A Testimony About My New Life Church

After five years of wanting, waiting, begging and getting older, in the winter of 2001 my family and I finally joined the New Life Church. My husband and I had a verbal agreement to stay committed for at least five years before considering moving on. Seven years later not only are we still here but to date, we have never even considered leaving.

Our good friends Randal and Veronica Thompson invited us to the Married Couples Seminar shortly after we were married in 1996. This is where we met the facilitators of that ministry, then Pastor David and Co-Pastor Sandra Barnes.

I was immediately drawn to the Jesus in them. The light of the Great One shines brightly in their lives but it was Pastor Barnes’ down to earth, honest admission of a flawed background and troubled upbringing that fascinated me. I always thought of preachers as different. Their lives, in my mind, were different from us ordinary people. To let me tell it there was majestic music playing around them at all times because they were the picture of perfection: but this man spoke openly about the events in his life and how the Word of God healed him of all of his pain, hatred and confusion. It was both refreshing and strange to me and I wanted to hear more about the healing power of Jesus, my soul was yearning to learn more because I was desperate for healing myself. I had tried everything to fill that void but nothing worked until this chance encounter opened a door.

At our first private meeting with Pastor Barnes, he made a statement that changed my life. He told me not to just come to church, but to be the church. The building itself didn’t represent Christ, I did. That one statement hit the very core of me, but the change was a long time coming.

In the beginning of this walk, my family and I were the last to get to service and the first ones to leave. Sunday school, prayer and praise and worship were an unnecessary part of the service for us at that time, so we usually came in the door around noontime just before Pastor was about to preach. Second services and Wednesday bible studies were out of the question for us and although I don’t really remember what I was doing in place of these things, I do remember the mindset I had; "that’s too much church" and "It doesn’t take all that!" and "don’t these people have anything else to do except come to church?". I’m not sure when my minds was renewed, but I thank God for the process I had to go through to get renewed because today I understand that person who comes to service late avoiding praise and worship. I understand those who don’t make it to Sunday school because they have to have at least one day to sleep late; I understand the unwillingness to make the sacrifice for bible study on Wednesday nights. It’s like looking at a play written about who I used to be.

Today not only do I have keys to the sanctuary but am often the first to arrive and the last to leave locking the doors behind me. Only love and a hunger to know Him could change a person like me 365 degrees. Only love for this ministry and a commitment to the Lord through his representatives Bishop David and Pastor Sandra Barnes could change my name and put one in trusted position to head and create ministries and teach Sunday school; to be on call for his/her spiritual leaders; to have a "can’t do enough for God" attitude.

If someone asked me what I would suggest to someone just coming into the church, I would have to say commit to come no matter what for at least five years like we did and let God have his way in your life. The love of Christ at the New Life Church will change you, rearrange you and give you a new life once you realize you are the church. In time you will learn that you can never do too much and it does take all that and more because souls are at stake and that whatever else you have to do comes second to the Kingdom of God.

Bishop David and Pastor Sandra Barnes are the most loving, caring, honest, down to earth people of God you will ever meet and The New Life Church is a place where God resides. If you want to get to know Him please come, the stage has already been set and there is a spot in the production waiting for you to fill. We have all types of characters, all strategically placed to help you take off those grave clothes as you go from glory to glory to glory. All you have to do is hold onto God’s trusting hand. After awhile, you will come to see that you too are a leading man or woman because God created you to be nothing less. Unique gifts will be revealed, developed and used to glorify the Father and you will gain a brand new family.