Bay Life Church Brandon, Florida

As promised here are some pictures of the church we attend while we are in Florida. We have fallen in love with Pastor Mark Saunders and the congregation. We found the church totally by accident. We arrived into our campsite at Southern Aire in Thontoassa, Florida on November 1,2006 , Wednesday afternoon. We needed to purchase a few things at Home Depot. On our way to and back we passed the church Bay Life and in front was a sign indicating church times. The church and the sign had caused a curiosity in us to the point we had to investigate on Sunday morning. Much to our shock and amazement there was a Florida sheriff directing traffic into the church grounds and the same sheriff was out on Kingsway Rd. directing traffic out of the church grounds. Pastor Mark has a unique way presenting his messages. He uses props which bring the point across. The one that really blew us away was the Sunday service prior to the American Thanksgiving which is in November. Pastor Mark gave the shortest message ever- 10 mins. He was teaching from Nehemiah 11:27-43 , stating we have much to be thankful for and as a church together we can do much to rejoice. "The power of God in our lives leads us to heart of thankfulness" At the end of his message, he brought out a toy car, toy shopping cart and a toy budget rent a truck. Pastor Mark sent us out on a mission to demonstrate our thankfulness of what God has done for us. We each were given a grocery list and were sent out to one of the two grocery stores nearby and shop for the local food banks. Families were encouraged to pick up the children from the children's church and have them to be apart of the adventure. It was exciting and up lifting to see the grocery store we were in full of Bay Life congregation shopping together. The shelves in the store were nearly empty. In the parking lot in both stores was a Budget Rent a truck where we took our groceries. As a church we supplied enough groceries for the food bank to last until May 2007. I believe the amount of groceries was approx. 30,000-36,000 lbs in total. At Bay Life there are 2 Sunday morning services and we can't wait to go to see what God has in store for us.
We also have joined a home group that meets every Thursday evening and we have met the most wonderful, Godly people. It is so comforting to know that they are only a phone call away whenever we need a prayer for a situation. To learn more about Bay Life Church and also hear Pastor mark's messages go to the following.www.baylifeweb.org