Well Collective

Pepperdine students gathered Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. to celebrate The Well Collective’s debut album “The Kingdom: A Modern Liturgy.”

The Collective is composed of Anneleise Graf, Wilson Howard, Alexa Shafer, Jacob Williams, Christy Klot and Taylor Begert. This group of musicians, including Pepperdine graduates, want to spread God’s love and encourage a worship culture through their music.

The event took place at Pepperdine’s Amphitheater, which could barely accommodate the hundreds of students, faculty and alumni who came to support the six worship artists.

The Well Collective’s “The Kingdom” started as a dream 18 months ago, according to the drummer, Alexa Shafer. The album was finally released on Spotify Thursday night.

Dusty Breeding, as campus youth minister, has seen the band grow and proudly introduced the band at the event. “The record launch has been years in the making, in that a group of musicians were raised up together through the mentorship of our worship director, Taylor Begert, who has now gone on to accomplish incredible things,” Breeding wrote. “The record release is a tangible representation of the spiritual impact they’ve made through leading worship all across Los Angeles. It’s amazing to think that this collective of musicians was born out of The Well. I hope they always consider The Well to be their home.”

Taylor Begert, founder of the band, guitarist and vocalist, referred to the album as a compilation of songs for moments of “orientation, disorientation and reorientation.” Taylor further explained by stating: Orientation for when we feel blessed and think “God is awesome;” disorientation for when we are going through challenging experiences and don’t understand God’s plans; and reorientation for when we realize that God knew better all along and He’s just leading the way to salvation.

The track “Beautiful Dance” is an example of reorientation as Wilson Howard, bass player and vocalist, talked to the crowd about how amazing God’s unconditional love is when presenting the song to the audience. The song is about hope, love and forgiveness.

The Collective’s passionate and energetic performance inspired the crowd to sing and dance along while raising their hands to praise the Lord. Faces of joy could be seen as the audience followed the loving and hopeful lyrics on the screen.

Senior Gabrielle Storey, explained how the Well Collective’s debut album helps her connect with God. “Last Thursday night was an evening that filled me with so much joy,” Storey wrote. “To see so many people who have so many different backgrounds and views coming together to praise the Lord is a scene that fills my heart with hope … Putting lyrics and notes together into songs that allows me to connect and praise the Lord in a way that words cannot always do.”

The Well provided a space for the fans, students, friends and family who came to support the band.

Pepperdine alumnus Tanner Wildason has attended The Well since his student days. “I was so pleased and moved to see such a large crowd coming out to support some of our alumni doing what they do best: bringing people together to worship,” Wildason wrote. “It warmed my heart to see the classes beneath my own not only continuing to attend The Well but growing into to something bigger and better than it has ever been before. Waves don’t die.”

The Well Collective is impacting congregations around the city of Los Angeles with their Church partnerships and is a representation of a generation of hope.

Thursday’s event was a confirmation of this, according to Senior Avery Chidiach and team member of the Well. “The Well has been such an integral part of my spiritual growth here at Pepperdine,” Chidiach said. “Being able to be a part of The Well Collective Album release on Thursday night reminded me of the amazing community that we have here … God truly showed Himself that night not only through the music but through the incredible fellowship that gathered in the amphitheater.” - Pepperdine Graphic

