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Church Builds Toward Future

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Bayshore Baptist is addressing some renovation needs now and is hoping to make some more upgrades in a few years when the money is raised.

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By JANIS D. FROELICH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

SOUTH TAMPA - Bayshore Baptist Church had a big enough dream in the 1950s to erect a building that would serve the congregation for decades to come.

Then a few years ago, Gary McCall, the minister of education, was talking with senior pastor Steve Hadden.

Bayshore Baptist, 3111 W. Morrison Ave., was having the usual roof and ceiling problems that plague older buildings. Inside, the biggest eyesore were the narrow hallways that lead to a maze of rooms.

"We decided to go for renovation," McCall said. "We really wanted to restore the luster to the rest of the church that people see in the sanctuary."

The sanctuary, which was refurbished in 1997, is red and white with six blazing chandeliers.

So an ambitious building program was begun with a $4.2 million fundraising goal. The church has scaled back its goal to $3.1 million, of which $2.3 million has been raised.

The first-floor classrooms are being redone, and a music suite is being installed upstairs that includes a choir robe room and instrument storage space.

In a few years, other improvements, such as a two-story lobby and a multipurpose room built on parking lot space, will be done as more money is raised.

For now, McCall said, the church wants to make sure "we don't do anything irresponsible."

Still, staff members marvel that in these shaky economic times the church was able to begin construction this month, with the first floor to be done by October and the second floor by November.

Bayshore Baptist's history dates to 1926 when a 400-seat chapel fitted with opera chairs was built at Dekle, DeSoto and Howard avenues.

Almost immediately, the church wanted a new home for its education classes, and a cream-colored brick building was constructed by 1927.

But then came the stock market crash of 1929. "Saddled with the tremendous building debt ... Bayshore teetered on the brink of disaster," a written church history notes. "Even some deacons and trustees doubted if the church could survive."

Members pulled together money to save the church.

Today, the original church building is long gone, and the former education building at 1304 S. DeSoto Ave. is a four-story office complex that still bears the Bayshore Baptist cornerstone.

At the 73,000-square-foot church at Morrison and MacDill avenues, membership is upward of 1,500, and about 400 attend Sunday services.

McCall said the focus is on music and children. The church runs a day care center, and a goal of the remodeling is to open classrooms onto a playground, said Paula Parker, weekday preschool director.

Parker, a 20-year church employee, said the eight classrooms have a summer enrollment of 20 to 35. The fall will bring about 100 children, ages 2 to 4.

The upstairs music suite will be run by Karl Luckey, who moved to Tampa a few months ago from California. He envisions a 35-member choir, a nine-piece band and two vocalists to cover the two Sunday services - 9 a.m. for modern praise and worship and 11 a.m. for traditional worship.

Luckey also wants the music program to perform for nonprofit groups around Tampa.

"I can see seven nights a week something going on in our music department," he said.

Bayshore Baptist is open to many community organizations, including Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and Jazzercise exercise classes. Preschool children recently collected about 700 books for the RICH House in Sulphur Springs, a safe place for children opened by the Tampa Police Department.

McCall said he has often remarked to Hadden that, "We have outreach. We have building improvements. We have all our programs. Can we continue to do it all?"

McCall said the pastor reassures him Bayshore Baptist can be active in many areas.

The church's 6-acre property has an assessed value of $6.6 million. A few years ago, the church paid $1.4 million for the American Cancer Society's three-story complex at 1001 S. MacDill Ave. Those offices will move at the end of this year so the church will have more parking.

Cook and custodian Annie Mosley has been a Bayshore Baptist fixture for 25 years. She worked part time in the Meals on Wheels program and then began a full-time job 22 years ago.

Mosley said she loves her church kitchen and cooking for all the different meals and gatherings.

"That is when people help me clean up," she said jokingly.

She knows a new kitchen is planned when the multipurpose center is built. "My kitchen will be in the parking lot," she said with a laugh. "But I'll probably be retired in five years."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Bayshore Baptist Church

WHERE: 3111 W. Morrison Ave.

WHEN: Sunday services: 9 a.m. modern praise and worship; 11 a.m. traditional worship

CONTACT: (813) 253-3411, www.bayshorebaptistchurch.com or info@bayshorebaptist church.com

Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 259-7657 or jfroelich@tampatrib.com.

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