere across the valley was charged with expectation, and many were looking for a voice to follow.

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By the height of the Charismatic activity at Muskingum, the student fellowship had grown to more than forty young people. They prayed together, worshiped together, and believed they were witnessing something profound. When they encountered Norman James at a meeting in Bethesda, they assumed he was part of the same spiritual stream that had fed their awakening. Trusting that connection, and seeking a shepherd for the work beginning among them, they placed their hopes, and ultimately their futures, in his hands.​​​

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With multiple groups of young people in different cities under his leadership, Norman James determined that all these fellowships must consolidate and move to Pittsburgh. He directed his young followers to move and find residence in Mt. Lebanon or surrounding communities. And so they moved - young people, young couples, and young families with small children - carrying faith in God and youthful idealism.

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After renting halls to meet in Mt. Lebanon, this consolidated community would eventually purchase a property in Cecil, PA. Cabana Beach Park was a former amusement park in Cecil Township that operated from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was on this site where the current Wellspring Church was constructed. A church run school was built adjacent to the church building where families in the community enrolled their children for education.

 

Sundays meant two formal services - a lengthy morning meeting and a shorter evening gathering - both requiring Sunday best attire. At the end of the service, the people would roll up the carpets and stack the chairs against the wall. Then they would step out of the building together, spilling into the muggy summer nights or the biting Pittsburgh winters.

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Many who were raised at South Hills Christian Center or Lakeview Christian Life Church remember spending every school day at Center Christian Academy, later Lakeview Christian Academy, dressed in uniforms and surrounded entirely by the church community. There were many good, decent, and caring people who taught in the church school, people with strong educations and substantial experience who invested into the students. 

 

For those of us who grew up in this community, church life wasn’t just central - it was all-encompassing. It shaped our routines, our worldview, all our relationships, and nearly every day of the week. Norman James, his wife, and his family stood at the center of the world that raised us. Some of us trusted him because we had never known anything else. We grew up believing that someone with his physical presence and commanding voice must be the kind of leader God sends.

From the beginning, Norman distanced himself from other churches and oversight. He consolidated his own authority through a growing set of distinctive doctrines and expectations. What emerged was an independent Apostolic/Oneness enclave under his control that stood apart from any Christian church both theologically and relationally For those of us raised in this community, our understanding of God came from Norman himself; he was the only spiritual authority we had ever known.

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Sadly, his policies, and at times his personal interventions, narrowed our life opportunities and confined the limits of our choices. Though he spoke of our possibility and growth, in practice he restricted our movement, our independence, and our ability to grow out of his control - promising us the world while quietly clipping our wings.​​

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It remains difficult to fully express the depth of the wounds left by Norman James, wounds inflicted through his personal influence and by the people whose authority he cultivated. With the support of those closest to him, he separated us from those who rejected his control - including our own family members and people that we loved. ​Some looked to him for the love of a father, yet he proved to be a man whose deepest devotion was to himself.

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Many who lived through those years describe Norman James’ presence, words, and authority as casting a heavy cloud over them personally - a weight that settled into their spiritual lives and shaped how they saw themselves before God. Under that cloud, some experienced a kind of inward storm: confusion, fear, and the sense that something deeply important within them had been crossed in ways they could not fully understand at the time.

 

These responses are not imagined or overstated; they arise from real experiences that touched people at the most intimate levels of faith and identity. What happened was spiritual in nature, and because of that, its impact was unmistakably real. For many, the effects did not fade easily, but continued to shape how they understood God, themselves, and their place in the world.

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To everyone who shared those years: we carry these memories with you. We remember the hope you felt, the pain you endured, and the precious things you cannot get back. What you lived through matters. What you lost matters. You are seen, you are remembered, and you are not alone.​ The purpose of this website is to remember what was lost, to speak truthfully about what happened, and to help others avoid being drawn into the system of control he set into motion.

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The presence of Norman James, and the system that gathered around him, settled above us like an unbroken cloud near the summit of a mountain. It dimmed the light, narrowed our vision, and distorted our view of the sky. Yet all along, the summit and the sky remained - open, generous, untouched by the shadow beneath it. In saying goodbye to him, we remember: the freedom above us was always there, waiting for us to rise into it, waiting for us to spread our wings and fly.

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