Where We Came From...

It all began in the Fall of 2004 - a clapped out ex-soccer player (and his wife) with a vision -
Bill and Carol Jenkins -- a Church multiplication organization with a vision - STADIA and
a group of Godly men and women with a vision - friends of Bill and Carol, who without
their prayers and financial support new life would not be.  

June 2005 saw Bill and Carol joining with a group of people in Auburn with a passion
for Christ and his people who caught the vision and the training commenced. For six
months Bill and Carol led this Core Group in learning the principles of lifeshapes,
bursting balloons and tossing tennis balls back and forth. Essentially learning how to
"do life” together; how to be a reflection of the life of Christ through the Church.

As the months passed and the date for the Grand Opening approached plans were put into
effect as to how to show the community that new life Christian Church cared for them. The
plan included a “Gas Buy Down.” new life Christian Church purchased $2000 of gas, and
offered it to the public for a discounted rate. The turnout was large, and the story was
covered in the local newspaper and featured on a  morning TV show.

Additionally, the story was later picked up by the Associated Press when a group of
protesters also joined new life Christian Church for their Grand Opening. Bill was featured
on “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and it was there that his legendary phrase, to
describe churches that do not reach out, “...as useful as a ham sandwich at a bar mitzvah”
was set in stone.

new life Christian Church celebrated their Grand Opening on November 13, 2005 and did
so with a splash! The two services were packed and as people came in they expressed  
surprise at how a community center could be thus transformed into a church, and not just
an ordinary church but a church with coffee tables, dimmed lighting and coffee at the ready!

Everybody does need a place to connect ~ for Bill, Carol and the Core Group that
place was and is new life Christian Church.