by Mignonne Bryant | Jan 16, 2015 | News Slider
Through casual coffee and conversation, his involvement has reached many – even those abroad in Africa and Haiti. Rob Touchstone, co-founder of The Well Coffeehouse and adjunct bible professor, knows how to think outside the box when it comes to business ideas. And now, as the newly appointed director of missional entrepreneurship in Lipscomb’s College of Business, he hopes to inspire the same thinking in others. It all started with golf balls. Touchstone grew up near a golf course where he and his friends would collect lost balls in the woods. He very soon came up with an idea: to re-sell all the missing golf balls back to the golfers. Touchstone said the golfers would find it hilarious because they were most likely buying back their own balls. With some money in his pocket, Touchstone and his friends decided to grow the ‘business’ by selling lemonade. While the golf balls continued to sell, they found that the golfers had no interest in purchasing lemonade. Toward the end of the day, Touchstone and his friends had plenty of lemonade left, so they decided to give it away for free. Touchstone said that when they did this, the golfers would reach into their pockets to pull out money. By trying to give away the lemonade for free, they ended up gaining a profit in return. Touchstone has always cherished this concept, and he’s even carried it with him through his most recent endeavor. Now, The Well gives all of its profits to missions and building wells in poverty-stricken countries. So far, the business has funded nine wells around the world. The latest development...
by Cory Woodroof | Feb 6, 2014 | News Slider
The Well Coffeehouse, the non-profit coffee venue co-founded by Lipscomb professor Rob Touchstone, has made plans to move into a new home. The coffeehouse will move to a new location at The Shops at Seven Springs, located off of I-65 on Old Hickory Boulevard in Brentwood. “The Well Coffeehouse has officially signed a long-term lease in The Shops at Seven Springs,” shop co-founders Rob Touchstone and Chris Soper wrote in an open letter on The Well’s website. “We’ll be inhabiting a new 2100 sq ft space in a brand new shopping center in one of the busiest parts of Nashville! Our new store will be located just east of I-65.” “We are so blessed that we were offered the opportunity to lease this space and so grateful for your support as a customer. “This location is strategically positioned to help us take our missional nonprofit coffeehouse to another level of being able to make money for the sake of the impoverished. And we look forward to continuing to serve Nashville what we believe is the best cup of coffee in town.” The current shop, located on Richard Jones Road by campus, must be vacated by mid-March and is set to be demolished to make room for a new high-rise complex. The new venue aims for a late April opening. The Well also hopes to keep a location in Green Hills. There are tentative plans for The Well to transition into the now-vacant Pizza Perfect and Kebob space on Granny White Pike across from Lipscomb University. The shop must raise $75,000 in the next two weeks to do so. “Lipscomb has the lease...
by Brianna Langley | Feb 25, 2013 | News Slider
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...
by Crystal Davis | Sep 2, 2012 | Uncategorized
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...