College graduation marks the beginning of a new journey, a life stage characterized by enthusiastic explorations of different paths. For a group of exceptionally gifted—and convicted—musicians at Seaver College, the separate roads on which each had chosen to travel fatefully brought them back together.
This band of music makers, now known as Well Collective, is the majority of the vocal and instrumental talent behind the 2016 album Covers—the very first record that features volunteer student worship leaders of The Well. Formed in fall 2012, The Well allows students to freely seek, commune with, and worship God together regardless of their religious affiliations or backgrounds.
The Thursday-night gatherings, held weekly at the Malibu campus and attended by an average of 300 students, facilitate praise and worship through live music, encouraging the crowds to participate in any way they feel moved.
These worship leaders were so passionate about making music for God that The Well’s worship director, Taylor Begert, felt inspired to honor their spirit of excellence by arranging to produce an album of one of their live worship services. Rather than a traditional studio recording, the project was designed to be a portable worship experience for Seaver students to continue to encounter God through the ministry of The Well wherever they go.
“We wanted to give the students on the record a tool that they could use when they went out into the world,” he explains of the musical and ministry talents that the soon-to-be working professionals could showcase to future employers.
After scouting possible locations with superior sound equipment, Begert and the students collaborated with the staff at Community Bible Church (where Begert also works as worship director) in Ventura County to create the live album of recognized modern Christian worship music. The recording session also commemorated the four years these students had spent together at The Well and marked the final time they would be able to worship together. With most of the participants anticipating the 15-song album to exude a sound typical of live recordings, hearing the occasional glitches on the record still exceeded their expectations of the final product.
For guitar player Jacob Williams (’16), who also works as a recording engineer, accepting a less-than-perfect sound was out of the question. Upon hearing the album for the first time, he felt compelled to take the seemingly unfinished product to Revolver Recordings, the recording studio in Thousand Oaks, California, where he had just landed a job, to edit and remaster some of the vocals and instruments to significantly improve the sound quality.
Over the next six months, Williams invited each of the worship leaders to come into the studio to re-record their songs, patiently and professionally piecing all the parts of a musical puzzle together one sound at a time.
“Recording live presented many challenges,” recalls vocalist Christy Panchal (’16) of the worship service at Community Bible Church. “The live recording was a good starting point, but we spent a lot of time working on it in the studio. Jacob especially spent countless hours putting the album together.”
Bass player Wilson Howard (’16) remembers his time working on the project as “the best summer of [his] life,” spending numerous nights working late in the recording studio with Williams to assist with tracking instrumentation that needed to be replaced or added throughout the album.
“Every moment in the studio was worship,” he recalls. “Whenever we were recording guitars or vocals, the priority was to praise the Lord with a joyful noise first and foremost and then to get a recording of it. We knew what we were making was more than just a list of songs—it’s a portable worship experience, and I think that comes across when you listen to it.”
Begert, who regards the album as “a collection of heartfelt moments designed to take you on a journey with the creator of the universe,” adds that every musical portion that made it to the record was genuinely created in authentic worship. In fact, when the students occasionally shifted their focus from worship to production during particular songs, the sound quality changed so much that those segments had to be re-recorded.
“I wasn’t thinking about singing; I was just worshiping,” he shares. “The vocals that you hear on the record are of the vocalist actually encountering Jesus.”
Panchal and Howard reveal that Well Collective is in the process of developing a second album, this time featuring all original music.
“It’s special to see how God grows everybody individually to make a very strong team,” says Panchal of the worship band. “It’s clear that we are all pursuing this together.” - Pepperdine Magazine

Well Collective is a community of worship artists committed to inviting others into authentic encounters with the Living God. They were born out of The Well at Pepperdine University, a college worship ministry passionate about uniting the fractured Church, and students of all Christian backgrounds in worship.

To honor the student team who poured their time, talent and energy into The Well every week, worship director Taylor Begert commissioned and led the effort to create a live recording of one of The Well’s worship services. What started out as a homegrown lo-fi recording project was transformed by producer and student team member Jacob Williams into the record Covers, a professional grade portable worship experience.

Knowing the record and the team were something special; Taylor formed Well Collective with former student leaders Jacob Williams, Alexa Shafer, Wilson Howard and Christy Panchal. The team is in the process of writing their first record of original songs for the Church. These songs will not only proclaim God’s love, and celebrate what Christ has done, but they will also give a voice to those in lament, and those searching for God. Well Collective doesn’t write songs that are more of the status quo.

These composers and wordsmiths create anthems and ballads that give the Church language for worshiping through all seasons of life. These songs are designed to expand the vocabulary of the modern liturgy and unite the Church in worship.

Whether you worship live with Well Collective or listen to the record, their hope is that you would be drawn into the presence of God alongside all who seek Jesus to be restored and transformed.

Taylor Begert
Founder and leader of Well Collective, Taylor Begert, is a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter and worship artist. His intricately woven lyrics over passionate melodies and gripping chord progressions create songs to pull your heartstrings.
A musician in his own right since 2002, Taylor has excelled as a vocalist and acoustic guitarist. After graduating cum laude with a bachelors in Music Business from Belmont University, Taylor moved to Los Angeles to begin his career as a full-time musician. In his various roles as a performer and worship leader, Taylor has played up and down the west coast, drawing people in with his fresh and energetic style.
Inspired by artists including Switchfoot, Phil Wickham, Bethel Music, and NEEDTOBREATHE, Taylor’s large inventory of songs, highly acclaimed talent, and deep character makes him a quick favorite among those he has performed for, led and worked with.
Taylor has engaged and wooed audiences at weddings, fundraisers, graduation ceremonies and celebrations, and numerous churches including CBC Ventura, Bel Air Church, Saddleback, and Eastlake Church, and Universities including Pepperdine University, Arizona State University, Whitworth University, and Belmont University.

