Waters of Baptism

Greetings Lifers,
Another Thursday draws to a close – how’s the week been so far in your part of the world? My life group on Thursday mornings is studying the book of Ecclesiastes, and today we worked through chapter 2, where it says this:

²⁴ “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”

What comes from the hand of God? Our eating and drinking (our life sustaining acts) and our enjoyment in life’s efforts – in essence, everything that could and should matter to us comes from the hand of God. In fact, apart from God, no one can begin or sustain life. And joy? Fuhgedaboutit – He alone is the giver of meaning in life. That’s why Solomon lists off all of his life’s accomplishments and calls them “vanity, and chasing after the wind”. Without God, that’s all anything can ever be in the end – meaningless. Poignant stuff from our wise friend there. Poignant indeed.

Hope to see you this weekend – it’s all centered on the opportunity we all have to make much of God’s grace to us through obedience in the waters of baptism. Come worship God with us and hear me explain what the word teaches us about being baptized.

AND don’t forget that Sunday evening at 5:30 we are closing out this recent season of ministry with OUT OF THE BOX, which this time around takes on the form of an old fashioned church picnic (complete with bouncy houses for the kids – woohoo!) to be followed by a special outdoor baptism celebration. Grab your favorite lawn chairs, a picnic dinner (we will have some watermelon and ice pops desserts to enjoy as well), and plan to join us!


Free,
Mark Saunders
Pastor
Bay Life Church


At the INFOdesk:

• Bay Life Out-of-the-Box - Sunday, May 20 | 5:30 pm on the courtyard, Bring your own food, drink and chair for a good, old-fashioned picnic and baptism service.
• Bay Life Car Show - Saturday, May 26 | 10 am - 3 pm in the parking lot
• Celebration of Graduates - May 26 & 27 | all services
• Prayer Night - Tuesday, May 29 | 7 pm in the Student Center

With Grateful Hearts

Greetings All -

Normally I launch my emails to you all with some story of my family’s travails or some anecdote mustered from my personal experiences. Today I do neither. I simply write to thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes over the last week as my family and I said goodbye to my father Paul, who, if you haven’t heard yet, died last week at the age of 66 from complications brought on by 8 years of battling cancer. I spent the past week with my mom and my sisters going through photos and the stories connected to them, laughing our way through an imperfect but loving man’s life. I joined them at his memorial Tuesday as hundreds of people came to pay their respects, most of them impacted by my mom or dad in some way over 26 years of ministry in the church and para-church organizations in central Illinois. As sweet as a time like that could be, it was.

So, in closing, to all of our Lifer family here who have prayed and sent cards and emails and texts, we love you, praise God for you, and thank you from the depths of our grieving but grateful hearts.

See you Sunday – I look forward to teaching you about the greatness of our God from one of my dad’s favorite passages. Plus, we have some very special guests joining us as Mike and Janelle Doud will be in all 4 of our services all the way from Village of Hope in Uganda. Peace.
--

Free,

Mark Saunders

Lead Pastor
Bay Life Church

Feed the Bay & Nooma

Greetings Lifers,

So our family enjoyed a first time experience over spring break last week – care to read about it? If no, I’ll see you this weekend at Feed the Bay (newsflash - up to 38 churches participating in FTB now – God keeps heaping on to what He started through us 7 years ago). If yes, read on.

Ever heard of snuba? It’s a combination of scuba diving and snorkeling where you have a mouth piece that feeds you air from a tank that you aren’t wearing – it’s floating in a raft at the surface. Tethering your regulator (that’s the mouth piece) to the tank is about 25 feet of tubing, and for our purposes that day, all five of us would be sharing air from the same tank. So here’s the scene – our guide (he was cool – had his own tank and everything) gave all five Saunders family members their own fins, masks, and regulators, taught us how to “pop our ears” as we descended and how to rid our masks of sea water without surfacing. Agreeing with him on a few important hand signals we’d use on the dive, we made one last equipment check and then descended into the deep blue sea.

All told we were under the water for about 45 minutes, and after a bit I stopped worrying about having enough air to breath and just enjoyed the dive. The ear popping thing was more difficult to master, but even that distraction ebbed over time. As you might imagine, the scene was tres beautiful – fish and coral and blue as far as the eye could see (which for me wasn’t too far since my glasses were back in my locker).

