Ten years ago, Yvonne Howard had a prayer.

She was new to Whidbey and needed a church community to call home.

“I asked God to help me,” she said.

The next day she ran into Roosevelt Rumble with whom she graduated West End High School in Birmingham, Ala., 15 years earlier.

“It was a true blessing,” she said.

Today, Howard and her husband Wilbert are among the growing congregation of New Life Missionary Baptist Church that are once again thankful for another prayer being answered.

On June 30, the church dedicated its new church home at 656 Bayshore Drive, suite 2. The new church is three times the size of its previous, 1,100-square-foot location in back office space on Whidbey Avenue.

“Some Sundays it was so sticky in there,” said Deacon Fred Swayzer said of the crowded quarters.

New Life Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1986 by the Rev. Lawrence Daniels with services held in the International Order of Oddfellows Hall on Barrington Drive. Since then, the church has claimed many homes, including office spaces and Island County Ministries, what is now Calvary Chapel.

Rumble still feels an affinity for the former, office-space location.

“It was like going to someone’s house,” he said. “Everyone was right there, a part of the service.”

Rumble has been a member of the church since 1986 and he became the interim pastor in 2003 following the death of pastor S.W. Franklin. Rumble retired as executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Harbor in 2006 to focus his efforts on his ministry and become full-time pastor at New Life.

Under Rumble’s interim leadership, New Life was reincorporated in 2002.

“We wanted to bring more organization to the church in order to be able to expand our ministry,” Rumble said.

At the time, New Life claimed 55 members, but has since grown to a congregation of 125-plus. Finding their new home came as a blessing.

“We’d been in prayer one day when we happened to walk by and take a look in the window,” Rumble said.

The new Bayshore location was a perfect fit for the church — central to the city and near the transient flow of the bus depot — but it took a little work to make it that way. The space’s zoning was unclear as to whether a church would be allowable.

“We originally applied for the permit under the understanding that the location wasn’t for a church,” Rumble said. “But the judge examined the listing and deemed it would be appropriate for the location.”

With permits approved, New Life began extensive renovations on the leased space in December of last year.

“If you went in there without a vision you would have turned around and ran,” Howard said.

The first services were held the first week of June. Swayzer admits the first service was kind of uncomfortable.

“It was a mix of being happy to be there and the shock of being in a new place,” he said. “We were like kids who were happy to move, but we missed the comfort of our old home.”

But once everyone got comfortable, the services kicked into high gear.

“By the time Father’s Day arrived it was really special,” Rumble said.

The dedication ceremony featured step dance performances, praise singing, mime and plenty of worship. Representative John Hopson from the Mount Baker Baptist Association, the local Baptist association to which New Life belongs, presided over the ceremonial services.

Roosevelt shies away from labeling his church as predominantly African American, preferring to maintain that it is a diversity-rich worship community.

“Our worship concept differs so much, there’s something for everyone,” he said.

Services at New Life are like one big family gathering held each Sunday. And the fellowship lives beyond the walls of whatever church building New Life claims.

Ebonie Pinnock sees every day as a chance for people to walk into the church for the first time and gain friends and fellowship that will last a lifetime.

“It’s people’s chance to get direction to God’s love and break away from what is holding them back from the love of God,” she said.

It’s not about denomination, but rather relationships, Michael White said.

“It’s not about color or religion,” he said. “It’s about a love for God and other people.”

White considers every day at New Life a great adventure.

“It’s about expanding minds,” White said. “Everyone at New Life knows that people sin, but it’s not about sinning it’s about starting over again and forgiveness. It’s OK to do wrong but you have to get back up and move on.”

The moment Deacon Swayzer walked into New Life Missionary Baptist for a service four years ago he immediately felt the love.

“This church drew me in and seemed very real,” he said.

Pinnock transferred to Whidbey from Spain in October of 2005 and she was welcomed with open arms.

“I came with my son who was 11 months old at the time,” she said. “Someone immediately came over to hold him so I could enjoy the service.”

The support isn’t just for the ladies. White said he admires the male bonding at his church.

“You don’t see that anymore, especially at churches,” he said. “But we’re all really open-minded and are able to talk about our struggles.”

Because of this, White said he and other men of the church are able to better become Godly men who succeed as fathers and husbands.

“Some people leave churches for the wrong reasons — but it’s not about stuff like how you dress,” Swayzer said. “You always feel welcome here no matter what.”

A core group of worshippers have been with the church a number of years, giving it strength amidst the transient population.

“The long-time members keep the body of believers going,” Howard said. “We’ve seen the church through the highs and the lows.”

Even though the paint is still fresh on the new church, White looks forward to the day New Life outgrows its new digs.

“My heart is overjoyed by the new church,” he said. “But I know that it’s still not big enough for the growth we have possible.”

Howard agrees on the forecast of growth.

“We will grow as people and as a church,” she said. “We will go as high as God wants to take us.”