Christy Panchal
Christy Panchal is a Los Angeles and Orange County-based worship leader, singer, and songwriter. Her beautiful, yet powerful voice has moved congregations for several years.
Christy excels as a vocalist, pianist, worship leader and songwriter and seeks to draw people’s attention to the Living God. She has been innately drawn to music her whole life – Singing since Kindergarten and writing song ideas on the edges of her school papers.
After graduating with the highest honors from Pepperdine University, Christy remained in Los Angeles to continue serving the Lord. She has led worship for many Saddleback Church campuses as well as other churches and Christian camps throughout Southern California. She has opened for esteemed artists such as All Sons and Daughters and Phil Wickham. Christy studied with renowned vocal instructors and worship leaders. She has several years of worship leading and recording experience. She’s led worship in stadiums, churches, halls, theaters and various other venues for numerous other events across the globe. She exhibits excellent leadership skills and musical abilities. Her highly acclaimed talent leaves congregations feeling inspired and moved. Christy desires to wholeheartedly serve the Lord and create an avenue in which people may experience the presence of God through music.

Wilson Howard
Wilson Howard is a creator living for the Creator. As a singer-songwriter and worship musician in the Los Angeles, he uses his voice not just to speak the truth in love, but to sing it. Wilson has been singing as long as he’s been able to talk, if not longer, and he’s been playing guitar and writing songs since 2007. He has been directing people’s attention and affection towards Jesus through music ever since he started his college career at Pepperdine University. After graduating in April of 2016 with a BA in Religion, Wilson has continued to create music that is meant to draw people together like a light echoing through the dark.
Inspired by artists such as John Mark McMillan, Citizens & Saints, Kings Kaleidoscope, and Sufjan Stevens, Wilson’s highest priority as a musician is to know Jesus and make Him known through honest creativity and genuine love. The vulnerability of honest song dissolves what divides us and gently guides us into shared experiences of serious, joyful love, giving us glimpses of our purpose and our God.

Alexa Shafer
Based in Los Angeles, Alexa Shafer is a drummer and worship artist who has found her truest form of expression in music. For the past ten years, drumming has been her outlet for pain, joy, and every emotion in-between. “Hitting things,” so to say, has become her love language of choice to the King.
Alexa first discovered her passion at Saddleback Church, where she would spend every weekend leading junior high and high school students of Student Ministries in worship. Through two summer internships, she had the opportunity to mentor students on the technicalities of playing instruments, as well as the heart behind being a worship leader.
During her time at Pepperdine University, she was given the opportunity to lead as Director of Celebration Chapel, a ministry intended to create an opportunity for students to encounter the living God weekly. In addition, she also had the opportunity to open for Us the Duo, The Oh Hellos, and Phil Wickham alongside other members of Well Collective.

Jacob Williams
Jacob Williams is a sonic pilgrim on a journey to create sounds on Earth as they are in Heaven. When he’s not playing lead guitar with Well Collective, Jacob works in the Los Angeles area as a producer and recording engineer.
Although he started playing piano at seven, Jacob really started his audio odyssey at the age of twelve when he picked up the guitar and his ears were opened to the beauty that is rock n roll. By the time he met the rest of the Well Collective, he had already learned how to praise the Lord through those six strings, carving out beautiful sonic landscapes within which God’s people could meet with Him, undistracted.
While attending Pepperdine University in the 2016 graduating class, Jacob began professional work in the live audio industry with companies such as PRG and No Static, not to mention running and overseeing sound at The Well each week.
In 2014, Delta Spirit’s “Into the Wide” inspired Jacob to learn the craft of record making, and he’s been working in studios ever since. With influences ranging from The Boss to Mutemath, Jacob Williams is living out a call to make a hard-hitting, groove-inducing, joyful noise for the glory of Christ and the edification of His Church. - Talent Magazines