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Are You Ready for the NEXT LEVEL?

November 1, 2010 in church at the bay, Church Tampa, churches tampa, hal mayer, pastor hal mayer, Relevant Church, tampa church with 2 Comments

Are you ready to take it to the Next Level? I am not talking about your dating life, marriage, job or even exercise routine!

What I am talking about is how to deepen your relationship with Christ at Church at the Bay. We have a class called Next Level and in that class we will…

  • Talk about how Church at the Bay started and what is next for us as a church.
  • Discuss what next steps will help you take your relationship with God to the Next Level.
  • Take time to answer any questions you might have.

How will we do this?

  • We will begin right after church with lunch for all participants and their children. (this Sunday, November 7th)
  • We will provide childcare for kids up to the 5th grade.
  • We will finish by 2pm. (Usually just under 2 hours from start to finish).
  • Our time will be interactive.

Next Level will also give you the opportunity to become a Church at the Bay Partner. Instead of membership (which is about privileges) we have Partnership (which is all about a common mission). We would love to help you take your relationship with God and Church at the Bay to the Next Level. Have you signed up? Not yet? Then email Don (Don@churchatthebay.com) right now with the number of people attending and if you need childcare.
If you missed our first message, Bitterness, in our Baggage Series you can watch below:

I have BAGGAGE (and so do you!)

October 25, 2010 in church at the bay, Church Tampa, churches tampa, hal mayer, I was thinking, pastor hal mayer, Relevant Church, tampa church with Comments Off

Everyone has BAGGAGE! BAGGAGE accumulation is part of life! The problem is sometimes we refuse to deal with our BAGGAGE- we never check it- and life becomes unmanageable! You see baggage can so overwhelm you and me that life becomes about managing baggage and not following Jesus. BAGGAGE comes from all directions. Maybe your BAGGAGE is from:

  • A friendship that went bad.
  • Your parents mistreated you.
  • Your boss didn’t promote you.
  • You husband left you.
  • You experienced the death of a close friend.
  • Maybe you have been unable to have children.
  • You might have lost a child to death or even a divorce.

I could go on and on and you could grow this list as well. The question isn’t if we have baggage- we do- the question is how will we deal with it? In the verse below the writer of Hebrews talks about BAGGAGE and how those who have gone before us are watching. They are cheering for you and I not to lose focus.

  • Hebrews 12:1-2 (1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (2) We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

If you are interested in dealing with your baggage or you have a friend who can’t move because of the BAGGAGE they are carrying- plan to attend our series that begins this Sunday- BAGGAGE!
If you missed this weekend – here is the video teaching…

Finish what’s on your plate!

October 4, 2010 in church at the bay, churches tampa, hal mayer, pastor hal mayer, tampa church with 1 Comment

The following is a devotion that Pastor Steve Pridmore from Two Rivers Church in South Florida. Church at the Bay is a sponsor for this new church (it started Easter 2010) and God is doing some cool things there.


“Finish what’s on your plate!” Did you ever hear that growing up? How many of you have said that to one of your children recently? A lot of times that statement is followed up with one that goes something like this; “There are kids in other parts of the world starving!”
I used to think; “If you’ll tell me where they are I’ll send em whatever this stuff is I’m eating…”
The motivation behind this concern is that a parent wants their child to appreciate and consequently be good stewards of what they have. It’s true that in our country, we’ve become comfortable with waste. We take for granted the things that we have like food, clothing, and shelter; to us essentials, but to others, luxuries.
It’s really not any different in the church.
Week after week, we leave a lot of food on our plates, and the result is waste.
Here’s what I mean…
Every time the church comes together around God’s purposes, we invoke God’s presence, and when God’s Spirit shows up, He satisfies peoples needs. He fulfills their deepest hunger, the longing of their souls, and He quenches the thirst that every man possesses for more than they have, more than they are, and more than they are doing. (see John 7:37-39)
And yet, Sunday after Sunday, we leave food on the plate.
The Spirit of God is faithful to show up and to do the miraculous yet there are hundreds, thousands, millions of people around us that don’t experience it; they don’t eat. They didn’t have their need met. They weren’t healed. Their marriage wasn’t saved. Their sin wasn’t forgiven. Their joy wasn’t restored. Their hopelessness wasn’t met with the eternal hope of the Gospel.
Why?
One simple, sad reason. They weren’t invited.
No one told them. No one brought them. No one said they were welcome.
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells a parable about God’s Kingdom. He says that the Kingdom of God is like a story about a king who prepares a great feast for his son and invites a number of guests who don’t show up. It angers the king that he’s gone to such lengths to prepare this meal and the guests stand him up, so he instructs his servants to go out in the streets and invite anyone they can find.
In verse 10 it says; “So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.”
What we discover about God’s heart is two things. The first is that everyone is welcome in His Kingdom. He doesn’t discriminate or have a bar set so high that only certain ones get in. Did you notice it said they brought the “good and bad alike”?
The second thing we see is that God expects us to bring them; to get them to the table.
He’ll feed them, we just have to go and get them in.
What’s the application?
God has placed people in our lives that we have a built in concern for; our family, friends, neighbors, and close acquaintances, but what about everyone else?
What about the lady in the checkout line at Publix, or the man collecting tolls on the turnpike? How bout the kid that sits next to you in homeroom or the girl that we walk past to our seat on the bus?
What if it’s less about our relationship to someone and more about the invitation God wants to extend through us to people that are starving for a meal He’s preparing every week?
This past Sunday we put a tool in your hands, an invitation card, that we’re believing God will use if we’re faithful to give it out.

Let’s make it a habit of our lives to invite whomever, whenever, wherever to come, “taste and see that the Lord is good”, and let’s decide not to leave any food on the plate!

Now’s the time!

Pastor Steve


If you missed Church at the Bay this weekend – the video is posted below:





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Why pray? When God…

September 27, 2010 in church at the bay, churches tampa, hal mayer, pastor hal mayer, tampa church with Comments Off

Have you ever gotten really honest with God and asked- “Why should I pray if God is only going to do what He wants to?” Not that honest? Here is some good news: God can handle your questions and He isn’t offended. This post could be a book, but … I will try to stay much shorter. Here are some thoughts:

  • The questions assumes that prayer is “only” about me getting what I want from God. Prayer is much more than asking God for things, it is about communication. That means talking and listening. And when talking it is more than asking. Here is a link to a message I did about the components of prayer. (prayer audio message-click here)

So let’s go after the question- Why pray?

  • Jesus assumes we will pray when He prepares His disciples for the model prayer (Matthew 6:6-13)
  • Jesus said we can come to Him and ask for anything.
  • Every relationship demands communication. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we listen and sometimes it just good to be still.

As a father, I loved when my kids would ask me for things that I could give them. In fact, early on I taught them how to get a yes every time, I explained- “Ask me for things that I can say yes to”. You see they knew me and they knew what I wanted to give them. As they did their due diligence and thought through their requests, they asked for more and more things that ended with me saying “yes”! I got that idea from scripture- Jesus said ask me anything according to my will and I will give it to you” (1 John 5:14-15).
One of the greatest reasons to ask the Father for what you need is found in Hebrews 4:

  • (14) So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. (15) This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (16) So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

No matter what His answer is- yes-wait-or no, when we ask (God promises) He will ALWAYS give us Mercy and Grace. This weekend’s message was on that topic. If you missed here is the teaching video:

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