Dear Editor,
I can understand that the author of the article ‘Not feeling too Well’ may not agree with the tactics used by the Well in MyJohnnyZero, but it isn’t about whether or not WE agree.
Personally, the Well was seeking something that would cause people to want to check them out. If this meant an undercover ad campaign, then it is their prerogative to do so. MyJohnnyZero has caused a large number of people to check out the Well, and this is exactly what it was meant to do.
In reference to the focus on worship at the Well, I teach a young adult’s Sunday school and discipleship training class at my home church, I can personally attest that not everyone always comes with a heart for worship. This is no reason to condemn an organization they can’t control people’s hearts when they come to the Well.
What’s supposed to happen? Are we to be checked to make sure that we are focused on God enough to come into his house and worship? I mean no disrespect to the author, but not only is the Well a place for likeminded believers to gather and worship, it is also an outreach ministry. In a ministry such as the Well’s, people who are not Christians are also encouraged to come. For those who share my faith, we were changed, we are to be a peculiar people, but we were also commanded to go into the highways and byways telling the name of Jesus Christ to all the world, this includes those who would come to a church service to pick up girls for sex later.
I thank God that someone felt that it included me, because my sins were as great as anyone else’s, but God reached out to me, too. I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I understand where the organizers of the Well, as well as the author of this article, are coming from. At my high school, our Teens for Christ Club sponsored a flag football tournament with free food for our student body.
It was designed as an outreach ministry, much the same as the Well is. I had a close Christian friend of mine leave during a game because, “He was having a good time until a group of people began acting nothing like Christ.” My friend was like the author, thus, I respect the author’s opinion, just as I respected my friend’s opinion.
At that tournament, despite people acting in the world, we were blessed to help lead three of our classmates to Christ. No matter what had been said earlier, we had done what an outreach ministry is designed to do, bring others to know God. It was worth my friend leaving and being angry, because the blessings were so great.
This is where I can relate to the Well. It is worth those people who are there to find a drinking buddy if only one who came not knowing God leaves that night with Jesus as their Savior.
I understand that when one comes seeking to focus wholly on God, it is frustrating when others clearly and obviously are not, but should you attend the Well again and hear the same bathroom conversation as before, pray that that person would come to know Christ as their Savior, or that they would truly begin to walk as Christ commanded them to.
Lastly, my personal opinion on the worship environment at the Well – I love it. It is all about coming to bring praise to God yourself, not what everyone else is doing. I personally received a blessing from what the Well is doing, and I hope they continue.
Sincerely,
Brandon Martin

Author