24-25 Q2:
Mid-Year Review
Yay God! That’s about all I have to say, honestly.
But, you know me, so here’s more behind this!
God has been on the move. What began with us feeling like this is going to be a year of “harvest” has proven to be just this!
In this Impact Report, you’ll see all that God has been doing in our church. We have countless stories of baptisms, discipleship, community, and mission throughout this report that I hope is a deep encouragement and reminder for your soul. God is moving, and He is, in His kindness, using us to be a part of this. Thank you, Jesus!
We hope these stories encourage you to reflect and remember how you’re a part of this, in both direct and indirect ways. When you hear of all of the church planters, the strong giving that is enabling us to do more mission, the stories of life change, the consistency of community, the healing God is bringing, remember how you’re actively playing a part and encourage your soul in this! Perhaps even use this devotionally, as a way to remind your soul of the goodness of God in and through you!
I love you all, genuinely. Thank you for playing a part in what God is doing in our world, in our city, and in our church. I’m filled with gratitude at the goodness of God. Read this, and be encouraged at His faithfulness.
Every Sunday we share wins happening in our church family. As we close out the first two quarters of this fiscal year, here are the win's listed out.
One Place Ambassador: Balcones Village CG
At The Well we have what are called one places—which is simply a place where you and your CG dedicate to prayer, presence, with the goal of proclaiming the gospel. Our Balcones Village CG’s One Place has been the organization Safe Families!
Safe Families is a non-profit that provides practical support for parents with resources and services for their children. Safe Families recently moved into a more permanent office space and our Balcones CG provided their staff with an “office warming” care package! All of our families gathered the supplies, spent time praying over their new space and dropped off our care package! We often say we want to see what the city could be. That our church isn’t meant to be a blessing just for itself, but rather for everyone around them.
We want to bless Austin so much that if our church were to disappear, we would be greatly missed because of the impact we have on this city. We desire that every Christian is making disciples wherever they go.
One Place Ambassador: Walnut Creek CG
We often say at The Well that every soul is one Jesus longs for and that discipleship isn’t just about strengthening believers but also reaching the lost and bringing them into the Kingdom.
Our Walnut Creek CG has been serving with Foundation Communities for about a year now, providing meals and praying over residents. They’ve even written down names to continue praying for them. This reflects our conviction that God has called each Christian to reach the lost, and we desire that every believer makes disciples wherever they go.
If you have more questions about our One Place initiative, you can learn more at thewellaustin.com/place.
One Place Ambassador: Braker CG
We often say at The Well that we don’t celebrate growing, we celebrate going. Discipleship includes stepping into people’s lives to demonstrate the love of Christ, and our Braker CG did just that by partnering with “More Than Welcome” to serve Afghan refugee families.
Through meals, conversations, and even attending a high school basketball game, this group is living out our mission to reach the lost and bring them into the Kingdom. We believe every member should feel responsible for a “one place” where they intentionally invest in relationships for gospel impact.
Vision Fund Win
We often say at The Well that generosity is worship. God calls us to be a people who give sacrificially—not just of our finances, but of our time and talents as well.
Because of your generosity, we raised over $114,000 toward our Vision Fund! This allows us to serve the city, bless Eastside High School, support our minority residency program, and send church planters internationally. Thank you for believing in what God is doing through The Well and for making an eternal impact.
Salvation in the Fall
We often say at The Well that until the whole world hears, we will be relentless in sharing the gospel. Every salvation is a moment of celebration, as it reflects Christ bringing people into His Kingdom.
Since September, we’ve seen over 20 people come to Christ! This is why we exist—to make disciples who follow all Jesus commanded with their heart, soul, mind, and strength. As we enter 2025, let’s pray for even more harvest!
Eastside Giving Tree
We often say at The Well that we see what the city could be. The church isn’t just meant to be a blessing to itself but to everyone around it.
This year, we provided Christmas gifts for 184 students at Eastside High School through our Community Groups. We seek to serve the community in tangible ways, knowing that our presence should be felt in Austin—so much so that if our church were to disappear, we would be greatly missed.
Retreats Wins
We often say at The Well that we don’t find community; we fight for community. Growth happens in relationships, not isolation.
Our Women’s Retreat was a beautiful example of this truth. We seek to be a diverse community that foreshadows heaven, and this retreat provided a space for discipleship, encouragement, and deepening faith in Christ together.
Celebration Sunday
We often say at The Well that the local church is God’s means of redeeming the world. Every baptism, new member, and child dedication is a reflection of God’s transformative work.
On Celebration Sunday, we witnessed:
•16 baptisms
•Welcomed 59 new Covenant Members
•Dedicated 16 children
These aren’t just numbers; they’re lives being changed for eternity. Praise God for His faithfulness!
