The Well Coffeehouse thrives in new location

Nonprofit coffee shop The Well is thriving in its new location across the street from Lipscomb. After a move from its original location on Richard Jones Rd., The Well has managed to keep most of its regulars as well as gain new customers from the neighborhood. Representative Jason Parker says, “We’ve got some new regulars. People that live in the neighborhood can just walk here to the coffee shop or if I see them on their morning jog as I’m opening the store and they come in after they’ve finished jogging. We’ve retained a lot of our regulars and also gotten new ones as well. It’s been great.” Old regulars are also pleased with the new location. Lipscomb student and longtime Well customer Spencer Bailey also enjoys that the new location kept the “comfortable” and “homey” feel of the old, but he especially enjoys the new location’s proximity to Lipscomb. “It’s right across from campus. I just walk over here. It’s my favorite part,” he says. The Well moved to the old Pizza Perfect location in May after The Well’s lease was terminated to make way for a 15-story building on Richard Jones Rd. “We were looking for locations for a few months. We really wanted to be somewhere around the Green Hills area because we had built a good following and had a lot of loyal customers. I feel like it’s a blessing from God that this place opened up,” says Parker. The business has since expanded to a second location in Brentwood in the Seven Springs...

Green Hills prepares for new building project

Southern Land Company is in the process of adding a 22-story building that will make Green Hills look quite different in the years to come. The Green Hills Action Partners hosted a public forum at the United Methodist Church for over a hundred people to learn and discuss the project and the future for Green Hills on Monday, Sept. 9. The designated location is the intersection of Richard Jones Rd. and Hillsboro Pike. This may be a familiar location to Lipscomb students, as the new upcoming coffeehouse, The Well, is one of the many businesses that are being forced to relocate. At 240 feet tall, this new attraction would be the tallest building in Green Hills. Currently the 14-story Green Hills Apartments for Retired Teachers is the tallest. Southern Land Company’s future intentions for the building would have multiple uses such as: residential apartments, office space for business, restaurants, and shopping. Southern Land Co. is excited to see this project almost ready to launch. Southern Land Co. CEO Tim Downey sees this project as an opportunity for college students to enjoy the area a little more. “It will have a lot of things Greens Hills doesn’t have right now,” Downey said. “And for Lipscomb students, it will have restaurants, out door seating, and of course we will have the apartments as well.” The building’s implications sound great for students who are new to the area, but for those who have lived in Green Hills for years it just means that traffic will become too much to bare. 11-year Green Hills resident Charlotte Cooper, has watched the city grow, and she...

Thirst for church plant and expansion springing from The Well

Expansion, more locations and even a church plant loom in the future for The Well Coffeehouse, which, for eight months, has provided a place for people to enjoy good coffee. Originally founded by Lipscomb professor Rob Touchstone and Chris Soper, The Well — located at 2025 Richard Jones Road in Green Hills — is a nonprofit ministry designed to share love and nurture the feeling of community in Nashville. With outreach efforts ranging from The Wishing Well (a wall in the coffeehouse where people can pin notes expressing specific needs in hopes that someone will read it and be able to help) to an effort that helps fund fresh water wells in Africa, The Well Coffeehouse has provided opportunities for Lipscomb students to get involved with local ministries and nonprofit organizations. “All Lipscomb students can take advantage of partnering with all the nonprofits that we work with right now,” Soper said. “There are five or six different nonprofits we can get you involved with.” The Well has continued to grow through the help of Lipscomb students and the Nashville community. Change seems to quickly be approaching this ministry. “We do have a lot of plans for The Well for the future,” Soper said. “There are a lot of things that we are working on and working towards.” Soon, it may become a place to worship, too. “Yes, there are plans in place to do a church plant in The Well and grow the church through The Well,” Soper said. Besides just planting a church, expansion and even possible relocation have been hinted at by The Well’s leaders. “It is...
New Green Hills coffee shop uses money for missions

New Green Hills coffee shop uses money for missions

The Well, a coffee shop with a special mission, opened its doors this summer in Green Hills. This trendy new spot for students to lounge and study has a slight twist. It’s a non-profit organization geared toward ending poverty. The Well is tucked away on Richard Jones Road in Green Hills, just across from Trader Joe’s. The coffee house donates its proceeds to help create sustainable solutions for people without water and food across the world. Adjunct Bible Professor Rob Touchstone and five other men comprise the board of directors that essentially runs the booming new business. “It’s a way of addressing poverty in the world,” Touchstone said. “This is our effort to give back. “Our goal here is to be a non-profit missional coffee house where we’re giving away all of our profits to try and alleviate poverty by bringing sustainability to different parts of the world, mainly in Africa.” While it’s only been open for a little over a month, The Well has already completed one project to give back. Touchstone said the coffee shop’s proceeds bought a new washing machine for an infirmary–essentially a nursing home–in Jamaica. Touchstone said he was enrolled in Earl Lavender’s missions graduate course about five years ago when he was asked the question, “What would the church look like outside the walls of the church building?” He challenged his group of friends to tackle this question head on. Touchstone said his goals for The Well were to “take down the religious barriers that sometimes get put up by church buildings, stained glass and formal religion and to try and get in to the...
Andrews Institute presents Crissy Haslam in next edition of “now that you ask…”

Andrews Institute presents Crissy Haslam in next edition of “now that you ask…”

Earlier this semester, Tennessee’s governor, Bill Haslam, jump-started the “now that you ask…” series with Tom Ingram. The governor’s wife, Crissy Haslam, will join Ingram in the next edition of the series, Tuesday, April 17. Tennessee’s First Lady, Crissy Haslam, introduced a three-part initiative that focuses on the interplay between family engagement and literacy improvement in Tennessee. She has been traveling the state to stress the importance of parents as first teachers, parents as education partners, and also to raise awareness for the exponential value of reading at grade level by the third grade. Born in Houston, Texas, Haslam moved with her family to Memphis, Tennessee, when she was 8-years-old. She graduated from Emory University in 1980 with a double major in finance and marketing in the College of Business. Crissy married Bill Haslam and moved to Knoxville in 1981. While working as the assistant director of admissions for UT-Knoxville, she received a Master of Science degree in Education in the program of College Student Personnel. She has served on numerous civic and community boards, and currently serves as chair of the Tennessee Executive Residence Foundation and Commission. The “now that you ask…” conversation series is hosted by Tom Ingram, the man called the “most influential person in Tennessee politics who does not hold elected office.” The series brings Ingram’s bipartisan, common sense approach to government and politics straight to the table with discussions and debates featuring guests from across the business and political worlds. Ingram, founder of The FIRST Group in Washington, D.C. and The Ingram Group in Nashville, was appointed a leader-in-residence at the Andrews Institute for...