Cathy and I have entered the season of grandparenting. It is a true joy to experience. You have heard all the cliches, “grandparents get to sugar them up, send them home and take a nap.” “If I knew grandparenting was so much fun I would have skipped the parenting part and moved immediately into grandparenting.” Regardless, I can truly say Cathy and I enjoyed the opportunity to raise Jeffri, Andrew, Levi and Ashton. We have enjoyed seeing them grow into responsible followers of Christ. We have celebrated with them as they were able to marry God’s mates BJ, Robyn, Gabrielle and Zachary. Truly God has blessed us.
Lest we forget though those grandchildren. There is Callan, Darci, and Amberly Foster. There is Adelaide, Elam and as of January 2, 2025, Ainsley Malone. I am also happy to announce as of January 29 that Levi and Gabby are pregnant. They are due in August of 2025. That means Cathy and I will have the potential for at least 7 total grandchildren by the end of the year. It is an exciting time for us in the Malone tribe.
As I thought about the joy of grandparenting children I also thought of the joy of being a grandparent church. This became real to me as I sat in at a family meeting of The Well Church in Argyle this past week. As I listened to the report on what had transpired last year at the church that is 10 years old, averaging over 1,000 in attendance, licensing three young men to the ministry and continuing to baptize new believers, I was reminded of the parent church that helped to birth them, Rockpointe Church in Flower Mound.
Rockpointe Church was started in Flower Mound in 2001 by Ron and Allison Holton in their home. Their God driven vision was to “Receive, Equip, Impact and Send.” Rockpointe has done a great job of Sending. They have helped to train, send out and fund new church plants for several years. For the sake of this article, they are the parent church of The Well in Argyle that was started in 2015. Matthew Harding the pastor of The Well had been on staff at Rockpointe. He and Jennifer sensed that God was calling them to plant a church in Argyle. Ron in his wisdom celebrated and promoted the new plant. He encouraged families to leave his church to go and start The Well. Several families took him up on the offer along with Rockpointe’s worship leader Michael Armstrong.
The Well started meeting in Argyle in 2015. They soon met in the High School. This past Sunday when I met with them, they were worshipping in their own building. Where they have 3 services each week. Since their inception Matthew informed me that church planting has been a part of their DNA. They have hosted two church planter residents. Justin Jester was on staff at the Well for a year. While there he also began to work toward creating a core group of people that were members of The Well. In 2020 Justin, Kelli (his wife) and several families launched The Parish Church in Denton. In 2021 Wally Waldrop entered the church planter residency program at The Well. Once again Wally and Kelly Waldrop were allowed to reach out to members of the church. In 2023 they launched Grace Bible Church in Ponder.
As I think about those two plants that came out of The Well, I am reminded that their grandparent was and is Rockpointe Church. What a blessing it is to be a grandparent and a grandparent church. My prayer is that all our DBA churches would catch a renewed vision to reach their respective neighborhoods, train up future ministers including church planting couples, encourage their members to join the new plant and ultimately send them out to reach the ever-increasing population that has come to this part of North Texas.