New Life Church (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Congregations of New Life Church

New Life Church has multiple congregations, similar to campuses, that meet in Colorado Springs.

Church Plants

New Life Church has planted multiple churches around the United States.

Campus and facilities

The church established its present campus location in the early 1990s and added buildings and added onto existing buildings in this location. The initial sanctuary on the campus, now referred to as the "theater," seats 1,500 and is used primarily for children's church and youth meetings throughout the week. The current main sanctuary can seat over 8,000 but is currently set up to seat 5,000.

The New Life campus is also home to the World Prayer Center. The World Prayer Center, through the use of Internet technologies and The World Prayer Team organization, coordinates global prayer efforts among its participants. The World Prayer Center is home to several ministries and internship programs including the Furnace, Burn Student Internship, and the Desperation Leadership Academy.

The smallest building on the campus is The Tent which is used for conducting both youth meetings and New Life School of Worship classes.

Children's classrooms are in a Bible story-themed area.

New Life Worship

New Life Church is well-known for its prolific songwriters (Ross Parsley, Jon Egan, Glenn Packiam, Jared Anderson) and worship leaders, having released over a dozen albums (My Savior Lives, Counting On God, You Hold It All, Strong God, Soak) and hundreds of songs (I Am Free, Great I Am, My Savior Lives, Here In Your Presence) through New Life Worship and Desperation Band.

Desperation Ministries

Desperation Ministries is a national youth ministry that was born out of New Life Church's student ministries. Through annual conferences, ministry tours, and the Desperation Band, Desperation Ministries calls students to live lives of Passion, Mission, Intercession, and Consecration.

Dream Centers of Colorado Springs

New Life Church, under the leadership of Brady Boyd, founded and launched Dream Centers of Colorado Springs. Dream Centers of Colorado Springs serves Colorado Springs in several ways:

Ministry

New Life Church, along with Focus on the Family, established Colorado Springs as a conservative evangelical center in the 1990s. In 2005, Jeff Sharlet claimed that while New Life is "by no means the largest megachurch…[it] holds more sway over the political direction of evangelicalism" than any other church in America.

History

New Life Church was founded in 1984 by Ted Haggard. The church started under his leadership as an independent church meeting in his home. From these origins, the church grew through a succession of larger meeting spaces including strip mall office space and other non-traditional church locations.

Ted Haggard scandals and resignation

On November 2, 2006, Haggard was accused of paying a male escort for sex for three years and of also using methamphetamine. Later the same day, Haggard voluntarily stepped down as pastor so "the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity", and that he would be seeking "spiritual advice and guidance". Two days later, New Life Church's Board of Overseers announced that they had decided to permanently dismiss Haggard from his role.

In January 2009, new allegations emerged that Haggard, while pastor at New Life, had an inappropriate relationship with a former attendee. Haggard's successor, Brady Boyd, said the church reached a six figure settlement with the man, who was in his early 20s at the time. According to a News Channel 13 report, the man said the contact was "not consensual".

Pastor Brady Boyd

Following a pastoral selection process, Brady Boyd became the Senior Pastor in August 2007. Under his leadership, New Life Church has planted 6 churches, and established 5 congregations within New Life Church. In addition to pastoring New Life Church, Boyd has also written several books, including Fear No Evil, Sons & Daughters, Let Her Lead, Addicted to Busy, and Speak Life.

Shooting

On December 9, 2007, Matthew Murray, age 24, opened fire in the New Life Church, striking five people and killing two, sisters Rachel and Stephanie Works; their father David Works was one of the individuals injured. Jeanne Assam, a church security volunteer, shot and wounded the gunman who then killed himself. Several hours prior, the same gunman opened fire at a Youth With A Mission training center in Arvada, Colorado, striking four people and killing two. He was formerly a missionary-in-training with Youth With A Mission and was from a devout Christian family.

About the shooting, Jeanne Assam said, "I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me. I said, 'Holy Spirit, please be with me...' My hands weren't even shaking." Assam's shots were non-fatal. The Coroner’s report identified that the fatal shot was self-inflicted. Police found a letter from the shooter addressed "To God".

At a congregational recovery meeting three days after the shooting, Boyd told parishioners they "will not be governed by fear." Boyd appeared with Jeanne Assam on a host of media appearances following the tragedy. On April 17, 2008, the Colorado State Senate honored Jeanne Assam passing a resolution calling her a "true hero". After the shooting New Life made a memorial for Rachael and Stephanie Works with a stone and 2 benches.

New Life Church allegedly fired Ms. Assam after she came out as a homosexual.

In popular culture

Ted Haggard and other members of the church were featured on a 1997 episode of the PRI radio program This American Life, as well as the documentaries Jesus Camp, Friends of God, Constantine's Sword, and The Root of All Evil?.