One of the last things our guide had insisted from us before we embarked was staying in the correct formation. Five air tubes 25 feet in length could become a tangled mess otherwise, so it was crucial to stay in the order that we started out in. If we crossed over and under and in front of each other, we’d run the risk of limiting our dive depth and pinching off the air source of a family member. This seemed pretty important to the whole snuba experience, so we all did quite well in our compliance.

(Spiritual analogy alert)

The Greek word “pneuma” (nooma) has two meanings – breath and spirit. I think the fact that God’s Spirit in us is akin to the air we breathe is one of the more compelling biblical corollaries we have. That’s why I think the snuba trip is such a great picture of our walk with each other as we pursue Christ. We Christ-followers draw our very lives from the same tank (God Himself) as we navigate this journey, right? In addition, it’s crucial that we all stay where God needs us, functioning where He wants as He wants within the parameters of the gifts He grants us (read Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 for more on this). When we don’t, the depth to which we can dive into Him is decreased by the snarls that inevitably occur amongst us. Sometimes our rebellion can lead to a “pinch in a hose”, the discouragement of self or of others on the journey with us.

But, when we stay where God has placed us, we move together in harmony and find the beauty of new depths in our lives with Him. May we all snuba well in this life with Christ.

Now here’s more of what to expect at Bay Life – to God be all glory!

Peace,

Mark

• Feed the Bay – March 24 and 25 | Feed the Bay t-shirts and bags available at the INFOdesk
• Prayer Night – Tuesday, March 27 - 7 pm | Student Center
• Journey to the Cross – April 4, 5, 6 | Worship Center – Volunteers needed sign up at the INFOdesk
• Welcome Lunch – Sunday, April 15 – 1 pm | Worship Center – register at the INFOdesk 

Habits, Walkers and Runners

Official greetings to all Lifers reading this – it is I, your pastor and friend Mark, injecting a quick few sentences to you before ceding this email to my buddy and coworker Tom Eichem. I didn’t anticipate having the time today to compose an email, so Tom graciously did the bulk of the email lifting for us. Thanks to him, blessings to you, and know that I can’t wait to preach this weekend on being “Seriously Content” - see you at the 5k race if you’re coming. Out!

 Hey Lifers,

All three of my kids play soccer, so I'm up at the Baysl fields 4 nights a week and most Saturdays. At the beginning of the year, I would walk 4 laps (3.6 miles) on what they call the Vita course (slightly wooded trail around all the soccer fields) while my kids practiced. It was a great stress release, healthy for me, and kept me from being the dad on the sidelines who catalogs all his kids successes / mistakes during practice only to do the recap with them on the way home. (A subject for another day - If your kid plays any kind of sport, you know the temptation I'm talking about.) About halfway through the year, I stopped. Stopped walking and started sitting. I found myself getting a bit lethargic. Eventually I didn't have the same kind of energy to get through the day. I knew what I should be doing… I just didn't want to do it. I had all sorts of excuses. It’s too hot. I don’t want to get sweaty. I “forgot” to dress for it. I'd rather watch my kid’s practice.  Which is funny because if you've ever actually watched the first hour of a soccer practice, you know how lame that excuse was.

Well, with the Global 5K approaching (Commercial note - this Saturday at 8 am – almost 300 runners/walkers will take to the course – come cheer them on), I figured it was time to get back into the swing of things. When I first started walking again – all the faithful people on the track greeted me with a “look who’s back!  Good for you!”  Now that I'm a month back into the habit, I feel great and I've even started jogging a few of the laps (hoping to run the 5K Saturday without walking). It’s time that I really look forward to it again.

Our walk with Jesus can get like that. We can stop doing the things we did. Stop the patterns in our life that drew us to Him. Stop connecting with him in the ways we used to connect. In our minds we know we need that time with Him but we make every excuse to avoid it.

In the book of Revelation, chapter 2, Jesus tells the church at Ephesus that they've abandoned the love they had at first (Jesus). He tells them to remember (what it was like when you had that first love), repent (turn around from what you are now doing) and do the works they did at first. (Go back to those patterns that connect you to Jesus).

How about you? Have you fallen away from the patterns in your life that connected you to Jesus?  Is it time to get back on that path?  Will you take some time this week to reconnect with him? Hop back into what used to be your way… through song, journaling, praying, being quiet, or studying his word.  Let me encourage you to jump back on the path. That time and those patterns that connect you back to Jesus will become the times you look forward to again.