Giving of Our Treasures Win!
We often say at The Well that the church is not built on the talents of a few but on the sacrifices of many. Your giving is a direct reflection of this conviction.
As we begin our new fiscal year, we celebrate the sacrificial generosity of our church family. Your financial support allows us to plant 100 churches nationally and 100 churches internationally, expanding the Kingdom of God both in Austin and across the world.
60 People at Our “How to Love Our Neighbors” Class!
We often say at The Well that we exist to reach the nations. Jesus commanded us to take the gospel to every tongue, tribe, and culture, and we are committed to this mission.
We’re thrilled that 60 people registered for our “How to Love Our Neighbor” class—a sign that God is stirring hearts to engage in the Great Commission. Whether we are sent abroad or serve locally, we all have a role in reaching the nations for Christ.
Valle Church’s Win!
We often say at The Well that the best way to reach the world is to plant churches. Local churches bring gospel vitality to their specific contexts, meeting unique needs and reaching new people for Christ.
Last Sunday, Valle Church launched their first service at Decker Middle School! Led by Travis and Ixtzel Deluna, this new church is strategically positioned to reach the predominantly Latino community in Austin. Praise God for His provision!
Celebration of New Life on Campus!
We often say at The Well that we are a gospel-saturated everything type of people. That means we take the gospel everywhere—even to UT’s campus!
Our college ministry engaged with over 950 students during tabling events. Nearly half of them filled out a spiritual survey, and more than 120 expressed interest in learning more about Jesus. Even more incredible, three students accepted Christ on the spot! God is moving at UT, and we are humbled to be part of His work on campus.
Celebration of New Life!
We often say at The Well that God calls us to reach the lost, and often He calls individuals to specific groups of people or locations. That’s exactly what happened in Mariana’s family.
Her younger sister and mother came to Christ this past year, and their faith led to a joint baptism for Mariana, her sister, her brother-in-law, and their mother, who traveled from Mexico to be baptized in Austin. Their Community Group and friends gathered to celebrate the new life Christ has given them.
We are in awe of God’s goodness and grateful for communities that rally around new believers. Let’s continue to fight for community and celebrate the work of God in our midst!
Running over our gathering time is okay when it’s Celebration Sunday! Hearing testimony after testimony of the Lord redeeming his people feels like a really great way to spend a Sunday. During our November Celebration Sunday, we had the privilege to witness 16 people (!) publicly profess their new life in Jesus through the act of baptism.
Not only did we get to witness these baptisms, we also got to see 16 children be dedicated to the Lord! As a church, we now get to walk with these families as they disciple their children toward Christ! Additionally, two new CGs were started and 10 new CG Shepherds were added to the fold as well! Let’s not forget the 59 faithful friends who stood up and were introduced as new Covenant Members of our church. And this was ALL in ONE day.
Even our “normal” Sundays haven’t been very normal recently; we are growing! This is so important as we continue our journey to 100 churches nationally and 100 churches internationally in the first 50 years as a church. People are being sent. What a praise! As we all commit to our vision and mission, discipleship and service must grow as well. The Lord is equipping our people to be up to the task! As we mentioned, on Celebration Sunday 59 people committed to covenant membership with The Well. This means 59 new volunteers on Sundays and 59 new CG attendees throughout the week.
Look at what we get to be a part of! If this doesn’t stir your heart, nothing will! God is moving in and through The Well and what a gift it is to get a glimpse of all He’s doing.
Listen to testimonies from two members who were baptized at The Well, Angie, and Carson.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s something in the water here at The Well. Of course, yes, I am referring to One True God, the Living Water - God’s spirit living inside each one of us claiming Christ. Praise God, but that’s not what I am referring to. What I am referring to is the many, many pregnant women roaming our church. I think about Psalm 127:5, when King Solomon writes, “Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them”. That’s us. We are the man that is blessed because of how full our quiver is of children. It is incredibly apparent that we are in the days of the Harvest.
Not only are we growing in Families, we have new volunteers (shout out - you all are the best ever) joining us, giving their time on Sundays to love and support and disciple each and every week as we are trying to keep in pace with our kids! We’ve multiplied our Elementary room into two, and also have many things to celebrate within our Buddy team - our Special Needs Ministry.
We had another Movie Night - so fun! We hosted our first Bingo Night where families and friends enjoyed time together for Bingo, pizza, and amazing prizes! Even some friends from the neighborhood were able to come and hear more about our Sunday Gatherings that they can join us for! We also celebrated 16 children dedicated to the Lord at our Celebration Sunday. So many amazing things happening!
