Watermark Community Church

Watermark Frisco launched on July 7, 2019 and meets at Frisco High School in Frisco, TX.[4]

A former campus in Fort Worth became an independent congregation on July 1, 2020 and maintains the name Watermark Forth Worth.[5]

In 2014 Todd Wagner made a public announcement that the church was looking to expand to Plano.[6] He further stated that the property they wished to purchase would cost $9.5 million.[6] The Plano campus formally launched as an independent campus, CityBridge Community Church, on January 1, 2021.[7]

In 2015 it was announced that Watermark had the opportunity to purchase the second of two tower blocks adjacent to the main campus.[8] The purchase was to be for $19 million, with $15 million needed as of October 10, 2015.[8] As of 2016, Watermark has purchased an 8 year lease with plans to purchase the tower after the lease expires.

As of 2015 the Dallas Campus property was valued at $69.8 million.[9][10]

In 2020 Watermark purchased the former Pearl C. Anderson Middle School property in South Dallas from the Dallas Independent School District for $211,000 in a public sale, an action which has upset church leaders in the community. Watermark claims it intends to provide community services in the area, such as health care, job placement, and personal recovery.[11]

Under Watermark's governing documents, the church leadership may exercise "church discipline" up to and including terminating membership.[12] Watermark's exercise of this clause has been criticized on at least three reported occasions:

• In 2016, Watermark terminated the membership of a man involved in a same-sex relationship.[13]
• Another story from 2016 (reprinted in another blog in 2019) tells of a couple where the husband carried on an affair, the wife asked for help, but the husband refused to stop the affair. Not only did Watermark seek to discipline the husband, it contacted organizations with whom the woman (with whom the husband was having the affair) was involved, encouraging them to intervene, even though she was never a Watermark member.[14]
• A third instances, reported on the online blog No Eden Elsewhere, mentioned the story of Uche Amuneke, a Black woman and (now) former member who in 2018, concerned about the lack of racial diversity and racial reconciliation, followed the church's protocols to address the matter, only to be told that she should look for another congregation. Later, in 2020 (after posting several YouTube videos about the George Floyd and other incidents), was asked to meet with Watermark leadership, but after only 26 days and only one meeting, had her membership revoked. Her community group ultimately abandoned her after being threatened themselves with membership revocation.[15] (At the same time, former senior pastor Wagner --a white man -- had been under "care and correction" for three months before he was voluntarily allowed to step down from his position.)

The online blog No Eden Elsewhere reported that at least two former members notified the blog of their experiences. Going by the pseudonyms "Susan"[16] and "Michael",[17] the members told that they were encouraged into revealing their financial and personal history to the "community group" of which they were members, and were admonished when neither shared anything that could be used to "control" them. Both members compared Watermark's actions to the Scientology cult, due to the need to know personal details of members.

In a third post from this site, two parents relayed experiences whereby, after their adult children joined Watermark and went through its Re:Generation ministry,[18] those children then claimed to have been "abused" by the parents and now no longer want a relationship with them. One parent even agreed to a "reconciliation" process approved by her child's community group, which failed.[19] The post mentions a third instance, one of the comments on the video was from a mother attempting reconciliation with her son (a Watermark member), and was told that Watermark will not work with her directly, but required her to engage a "spiritual authority" from her congregation to discuss the matter with a "spiritual authority" from Watermark (even though the woman was not told what actions she had done to cause the rift in the first place).[20]