Photos by Marisa Padilla
The Well, a popularly attended and coveted event of worship by students, has approached the possibility of discontinuing their events starting this upcoming semester due to a lack of necessary funds.
The Well is a privately funded event that takes place every Thursday in the Amphitheater at 8 p.m. There is a possibility of it closing its doors due to insufficient funds for the upcoming semester.
“I like to view The Well as a place for students to go ‘get water’ so to speak, or be filled by the Holy Spirit, in order to pour out to others,” junior Alexa Shafer, drummer and student worship leader for The Well, said. “I think The Well is a great outlet that is worth fighting to keep around.”
Youth and Campus Minister for University Church of Christ Dusty Breeding said the challenge The Well is facing is strictly financial. The Well has been funded by private donors whose donations are given because of their desire to provide a worship gathering for students on campus.
“We are facing some financial challenges,” Breeding said. “We have not received any donations for this year and we’re hoping that more will come in.”
Breeding said that The Well is hoping friends and families that are willing and able to financially support worship at Pepperdine will consider donating funding, specifically to The Well, in hopes of having it continue.
“We hope that ending is not a reality,” Breeding said.
The Well began in the Fall of 2012 and has continued to grow and expand, according to Breeding. He said that in the beginning stages they had about a dozen student participants. Today, the audience has grown tremendously, to a point where they now have more than 300 weekly participants.
“We are able to operate up through next semester, and that is the extent of our financial ability to continue to operate,” Breeding said. “I would say we are definitely getting down to the wire of urgency for funding.”
Shafer was a freshman when The Well first began and sees it as a prominent part of her experience here at Pepperdine. “It makes me really sad because I feel that this is a cool opportunity for students to come together and worship.”
Breeding said some of the Pepperdine offices, including Staudent Affairs and the Chaplain’s office, have plans to contribute funding to The Well; however, they are still in the works and nothing is guaranteed. He said these types of requests take time, especially with requests to change budgets.
“We have sought out support from various [Pepperdine] offices and have gotten some positive feedback,” Breeding said. “One of the challenges is that most of the offices have great things that they are doing already with their budgets, so adding something to a budget can be really challenging.”
Freshman Maude Shepherd feels strongly that The Well should continue its services to students on campus. “Considering all of the money that the school spends on The Board events that offer little enrichment and the numerous Convos that people dread going to, the school should be more than willing to fund a spiritually enriching event that its students look forward to all week,” Shepherd said.
Junior Steven Zhou is a recurring volunteer who was informed of the possible discontinuation of The Well about a month ago. He said he was brought on board to assist in the search for sources of funding. He regularly participates in behind-the-scenes work, such as being in charge of sound for The Well and organizing volunteers.
Zhou has previous experience with finance and student affairs, something that’s an asset during a crisis such as this, according to Breeding. Zhou said that when word got to him that The Well was looking for investors, he jumped right in to help out as much as he could.
“I represent one of tons of students who are passionate about The Well,” Zhou said. “It’s also about the student voice. It’s about saying this is something that we really value, and I think it’s important to have that unity on campus and getting that out there and telling people and departments that this matters to students.”
Operation of The Well is time consuming and expensive, according to Breeding. The costs include worship leader expanses and various supplies expenses, such as audio-visual supplies and software.
There is also a lot of personal time devoted by volunteers and faculty to make the event happen, according to Zhou.
“We really want to get the students’ support on this,” Zhou said. “We know the students are passionate about it, but not many know that it takes more than attending a service to make a service happen.”
Both Breeding and Zhou stressed that the importance of this event is based on the fact that it is optional to attend, yet, there are large weekly audiences. By ending this weekly event, they feel the Pepperdine community will feel a significant loss.
“For us it’s great because it’s one of the few places for students on campus to gather and to worship without the incentive of Convo credit,” Breeding said. “Every student that comes out on Thursday night is there because they want to be there, they want to worship. I think that’s unique.”
Breeding said he feels the commitment students make to come to The Well is special and voices their true desire for a place to worship on campus without incentive.
“The Well is a life-giving, spiritual experience that allows students to worship openly and by their own will,” Shepherd said.
“Not only does it allow students to showcase musical abilities while glorifying the Lord, but also provides a sense of deep community,” Shepherd said. “The Well should absolutely continue on campus as it serves as a spiritual haven at a crucial time of the week.”
Zhou expressed his appreciation for the diversity of attendance and the open invitation the event provides to all students at Pepperdine.
“It [The Well] is open to everyone.” Zhou said. “We have people of all sorts of different faith backgrounds coming and getting to hear the same message, the same Gospel, which is wonderful.”
Freshman Adam Babcock also enjoys The Well and would be saddened to see it go.
“Being able to have worship right on campus is what sets Pepperdine apart from other schools, and it gives us the opportunity to say, ‘We are not ashamed of our faith.’” Babcock said. “The Well echoes throughout campus every Thursday and holding back the sound of the gospel would be an injustice to our campus, our mission statement and our faith.”
The Well is always open to new volunteers for any students looking to become active in the planning and execution of the weekly event. Band members, AV crew and lots more positions are available for those interested in volunteering.
“We are definitely at a place, financially, that is critical for the ongoing existence of The Well,” Breeding said. “We also have faith in God, obviously, but also faith in our community that we will be able to find funding to keep it happening.”
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Follow Rachel Ettlinger on Twitter: @Hey_RaRaRachel
