Our History

New Life began in December of 1979 and over the past 25 years the church has grown and moved but has remained committed to the vision of seeing people who are far from God come into a relationship with him.

1979

New Life began in a warehouse on Industrial Boulevard in December 1979. Most of the early members were very young, many from Founding Pastor, Russ Martin's previous youth ministry.

1983

In March 1981, New Life moved to the Boomer Theater. When the lease was up at the Boomer, New Life began meeting at the Norman High School cafeteria to save money on rent. In June of 1983, after much prayer and discussion, about ten New Lifers, with a tremendous amount of faith, co-signed a loan to buy property at the corner of Boyd and Berry. They then began 18 long, hard months of renovating the existing 1929 farmhouse for use as our church building. Volunteers within our church family performed almost all of the labor.

1985

On December 1, 1985, the first service was held in the farmhouse. There were 80 people present. Within a year, New Life was holding two Sunday services and added a third service fourteen months later. The majority of new people at the church were seekers who were finding Christ. The farmhouse was bursting at the seams, so services moved again, this time to the Sheraton Hotel, now the Holiday Inn. While there, New Life purchased additional property at Boyd and Berry, constructed a parking lot, and enlarged the farmhouse auditorium so everyone could come back in 1990.

1996

In 1993, we launched a campaign to build a new building which would provide us with more adequate facilities. On April 21, 1996, we had the first services in our new church home at Boyd and Berry. As the saying goes, "If you build it, they will come!" The church grew dramatically, and again the majority of new people were unchurched seekers. In 2001 New Life launched Chapter 2, a program to build a new building on Hwy 77 in Norman.

2004

New Life purchased 25 acres on North Highway 77 with a vision to build facilities to accommodate even more believers and people wanting to know God. Construction began in the Fall of 2003 and the church moved to its new home in March of 2005