New Life began in December of 1979 and over the past 30 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.