A Brief History…
JR Woodward and a handful of Virginia Tech students started a student club in 1989 as part of campus-focused movement called Great Commission Ministries. Since then, God has grown the group to involve hundreds of students and locals.
In that time NLCF has planted two neighborhood churches in Los Angeles called Kairos, as as well as one in Richmond called Imago Dei.
We also started a new congregation we call the Downtown Congregation (New Life) that is primarily focused on everyone from graduate students, professionals, families, and kids in the New River Valley.
We also planted a church at Lynchburg College called Lynchburg Christian Fellowship.
We’ve also started two non-profits. One is called Network of Giving and the other is a group of missional churches called Ecclesia. Whew… we’re not done yet!
Timeline
The Beginning
1989: Our founding pastor, JR Woodward, arrives at Virginia Tech as part of Great Commission Ministries (now Reliant) campus church planting movement.
The 90s: The Formative Years
1991: Collegiate Christian Life (CCL) registers as a student club at Virginia Tech led by pastor JR Woodward.
1995: Radford church plant began.
1997: Name changed to New Life Campus Fellowship (NLCF) and adopted as official student organization.
The 2000s: Becoming A Sending Church
2002: Pastors JR Woodward and Joe Racek take a team of 30 leaders to plant Kairos church in Los Angeles, CA.
2002: Jim Pace and Chris Backert are ordained as pastors and continue to lead NLCF.
2005: New Life Christian Fellowship (NLCF) adopted as official name
2007: The New Life community congregation is launched. The Ecclesia Network of churches was started.
2008: Chris Backert and other NLCF members combine with leaders from the Bay Area Church to start Imago Dei in Richmond, VA. Network of Giving, an online non-profit organization, is established.
2009: NLCF celebrates its 20th anniversary. 130 Jackson opened for public use after a long renovation process.
2010: 7:07 service moved to 130 Jackson.
2011: NLCF shifts from our homegroup model of bible studies to Engage Groups – active missional communities throughout campus and town.
2015: NLCF celebrates 25 years of being in ministry!