When Pastor Jay Molina and his wife, Charlene, were looking for a new home for their church, they felt Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association was the perfect fit.
“After COVID, having our lead pastor move to Michigan, sharing a building with another church in the middle of nowhere and not meeting until noon on Sundays, we needed to find a place that we could call home, that was centrally located and where we could meet on Sunday mornings,” said Molina. “After searching for six months, God led us to Center Place, and we knew we were home right from the beginning. It has been a wonderful place to regroup and find out who we are as a church. Center Place has given us stability and we have grown to love it here.”
The church has had many new and exciting things happen over the last year.
“During the last year we rebranded from JesusChurch to Tampa Bay Vineyard to acknowledge our roots and we have developed our own identity,” Molina said. “Our people have become a much more homogenous and mature group of people and we are now ready for the mission that God has for us. We are a people of the kingdom who disciple and equip the saints, model the love of Jesus to the lost and are led and empowered by Holy Spirit. Our motto is ‘Creating a kingdom culture.’”
Tampa Bay Vineyard is passionate for Jesus and partners with the Holy Spirit so that the proclamation and demonstration of God’s kingdom go hand in hand. As part of its values, it prays for the sick, confronts injustice and seeks to hear the voice of God on behalf of others.
“Now that we have stabilized and found our footing, we want to start reaching out to the community and to the unchurched,” Molina said. “Our first step in this process is to start hosting ALPHA, which is directed at nonchurched people who might have questions about God, faith, the Bible, Jesus and the meaning of life. It is a place where people can come just as they are, and they are going to be heard and hopefully find some answers.”
Tampa Bay Vineyard meets on Sundays at 10 a.m. and has small groups during the week that meet in people’s homes. ALPHA meets at Center Place on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m., and is dinner provided.
If you would like to learn more about Tampa Bay Vineyard, you can visit its website at www.tampabayvineyard.org. Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association is located at 619 Vonderburg Dr., Ste. B inside the Brandon Regional Library.
