When Jesus Extends His Hand to Us

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Wellspring Church has historically presented adherence to its distinctive teaching as an expression of faithfulness to Jesus Christ - a willingness to hold “convictions,” remain “narrow,” resist compromise, and follow Jesus “no matter the cost.”

 

But that framing obscures the real issue.

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When Jesus extends His hand to us, the first question is not whether we are willing to follow at any cost, even when no one else will. Peter himself stepped out of the boat onto the water, but his safety was not found in the courage of the step; it was found in Christ, who “immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him” (Matthew 14:31). The first question is whether we are following Christ Himself and the gospel He gave to His apostles.

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A person can be courageous, sincere, sacrificial, deeply devoted, and filled with love for God, yet still be mistaken about what God requires. Sacrifice does not make a teaching true. The real question is whether that cost is being borne for the gospel of Jesus Christ - or for a different gospel presented in His name.

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The Dividing Line Is the Gospel

Wellspring calls itself a non-denominational Christian church, but its definition of the gospel cannot be reconciled with the teaching of the New Testament apostles.

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That dividing line is not personality.
It is not style or tone.
It is not tongues.

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The dividing line is the gospel itself.

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Wellspring teaches a “gospel of the kingdom” that is not the gospel preached by the apostle Paul, not the gospel defended by the Reformers, not the gospel defended by A. W. Tozer, and not the gospel recognized within historic Christianity.

 

It is a different gospel rooted in Oneness Pentecostal doctrine, shaped further through the teachings and personal revelations of Wellspring founder Norman H. James, and enforced through institutional pressure.

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Because these teachings concern the gospel, what it means to be born again, who belongs to Christ and His Kingdom, and how assurance is grounded, this is not a secondary disagreement. It is the issue.

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This page examines the substance of a recent sermon from Wellspring Church and the doctrinal claims it makes about the gospel.

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“Only one can be true.” That is correct.

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In his sermon, the preacher states that:

• truth is precise, not opinion

• only one doctrine can be true

• deviation must be refuted, not accommodated

 

That standard is fair - if it is applied honestly.​ When we do apply it, the result is unavoidable:  Wellspring’s gospel is not the gospel Paul preached.

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There are not two gospels.

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The New Testament does not teach a “gospel of grace” for salvation and a separate “gospel of the kingdom” for being born again, inheritance, or kingdom participation.

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There is one gospel.

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Paul speaks of “the gospel” in the singular. When he warns against distortion, he does not warn against choosing the wrong category of gospel - he warns against proclaiming another one. A second message that alters the terms of belonging is not an advanced stage of the gospel; it is a different gospel.

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Paul warned the Galatians in the strongest terms about anyone altering the gospel he had already preached:​

 

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.

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As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6–9, NASB)​​

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What Wellspring teaches: a delayed, conditional gospel

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Wellspring’s "gospel of the kingdom" can be summarized this way:

• A person may believe in Jesus and be “saved”

• Yet still not be born again

• Yet still not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit

 

Until they undergo:

• Water baptism using a distinct baptismal formula created by Norman James (“in Jesus’ Name for the circumcision of heart and the remission of sin”), a wording that appears nowhere in Scripture and combines two separate biblical concepts into a single required phrase.

• Baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues as the required evidence, functionally verified by church leadership

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Until then, the person remains in an unbiblical "spiritual middle state" - outside the Kingdom of God, without the indwelling Holy Spirit, without the remission of their sin.

 

This is not an incidental teaching. It is the structural center of Wellspring theology, and it is what allows leaders to:

• withhold assurance

• define who is “really” in

• require submission to the system for spiritual legitimacy

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This is not the gospel of grace. It is a gated gospel, with gates created by Norman James and carried on by his successors. It is not the gospel taught by the apostle Paul and the other apostles; it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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What Paul taught: the Spirit is given when you believe

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Paul does not speak ambiguously on this point. In fact, in Galatians he asks the very question that exposes the central problem with Wellspring's “gospel of the kingdom”:

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“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2)

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Paul's question assumes an answer his readers already knew: they received the Holy Spirit when they heard the gospel and believed. He does not point them to a subsequent baptismal formula, a later spiritual experience, speaking in tongues, or confirmation by church leaders. He points them back to hearing the gospel with faith.

