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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

Coach, Are We Winning?

August 28, 2012 in life change, Tampa Church with Comments Off

I have coached a lot of Basketball.  I coached on the High School level for 5 years and  I have also coached YMCA type Basketball for over a decade.  I really love coaching the little guys!  When Hal 4 was about 8 I was coaching his team.  The kids were so excited- they were a hundred miles an hour.  And then one kid- in the second half said, “Coach, are we winning”?  I told him we were up by a few points so he said, “Great”! And kept running.

Here is a question for you- How to we measure wins at Church at the Bay?  Is it attendance? Money? Amen’s?  Not necessarily but, thanks for asking- because for Church at the Bay – we measure wins in life change decisions, next steps and behavior change.  We just concluded our series- Momentum- this past Sunday.  We challenged people every week to make a bold move- Here are some of the life changing bold moves that were taken (and we call them wins)

  • We just concluded our August run of Iron Men- over 30 guys connected at 6:30 AM to talk about Biblical Manhood- that is a win!
  • We have over 160 adults connecting in Growth Groups- yeah baby!
  • We have taken on some new office space and warehouse space- and volunteers have been showing up helping us paint and redue the office and warehouse.  We will be there Wednesday Night and Thursday Night from 7-9PM- want to help?  Email Neal@churchatthebay.com
  • We have over 100 adults who signed up for the Generosity Challenge  (Give a Tithe or more over the next 90 days and test God (Malachi 3))- major step!
  • 75 People have said yes to Christ for the first time this year- gotta love that!

Is that every win?  No, but I wanted you to know a bigger picture of what God is doing.

In 2 weeks we start a new series, “God I have a question”.  During this series we will address the most popular questions you gave us and you will have the opportunity to text in (real time) follow up questions during the message!

 

 This Sunday- to prepare our hearts for the Fall- we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper in a BIG way- make sure you come and bring a friend.

Are you a Morpher?

March 28, 2011 in Bible Study, life change with Comments Off

As a kid, I remember cutting off branches from a tree that had cocoons on them. I wanted to see the butterfly come out of the cocoon. I don’t believe I ever saw it happen. I would soon lose interest and throw out the sticks. But, because of my science book I did know that caterpillars turn into butterflies! I just never saw the process.
Is the same true for people? Do we all morph into something more beautiful in time? How do we change? Is real change brought about by:

  • A perfectly worded prayer?
  • A good choice?
  • Reading the Bible more?
  • Going to church more?
  • Giving more money?
  • Serving more?

The answer to the above questions is yes, no and maybe.
Life change (morphing) is the most exciting thing I experience as a pastor. I have the opportunity to watch people come to faith and over time see God change them. I have had a front row seat to marriages being restored, addictions being conquered, bad habits overcome, forgiveness being received, forgiveness being given and more stories than I can count of caterpillars morphing into butterflies. I love my job!
This next Sunday I want to share a passage with you that explains the how of metamorphosis (life change) for the Christ-Follower. Are you interested? Why not bring a friend and discover the “How” of life change this week at Church at the Bay.