Our Story

In 1961 our church was planted in southeast Fresno as a mission church by the California Southern Baptist Convention. The church was known as Templo Bautista. They had a clear vision of sharing the Gospel message and were committed to do it locally and globally.  They purchased the property which is still currently on the corner of Cedar and Woodward. Over the years the church grew in numbers and the church built its first sanctuary. 

Years later under the leadership of Pastor Daniel Sotelo, the church raised the money to build a larger  sanctuary. The church family was so committed to seeing the new sanctuary erected that every member of the church actively participated in the construction of it. As of today, it is still the sanctuary which we hold our worship services both in English and Spanish. During this time the church name was changed to El Encino. The church continued to grow and was considered a flagship church in our state. 

In late August of 2019, El Encino called Pastor Moises Garcia to be their new Lead Pastor. Our new pastor shared the vision he was led by God to present to the church. This vision of loving God, loving each other and loving our community to see new lives come to faith in Jesus Christ led to changing our name to New Life Baptist Church / Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida. We are committed to faithfully carrying out our God given vision and mission. As of today, we have seen people make the decision to believe and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior as well as taking the step of obedience of being baptized. With the Lord's help and guidance, we will see many people become committed and mature followers of Jesus Christ.