 

Paul repeats the same argument only a few verses later:

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“Does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:5)

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And again:

“So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:14)

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This is particularly important because Wellspring teaches that a person can genuinely hear the gospel, repent, and believe in Jesus Christ, yet still remain without the indwelling Holy Spirit until additional requirements are completed.

 

Paul presents no such intermediate category. His argument is precisely the opposite: the promised Spirit is received through faith.

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Paul teaches the same truth elsewhere:

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“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise." (Ephesians 1:13)

 

The sequence is remarkably clear: 

 

They heard the gospel. They believed. They were sealed with the Holy Spirit.

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Paul does not say: You heard and believed, but the Spirit remained only “with you” until you received further instruction, were baptized with a particular wording, and subsequently demonstrated the gift of tongues.

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That sequence is essential to Wellspring's theology, but it is absent from Paul's gospel.

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Nor is Galatians 3 merely a general statement that faith is important. Paul deliberately appeals to the Galatians' reception of the Holy Spirit as evidence for his argument about the gospel. He asks them to remember how their Christian life actually began:

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“Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3)

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For Paul, receiving the Spirit belongs at the beginning of the Christian life. The Spirit is not a later status attained after a believer progresses through additional requirements.

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And then, only a few verses later, Paul states the believer's standing before God with extraordinary simplicity:

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“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)

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This leaves no room for a person who has truly placed his faith in Jesus Christ, yet remains outside the family of God awaiting a further spiritual status. Paul does not say that faith begins a process by which a person may later become a son of God. He says that in Christ Jesus, through faith, they are already sons of God.

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And because they are sons, Paul writes:

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“Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6)

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Paul's theology is consistent:

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• The Spirit is received through faith (Galatians 3:2–5, 14).

• Those who believe the gospel are sealed with the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14).

• Anyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).

• All believers are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).

• Because they are sons, God sends the Spirit of His Son into their hearts (Galatians 4:6).

 

Paul therefore leaves no room for Wellspring's spiritual middle state: a person who has genuinely heard the gospel, repented, and believed in Jesus Christ, yet still does not belong to Him, remains outside the kingdom, lacks remission of sins, and does not possess the indwelling Holy Spirit.

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Paul never describes such a believer. His argument runs in the opposite direction: those who hear the gospel with faith receive the promised Spirit, those who belong to Christ possess the Spirit of Christ, and those who believe in Christ Jesus are already sons of God.

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“With you” but not “in you”

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Wellspring attempts to resolve this contradiction by teaching that when a person believes, the Holy Spirit may be “with” them but not yet “in” them. According to Wellspring, a person may believe in Christ and be “saved,” while the Spirit remains only “with” that person until the additional requirements of its “gospel of the kingdom” are completed.

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But Paul does not describe such a category of believer.

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He does not teach that those who hear the gospel with faith receive only the Spirit's external presence while awaiting a later experience of His indwelling. Instead, Paul asks the Galatians directly:

 

“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?" (Galatians 3:2)

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Paul's answer is unmistakable: they received the Spirit by hearing with faith.

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Wellspring may appeal to Jesus' words in John 14:17 that the Spirit “remains with you and will be in you.” But Jesus spoke those words to His disciples before His death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Wellspring takes this pre-Pentecost distinction and applies it to people who hear and believe the gospel after Pentecost.

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Paul does not.

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When Paul describes what happens to those who hear and believe the gospel, he says they are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). He says the promised Spirit is received through faith (Galatians 3:14). And he makes possession of the Spirit inseparable from belonging to Christ:

 

“But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:9)

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For Paul, there is no category of a person who truly belongs to Christ through faith but remains without His indwelling Spirit.

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This creates a serious problem for Wellspring's distinction. If a person has genuinely believed in Christ but the Spirit is still only “with” them and not “in” them, then according to Romans 8:9, in what sense does that person yet belong to Christ?

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And if Wellspring says, “You have believed in Christ, but you do not yet have the Spirit dwelling within you,” the disagreement is not merely with Evangelical Christianity, or with one particular Christian tradition.

