Rex Rains and his family planted New Life 14 years ago when they sensed God's call to plant a church in Dubuque without having any prior connections or friendships. Rex took out an ad in the paper (yes, a newspaper) and gathered a small group of people in a hotel meeting room to express his call to plant a new kind of church here where the hurting and broken could be healed and welcomed. A year later New Life had its first public service at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School meeting there in the auditorium.

After a couple of years there, God opened up an opportunity for us to make the move to a more midtown location at 419 N. Grandview across from the Finely Hospital. We started by just meeting there in the basement and ended up renting more than half of the building to accommodate children's worship spaces.

In 2014 we received a call from a small church community that offered to give their building away. After extensive renovation, we have been meeting at 835 South Grandview Heights for the last several years.