New Days Community Church © 2021 - 2025. All Rights Reserved.
It’s a great day at New Days
Where We Are Doing Ministry On Purpose!
New Days Community Church l Rev. Frederick D. Berry, Sr., Senior Pastor l Rev. Reginald Garrett, Sr., Pastor Emeritus (In Memoriam)
901 North Broadway Avenue l Tyler, Texas 75702 l (903) 526-4590 l info@NewDaysCCTyler.org
A Charge to keep I have, A God to glorify. Who gave His Son, my soul to save, Is fitted for the sky.
To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill, O may all our power engage; To do my Master’s will.
A word from the Lord came to Rev. Reginald Garrett in the Summer of 2002. At that time, Rev. Garrett was Pastor of the St. James C.M.E. Church. This word planted the seed for the birth of New Days Ministries. Pastor Garrett had a little white model church sitting in his office with New Days taped to its side. As that seed took root a new ministry emerged. It represented the beginning of a new destiny. The second occurrence during that summer was that C.M.E Church convened the Central Texas Conference. During the conference, Pastor Garrett was reassigned to another location, which he respectfully declined. Upon returning home, Rev. Garrett cleared out his office. He made sure that the little model church that represented the vision of New Days ministries was packed and accompanied him as he ventured upon his new purpose.
In a similar way God had spoken to Abraham in a vision and told him that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. God knew that Abraham had the faith to embrace and take ownership of the vision. What a big Vision! Twenty years ago, God gave such a vision to our pastor Rev. Garrett. A vision to organize a church to lead His people. What was Pastor Garrett going to do? Obey God! He knew that the Lord had called him to preach but who would he preach to? This was a dark and troubling time for Pastor Garrett--some sleepless nights, worry, and concern. But….in the Beginning: John 1:1 reads in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. God spoke a word to Pastor Garrett. The word was that he would plant a new church, this meant charting a new course. This assignment also brought new concern to Pastor Garrett—but he preserved.
Our leader, Rev. Reginald Garrett, a praying pastor, created a praying church: both individually and collectively. This new ministry was a circuit-rider ministry. People could make contributions directly to the ministry. One of its foci was to feed the young people housed at the Juvenile Attention Center. Through this ministry, members volunteered and fellowshipped with the troubled inmates. Several people met every other Monday at the Juvenile Attention Center to feed the inmates both physically and spiritually with a word from the Lord. A point of irony: that very building is now the home of New Days Church.
Any time God gives you a new assignment it can be a little troubling, your nerves set in, you may become anxious or afraid, sometimes doubting yourself. But know this: The Lord may give us such an assignment so that we learn to trust Him; learn to lean and depend on Him. I’m sure that Pastor Garrett had all kinds of questions going through his mind and many things to consider: he did not have a building, no musicians, a name and of course NO MONEY. Like Moses he may have questioned the Lord: are you sure you want me to do this? But Pastor Garrett like Abraham and Moses had the faith, went forth, and embraced the vision. But God never leaves us alone. So, it was with him. There were Saints that surrounded Pastor Garrett praying for him and with him.
Pastor Garrett has a big heart; bigger dreams; the word had been spoken to him and he was well acquainted with a Great Big God Who could do anything and that was enough! God revealed to Pastor Garrett that as long as he had Him, he had everything he needed for the task at hand. With God by his side Pastor Garrett called an organization meeting on Wednesday August 13, 2002, at the Brooks Sterling and Garrett Funeral Home Chapel. On that hot summer evening when the meeting adjourned, New Days Community Church, a Non-Denominational Christian Church was born. The first Sunday Service was held on August 18, 2002, with Rev. Garrett as the first pastor of New Days Community Church. The first services were held in the chapel of The Brooks, Sterling and Garrett Funeral Chapel. On that first Sunday of its existence forty-eight (48) members came forth and joined the budding new church. The church worshiped in the Chapel approximately a year after which The Grace Community Church offered its Women’s Center in downtown Tyler as the worship new site. The membership grew rapidly as deacons, trustees, deaconess, and other officers were appointed and installed by the pastor. In addition, several ministers were licensed to preach.
After a while it became apparent that we were outgrowing the chapel. We prayed that God would direct us as we looked for a place to worship. A place to call our own. We were led to purchase property and a small building on Hwy 271. As the church grew, a small building and nine (9) acres of land was purchased as a proposed building site for a new facility. The small building on this site was used for weekly meetings, including bible study, and other fellowship functions. This site was fondly known as the North Campus. After extensive renovations to the facility, fellowship functions and Sunday Worship services were held there. The membership continued to grow, and the needs of the church began to change, as did the need for additional space.
