The Cult Dossier · No. 112 · Christian-Derived
Church of Wells
the Church of Arlington
2011 – present · Wells, Texas
XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES
Fully religious — extreme Calvinist sect
Who led it
THREE ELDERS — SEAN MORRIS, RYAN RINGNALD and JACOB GARDNER — former street preachers in their early thirties, who began in Arlington, Texas, and established the group in Wells in 2011. Leadership has not changed since.
What it worshipped and taught
A hard Calvinism in which nearly all professing Christians are damned; members are instructed to sever contact with unconverted family. The group's sawmill has faced OSHA citations for unsafe conditions and alleged child labour.
Who was in it
The elders; a baby girl, less than a week old, who died in May 2012; CATHERINE GROVE, who left her Arkansas family for the church in 2013; the parents of members who publicised the group.
How it ended, or where it stands
Active, about 90 members, unchanged leadership.
The dead
1 infant (2012; no one charged)
Of note
Representative of a category of small Reformed separatist groups where the control mechanism is soteriological terror rather than a leader's supernatural claim.
Its timeline
- 2011 Group relocates to Wells, Texas.
- MAY 2012 A baby girl less than a week old dies. Her family told investigators that 20 to 25 members prayed over her instead of seeking medical help, and went on praying for more than 12 hours after she died before authorities were told. NO ONE WAS CHARGED.
- 2013–2018 National coverage over members' estrangement from their families. Catherine Grove leaves the church in April 2015 and returns twelve days later. JORDAN REICHENBERGER says he was drugged and held against his will in October 2016.
- 2025 Members mount organised protests against the NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC PILGRIMAGE, a series of Catholic processions across the United States — the group's confrontational street evangelism turned outward at another denomination rather than at the town.
- 2025–2026 Membership is put at about 90, mostly young adults and children. No change in leadership or core doctrine reported.