I'm looking forward to seeing you this weekend as Mark continues his Seriously series.  Also – we're going to unveil some big news about Easter week this year at Bay Life. I am so excited about this and believe that God is going to use the week before Easter to help us connect with Him anew.  Find out more about that this Sunday.

Tom


Thomas Eichem
Executive Pastor

Spring forward - time change this Saturday, Mar 10. Don't forget to move your clock forward 1hour on Saturday night! 

INFOdesk@baylife.org

• Spring Break Week – Mar 11-18 | no adult Life Groups meeting on campus
• Blood Pressure Screening - Sunday, Mar 11 | between services in the Cry Room
• Parents Night Out – Friday, Mar 16 | 6-9:30 pm - $10 per child or $35 for four or more
• Pre-baptism meeting – Mar 17 & 18 | after each service at the Fountain
• Welcome Lunch – Mar 18 | 12:30 pm in the lobby, register by Mar 11
• Feed the Bay – Mar 24 & 25 | t-shirts and bags on sale now
• Prayer Night – Mar 27 | 7 pm in the Student Center

 

People With Choices

Greetings Lifers,

So I am currently sitting in my office with my lights off. Before you relegate me to “weirdo status”, (a) remember we’ve been learning that we Christians are supposed to be weird (see the past three weeks of sermons on baylife.org), and (b) my desk is currently situated under an east-facing window, creating a pretty confined but coolly lit space to work in). I think I’m a fairly (and by that I mean extremely) distracted guy at times, so I find the darkened room more conducive to personal efficiency. If you like your lights on, rock and roll – turn them on, keep them on, sleep with them on – that choice is yours.

Which leads me to this midday musing - we are all people with choices, aren’t we? Individuals down to our most basic basics – favorite color, favorite food, favorite team, book, show, movie, shirt, band, sin (unfortunately), etc. Like snowflakes, no two of us are alike. And yet we have so much in common, especially those of us who, by grace and through faith, have been saved from our sin. Check out this passage in Ephesians 2:1-10:

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
All of us were once dead, wrapped up in the guilt and weight of our sin, destined for the just wrath of God to come. But then, because of God’s love and mercy, we were brought to life through faith in Christ, freed from sin and rescued from wrath. And all of us who call on Jesus as Lord and Savior have so much to look forward to in serving Him – he recreated us with the express purpose of doing life in a way that glorifies Him. I for one am so grateful to have this in common with you guys. Grace is truly an amazing thing.

So whether you’re reading this with your lights on or off, on a laptop or a desktop, a cell phone or a tablet, from a print out or via a forward, or from whatever other form that is uniquely your own, I celebrate the fact that we all have (or will have, for all you not-yet-Christians reading) Jesus and His grace in common. While it may make us weird to the rest of the world, it’s what made the difference in each of our lives, no? Indeed, indeed.

See you this weekend!

Free,

Mark Saunders

Pastor

Bay Life Church

INFOdesk@baylife.org

• Welcome Lunch – Feb 19 | 1 pm in the lobby
• Prayer Night – Feb 28 | 7 pm in the Student Center
• Paintball – Mar 3 | 8 am in the North Parking Lot
• Global 5K Race – Mar 10 | Register at the INFOdesk $25 per runner/walker
• Parent's Night Out – Mar 16, 6 pm – 9:30 pm | Register at the INFOdesk $10 per child or $35 for four or more children
• Pre-baptism Meetings – Mar 17 and 18 after services | Sat. night at the INFOdesk | Sun at the Fountain

Mark's Email - Tom Eichem Edition

Greeting Lifers,

Do you ever come home completely exhausted and yet your tank is full?  That was me after an awesome Sunday morning and a great time at “OUT of the BOX” on Sunday night.  It was so good to be together, to laugh and celebrate what God has been doing in our midst.

Part of my role here allows me the privilege of seeing what God is doing all around our campus on a Sunday.  It was an awesome week.  If you were here, you may have noticed this, but this week, parking lot folks safely parked cars as they do every week.  Greeters and ushers greeted and served with smiles.  Children’s workers got to welcome and invest in over 500 kids.  Student ministries got to lead 150 students in small groups.  Life Group leaders were helping people connect into Life Groups (over 900 people in groups for this semester).  Worship team led us as we worshiped while tech folks made sure we could see and hear everything.   Mark got to share as the Holy Spirit led and this past Sunday 25 people came to know Jesus as their Savior.  25 People moved from death to LIFE.  How great is that!