In 2004 we moved our Sunday morning Service to the Women of Grace building on South Broadway (downtown). While we enjoyed the Women of Grace building, we longed for a place of our own. We continued to follow the vision given our pastor. We looked at many buildings. Some we claimed and put oil on. But to our disappointment God said “NO”, wait. In Habakkuk 2:1-4, God said The Vision would tarry, but it would be fulfilled in time. We had to wait. We put it in His hands and waited patiently. God gave Rev. Garrett another vision in 2005; a vision of a large building where miracles can be performed. He brought a picture of the miracle center and asked for a million dollars. He did have a vision. In March of 2005, the Smith County Commissioners Court announced its desire to sell a 73,000 sq. ft. facility which had served previously as the Juvenile Attention Center, Roberts Middle School, and The University of Texas at Tyler.
The New Days Community Church was the successful bidder. In June of 2005, NDCC moved into the facility. The small building and the nine acres were sold to a local congregation and the proceeds were invested into the newly acquired facility. But a miraculous thing happened we purchased the Old Juvenile Detention center at a bargain. We had the faith to believe that it would surely come. God’s time was not our time. This proves that a vision is seeing the invisible. We lived by faith, waited patiently and trusted in our Sovereign God. We continued to dream a little every day, explored possibilities and embraced options. But a vision without a task is just a dream. A task without a vision is hard work, but a vision and a task (you must have both) is the hope of the World. We had both the Vison and the task which enabled us to acquire the “Miracle Center” that we enjoy today. This building was called an eyesore here on this corner and full of asbestos. People thought that we had lost our minds purchasing this run-down building which needed soooo much work to bring up to code. True, there was a lot to do and much remains to be done, BUT God has blessed us with and we are thankful.
In these 20 years we have gained members we have lost members some have moved other places. We never cease to be amazed by the power of God in keeping a congregation together, faithfully worshipping Him week in and week out. There have been many changes, growth and development, as well as challenges that we have faced as a church body. But through it all God has blessed us and remained faithful to the vision and the Ministry.
On July 31, 2021, our founding pastor, Dr. Reginald Garrett retired after nineteen years of faithful services to our congregation. We will be forever indebted to him for his vision, years of sacrifice, hard labor, and commitment to New Days Church and to the cause of Christ.
A new Pastor, Rev. Frederick D. Berry, Sr. was selected on November 21, 2021. God has blessed Pastor Berry with a vision, a love for God’s people and a servant’s heart. Under Pastor Berry’s leadership we have begun to grow as we are coming out of the COVID Pandemic and crisis that shook our world and closed the doors of our churches. We have begun to fellowship again after going through a period of only virtual worship, social distancing mandates, and finally a combination on in-person and virtual worship. We have updated our web presence and social media connection to reach others. We have continued outreach ministry by providing food and other needs as well as we have partnered with organizations to meet the needs of the community. God is blessing us as new members are joining and current members are reconnecting.
Pastor Berry’s vision and passion for ministry is evident. Pastor Berry believes that our love for God and God’s people is the reason why we should be doing ministry on purpose. Our desire is to see people saved, delivered and set free from things that suppress and hold them in some type of modern-day bondage drives us to provide effective and affective ministry. We understand that people are people, regardless of their background, social-economic status, race, religion, pre-conceived notions and agendas, as well as their biases and prejudices. The basic common factor is that we all have needs, we all have issues and most importantly, God has a love for all of us. Our prayer is that God will use us to be a tool to minister to God’s people in a way that will spread the love of God through the Word of God in such a way that it will: (1) win lost souls to Christ; (2) empower Christian growth in every area of life according to God’s plan; and (3) liberate those who are oppressed. Whereas, our ultimate goal is clear, these three areas of ministry do not represent the sum total of our ministry philosophy for each area is multifaceted and complex. However, these categories offer a broad stroke that provides the blueprint for effective ministry. Effective ministry honors the traditions of the Christian experience in a contemporary fashion that relates to this generation while celebrating and embracing all generations. We look forward to what God is going to do to us and through us as God uses Pastor Berry to lead us through our continued journey in ministry.
On January 17, 2025, our founding pastor and pastor emeritus, Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Garrett, Sr., was called Home to be with The Lord. We are grateful for his vision, leadership and legacy.
Pastor and Mrs. Reginald Garrett
Brooks Sterling & Garret Funeral Home
Small Building w/Nine Acres
Women of Grace Building
New Days Worship & Ministry Center
Retirement Celebration
Pastor and Mrs. Frederick D. Berry, Sr.
OUR HISTORY
| Our History |