On December 6, 2007, a group of 60 men, woman and children gathered in a meeting room at the Elegante Hotel in Beaumont, Texas. This joyous company of believers continued to meet every Sunday for the next three months and decided to call their new fellowship “Gathering Hope”. From this humble beginning, a dream was born to plant a new congregation.
Called to Sing a NewSong
After much prayer and conversation, a call was issued to the Rev. Rick Conrad to come and be the church’s founding pastor. Rick and his wife Sherry had planted three churches in Missouri and Texas over the past fifteen years. The Conrads accepted the position and Rick assumed his role as founding pastor on Palm Sunday March 16th of 2008. Soon after, the congregation unanimously adopted the name NewSong Covenant Church.
A NewSong for a New Life
Music has always played an important role in Rick’s ministry. With his degree in piano and giftedness in composition, Rick has relied on music and the performing arts as an effective tool throughout his more than twenty years of ordained ministry. Blessed with an abundance of talent within the NSC congregation, the new community is looking forward to using the Christian Arts as one of its primary means to present the Good News of Jesus Christ. Getting Started During that first summer, members of NewSong participated in our Harvest Ministry Phone Outreach campaign. During the Harvest Outreach, we contacted over 8,000 households and mailed more than 800 brochures. Our efforts were rewarded with a wonderful grand opening worship celebration with 150 friends, neighbors, and family in attendance...and our new song was born.
Uniting with Evangelical Covenant The Rev. Jeff Black, former church planting partner of Rick Conrad, suggested to members of our leadership team that we should consider connecting the NewSong church plant with the EvangelicalCovenantChurch, the fastest growing Christian community in the America. In November 2008, Rick and members of the church's leadership traveled to Austin, Texas to meet with Dr. Garth Bolinder, superintendent of the Mid-South conference. The purpose of their meeting was to learn more about ECC, as well as seek God's will in this matter. Following their conversation, the entire group felt they had found their home. On Sunday, December 7th, members of the NewSong church family gave their unanimous and enthusiastic consent to unite with the Covenant church movement to proclaim of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Praise in the Park On November 2009, NewSong began Sunday worship at Rogers Park Community Center. This beautiful setting seems to be ideal for the church to continue to work out its mission. The Community Center is a brand new facility that is located in the heart of our ministry area. As a way to invite our neighbors to our new worship home, the church launched another phone outreach during the month of November. Our official "GRAND OPENING in the park" will be our December 13th worship followed by a gala reception for family, friends and our new neighbors.
