Inside Look is a Fresno Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories.
One of the largest coffee shops in the Fresno area recently opened.
Featuring ceilings roughly three-stories tall, equipped with large, comfortable chairs and tables, and run by the local coffee shop Kuppa Joy, the new Well Coffeehouse operates in a 5,000-plus square-foot building on the campus of The Well Community Church.
It’s the latest addition to the popular nondenominational Christian church in north Clovis that continues to grow both in following and facilities.
Because this church is hardly a basic chapel and steeple on its 53-acre campus.
Among the amenities at the Well are expansive fields for youth sports, state-of-the-art auditoriums for Sunday sermon, and, of course, a massive coffee shop to help people enjoy drinks and conversation.
“Our hope is that this becomes a connecting place,” founder and lead pastor Brad Bell said. “If you’re not at home or work, you’re here.”
From peaches to people
The Well Community Church has been around since February 2002, debuting in Bell and his wife’s home in northeast Fresno and preaching to fellow college students.
Then, the church moved into a central Fresno facility off Palms and Gettysburg avenues for five years. And along the way, it established a second campus in north Fresno off Maple and Nees avenues.
But as the number of church members continued to grow, Bell knew his facility needed to expand. So after nearly two years of fundraising, The Well broke ground on its new campus just west of the intersection of Clovis Avenue and Nees in late 2018.
Five years later, the first phase of the campus was completed and the Well debuted its main auditorium on Mothers’ Day of last year.
“It’s a very significant projection,” Bell said. “To develop 50-plus acres from an orchard to a church campus and the amount of underground work. We had to spend $7 million on site work.
“That’s all the stuff underground before anything went vertical. So it’s been an expensive journey.”
Cost of the entire Well church campus is multiple millions of dollars, though Bell declined to specify how much.
The land previously was owned by the Smittcamp family and Wawona Farms.
Bell recalled meeting with the Smittcamp family and asking if they would be willing to sell portions of its farmlands that’d been used for decades to grow peaches.
“We said ‘Hey, instead of peaches, how about we grow people?’“ Bell said.
Fresno State ties
In some circles, Bell is known more for his ties to Fresno State.
He played football for the Bulldogs during the early 1990s under coach Jim Sweeney, and before that starred at Clovis West High.
Bell also has served as the Fresno State football team chaplain on three separate stints, under former head coaches Pat Hill, Tim DeRuyter and Jeff Tedford.
Bell credits finding Jesus through his former teammate and Bulldogs legend quarterback Trent Dilfer.
Bell said he and Dilfer were “getting thrown out of bars the previous years.”
Then Bell said he noticed Dilfer’s life change in a positive way.
“Never seen anything like it,” Bell said. “He wasn’t preaching to me. He was living differently. I said, ‘That’s unique. What is that?’
“And he was telling me about Jesus. And I trusted Christ in large because of the goodness of God and the testimony of one of my friends.”
Bell said one of the reasons his church is called “The Well” is based on a story in the Bible, John Chapter 4.
“Jesus has an encounter with a woman who has a very checkered past at the well,” Bell said, reciting the bible scripture. “And yet, he shows grace to her, and kindness, and invited her out of her old life into living a new life with Christ.
“And that’s what we want to be: a home for the broken. Where we say: ‘Hey look, come as you are. But let’s not stay as we are.’”
Church amenities
While the specific number of church members wasn’t known, a typical Sunday service will fill a 1,700-seat primary auditorium.
All the while, other buildings on the Well campus get high usage, too, including the classrooms for Sunday school and a 500-person auditorium — filled by hundreds of children and teens.
In addition, the church has a grassy berm area next to a water fountain where people can congregate outside to watch services on a large, high-definition screen.
Bell said the outdoor theater allows those who might be hesitant to go inside the auditorium to still hear about what’s being preached during the church service.
T-ball, soccer, more
From a distance during the spring, a variety of neon shirts and caps can be seen occupying the open fields on the west side of the Well campus.
A better look up close of the grassy area will show hundreds of children playing t-ball and their families cheering them on.
During the fall, those t-ball fields become filled with soccer players and their families. There’s also a sand volleyball court.
Both areas are used for camps, too.
It’s part of the Well’s youth activities programs, which are just as much about introducing kids to sports as it is in helping introduce people to one another.
The playground area located just outside of the youth Sunday school buildings also helps families connect as children enjoy each other’s company on the bright orange play structures.
“Kids have the opportunity to just be kids,” Bell said. “Come laugh, come play, come be with friends.”
Going grande on coffee shop
The Well built the coffee house for similar reasons while offering a different setting.
The coffee shop was completed and debuted in early September.
Bell invites church members and nonmembers to enjoy the Well Coffeehouse.
“One of the things I think we’re missing in our culture is the ability to slow down and have an unrushed conversation,” Bell said. “That has no agenda except ‘I want to get to know you and maybe you’ll get to know me.’
“So we said let’s build a coffee house, but let’s build a big one — big enough to host the community.”
Both inside and outside of the Well Coffeehouse, there are several tables and chairs, as well as sofas to help people get comfortable.
A 10-foot-wide fireplace serves as a decor centerpiece to the coffee shop.
And the wall of windows allows folks to enjoy the view of the outdoors without dealing with the outdoor elements.
The coffeehouse also is a popular area for people to conduct bible studies.
“We know not everyone coming to this coffeehouse is a follower of Jesus or believes in the Bible, or agrees what the Bible teaches,” Bell said. “That’s fine. Just come and have a coffee, hang out, get to know each other and maybe help shrink a city a little bit.
“Maybe realize, we’ve got more in common than we thought we did.”
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