We encourage you to participate in online activities and stay connected as best you can.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to unfold, we as a church want to do our part. Governor DeSantis recommended that group gatherings be suspended as a way to prevent any spread of this potentially harmful virus. In an effort to keep you safely connected, we have moved our groups and classes online.

Our Life Groups and classes have moved to an online platform using Zoom. Your leader will email details for your meeting with a link and login information. When you sign up for a group or class, you will receive a confirmation email. That’s the email address we will use to send you online meeting information. For more information on using Zoom, check out the “Using Zoom” section.

Finally, as we move toward reopening, we will keep you posted here with upcoming changes. We hope that ultimately, most of our groups will return to meeting in person. Some groups however have been online groups by design and will remain online. We have seen some advantages to meeting online. So, we hope to expand our offering of online groups as we go forward. As you explore the various groups available, the Location section will either list a physical location or say they are meeting online. If a physical location is listed, that is where the group will return to meeting as we are able.

We encourage all groups to stay in touch with one another and ask if members of your group or their neighbors need help. Perhaps someone could use a few groceries and shouldn’t be exposed to the general public or can’t shop during the restricted store hours. If your group finds ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community, we would love to hear about it. Email Shane Clark, Life Group Pastor,

Zoom is free. It allows groups of people to connect over the internet using the microphone and camera on your device. You can connect using your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. You will need internet access, a camera and a microphone (built into most phones, tablets, laptops and some newer computers).

From your computer or laptop, simply click on the Zoom link. Zoom will launch in your default Internet browser (Explorer, Chrome, Safari, etc.) Or, you can go to Zoom.us, select “Join Meeting” and continue from there. Follow the instructions on the screen. You will be prompted to enter a meeting ID and password. You will find that information in the meeting invitation message.

For a phone or tablet, you will need to download the "ZOOM Cloud Meetings" app and then you will be able to click on the link to launch Zoom. You will be prompted to enter a meeting ID and password. You will find that information in the meeting message.

Please log in 10 minutes early to make sure everything is working properly. This will also help minimize interruptions once the group has started. It’s also a great way to have a little social time.

You can ‘mute’ yourself or the leader can mute individuals. Background noise causes Zoom to ‘ping pong’ around the various attendees because it can’t determine which ‘speaker’ to focus on. This causes the person who is speaking to ‘cut out’ or have interrupted speech that is difficult to understand. If you are not actively speaking, please use “Mute”.

We encourage you to participate in online activities and stay connected as best you can. If you need assistance connecting, please contact your leader or

At Bay Life, we believe your relationship with God is best grown through relationships with other believers. In Life Groups, you will experience a personal community that can help you grow closer to Christ, share in your joys, and support you through your trials.

Life Groups meet all over the greater Brandon area including some on-campus groups and some online groups. Childcare is available for many of our groups. Each listing will indicate the availability of childcare. See the Childcare section for more information.

Classes at Bay Life are designed to help you grow in specific areas. For example, Connect to Serve will help you explore how God has gifted you to serve with your unique talents and gifts. Membership is a great way to learn about what we believe as a church. Foundations classes are designed to build a strong foundation of biblical concepts to help deepen your understanding of Scripture. Each class listing will have a description that includes the focal area for that class. Classes often rotate throughout the year.

The groups and classes listed below are open to new folks joining right now. Check out the descriptions below and if one looks interesting, email the leader and they will contact you to answer any questions you might have and help you connect. If you don't see anything today, check back. We will continually update the web with more groups and classes as they become available.

Welcome to Life Groups where we hope you will find a group or class that helps you grow. Finding a place to connect can seem a bit confusing at times. To help you find a group or class that fits your needs, we have organized our groups and classes a couple of different ways. You can search by day of the week, availability of childcare or type of group/class. Once you select a group or class, you will be able to view the details of location, cost to participate, exact day and time and see a brief description of the group or class. Many of our groups and classes do not have any cost. If you need help covering the cost of a group or class, please don’t let that stop you. Let us know how we can help.

One of the key factors for finding a group that fits is group type. You will see lots of different types of groups here:

• Mixed - Singles and couples are welcome here.
• Couples - These groups tend to focus on marriage and family and prefer married couples in their group.
• Ladies - We offer a large women's meeting on campus every Wednesday morning and evening. We also offer smaller women's groups throughout the week.
• Men's - We offer large men's groups that meet on campus every Monday night and Wednesday night. We also offer smaller men's groups throughout the week.
• College + Career - Folks in young adulthood have different needs and interests than the rest. These groups focus specifically on this stage of life (approximate ages 18 - 28)
• Breakthrough - Sometimes we need to just focus on a specific topic or issue that keeps us from moving forward. Breakthrough groups include different topics each semester and include things like: Boundaries, Grief Share, Divorce Care, Anger Management, etc. If life hurts, Breakthrough is here to help. For questions about these groups, email
• Spiritual Growth – These classes are meant to focus on a specific topic for a specific period of time. While we encourage everyone to belong to a Life Group, classes are a great way to dig deeper into a specific area of spiritual growth.
• Life Group Leaders – this is a special place where Life Group Leader can see a calendar of events specific to groups, access resources, find service projects and many other resources in support of leadership.

We encourage you to do lots of exploring and get the conversation started today.

Each Life Group determines what to study. Some groups will do topical studies while others study books of the Bible. Many of our groups study the Scriptures behind the weekly sermon. We call those ‘Sermon Based Study’ groups. You will see each group’s study information listed in the group description.

For Sermon Based Study groups, a study guide is made available at baylife.org/study each Thursday. The study guide contains parallel Scriptures and discussion questions relevant to the upcoming sermon. The following week, groups will discuss the questions and Scriptures as their group study. There is nothing to purchase. All you need is a Bible. If you need help getting a Bible, we would love to help you get one.

Group Link Fall 2020

August 8, 2020 - August 16, 2020 @ after services | Bay Life Church, 1017 Kingsway Rd., Brandon, FL US 33510

At Bay Life, belonging is one of our four core values. One of the ways we do this is through close-knit communities called Life Groups. After each weekend service, for two weeks, you will be able to find a group where you can plug in and feel like you belong. 

Date: August 8, August 9, August 15, August 16
Time: After each service
Location: Lobby

If you have any questions, contact our Life Groups Pastor, Shane Clark, at . 

Childcare is available if we have received a minimum of five childcare reservations. In the past we have been able to offer childcare on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening and Thursday evening. The cost for childcare is $5 per child with a $10 maximum per family.

Childcare is available for children 3 months through 5th grade.

Reservations must be made by noon the business day before the meeting or event. For example, if you plan to attend something on Wednesday, you need to make a reservation no later than noon on Tuesday. For a Sunday event, you will need to make a reservation no later than noon on Thursday. Bay Life Church offices are open Monday – Thursday, 8:30am – 5pm. To make a reservation or for more information, email

Life Group Leadership Interest Meeting