In the early 2000s, there was a deficit in church-based ministry for collegiate students at the University of North Alabama. Recognizing this, the youth minister at Highland Baptist Church initiated a small Bible study that he hoped would allow the church to minister more profoundly to the campus. This Bible study, named “The Well,” became a rejuvenating source for parched souls and quickly expanded to over 200 students and a Tuesday night student-led worship service.

As winter 2014 approached, our eyes were opened to the expanding church planting movement in university cities across the nation. God, in many ways, had been preparing The Well for such an evolution from the very beginning.

After diligent prayer and meticulous planning for over 18 months, The Well Church Florence was launched from Highland Baptist Church in January 2016. It was our prayer from the beginning that this plant would be a first fruit of many more that would come after it.

As we prayed for more, the spring semester of 2016 presented a divine opportunity: an opportunity to begin the work toward a second church plant in the rapidly growing Huntsville, AL.

Acknowledging Huntsville’s status as Alabama’s largest and fastest-growing city, the dire need for more churches was apparent. Following earnest prayer and divine favor, the second church in our network was planted in September 2017, serving the campus of UAH and the city of Huntsville.

But God was not done. What started with one was now two, and the vision expanded further and faster than we could have ever imagined.

This all led to the birth of The Well Network. A network of church plants aimed at pursuing a vision of planting churches in university cities across the southeast.

In pursuit of this vision, The Well Florence planted Church at the Oaks in Tuscaloosa AL in January 2021. This church was tasked with the mission to reach the largest campus in the state of Alabama (over 40,000 students).

Alongside the launch of our third plant, we also started the Well Network Church Planting Residency, an 18-month intensive to prepare planters to plant in southeastern university contexts.

From that residency, the fourth church was born. Banner Church in Jacksonville, AL was launched in January 2023.

In the summer of that same year, a fifth planting team was sent to Starkville, MS, to begin preparing to plant Church of the Heights in January 2024.

As Heights will launch, a sixth plant team will leave residency and will begin the groundwork to plant in Mobile AL in the Fall of 2024.

While the story is incredible, We don’t believe God is done.

Our calling is unmistakable: to deliver the Good News of the Gospel to university cities and their campuses.

Why the university campus? Because we fervently believe it is the most strategic mission field on the planet. The campus is a crucible of ideas, a melting pot of cultures, and a nucleus of change. If we can win the campus, we can win the world.

We cannot sit idly by and watch students spend some of the most transformative years of their lives in our cities without immersing them in the Gospel. Hence, we’ve been beckoned to establish churches in these significant hubs.

For the campus, for the city, for the nations, for God’s glory – this is our vision. Will you join us in this important work?