I want to say thank you.  Thanks for serving in the role that you do.  Thanks for loving the babies, answering INFOdesk questions, running the camera, praying with people after services, greeting visitors at the corner, teaching the kid’s in small group, translating the service into Spanish, counting money and serving in a host of other ways this weekend.  God used you.

Be sure and join us this Sunday.  Mark will continue to share what it means to be a weirdo as we look at being a weird church.  

Until Sunday for Mark,

Tom Eichem

Executive Pastor

Quick note to 10AM service: If you go to the 10:00 AM service, you may have noticed that it is bulging at the seams.  This tends to be the place that most of our visitors and their kids land.  Let me cut to the chase.  If you attend the 10:00 AM service – consider moving to the 8:30 or 11:30 service to make room for our guests.   

At the INFOdesk@baylife.org

·         Bloodmobile - Sunday, Feb 5 - 8:30 am - 1 pm | in the north parking lot

·         Life Group Spring Semester begins Feb 5 - 11 | visit the Life Group Center

·         Parent's Night Out - Friday, Feb 10 - 6 - 9:30 pm | $10 per child or $35 for four or more - register at the INFOdesk

·         Welcome Lunch - Sunday, Feb 19 - 1 pm | Register at the INFOdesk

·         Prayer Night - Tuesday, Feb 28 - 7pm | Student Center

Weird

Greetings Weirdos,


Got your attention? Don’t be offended – I called you a weirdo for all the right reasons. The Bible calls those who follow Christ “aliens”, “sojourners”, and “foreigners” - in effect, compared with the “normal” that is this world, we Christians are just plain weird. Ever tried to explain to someone outside the faith why you give up your Sunday mornings or give to the church or serve there every week? I usually get the “well, I’m glad that works for you” line and a roll of the eyes, no matter how hard they try to hide it. Seems these days that most “normal” people like their friends to be “normal” with them. They’re okay with you believing whatever you believe, just don’t let it infringe on your relationship with them.

But is this how God wants it? Christians being weird when they’re with each other but then blending in with the rest of the “normals” when they’re with them? Jesus told His early followers that they were to be like a light on a hill, directing all back to the One who made them. As lights, we were never meant to hide where no one can see us, to blend in with the usual stuff of this life.

We are starting a series this week that will ask all of us to “examine our shine” - am I seeming just a little bit weird to the world around me? Or do I blend in a bit too much wherever I am? Can’t wait to share with you what I am learning – come and hear this weekend about being “Weird in a

God Way

”. You big weirdo. (smiley face)

Don’t forget that we are always in a season of great opportunity here at the church – you aren’t going to want to miss the “Out Of The Box” event we have planned for Sunday night for the whole family. It’s the most action-packed, fun-filled, mission-inspiring 90 minutes we spend together as a whole church on our calendar. Join us Sunday night at 6:00 – get there early to be a part of the pre-game game (fabulous prizes to the winners). RSVP to tlattimore@baylife.org and let us know if you need childcare for children kindergarten and under.

One more thing, not to forget. Life Groups registration is open for our spring semester which begins February 6. If you haven't yet joined a Life Group, now is the time for you to do so. A Life Group is where you will dig deeper into the Word, meet new Lifers and enjoy being a part of reaching out to our community. Stop by the Life Group Center this weekend or go to http://lifegroups.baylife.org right now to register for a Life Group.

Peace,

Mark Saunders

Pastor

Bay Life Church

1017 Kingsway Rd

Brandon FL 33510

At the INFOdesk

• New Ladies Bible Study Kick-off,  Sunday Jan 29 | 8:30 am Room 603
• Life Steps Class – Sunday Jan 29 | 8:30 am Room 604
• Connect to Serve – Sunday Jan 29 | 8:30 am Room 606
• Prayer Night – Tuesday Jan 31 | 7 pm in the Student Center
• Paint Ball – Saturday Feb 4 | 8 am in the north parking lot
• Connections Team Meeting Feb 5 | 1pm in the Conference Room
• Life Group Spring Semester begins – Feb 6 | visit the Life Group Center