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It is with Paul's explicit answer to the question:

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How did you receive the Spirit?

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Paul's answer is:

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“By hearing with faith.”​​​​​​​​

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The dividing line is not tongues

 

This must be stated clearly, because Wellspring often obscures it.

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Tongues as the only evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit has historically functioned as a secondary doctrinal dividing line between Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity. But it has never been the boundary line of historic Christian faith.

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Many classical Trinitarian Pentecostal churches teach that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, while still affirming that a person who truly belongs to Christ has already been born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Those churches remain within historic Trinitarian Protestant Christianity.

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Wellspring does not.​

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The issue is not the debate over tongues as the evidence of Spirit baptism, but Wellspring's denial that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer upon faith. Wellspring instead creates an intermediate spiritual condition in which a person may genuinely believe in Christ and be “saved,” yet still remain outside the Kingdom, not born again, and without the indwelling Spirit. 

 

This relocates assurance from Christ to an institution, transforms human leaders into gatekeepers, and turns the gospel into a human-managed process rather than the sovereign act of God. ​

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This teaching that a believer remains not yet born again and without the indwelling Holy Spirit until completing Jesus-Name water baptism and receiving Spirit baptism evidenced by tongues is historically associated with Oneness Pentecostal theology.

 

This understanding of being born again and the indwelling Spirit has been rejected across the major traditions of historic Trinitarian Protestant Christianity, including Reformed, Lutheran, Wesleyan-Holiness, Baptist, Evangelical, Trinitarian Pentecostal, non-denominational, and independent Protestant churches.​​

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In the sermon, the preacher testifies that he believed in Christ yet was not born again and did not receive the indwelling Holy Spirit until later instruction was given. This raises a critical question: if Christ Himself is the gate to the Kingdom, and Scripture teaches that entry into that Kingdom comes through the Spirit’s regenerating work, what exactly was missing from his faith in Christ that Norman James later taught him?

 

If faith in Christ left the preacher outside the Kingdom until he learned the three-step system, then what functioned as the gate to the Kingdom - Jesus Christ, or the system taught by Norman James?

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The Apostle Paul vs. the Self-Proclaimed Apostle Norman James

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This brings the underlying conflict into focus: the teaching of the Apostle Paul stands in direct opposition to the “gospel of the kingdom” taught by Wellspring's founder and self-proclaimed apostle, Norman James.

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Paul taught that those who hear the gospel and believe receive the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:2, 14) and are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

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Norman James taught that believing the gospel was not enough. A believer could be “saved,” yet still remain outside the kingdom of God, not born again, without remission of sins, and without the indwelling Holy Spirit until additional requirements were completed.

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The contrast is difficult to avoid:

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The Apostle Paul: You received the Spirit “by hearing with faith.” (Galatians 3:2)

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Norman James: You may hear and believe, but the Spirit is only “with you.” To receive the Spirit “in you,” you must proceed through the additional requirements of the “gospel of the kingdom.”

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Both teachings cannot describe the same spiritual condition.

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The New Testament does not present the church as waiting for later apostles to recover a gospel that had been lost. The church is built upon Jesus Christ and the foundational witness of the apostles He personally commissioned (Ephesians 2:20).

 

Paul goes further: even if an angel from heaven were to proclaim a different gospel, that later revelation was to be rejected rather than accepted as restored truth (Galatians 1:8–9).

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And this raises the question at the heart of Wellspring's claim to remnant status and restored apostolic teaching:

 

When the teaching of a modern self-proclaimed "apostle" conflicts with the teaching of an Apostle whose writings are part of the inspired New Testament, which apostle should Christians believe?

 

 

Paul’s warning to the Galatians cuts against Wellspring, not for it

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The preacher in this sermon invokes Galatians to warn against “distortion” of the gospel.

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Paul’s concern in Galatians included the imposition of requirements beyond faith in Christ as necessary conditions for full belonging within the new covenant community in Christ.

 

The irony is stark.

