On Sunday, August 10, I had the privilege of worshipping with The Well Church in Argyle. Rockpointe Church partnered with our association and the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention to start The Well Church in 2015. The church, pastored by Matthew Harding, began with 100
people.
As I sat there on that Sunday with 2,400 other people who gathered to celebrate The Well, I was struck by how much they had grown in that time. I was also struck by the fact that, like other churches in our association, they had been expanding the kingdom in their area. After the service, I asked Dr. Harding to share with me what he considered the keys to The Well Church’s success. He gave me five nuggets that I want to share with you. These were taken directly from the text I received from Matthew.
1. Radical Hospitality– We wanted to be a church dedicated to Radical Hospitality. First, we worked hard to remember the names of first-time guests so that when they came back on campus, we would call them by name. This was a tremendous success for the second-time visitors, who ended up staying because they felt seen. Second, even though it was expensive, we pressed in to ensure everyone had donuts, gourmet coffee, water, and juice on Sunday mornings.
2. Preaching Verse by Verse – From the beginning, we held to the conviction of preaching verse by verse through books of the Bible. What we found was that those who came to our church tended to be biblically illiterate. They were hungry to learn God’s Word.
3. Targeted Men – We unapologetically went after men to see them saved, discipled, and taught leadership principles on how to lead their life, their wives, their families, and the church. We aimed to be a church that reached men, knowing that if we reached them, we would ultimately reach their families.
4. Valued Children – If we had any extra money, we poured it into our children’s ministry. We knew that if we reached the men, they would bring their wives and families, but we had to have an extraordinary experience for the children to keep the families. This led to a dynamic children’s ministry and programming, even as we met in a school for six and a half years.
5. Missional – From the very beginning, we were missional. It was baked into our DNA as a church. The community knew The Well was the church that always provided free cold water throughout the city for any school or civic event at any time. We built our reputation on always showing up with complimentary water, which led to spiritual conversations, which in turn led to gospel conversations. As I spoke with Matthew, he told me that they were the fourth church plant in Argyle when they started. Out of that group, their church was the only one that survived. Indeed, God has blessed this church as they have pursued these five keys, leading to kingdom growth and expansion.