Love, Grow, Engage!

Love God and humanity, Grow in relationship with God and humanity, Engage our community and the world with the love of God. God put in simplest terms what His desire for the church and the Christian was in Matthew 22:37-40:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Everything we do at New Life Center runs through this prism. We exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in worship within song, preaching, our motives, and our actions. We reach out to those that don’t have a saving relationship with Jesus through evangelism. We have compassion for those in need both spiritually and physically. We disciple believers in the truth, grace, and love of Christ, building a genuine community in the Lord. In all ways we desire and strive to bring glory to God and be the truly pentecostal church God has called us to be. Ultimately, our desire is to follow the example of a church found in Acts 2:42-47:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

To hear more concerning our vision as a pentecostal church in Hays Kansas, please visit our YouTube channel at New Life Center Hays where you can listen to this series of sermons.

New Life Center Church in Hays Kansas is a Pentecostal church affiliated with the Assemblies of God. The “Statement of Fundamental Truths” contains the 16 doctrines of the Assemblies of God. These are the tenets of faith that we as a church hold as true (Though this is not an exhaustive list of Biblical truth). We are not saying we have the corner on truth; but simply that, as we best understand the Bible, these are truths that we have chosen to ground our fellowship on. They are as follows:

The Scriptures Inspired
The One True God
The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Fall of Man
The Salvation of Man
The Ordinances of the Church
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
The Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Sanctification
The Church and Its Mission
The Ministry
Divine Healing
The Blessed Hope
The Millennial Reign of Christ
The Final Judgment
The New Heavens and the New Earth

To find out more about the Assemblies of God’s doctrine and beliefs, please visit the AG website.

New Life Center Timeline

1909 The Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California from which 26 different Pentecostal traditions sprang forth

1914 The formation of the Assemblies of God nationally

1918 The formation of the Assemblies of God within Kansas

1940 The earliest documentation of services in Hays is October 13^th of 1940

• We began with a stove for warmth, piano and an offering of $1.20 at a street side service

1941-1942 Mae & Max Johnson

• Max was an oil field worker, and pastor from Russell Kansas at the time, they lead Saturday evening street corner services
• Mae was the preacher and Max was the Sunday School teacher. One week before leading a Sunday School lesson on the Baptism in the Spirit (of which he was yet to be filled), he thought he should experience this second work of grace before he would teach on it. So he took the week, sought the Baptism, and was filled before that Sunday
• Lula Poe attended these meetings and became a founding member of our church (Russell Poe would be her future husband)

1943 Oscar L. Faupel

1944-1945 Alvin C. Bird

• The old church at Lockwood was torn down, and the lumber was brought to Hays to build our church on Oak and 14^th Street

1946-1947 William D. Saunders Jr

1948 S. James Colburn

1948-1950 Walter Kronberg

1951-1952 Ira O. (Pete) Cowell

• Our church was closed and the building sold, during this time we would drive to Plainville Kansas for services

1955-1960 Eldon & Betty Powers

• This amazing couple began a House Church that grew to 20-25 people regularly
• We bought property on Vine Street, at the edge of town at the time, and built the church (This building is currently The Pheasant Run Restaurant)
• In 1956 we became affiliated with the Assemblies of God
• Pastor Powers would commonly have holes in his shoes because he would invest all his money into the church
• Thelma Smith, along with her husband Ben, moved to Hays, joined the church in 1959, and she began playing the piano within our worship services
• Our churches name was Hays Assembly of God

1960-1963 F.M. Hatch

• Pastor Hatch would build the parsonage connected to the church building
• He was a down to earth man that loved the Lord, and a strong man from an old school Pentecostal tradition, he would have been a horseback preacher in earlier generations

1963-1964 John & Leotia Morar

• A student at Fort Hays State University
• He was a good singer whose wife (Sister of Derald Musgrove) played the piano
• He would bake cakes and give them out to people, He developed a powerful College Ministry and produced great cantatas
• Later he became a missionary to the Philippines

1965-1968 Glen Jenkins

• The church grew and expanded its Sunday School, and College Ministry

1968-1969 Bill Gebrosky

• He was known as a good preacher

1969-1972 Lonnie McVeigh

• We sold the property on Vine Street and began construction on our property at 22^nd and Donald
• His wife was a gifted piano player
• They were a young couple that worked well with all ages

1972-1977 Norman Hardin

• Pastor Hardin was a building contractor and carpenter by trade
• We finished construction on current building; the west wing was completed November 29^th 1973, and the sanctuary was completed and dedicated November 10^th 1974
• During the initial construction period our church would meet at Wilson Elementary School from December 3^rd 1972 to November 29^th 1973
• They had five kids, he was a hard worker, and his wife was a gifted artist

1977-1980 Mike Hill

• We would change our worship style during this season to a more contemporary sound

1981-1994 David & Becky Williams

• We grew tremendously during this season in our churches history
• We also changed our church name to “New Life Center”
• Our church became known for Large Christmas and Easter productions

1994-2000 Steven & Pam Livingston

• Pastor Steve did the major work of writing and rewriting much of the policies and the constitution and bylaws of our church
• Counseling was a major part of his ministry
• During his time here he finished his doctorate

2000-2013 David & Charlotte Martin

• Our church underwent several remodels to our current church building
• Our church focused heavily on our Coffee House and College Ministry during this season of our church history

2013-2023 Sabian & Melissa Chaney

• We focused on a greater sense of community within the church
• We built ministry teams
• We placed an intensified focus on missions both at home and abroad
• Our desire was to love God and to love humanity as the Lord led our many different ministries