Stories at The Well
WELL STORIES
Planting With Purpose: The Garden
Church planting with open hands, deep roots, eternal hope.
“A church plant is a new community pioneering the gospel,” says Zach Silver. “It’s like fresh water breaking into dry ground.” For Zach, planting a church is about creating a place where the presence of Jesus flows freely—healing, restoring, and giving life to a weary world.
Zach and his wife Rachel are planting The Garden in South Austin, Texas. Their vision is a church for prodigals—those disillusioned by religion or burned out by culture, yet still aching for beauty, truth, and belonging.
“We want to be a future-facing church rooted in ancient truth,” Zach says. “A place of presence, beauty, and mission.” The name draws from Eden, the first garden, the first home. A place where humanity walked with God in the cool of the day.
Zach’s call to plant wasn’t born in strength—it was born in need. Raised in a rigid church culture, he walked away from faith. But at his lowest point in college, he cried out and God answered through two church planters who welcomed him into their lives. “They told me they were planting a church for prodigals, and I knew God was speaking directly to me.”
That community restored Zach’s faith and unearthed a buried calling. Over the next decade, he served as a missionary and pastor, but the dream to plant never left.
“Jesus read Isaiah 61 when He began His ministry,” Zach says. “‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.’ That calling is still ours—to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, to comfort those who mourn. The Garden exists for that promise.”
Let your life be rooted and grounded in love.
The Garden is Christ-centered and presence-driven. Its rhythms reflect a hunger for deep spiritual renewal, not just attendance. “We believe the Holy Spirit is active and present,” Zach says. “He doesn’t just dwell in doctrine—He dwells in us.” This is also a community shaped by spiritual depth and mutual love.
Drawing from Ephesians 3, Zach prays the church would be “rooted and grounded in love,” empowered to grasp “the breadth and length and height and depth” of Christ’s love—a love that surpasses knowledge and fills us with “all the fullness of God.”
Community is not a supplement but the soil. “We’re cultivating a way of life that echoes the Trinity: mutuality, joy, and sacrificial love,” Zach says. Prayer, fasting, and Scripture are not religious duties but sacred rhythms that align the church with God’s heart.
Austin, TX is spiritual—but also deeply post-Christian. “It’s a city full of people who’ve experienced religion but turned away,” Zach says. “They’re not always hostile—they just feel done.”
“We want The Garden to be a home—a place where people formed by secular culture can rediscover the sacred—where they’re known, healed, and reintroduced to the real Jesus. We ask, ‘What is God already doing in Austin, and how can we join Him?’” Zach says.
Want to get involved? Zach’s invitation is simple: start with prayer. “It’s the most powerful thing anyone can do,” he says. "Then ask God if you’re called to join this planting. Live fully for Jesus. Let your life be rooted and grounded in love. Live with the desire to hear the words, ‘Well done.’”
