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Are You Detoxing?

February 12, 2013 in church at the bay, Tampa Church with Comments Off

I am loving our Soul Detox Series!  I have talked to several who have said- “yup- you are talking to me”.  The interesting piece for me is II really needed the truthes from this  series in my life! I really struggled with week 1- The Restless Soul.  I am so connected with app’s, calendars and social media- I can “busy” God’s peace right out of my life.  At that point I begin to run on adrenaline.  The problem with adrenaline is there is a crash at the end- it cannot be maintained.  So you and I have to find a rhythm that is not dependent on energy drinks every day.

Week 2 we talked about The Heavy Soul.  Wow- so many said they are struggling with that “fog of heaviness”.

So how is the application coming?  Are you unplugging for at least 5 minutes every morning?  I am unplugged right now!  Are you talking to yourself about what God has said in His word about your situation?  And I hope you are diving into the Soul Detox devotions with us.  If you need more information on the devotions- go here.

So- this Sunday plan to be at Church at the Bay early and bring a friend.  God has something for you.  By the way- if you have missed any of the messages in this series- here is a link to the our Soul Detox Video Channel.

Thank You for giving to Church at the Bay!

October 24, 2012 in 90 Day Challenge, church at the bay, Encouragement, Generosity, Giving, Haiti, life change, Students, Tampa Church with Comments Off

Dear Church at the Bay Financial Partners,

This is Blaine, your Worship Arts Pastor here, and it is an honor to write to you on behalf of all of our pastors this month. God is doing so many wonderful things at Church at the Bay, and I appreciate the opportunity to share my perspective. Serving a church where the people are so generous with their time, energy, and finances is encouraging and inspiring!

The third quarter of 2012 was a busy one. Here are some of the happenings:

July- Party at the Park

We kicked off the quarter with a church-wide party at Philippe Park. In addition to a great time of hanging out with our church family, we got to watch some people take their next step with Christ by being baptized- Go God!

 

 

Student mission trip

Our student ministry spent some of their summer break on a mission trip to South Florida. They painted a house for a family in need, helped paint a title 9 school, cleaned up at a beach, and helped run a summer missions program for kids at Discover Church (one of the churches that we help support/Pastor Chip Stallings).

 

 

 

Newly repaired wall.Our Orphan Village in Haiti
Hurricane Isaac passed through in August, and we were thrilled to learn that no one in our village was injured or worse. There was some property damage, though. Because of your generosity, Church at the Bay, all of the damage has already been repaired! Thank you for being the hands and feet of Christ and making a difference in our kids’ lives.

 

 

New offices/Warehouse space
Just a couple of weeks ago, we moved into our new church offices. We are so excited about the opportunities for ministry that this new space will provide. In addition to the much-needed facelift to our office space (we now have consistently working AC and no leaking roofs), the BIG plus to our new space is THE WAREHOUSE.
The warehouse is a large open space that will give us a place for Student ministry events/bible studies, Ladies’ Events, leadership training, IRON MEN, and more! If you’d like to check out the new space, come by and take a tour sometime. We will be having a Christmas Party in the warehouse for all of our Church at the Bay volunteers in December. If you serve in a ministry at CATB, you are invited! If you don’t serve anywhere, what a great time to jump in and start making a difference!

Speaking of Christmas, we will begin giving toward our year-end “Love Your Neighbor” offering in December. The money received during this offering will go toward church starts, Haiti, and other compassion ministries, local and beyond.

I am thankful for the way that God has resourced the ministry that is going on at Church at the Bay. He is using YOU to spread His glory and gospel in our city and our world. Now that we’re in the final quarter of 2012, it’s a great time to take stock of where you are investing.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the great stuff that is happening at CATB. I am looking forward to all that He has for us as we close out 2012 with excellence!

God bless you,

Blaine Albright

Pastor of Worship Arts

God… I have a question… ???

September 4, 2012 in church at the bay, Church Tampa, Tampa Church with Comments Off

I got the call late one night. Ravi had been hit by a car and was in the hospital in Memphis. They did not expect him to live and they asked for our prayers.  Ravi was a 4 year old kid just full on energy.  His mom and dad loved Jesus- how could this happen?  His grandfather had been walking with him down the road and Ravi pulled from his hand and darted in front of a car.  His grandfather was a pastor- he loved Jesus- Why would God allow this?  Ravi was only a kid and yet a few days later he died.

That was my first big “Why” for God.  I was fairly new to the Christian faith and I thought if you followed Jesus He blessed you and took care of you.  In my short time as a Christian- that had been my experience as well.  I never really figured out the “why” and as life moved on I had more and more questions.

My first thought when I questioned God was, “Maybe I am not really a Christian- how could I have so many doubts.”  I also wondered, “Is God mad at me when I ask the question why”?  As I studied my Bible more I discovered there were a lot of men and women of faith that asked God “why”?  King David asked the why question more than anyone- and the Bible says he was a man after God’s own heart.  I have come to discover that God can handle all my “why’s” (and yours as well). In fact, I have also discovered that I must push through for an answer.  Sometimes there is a reason why that is obvious but often I must make the choice (when I don’t understand why) to trust God’s heart when I don’t see His hand.

This Sunday we begin a series entitled, “God, I have a question… “.  We will look to scripture to find answers to life experiences that often doesn’t make sense.  Do you have questions?  Do you have friends that have honest questions as well?  Plan to attend and bring your friends as we take an honest look at real questions. Just to make sure we are addressing the real questions you have- we will give you opportunity to text in follow-up questions live during the service.  Don’t stop with the question- look for an answer- plan to join us for “God, I have a question … This Sunday 9:30 or 11 at Sickles High School..

Invite… Invite… Invite

December 19, 2011 in Christmas Outreach, church at the bay with Comments Off

Christmas Eve is a special time for me and my family.  For over 30 years we have been a part of a Christmas Eve Celebration.  So it will be cool for us to have both of our children and their spouse in town for Christmas Eve.  I am sure we will go for our traditional Christmas Eve “Banana Split and French Fries”.

Christmas is a great time to invite a friend to attend with you.  This Christmas Eve at Church at the Bay you can expect:

  • Great Christmas Carols
  • Parties in all the kids rooms
  • A message about what Jesus really wants for Christmas
  • Apple Cider after the service
  • Bounce Houses and a jolly fellow from the North Pole
  • And a bunch of people celebrating the birth of Jesus.

I am asking God to use me in big ways this week as I make personal invites for Christmas Eve and I am asking Him to use you.  In fact, most days I am going to take my lunch break and invite a bunch of people to attend.  I have set a goal to personally invite over 100 people this week (Monday until Christmas Eve) to our 2 Christmas Eve Services.  Because I am the lead pastor at Church at the Bay I know I need to set the pace- so Monday’s number for me was 31 personal invites!  Did you hear Blaine’s story Sunday about Beckett, his 5 year old son, making some personal invites at Chili’s?  I love it when the kids get the message- Mom and Dad are teaching him how to honor God.   My prayer is God will use all of us to help introduce Jesus to a bunch of new people on Christmas Eve.  Some of you will be out of town for Christmas Eve this year- tell me who to expect and I will greet them for you.  If you run out of invite cards, call the office.  We have a couple hundred left.
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