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Wellspring accuses dissenters of “another gospel,” while defending a system that:

• adds conditions after faith

• withholds full inclusion until compliance

• makes assurance dependent upon whether the prescribed requirements have been fulfilled

 

Paul's warning therefore cuts against the logic of Wellspring's system - not against those asking whether the additional requirements imposed by Wellspring are found in the gospel Paul preached.​​

 

 

A. W. Tozer's theology was incompatible with Wellspring's gospel of the kingdom​

 

In the sermon, the preacher repeatedly invokes A. W. Tozer, seeking to align Wellspring with Tozer’s theological authority even though Tozer did not share Wellspring’s distinctive teaching on being born again, the Kingdom, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

Tozer occupies a unique place in Wellspring's history. Norman James appealed repeatedly to Tozer's writings and teaching throughout his ministry, at times even referring to Tozer as “my pastor.” Yet Tozer was a prominent pastor and leader within the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a Trinitarian denomination whose understanding of the kingdom and the Holy Spirit was fundamentally different from the Oneness-derived “gospel of the kingdom” later taught by Norman James.

 

A. W. Tozer lived well after the introduction of the three-step gospel of Oneness Pentecostalism, and witnessed various apostolic-restoration movements during his lifetime. Wellspring sometimes suggests that Tozer was simply unaware of the “restored” teaching later brought by Norman James. But Tozer's own theology leaves little ambiguity about where he stood.​

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Tozer did not teach that a person could truly believe in Christ and be saved while remaining outside the Kingdom, not born again, and without the indwelling Holy Spirit until completing a three-step process. Nor did he teach that Jesus-name water baptism and speaking in tongues were necessary requirements for being born again.

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These were not minor differences. Tozer's Trinitarian theology and understanding of being born again were fundamentally incompatible with the Oneness-derived system taught by Norman James and Wellspring Church.

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To repeatedly quote Tozer while teaching a gospel fundamentally different from the one he believed and proclaimed is not fidelity to Tozer. It misrepresents his beliefs.

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Acts 19 is not Paul’s gospel - and Acts does not establish required steps

 

Wellspring appeals to Acts 19 as evidence that Paul taught a gospel involving belief, water baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit as distinct elements. While they may not insist on a strict order, they do teach that all of these must ultimately be present for someone to be born again and enter the kingdom of God.

 

This interpretation by Wellspring founder Norman James closely parallels the Oneness Pentecostal reading of Acts, which also treats belief, baptism, and receiving the Spirit as necessary components of being born again.​ But this interpretation asks one narrative to carry more weight than Acts itself supports.

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Acts 19 describes a specific historical situation. These were disciples who knew only John’s baptism and had not heard that the Holy Spirit had been given. Luke records what happened when Paul encountered this unique group, but the passage itself does not present these events as a universal framework that all believers must follow in order to be born again.

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More importantly, Acts itself records different patterns:

• In Acts 2, people are told to repent and be baptized.

• In Acts 8, the Samaritans believe and are baptized before receiving the Spirit.

• In Acts 10, Cornelius and his household receive the Spirit before water baptism.

• In Acts 19, disciples who knew only John’s baptism receive further instruction, are baptized, and receive the Spirit.

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The varying accounts in Acts do not themselves establish a universal three-part definition of being born again. Luke records different circumstances as the gospel crosses new historical boundaries, while the apostles’ doctrinal teaching explicitly connects reception of the Spirit and belonging to Christ with faith.

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Acts records what happened as the gospel spread, but its varying narratives cannot be assembled into a universal formula that overrides the apostles’ explicit teaching about salvation and the Holy Spirit.

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As shown above, when Paul directly asks how the Galatians received the Spirit, his answer is not a pattern of required steps:

 

“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2)

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Acts 19 must therefore be interpreted alongside Paul's doctrinal teaching, not transformed into a formula that Paul himself never gives.​

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The gospel according to Wellspring Church is the gospel of Norman James

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When you lay aside the rhetoric and examine the substance of this sermon, the reality becomes clear. Wellspring's  three-step "gospel of the kingdom":
 

• Is not the gospel of Paul the apostle

• Is not the gospel defended by the Reformers

• Is not the gospel defended by A. W. Tozer
   

It is a different gospel developed at Wellspring Church, formerly Lakeview Christian Life Church, formerly South Hills Christian Center, by founder and doctrinal architect Norman James.

