Recipe for Life Group Leaders

Qualities Needed:  

Christ follower

Love for people

Shepherd’s heart

Growing faith walk

Talks to God

Listens to God

Obedient to what God says

If the list above describes you, you probably are already a Life Group Leader!  If the list describes you and you aren’t a Life Group Leader, would you prayerfully consider joining our leadership team as we prepare to launch our fall Life Groups Semester!  Adhering to the following dates and deadlines will help us to successfully communicate what groups will be offered, and it will help to get people connected to those groups: 

• June 26 – Returning Leader group information deadline

• July 10 – New Leader group information deadline

• August 7 – Life Group Basic Training for new leaders, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

• August 21 – All Life Group Leader training, 6:30 – 8:00 pm

• August 28 – Meet your new Life Group members at Worship Night

• September 4 – This week begins the fall Life Group semester  

The two things (group information) needed from Life Group Leaders are:

Leader and group specifics

Leader covenant

If you need help with this process or have questions, please contact me, Jon Weaver, at 813-661-3696, or through email at jweaver@baylife.org.

Thank you,

Jon Weaver

Love on Wheels

God is the provider of all things, but He certainly uses people in the process!  Bay Life is a church of servants who value other people above themselves and who live this out through serving others.  We serve because we love God, and this is only possible because He loved us first (1 John 4:19).    

One of the service organizations that Bay Life Church has partnered with is the Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA)!  Meals on Wheels is a ministry that provides meals to neighbors, veterans, and seniors who face the threats of hunger.  It is said that this group, numbering between 800,000 and 1.7 million individuals, is the largest volunteer army in the nation.  Proudly, approximately twenty volunteers from Bay Life Church are included in this nationwide effort.   

Every Tuesday you can find this team rendezvousing in the kitchen at Bay Life Church at 10:00 AM, to assemble lunches that were cooked that morning, and then drivers go out to deliver the food to people who need it within an eight mile radius of our location.  Each week the team at Bay Life Church feeds approximately forty one people!         

If you would like to find out more information about Meals on Wheels, or if you would like to know how you can help, please contact Debbie Slagle at 813-305-6546 or at 813-643-6322.  Thank you Debbie Slagle, Barb Pete, and everyone else on the team that faithfully serves each week! 

Everything Costs Something

     It seems that everything these days has a cost attached.  You want this - you have to pay.  You want that - you have to pay.  Pay, pay, pay!  This is one of the facts we live with and something we are conditioned to do in order to get the things we really want.  However, some of the things we need most, we are unwilling to pay for. 

     Think of the things you value that you are willing to pay for.  Thinking of your list, is your “relationship with God” there?  You may say, “I thought that having a relationship with God was free?”  Technically, yes, but practically, no!  In order to have a healthy relationship with God some investment is required on your part. 

     The first thing you must invest to have a healthy relationship with God is prioritizing some time to spend with Him.  Many of us fall into the trap of feeling like we have no time to give.  Well, that simply is not true.  We all have the same amount of time each day, but we only give our time to do the things we really value and have interest for.  Is a relationship with God something you value and have an interest for?

     Second, you must give God your attention.  Often we set aside time for God in our schedule, but we don’t bother clearing the distractions.  Distractions come in so many forms such as TV, internet, facebook, radio, phone, etc.  If you are in a very important meeting for work I am sure the things that could possibly distract you have been removed.  Why do we not guard our time spent with God in the same way?

     As you give your time and attention towards developing your relationship with God, you will experience a true reward, fellowship with God.  The good news is that God is gracious, merciful, and loving!  Begin making this investment today and you will soon see that the cost is worth the investment!

Jon Weaver 

March Is Here!

Hey Lifers,

March is upon us! I pray that you and those people connected with your Life Group are doing well. I don’t know about you, but my family will be happy when all of the yellow pollen is finished floating around this season.

As our Life Group semester continues, we'd love to hear what God is doing through your group (i.e. Care, Growth, and Impact). Please share your stories with us about how people’s lives are being changed so we can celebrate with you. You can submit these testimonies to my email at Jon Weaver or to Life Change.

Remember, next Wednesday, March 16, we have an All-Campus Worship event scheduled from 7:30 – 9 pm, in our Worship Center. Make arrangements for your Life Group and others to join us as we fill our Worship Center with people to worship God together!

May God strengthen you today as you chase hard after Him! See you next Wednesday!

Jon Weaver

Life is so full of stuff! The question we must ask ourselves is what stuff is our life full of? As a pastor, I have had countless encounters with people, who at some point in their life wish they could do things differently.  We can all do things differently beginning today! We can choose. We live in a place that still grants us that ability.

So, as you choose today, what choices will you make? I will choose today to love. I will choose today to grow. I will choose today to forgive. I will choose today to learn. I will choose today to give. I will choose today to serve.

These things encompass my life only because of the strength and power found in knowing and serving God. God can strengthen you, too! I find that I am at my best when I am connected with other, like-minded people, in a Life Group.  Life Groups are simply places where I give and receive care with friends, intentionally grow in relationships with God and others, and strategically be the hands and feet of Jesus while partnered together, to be a blessing to a dark and hurting world. May God bless you today as you "choose"!

Jon Weaver