Week of November 23, 2020

Worship

• Join us for worship this Sunday, November 29th at 10:30 a.m. either in-person or via livestream on Facebook or our church website.  This week we begin the season of Advent and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ!
• If you would like to volunteer to help in Bayshore’s return to in-person worship please contact Tammy Kennedy at  tammy.kennedy2@gmail.com   Areas of service include the Parking Lot Greeting Team, the Tracing/Contact Team, the Safety Team, the Vestibule Greeting Team, the Fellowship Hall Team, and the Setup Team.
• If you would like to purchase and dedicate altar flowers for a Sunday morning worship service, please email Deb Alexander at dalexander@bayshorebaptistchurch.com  Cost is $60.

Budget Update

• We continue to have a significant giving shortfall towards our 2020 budget. Please remember Bayshore in your end-of-year giving.
• December 1st is “Giving Tuesday”: a day set aside at the beginning of the Christmas season encouraging people to donate to various causes. This year Bayshore is participating and encouraging our Bayshore family, as well as friends of the Bayshore family, to give a financial gift to the church in addition to regular offerings. As we enter into this season of hope, expectant waiting, and preparation, Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for us to give a gift to the church as we begin our Advent journey together. You can given online at https://pushpay.com/pay/bayshorebaptistchurch
• If you use Amazon for your shopping this Christmas season, please add Bayshore Baptist Church as your AmazonSmile charity of choice.  Use this link to help raise money for Bayshore: smile.amazon.com/ch/59-0737859

Thanksgiving

• The church office will be closed Wednesday-Friday for the holiday.  We pray you enjoy a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Children

• Shore Kids annual Advent Party will be packaged and delivered to your door!  Look for your “Countdown to Christmas” package the week of November 29^th.
• Sunday morning classes are available via Zoom for both preschool and elementary children.  Contact Melissa at  mscarle@bayshorebaptistchurch.com for access information.

Youth

• The youth continue to connect digitally on Sunday mornings!  Contact Nick at  ndawson@bayshorebaptistchurch.com for access information. (Our online Wednesday Bible study will resume in January.)
• Save the Date: Our youth Christmas party will be on the night of Friday, December 18th at the Bowers’ home!  More details coming soon.

Missions

• Prepare now to contribute to our Christmas Eve Global Missions Offering.  During these times of the coronavirus pandemic, the needs of people served through our CBF field personnel have increased exponentially.  Bayshore currently supports 62 field personnel in the US and 17 foreign countries.  You can personally impact people who are suffering through this offering.  By giving, we ensure that field personnel stay firmly rooted in the places where God has called them.
• “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:9

McCall Racial Justice and Leadership Initiative www.cbf.net/mccall-initiative
The purpose of the Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice and Leadership Initiative is to create avenues for God’s imperfect church to move toward meaningful unity among racially diverse communities. Systemic racism and bigotry are deeply rooted and on full display in the United States. The recent tragic murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and countless others are reminders that America’s original sin still permeates society in the form of police brutality, mass incarceration and inequitable public education. Certainly, this moment requires more from us as a church and as a nation. CBF is committed to long-term racial justice and repair work. We must be willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of personal growth and for the sake of our Gospel witness. One important aspect of the McCall Initiative is the Emmanuel McCall Racial Equity Fund, which supports CBF’s work to increase diversity and inclusion—efforts being led by CBF Global staff and the Pan African Koinonia— as well as other important work of partners and churches across the Fellowship.

Misc.

• The Puzzle Exchange returns on Wednesday, December 2nd.  Stop by the Fellowship Hall anytime between 1 and 5 PM to pick up a puzzle or two or three.  Remember to return the puzzles you’ve already completed so others can enjoy them, too!  See you next Wednesday.  Be sure to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

Adults

• Thank you to: Stephanie Rumbley (our leader extraordinaire), Keith King, Jordan Rivait, Fred Rogers, Tom Allyn, Janet Allyn, Nick Dawson, Alex Gallimore, Abram Gallimore, Angelita Berdiales, Claire Snyder, and Hunter Revord.  The Advent/Christmas decorations look beautiful.  You have transformed our worship space into a special place during this season.
• All adult Bible studies are on break this week.

Sunday Bulletin 11-29-2020

Check out November’s newsletter here: Bayshore Connection 11_2020

September 10, 2020

Church Family,

On Thursday, September 3rd, The Deacons of Bayshore Baptist Church approved a plan presented by the Advisory Council for returning to in-person worship. While in-person worship will not begin immediately, we now have a process for moving forward, and we praise God for that.

The Diaconate began discussions about returning to in-person worship on June 4th, just before the State of Florida entered phase 2 of reopening.  This made it possible to imagine what worship would be like under the recommendations set forth by the CDC and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  The Diaconate then appointed our Advisory Council with the task of creating a plan for returning to in-person worship.  This was no simple endeavor.  One of the things that makes Bayshore such a special place is our diversity and commitment to being a “big tent” kind of church.  We are a church of many different theological perspectives and political opinions.  While we believe this makes us stronger as a people, it can also make decision-making and consensus-building a challenge.  As the Advisory Council began their work, our calling was first and foremost to seek the safety of our church family and then to create a plan which provides rational, data-driven justification for returning to in-person worship.  The approved plan is not only focused on creating the safest worship environment we can considering the realities of COVID-19 but is also based on the data for Hillsborough County.  This plan takes into consideration the averages of data over the course of three to five weeks to determine when we can execute the worship plan.  This metric is explained in greater detail in the supporting document.

