WOODBURY, MN (WNN) – New Life Church leaders voted to buy 30 acres of land west of the property for the biggest expansion to the church and academy since its start nearly fifty years ago. The purchase price of $6.5 million includes a new access point to the property and updated utilities for the new site. The current plot is 40 acres.
New Life has plans to expand their additional building and provide other new amenities for the community on both their existing land and the 30 acres of land they are purchasing.
The Bailey Family owns 330 acres of land adjacent to New Life.
New Life Church and Academy leadership had been negotiating the land purchase with the Bailey family and the city of Woodbury for 38 months.
New Life’s 20-year plan includes large expansions to the existing New Life building, a larger worship center, new fine arts facilities, many new outdoor sports fields, an additional gym, a relocated playground, a field house, and additional parking spaces. It also includes margin for future ideas.
Pastor Brett Lilly said, “Our desire is to enhance the ministry and the three areas that we focus on: teach, care, send.” He explained, saying, “We want to not only do a better job, but also continue to enhance the ways that we are teaching people the word of God. Ways that we can do this is by adding other facilities that continue teaching our community how to use their gifts that God has given them.”
“It’s like a Lego block,” Lilly says. “We want to put pieces on that continue to enhance what we currently have.”
New Life has been looking for land purchase opportunities for over twenty years but focused on the Bailey land starting in November of 2021.
Todd George, a local project manager and New Life Church chair elder, has been the main spokesperson for New Life during the negotiation process.
He said, “The current process of buying the Bailey land started three years ago. We had fact-finding and exploratory pursuits prior to that, beginning in 2018, when we began to develop a campus master plan.”
The Bailey land is not the only land that New Life has looked into purchasing. George said, “For purposes of due diligence, we’ve looked at several different sites in the in the East metro.”
George continued, saying, “So, we’ve looked at both existing buildings that might have some translation for what New Life does across all of its ministry, church, academy, everything, and also ways that we can further use the 40 acres we currently own.”
The process of buying land from the Baileys has been lengthy. Todd George said, “Newport, Woodbury, and Maplewood all have a portion of the land that’s being sold within their townships, and Washington and Ramsey County are also within that space. So, there are two counties, three cities, and they all have different regulations and requirements for the 330 acres that are being sold, even though New Life is only trying to buy 30 acres.”
The most immediate projects will be expanding the school, adding on to the Worship Center, enhancing fine arts facilities, and providing additional athletics facilities.
Tuition money will not be used towards any of the growth projects and purchases. All future investments and projects will be done with funds raised by the Capital Campaign Committee.
Larry Chinn is one of the leaders in the Capital Campaign Committee. He works to create plans to raise money for this upcoming expansion. Chinn said, “The Committee will start planning some community activities and events, and then we will conduct a feasibility study.”
Pastor Lilly said, “Our desire is not just to get bigger, our desire is to have more impact, greater impact that truly will change the world. We know that the only thing that can really create change is Jesus, through us. Over 1800 students have graduated from New Life and have gone on to do great things. We want to allow that to continue to happen.”
(This article was contributed by Journalism Students at New Life Academy)
