New Life Church's doors opened for its first Sunday Gathering on January 17, 1999, at Crow Canyon Cinemas in San Ramon, California. The church was the manifestation of the dreams of Founding Pastors Doug Heisel and Crystal Heisel. They were called to create a home for the unchurched while they were working as associate pastors at another Bay Area church. Two years before New Life's first gathering, they began to make moves toward their God-given dream. Together, they sold their home, moved across the county, pulled their kids out of private school, and used their new home as the church office.

For the next five years, the church continued to meet at the theatre where they grew quickly enough to need a larger space. God did a miracle by introducing them to a church in Alamo, California with a paid-off building in need of senior leadership. The situation prompted the two churches to ask, "could we do more together than apart?" The churches voted unanimously to merge. Overnight, New Life Church had its first permanent facility. This miracle allowed New Life to grow and continue its mission to reach the San Francisco Bay Area for Christ.

Since 1999, New Life Church has assisted church plants across the world, including those in Mexico, Africa, India, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the church has two permanent facilities on opposite ends of the 680 corridor, in Dublin and Alamo, as well as a thriving and growing online community.