New Life History

New Life Lutheran Church was chartered as a congregation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod on March 1, 1992. This page will feature some of our history with documents, photos and messages.

New Life Turns 30 Years Old!

Rev. Peter Meneghello is a founding member of New Life. He has served as an elder, vice president, president and was a part of our praise team. Pastor Pete now serves at Lutheran Life Villages as a chaplain. He is mainly at the Kendallville location. Pastor Pete served us God’s word on 2/20/2022 as part of our 30th Anniversary year long celebration.

Rev. Larry Merino is our founding pastor. While at New Life he also served as our missionary to the Gypsy (Roma) people. He left New Life to train laity to be missionaries in their on backyards. Pastor Larry accepted a call to be an associate pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. He served there many years promoting evangelism and mission work. He is now retired form full time church work but still preaches in churches throughout the USA encouraging God’s people to share the love of Jesus with those around them. Pastor Larry served us God’s word on 2/27/2022 as part of our 30th Anniversary year long celebration.

Rev. Mike Wakeland served for many years in Latin America with the LCMS Board for International Mission. Pastor Mike also served as Senior Pastor at New Life. Now he is the head chaplain at Lutheran Life Villages. Pastor Mike led a joint worship service at New Life on Trinity Sunday.

As we celebrate 30 years as a congregation, here are some presentations highlighting different aspects of God’s work through New Life:

New Life had a newsletter called “New Life Mission Connections” Here is a PDF version:

Here is a brief timeline of events at New Life (What would you add? Where do you come in?)

New Life has shared Jesus in a wide variety of ways and to a wide variety of people over the years. Here is a list of Kingdom work we have been involved in: