How to get the most out of your Home Team!

Home Teams are kicking off this week! If you've not yet signed up, we've got a great line up. Whether you've been coming to Church at the Bay for 3 years or for 3 weeks, joining a Home Team is the best way to get involved and to connect with other Christians. Check out the catalog if you haven't yet chosen a Home Team.

Once you've committed to a Home Team, here are some ways to get the most out of yours: 

1) Commit to attending regularly. Weeknights can be rough, especially for those of us who are working full-time or are mommies with dinner, homework and schedules to keep up with. Resolve in your heart that this commitment will be worth it and that you're modeling to your kids the priority God has in your life. And then, just do it!

2) Push yourself out of your Comfort Zone. It's easy to show up, sit back and let the real "talkers" in the group dominate conversation. Go ahead and take some risks! Allow yourself to try answering the more vulnerable or difficult questions, even if it means you preface your answer with, "I'm not sure this answers the question, but..." Your authenticity could change the dynamic of the conversation that night, leading everyone else to a more meaningful dialogue.

3) Grab coffee or lunch with another Home Team member once a month. You already have a lot in common with the other people in your Home Team--you go to Church at the Bay, you're interested in your Home Team's curriculum, and you're probably in a similar life stage. Take your friendships to the next level by investing in time outside of Home Team and Church to get to know them better. 

4) Reflect on the Home Team challenges during the week. If there's homework--do it! Whether it's a relational challenge or a chapter to read, make a realistic plan to complete your homework before the next Home Team's meeting. If there's not assigned homework, make sure you're taking the time each day to reflect on the content discussed in Home Team. When God moves you, whether it's a challenge to change, or a promise that comforts, let it "marinate" that week by taking time to reflect and pray. 

With these four commitments, and a heart open to new friendships and God's challenges, you're sure to have a meaningful Home Team semester! 

Women's Home Teams start this Week!

Hello CATB ladies,

I'm excited to be leading a 'ladies only' Home Team in my home starting this Thursday night @ 7pm.

For the next 4 weeks, we will be exploring some basic truths in taking the next steps to becoming a woman of greater faith.  If you are a new believer, new to Bible study, new to CATB, or just want to connect with other woman for support and encouragement, please join us. Please bring a Bible and notepad.

Email me to sign up and receive directions to my house! 

Michele Laccabue

mlaccabue@tampabay.rr.com

Hi Ladies, 

I'm leading a women's home team for the next 4 weeks, using a video curriculum by Andy Stanley called Judgment Call. We'll talk about how to discern when to speak up in our friends' lives and how we can help those in difficult or tempting situations. We'll be challenged to greater accountability and support in our Christian friendships. 

We're meeting on Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m. Please email me for directions and to sign up.

Sandy Mayer

sandy@churchatthebay.com 

No More Excuses, by Sandy Mayer

Have you ever read the Bible and thought, “Didn’t this happen earlier?” Well, I have started reading the Bible in chronological order and I’m excited about how it will come together. Each time I read and study the Bible, God speaks to me differently. It’s been at least 15 years since I have read it from Genesis to Revelation.

I started reading Exodus this week and was convicted by the continual excuses Moses gives God. God asks Moses to be His voice to ask Pharaoh to release the suffering Israelites. Moses gives God a few excuses: “Who am I; What if they ask me who sent me; What if they don’t listen to me; Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it.” Do these excuses sound familiar?

My heart had a sinking feeling and I had to ask for forgiveness for thinking Moses was a wimp. I remember thinking, how could Moses not do what God wanted? God spoke DIRECTLY to Moses.

But then I have realized these are the same excuses I have used with God for CATB. I am not an eloquent speaker or writer. What if they don’t listen to what I try to teach? What if I embarrass myself and my husband? I don’t have the ‘pastor’s wife look.’ God can’t you use someone else…please…please…please?

It has been easy to hide and stay in the background for so many years. Don’t get me wrong, I have served in places where I wasn’t noticed, like being the director of Preschool, and teaching in the children’s area. But I haven’t been the ‘mother of a church,’ as some may call the pastor’s wife. Those are shoes God is slowing filling. So why am I sharing this side of me? Because I think all of us have a ministry and God is asking you to go beyond what you are doing now. Whether becoming a new mother, starting a new job, leading a hometeam, or raising and teaching your children in your every day routine…God is over all our real and silly excuses.

Throughout Exodus God continues to speak to Moses and was always with him. He didn’t give up on Moses and hasn’t given up on me. Praise God!!!

God is always with you, and remember His thoughts are higher than ours are.

He said, “Sandy quit stressing over all those excuses, just do what you know to do and I will take care of your inadequacies. Love the women at CATB and know that your mission is to lead them to Jesus.”

God, please guide me to do whatever it takes to help CATB bring people to Christ. Help me to lead. I don’t want my excuses using me. Keep my focus on You and who You are, and not on my circumstances.