Stories at The Well
WELL STORIES
When God Calls You to Plant Again
We didn’t come to Austin to plant a church—but God had other plans.
We came to Austin to settle down—not to start something new.
Like many others during the COVID-era great migration, my wife, Alex, and I moved here in 2021 with a deep longing for community. After helping plant a church in North Carolina, we were certain of one thing: we were done with church plants.
We had left that experience confused and disoriented. It was the middle of COVID, we were isolated from the physical body of believers, and life didn’t look or feel any different. The church had never become the kind of community we felt called into.
Finding The Well was a breath of fresh air. We loved the teaching and the classes. We loved the diversity. We loved the focus on justice and mercy. We loved the vision for building community. The emphasis on church planting felt like the fine print—technically there, but easy to skip over.
We were just beginning to get rooted at The Well when a few subtle nudges started to interrupt our comfort. Conversations with our Community Group shepherds pushed us to consider where God might be calling us to deeper faithfulness. They saw something in us that we couldn’t yet see. Around the same time, our friend and fellow Southeast CG member, Nick Garza, introduced us to Juhan Kim, who was preparing to plant a new church called Austin Bridge.
During our Well membership interview with the Kims, it became clear to me that God was calling us to join Austin Bridge. Alex was, understandably, more cautious. We had been through a lot at our last church plant, and we were finally experiencing the kind of community we had prayed for throughout seven years of marriage. Leaving that behind to join a group of people we barely knew felt crazy.
We wrestled. We prayed: God, what are You doing? Why bring us to Austin only to lead us away from the church we thought You had called us to?
And yet, through all our questions, we heard a quieter one from God: Where are you needed?
Then, things started to unfold. When our CG shepherds encouraged us to consider shepherding one day, we laughed it off. Months later, Juhan asked us to do exactly that. When we wondered how we could possibly afford to live near the Domain, where the church was planting, God provided. A friend had a rental home in the target area and offered it to us at a discount. It was just minutes from the Domain. Every step we took in faith, God met with provision.
If we had any doubts about where we were needed, God made it abundantly clear. Joining Bridge wasn’t part of a grand life plan—it was an act of reluctant obedience.
Joining Bridge wasn’t part of a grand life plan—it was an act of reluctant obedience.
The Holy Spirit stirred something in both Alex and me. We still struggle to put it into words, but the prompting was unmistakable: Go. Be faithful. Trust Me.
Thankfully, we had a great community at The Well that affirmed and supported the call. Still, the ups and downs were real. Leaving The Well was painful. Church planting is hard. It’s slower. It demands more of you. The community we found so quickly at The Well came much more slowly at Bridge. The shepherds who had poured into us were no longer nearby, and suddenly, we felt the weight of becoming for others what they had been for us.
At The Well, we could fade into the background. At Austin Bridge, we couldn’t hide.
And yet again, God met us.
Not everyone is called to join a church plant. But I wonder if more of us are than we think. How often do we miss out on what God wants to do in us—and through us—because we assume someone else will say yes? Or because we believe we’re not enough?
Church planting isn’t just The Well’s mission. It’s Jesus’ mission. The call to “go” didn’t end in Acts, and the Holy Spirit didn’t stop moving or empowering. He’s still working today.
As it turns out, that part of The Well’s vision we once glossed over? It’s become the very place where God has sanctified us and taught us to trust in His goodness.
Our faith, our marriage, and our relationships are stronger now than ever. The burdens we thought we’d carry alone have been shared by a small community earnestly seeking the Lord. And the more we stepped out in obedience, the more strength God gave us—not just to keep going, but to help build something that will outlast us.
