Malachi Cole said over the past year, he and his wife, Liz, have been part of “the biggest story that anyone could dream up.”
They, along with teammates from other cities, moved to Jacksonville State University to plant Banner Church, which held its launch service in January.
“Planting with community is a game changer,” Cole said. “I think the biggest blessing in our church is our team, the ones who moved here.”
Part of a larger network
And that “big story” they’re a part of is part of a larger effort — The Well Network, started by Highland Baptist Church in Florence, has been working since 2015 to plant churches near university campuses.
Banner Church is the fourth. The vision is 16 churches by 2026.
It started when Allen Tate, then college pastor at Highland Baptist, approached Pastor John Brock about turning the church’s weekly collegiate worship service, called The Well, into a church plant. The two had noticed that though students from the nearby University of North Alabama were coming to The Well, many weren’t plugging into the church.
“What we realized was pretty gut-wrenching,” Tate said. “Our college students who were very engaged with us throughout college, we had taught them to love the ministry, but we had not taught them to love the church.”
After some conversations, the worship service became The Well Church Florence in 2016.
More locations started, more coming
Since then, TWC Florence has multiplied, planting TWC Huntsville in 2017, Church at the Oaks in Tuscaloosa in 2021 and Banner Church in January. The church is also planning to plant Church of the Heights in Starkville, Mississippi, in early 2024.
And on Feb. 26, TWC Huntsville pastor Ethan McCreary announced the church would plant its first church later this year in Mobile.
He said the planter, Christian Caldwell, has been serving as worship pastor of TWC Huntsville since 2017 and in the church planting residency program for the past six months. He will move in January 2024 to begin laying the groundwork for Five Rivers Church in Mobile.
The idea of a church planter in residence has been part of the fabric of The Well Network from the beginning, Tate said. It gives the planters a chance to learn more about planting a church near a campus before starting a new one themselves.
A structure that can multiply
He said they plan to eventually have residencies at each of the church plants in the future.
“Our goal is that every church in our network, once they get their legs, would have a residency at all times,” Tate said.
Brock said the vision is to set up systems that can be replicated in each church plant so a church planting movement can happen.
“The Lord put at least 16 of these on our heart around the Southeast, and we’re not to the end of this journey,” he said. “It’s been a God thing, a testimony to the sheer grace of God that He has done this, and it’s been pretty phenomenal to watch Him work.”
Encouraging others
Tate said he would encourage other churches thinking of getting involved with planting not to let a lack of experience with them keep them from trying. He said he, Brock and others have been learning as they go.
“If we waited until we knew what we were doing, we would never have started,” he said.
For more information, visit wellchurchnetwork.com.
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