Church of Wells

I have been reporting on the Church of Wells—a small, insular religious group in Wells, Texas, that many believe to be a cult—since the fall of 2013. Here is all my coverage of this group collected in one place.

“Sinners in the Hands,” Texas Monthly, February 2014  
Twenty-seven-year-old Catherine Grove is a member of a small, insular, and eccentric church in East Texas. Her parents think she’s being brainwashed. She insists she’s being saved. (PDF version available here.)

“The Younger Years of the Church Elders,” Texas Monthly, March 5, 2014 
Sean Morris and Ryan Ringnald, both in their late twenties, are leaders of the conservative, 90-person Church of Wells, which many consider to be a cult. This doesn’t come as a surprise to a number of peers who knew them during their college years at Baylor. (PDF version available here.)

“Catherine Grove Leaves the Church of Wells,” Texas Monthly, April 4, 2015 
A full 21 months after Catherine Grove slipped away from her apartment in Arkansas without a word to join the Church of Wells, a controversial evangelical group in East Texas that many consider a cult, she was reunited with her family at their farm in the Ozarks. (PDF version available here.)

“For the Mouth Speaks,” Texas Monthly, May 21, 2015
Catherine Grove walked away from the Church of Wells last month. Now, she and the elders of the East Texas church explain why she left—and why she returned to the congregation that many call a cult. (PDF version available here.)

“Trouble at the ‘Lord’s Mill,’” Texas Monthly, June 2022.
Almost 25 percent of severe injuries at mills in the state since 2017 have occurred at a single facility, owned by members of the Church of Wells. (PDF version available here.)

“More Trouble at the ‘Lord’s Mill,’” Texas Monthly, December 28, 2022
After we published a feature about a dangerous sawmill run by members of the insular Church of Wells, federal inspectors cited the business with multiple safety violations. (PDF version available here.)