We will not begin to analyze the data until September 28th as this will allow enough time to see the effects of school reopening and Labor Day while also providing sufficient time to prepare for in-person worship according to the plan. Once the required thresholds are met, the staff, along with the help of the Diaconate and the Advisory Council, will be prepared to resume in-person services as quickly as possible.

As you will see in the supporting documents, the first services back will look quite different than what we are accustomed to experiencing in a Bayshore worship service.  We know this is not ideal, but it will be a start.  It will be worship in community at Bayshore.  As conditions in our area continue to improve, so too will our in-person worship experience.  The quality of our services for those worshipping virtually from home will not change.

We will continue to share additional information as we get closer to returning to in-person worship.  In the meantime, should you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the plan, please do not hesitate to share these with the Advisory Council at admin@bayshorebaptistchurch.com.

As we move forward together, let us be committed to praying for our church, community, and world during these difficult times.  Pray for an end to this pandemic, for wisdom, and for a sense of responsibility among us all towards one another.  We are better together, and we cannot return to being together for worship until we do all we can to mitigate the risks of COVID-19.  Worship is an act of a community of faith, but that community is made up of individuals.  It begins with us.  It begins with you.  May we work together as we continue to pray and hope for the day we are together in-person again.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Alex C. Gallimore, Senior Pastor

Scott McClelland, Deacon and Advisory Chair

Advisory Council

Scott McClelland, Deacon Chair

Sam Ciccarello, President

Ron Rooks, Treasurer

Judy Richman, Clerk

Gloria Scarle, Finance Chair

Bill Oliver, Personnel Chair

Tammy Kennedy, Missions Chair

Karen Rooks, Nominating Chair

Kim Hoffman, at-large

Jeff Lekarczyk, at-large

Steve McNichols, at-large

Click this link to view the complete building reopening plan: BBC Building Reopening Plan

Dear friends,

I hope you are all staying safe and staying at home as much as possible!  As things continue changing quickly in our area, please know that you are in my prayers.  If there is anything we can do to serve you, be that delivering groceries or praying together, we are here for you.  Please do not hesitate to let us know.

Please take note of a few updates:

1. We are no longer holding scheduled office hours in preparation of a local or statewide stay-at-home order.  Based on available data, staying at home seems to be the best practice for us all, and we want to be proactive in modeling this.  You can contact us with any need you may have by phone or email.  We are still checking these messages as we work from homes.  Should you have a pastoral emergency, please contact Alex directly at (678) 758-5167.
2. You can continue giving your offering online here: GIVE ONLINE or by mailing your gift to us at 3111 W. Morrison Ave, Tampa, FL 33629.  We are still receiving mail!
3. Join us for worship this Sunday at 10:30am on Facebook live or our website.  Other updates are available in these places as well.  If you know of someone unable to access our content online, please let us know.
4. The deacons and staff are in the process of contacting every member of our church family.  Let us know how we can better serve our community during these days or of an urgent need, please let us know.
5. Again, stay safe and stay home!

Sincerely in Christ,

Alex

Amazon Smile

When you shop at http://smile.amazon.com/ Amazon will donate to Bayshore! It really is that simple. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Bayshore every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Bayshore once you designate it as your favorite charitable organization.

A Touch Of Grace is a salon serving both women and men at Hyde Park ALF which will be open the first & third Friday, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM of each month. We are so excited to offer free salon services to our Hyde Park friends. Want to get involved? We need salon supplies, hosts, people to wash or cut hair and paint nails, and more… See Aurora Smith.

Book Club

Do you think that half the fun of reading a book is discussing it with friends afterwards? Then the Bayshore Baptist Book Club is for you! We meet the first Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at Bayshore, in the front lobby by the elevators.

For more information, join the Bayshore Baptist Book Club group on Facebook, or contact Lisa McCarter at 813-743-5113 or via email at tampafilmfan@aol.com.

Barnabas Ministry

Do you ever go to your mailbox only to be disappointed by what was in it? Bills, junk mail, and unwanted political propaganda make for a sad mailbox. The Barnabas Ministry is an opportunity to fill our college students’ mailboxes with notes of encouragement. Bayshore is looking for “Barnabases” to be paired with our college students.

If you are interested in this ministry of encouragement, please contact Dina Marshall.

If you like to or want to learn how to refurbish “stuff” to be used to give young adults in need their first homes, join us. Every Wednesday a team of people will meet from 6:30 – 7:30pm in the First Nesters Studio on the 2nd floor. Childcare is provided.

While we have many friends from Hyde Park ALF who worship and mingle with us on Wednesdays and Sundays, there are some people who simply aren’t mobile enough to leave the property. Join a group of Bayshore family who are leading worship onsite at the ALF on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm.

Meet in the dining room at 3011 W. DeLeon Street, only ½ mile from Bayshore. Questions, contact Jim Neill.