New Life church breaking ground for worship center

as reported by Sarah K. Cron

in the Chesapeake Clipper, Sunday, June 29, 2003

   New Life Christian Fellowship at Great Bridge will break ground this morning on a permanent worship center that Pastor Steve Morgan hopes will become a new bridge into the community

     The church has been meeting at Great Bridge High School since February 1996 and is the second of five New Life congregations to begin building a permanent facility in South Hampton Roads. The other sanctuary is on Volvo Parkway in Greenbrier, and other Chesapeake congregations meet each Sunday at Indian River High School and Western Branch intermediate schools. The fifth is in Virginia Beach.

     In keeping with the slogan “Building Bridges Heart to Heart,” an idea inspired through a sermon about three year ago, Morgan said the new building will better enable the church to carry out its mission to reach the community.

    “We were a church plant out of the Greenbrier congregation,” he said. “At the time, none of us ever thought it would take seven years to come to this point.”

     Morgan and his wife connected with the New Life Christian Fellowship in Greenbrier shortly after moving to Great Bridge about 18 years ago.

     The Greenbrier congregation, originally named Greenbrier Congregational Christian Church, was founded in 1981. In 1995, it assumed the New Life name under the direction of Pastor Bobby Hill who also inspired the multi-congregational concept. Today, the New Life congregations are undergoing structural changes to become five distinct churches loosely connected with each other through a common vision and values. These “family of churches” will then be under the umbrella organization called New Life Ministries led by Pastor Joseph Umidi.

    “It’s been a long time coming,” said Associate Pastor Carl Mahler, who spearheads the church’s family and counseling ministry. “I know the congregation is really looking forward to having a permanent place, a place where we can reach out to the community as well.”

     The church will meet today in a tent on the Kegman Road property and will celebrate the ground-breaking after the morning service. The site is between Hillwell Road and the Great Bridge Bypass.

    “It’s fun to get everyone onto the property to just enjoy what the Lord has given us here.” Morgan said. “In my heart and mind, it’s one way of saying to our people that we are establishing something here that is for multiple generations.”

     The boot-shaped property is comprised of 10 acres acquired from three families and includes two houses. The land cost about $500,000, including the value of the two houses.

     With the cost of the land, site preparation, city fees and the actual construction of the building, the project will total $1.9 million – an enormous endeavor for a congregation of about 85 families. The new facility alone, an 11,500-square-foot worship center, will cost about $800,000.

     To help offset these costs, the congregation conducted a stewardship campaign last fall that raised about $125,000. This added to the $150,000 they had accumulated over the years.

    “We were able to essentially come to the table having only to borrow about half the amount of the value of the property,” Morgan said.

     In January the church also began a three-year pledge campaign, which should bring in an additional $575,000.

     Weather permitting, construction work will begin this week and should be completed by the end of the year. The multi-purpose worship center will seat 350 to 375 people for Sunday morning services. The worship center is the first phase in the overall plans, which ultimately call for a 700-seat sanctuary.

     On the rest of the property, the church plans to develop an athletic complex, complete with a baseball diamond, soccer field, picnic pavilion and possibly a basketball court.

    “We didn’t know initially whether we would build a building in Great Bridge,” said founding pastor Hill. “But after meeting in the high school, it just became obvious that they needed it.”

     Hill left his pastoral role with the New Life churches in 1998 to pioneer Vanguard Ministries, a worldwide network of churches and leaders.

    “It has been a testimony to the endurance, faithfulness and sacrifice of the people,” he said, “and also a credit to the leadership of Pastor Morgan.”