It is our joy to continue to teach the Gospel to our little ones, that God has sent his Son because he loves them; that Jesus is the plan for all to be redeemed back to him; and that they can love, follow, and serve Jesus right now! Each week that our kids come and worship Jesus, they are leading the angels in song and dance to worship our God - the only one who is worthy. We are so grateful for all of our families who let us come alongside them to disciple their kids. We couldn’t do this ministry without our amazing volunteers who are consistently showing up with smiles and care and joy. We expect more and more amazing and divine things to continue in Well Kids. We continue to pray for a building so that we can have our own space!
Student Ministry has experienced incredible spiritual momentum this year. We continue to gather Sunday mornings during the second service, welcoming 14 new visitors while maintaining a strong core of returning students.
Our focus remains on deepening our understanding of God's love and growing together in faith. The highlight of our year was our 3rd annual Student Retreat, where three gifted teachers from our congregation unpacked the fundamental question: "What is the Gospel?" Students dove deep into understanding the core of our Christian faith, exploring how the good news of Jesus transforms lives, while having a blast at Camp Tejas. We're excited about our expanding ministry at Eastside High School's LC Anderson Campus. Every Thursday from 12:15-1:30 PM, a group of covenant members from The Well are present in the school cafeteria, building relationships and creating opportunities for spiritual conversations. Our prayer continues to be for more Eastside students to encounter Jesus and experience the light of Christ in their lives. We believe God is working powerfully in this generation, and we're privileged to be part of His mission as he is pushing back darkness at the Eastside.
Want to make a difference? We're seeking volunteers who can join our Thursday campus ministry. If you're available and passionate about reaching students, email ben@thewellaustin.com.
Every fall, we survey UT students to learn about their spiritual backgrounds and scatter gospel seeds on campus. This past fall, we surveyed over 1k students. From the survey as well as Sunday Gatherings, 85 students agreed to meet up to talk about Jesus or reached out to us on their own. We’ve seen the Lord lead us to spiritually curious students, opening doors for meaningful conversations, exploration of Scripture, and opportunities to share the gospel.
As a result, multiple students have come to know and accept Christ, many have visited The Well on Sundays, and others have experienced the love of Christ and developed a heart for the local church. We’ve walked alongside faithful students as they launched Discovery Bible Studies in three sororities, ROTC, and the UT swim team, multiplying their faith. At our most recent Celebration Sundays, several students were baptized, boldly sharing their testimonies before the church body.
Through our Discipleship Making Bible Study and personal discipleship relationships, over 20 students have grown in both confidence and passion for sharing the gospel. We’ve already seen spiritual multiplication from these efforts and eagerly anticipate what the Lord will do next!
This semester, we’re praying that students would connect not only with one another but also intergenerationally as they become members and serve in the local church. We ask God to protect and nurture the seeds that have been planted, bringing abundant fruit in the lives of UT students. We also pray for the gospel’s reach on campus to expand and for students who know Christ to grow deeper in faith and community.
The Holy Spirit is moving within our church body, stirring our people's hearts for the lost in this city and into the nations. As we have been in the Jonah series and praying Luke 10:2 every day as a church, the Lord of the harvest is answering our prayers!
This past fall, we hosted a class called How to Love Our Neighbors. The goal of the class was to take a high-level overview from Genesis to Revelation, highlighting God's heart for the world. We know that in eternity God will have a remnant from every tongue, tribe, and nation and we have the beautiful privilege of partnering with him in seeing this come to fruition. Not everyone is called to go overseas long-term, but all believers are called to make disciples of all of the nations.
At the beginning of 2025, the missions team hosted the annual Missions Intensive. The Intensive was centered around Isaiah 6, beholding the glory of God. It was such a sweet and consecrated time. As we see from Isaiah 6 and Acts 13, it is when we enter the presence of the Lord, that He gives a calling on our lives. There were 50 men and women who were seeking the Lord's presence and asking if He was calling him or her to the nations.
This upcoming Spring, Disciple Making Cohorts are launching as well. As a team, we are praying for 72 participants, and 12 leaders, as seen in Luke 10. We are praying that the college campus, east Austin, and the Travis Heights community are saturated with the kingdom of God. We are praying for and expecting a harvest this year as a church, and trusting that the Spirit of God will move in power in these communities, leading to fruit as seeds are planted.
We are also praying and working towards having 10-12 people join a Goer Missional Community this year, which is a 9-month training group for men and women in our church who are seeking to go overseas long-term among unreached peoples to see churches planted.
In June, we will be commissioning the Frias family, who are moving to North Africa to join a church planting team.
God is continuing to bring a harvest not only at The Well but also in our international church plants. This past year, there were over 30 baptisms through the international plants, and actually, another church planted out of the Barcelona church plant. God is on the move!