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It is a false gospel developed from earlier Pentecostal and Oneness teachings, together with Norman James’s own doctrines and claimed revelations, and sustained through institutional authority, control and pressure.​

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Norman James often emphasized “latter rain,” “five-fold ministry,” and “restored apostolic truth.” But Wellspring’s separation from the wider Christian church ran deeper. James inherited a distinctive gospel from Bethesda, further shaped it at Wellspring, and eventually broke with Bethesda itself, leaving Wellspring increasingly isolated from other Christian churches.​​

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By redefining the gospel and being born again as his unique three-step process, Norman James turned access to God’s Kingdom into a privilege reserved for his followers and those who now enforce his system, as though only their group held the keys to being born again and the Kingdom of God. Jesus warned about leaders like this when He said, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” (Matthew 23:13)

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Jesus also said, “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52) Norman James and his followers do not hold the keys to God’s Kingdom. Jesus does.

 

This is why former members and outside observers describe the system founded and taught by Norman James at Wellspring Church as:

• theologically cultic (because it teaches a different gospel)

• behaviorally cultic (because this false gospel requires control and shunning to sustain itself)

 

 

From theology to control: why this gospel produces cult behavior

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False gospels do not remain abstract. They generate structures.

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Because Wellspring’s gospel delays full inclusion:

• leaders must decide who is “really in”

• questioning becomes dangerous

• time-pressured “decision moments” are imposed

• relationships are leveraged to enforce conformity

 

This is why doctrine and behavior cannot be separated here.

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When leaders announce: “In about a month, things will be settled,” they are not merely teaching.
 

They are closing consciences, compressing time, and forcing alignment.

 

That is not shepherding. It is coercion.

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Because belonging and spiritual legitimacy are tied to compliance with Norman James’s three-step gospel, leaders continually monitor and pressure members - producing a pattern of control that goes far beyond healthy pastoral care.

 

This repeated pattern of coercion and control has shown itself in the lives of many former members in shunning, broken family relationships, and even divorce.​​​​​​​

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Fear of Men or Trust in Christ

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Scripture repeatedly warns against fearing people more than God and against placing ultimate trust in human authority. In the end, every Christian must answer to Christ - not to a church, a leader, or a religious system.

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If you see the apostle Paul in the next life, what do you think he will say about the “gospel of the kingdom” created by Norman James in the 1970s?

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If you meet A. W. Tozer in the next life, what do you think he will say about the “gospel of the kingdom” created by Norman James - a gospel fundamentally incompatible with Tozer's own theology, which denies that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer upon true faith and places gates between a believer and the Kingdom?​

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And most importantly, when you see Jesus Christ, where will you be able to say your trust really rested?

• In Him alone - crucified, risen, and sufficient?

• Or in the system you were taught by Norman James and enforced by his successors?

 

These are not abstract questions. They go to the heart of what gospel you have believed, whom you have trusted, and before whom you will finally stand.

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God does not want you to remain in fear or under pressure. He is calling you to trust Christ, even if people with power in your life disapprove and reject you. You will not stand before Norman James or his successors on the day of judgement.​

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The Christian pilgrim will ultimately stand before Jesus Christ Himself - the One who calls him, who bore his burden, and who opened the gate before him.

 

You do not need Norman James, his teachings, his successors, or any human system to stand between you and Jesus Christ. 

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You may feel as though everyone you know is still together in the boat, while following Christ means stepping into uncertainty. But Jesus is not standing on the shore demanding that you find your way to Him.

 

Christ is not confined to the boat. He comes across the water to meet His people, calm in the midst of the storm, and extends His hand.

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Do not be afraid to trust in Christ completely. He is gentle and humble in heart; His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He is the only Savior, the only gate to the Kingdom, the only Mediator between God and humanity and He is the coming King.

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Fair Use / Copyright Notice

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This article contains quotations, paraphrases, and analysis of a sermon delivered by Christopher Otis, Elder-Pastor of Wellspring Church in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania in February 2026. These excerpts are used under the “fair use” provisions of U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 107) for the purposes of theological critique, public interest, education, and religious analysis. No audio files or full transcripts are reproduced, and no part of this material is used for commercial gain.​