A Story Only God Could Write . . .The Well Church

If you had told Dylan Robinson when he was 16 years old that one day he would stand on the stage of the Marshfield High School auditorium preaching to hundreds of people every week, he probably wouldn't have believed you.

Back then, life looked very different.

Robinson, lead pastor and co-founding pastor of The Well Church, grew up splitting time between Marshfield and north Springfield. He describes his childhood as difficult, shaped by dysfunction, addiction, and abuse.

"I was angry. I was addicted. I was broken," Robinson said. "I just thought I was going to be another statistic."

He said he started down the same path he had seen modeled around him at an early age. By the time he was a junior at Marshfield High School, addiction had taken hold of his life.

Then came Feb. 21, 2010.

A friend invited Robinson to a youth event at what was then Marshfield Church of the Nazarene, now known as Hope Church. It was the first time he had experienced a church service designed for teenagers.

That night changed everything.

"Around midnight, I radically got saved," Robinson said. "I got saved and baptized the same night."

He made a decision to leave his old life behind.

"It wasn't perfect," he said. "But I never went back."

His youth pastors, John and Selena Freeman, stepped into his life in a way he never expected. They became what Robinson calls his "God family," opening their home and helping him finish high school.

"People questioned why they would take me in," he said. "But they loved me anyway."

After graduation, Robinson attended James River College before entering full-time ministry in Pittsburg, Kansas. He spent more than two years serving in a growing youth ministry and believed he might stay there for the rest of his career.

Then he felt God calling him back home.

"I just felt the Lord saying, 'You're going back to help reach people just like I reached you,'" Robinson said.

At first, even those closest to him weren't sure. Leaving a thriving ministry didn't seem to make sense.

But as time passed, Robinson said the same calling became clear to the Freemans.

Together, they realized they were being led to plant a church.

In February 2016, with support from Marshfield Church of the Nazarene and Robinson's church in Pittsburg, they launched The Well Church on the north side of Springfield. The first services were held at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel with about 30 people.

From there, the church grew.

Five years ago, The Well expanded back into Marshfield, a place Robinson once thought represented his lowest moments.

Services began inside the Marshfield High School auditorium.

"It was kind of my fleece," Robinson said. "I thought if we could have access there, I'd know God wanted us to do it."

Today, The Well's Marshfield campus averages more than 600 people between its Sunday and Friday gatherings. Combined attendance between Marshfield and Springfield exceeds 1,400 people. Earlier this year, the church celebrated its 10th anniversary.

For Robinson, the name "The Well" carries special meaning.

He points to the story in John Chapter 4, where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. She had a broken past and carried plenty of shame, but after encountering Jesus, she returned to her community to tell others what had happened.

"That's my story," Robinson said. "I was that broken person. I went back to my village to tell people about the One who changed my life."

He still marvels at the fact that he now preaches in the same high school where teachers once worried about the troubled teenager he had become.

"That's a story only God can write," he said.

The Well Church currently meets at the Marshfield High School auditorium on Sundays at 9 and 10:45 a.m. Church leaders are also looking ahead to a new chapter.

A permanent church building under construction near the Marshfield city pool is expected to open sometime this fall.

Visitors can learn more at wellchurch.life or by following The Well Church on Facebook and Instagram.

For Robinson, the mission remains simple.

Love people. Share hope. And remind those who feel forgotten that their story isn't over yet.