The Davidsons, who are part of a church plant in Japan, just started a college ministry this year as they have many young leaders joining their church. They are praying that this will be a pipeline and catalyst to future church planters to go throughout Japan, similar to how we see here at The Well.
With that, we also launched our first mini-documentary with The Davidson's called "Until The Whole World Hears" where we interview Bryan and Esther Davidson—who share their story in becoming sent missionaries from The Well. Bryan and Esther were sent to Kobe, Japan, in the Spring of 2024, and are joining Mustard Seed Network (mustardseed.network)—a networkd of church plants whose mission is to plant 12 churches in 12 major Japanese cities by 2025. Planting in these 12 cities will put 78.6 million people—or 62% of the second largest unreached people group in the world—within reach of Mustard Seed Network churches.
You can watch the mini-documentary at thewellaustin.com/davidsons.
Let’s keep praying and asking the Lord to move in Austin and throughout the world!
Dare I say, that we are beginning to reap a harvest in Community Groups as well?! Y’all, Jesus is so so kind to us and continues to deepen our community here at The Well, even as He also multiplies it. To be honest, at times it has felt nearly impossible to multiply our groups at the same rate in which we are growing as a church. And, while there is still much more work to be done - more leaders to be raised up and groups to be opened - I want us all to take time to collectively celebrate all that God has done this year.
Two years ago the average size of our CGs was nearly 30 people- that’s a lot! And, we made it our goal to put training pathways in place to encourage healthy multiplication, so that over time we’d see group sizes decrease (for a good reason!). And, y’all, by the grace of God we are headed in the right direction. We now average closer to 23 people per CG, and that is before several more groups multiply in the coming weeks and months! How incredible!
God has been gracious, and we know this is a result of regular, and now well-established, leadership development rhythms – as well as a lot of prayer 🙂 Over the past 6-months alone, 25 women and men in our church have participated in classes and cohorts to explore what it is to be a CG Shepherd and 19 have been onboarded to lead one of our CGs. This has led to more multiplication which brings a lot of health, more intimacy within groups, and new opportunities for Christ-centered community to be built in areas of our city without CGs previously.
More than just growth, we have made intentional shifts within our care structure for Shepherds which has brought even more wins than we anticipated - again with the harvest!!! Wins include our Elder couples jumping in alongside our CG Coaches to care for our Shepherds by creating sacred spaces for vulnerability, encouragement, and mentorship. The number of Shepherds who have reached out to share incredible ways God is moving through these times, is so very encouraging and another evidence of God’s grace over us. This will no doubt have a positive ripple effect throughout our church family, and benefit every aspect of our community here at The Well.
Last but not least, we know that the very heart of the gospel is missional! (Jesus did the most to preach the gospel to those far off - me and you!!) Therefore, our greatest flourishing happens as we grow in the gospel together, and invite others to do the same. So as part of our Reach the Lost distinctive, we encourage CGs to pick One Place in our city where they can be present, pray, and proclaim Christ. Over the past 6-months there have been many testimonies shared of our groups serving within YoungLives, Foster Advocacy Ministry (FAM), More than Welcome, Esperanza Community, Foundation Communities, individual refugee families, and various efforts to meet the needs of those who are experiencing homelessness in our city. The Lord sees these efforts, and so do we! Thank you to everyone who gave of their time, finances, and talents to push back darkness in such tangible and needed ways.
That is a lot, and yet there was so much more!! Let us take a moment to sing praises to God with the psalmist, “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.” Psalm 126:3
Giving Update
We just wrapped up Q2 of our fiscal year at the end of February and I am happy to report we are continuing to celebrate God’s faithfulness financially in our church and your generosity as members and attenders of The Well. We had an exceptionally high Q1 and that continued in Q2 with some of our highest giving months!!
Thank you for continuing to partner with us and entrusting us with your resources! This quarter we were able to continue to add to our reserves and prayerfully discern what God is calling us into during this season of harvest. What a blessing! Below you can find the breakdown of our expenses and gifts from this quarter. We have so much to celebrate and want to continue to make much of Jesus in our city! Thank you for blessing the kingdom with your generous and sacrificial gifts!
Chandler Miner Operations Director chandler@thewellaustin.com
| Income | ||
|---|---|---|
| Giving | $833,517 | |
| Expenses | ||
| Category | Budget | Actual |
| Staffing | $327,341 | $329,367 |
| Administration | $15,926 | $24,709 |
| Facilities | $86,653 | $91,824 |
| Ministries | $81,493 | $62,405 |
| Mission and Church Planting* | $92,946 | $109,995 |
| Total: | $604,359 | $618,300 |
| Current Position | ||
| YTD Expenses | $1,273,965 | |
| YTD Contributions | $1,560,572 | |
*this number is a percentage of actual giving