Helping the body of Christ to grow in faith, hope and love by engaging God in His holy Word.
Why Friday Nite?
Well…why not? We live in a 24/7 society. Many individuals and families are gone weekends and need a place to connect and grow. I, Jack, went to a Friday night Bible study when I was in the military and it was really well attended. I have often wondered why there is not more to do on Friday nights that is wholesome and uniquely Christian. Why give Friday night to the devil? Why isolate yourself on Friday night when many of us feel lonely and vulnerable? Why not do something really good for yourself, your family, and your friends on Friday night? Come and just see if you like it! You will meet a variety of people (of all colors, nationalities, and races), make some friends, and learn something new about the Bible. Curious? Please give it a try. It might just be a fit in your life and help you to turn a corner. No dues, no cost, no hassles. Just show up! PASTORS: There are three very important things that FridayNiteBibleStudy can do for you: 1) Allow you a time to experience the Word of God yourself without the cares of your Sunday ministry tugging on you. 2) Allow you to sit with your spouse without the time pressures. 3) Allow you to connect with the “un-churched” and the “de-churched” that come to us on Friday nights. Many of these don’t know about the many excellent churches in the greater Tampa area. Why not introduce them to your church formally at one of our “Ministry in Our Midst” (use power point or your chosen media) or informally by word of mouth? At FridayNiteBibleStudy, we believe in the greater body of Christ and desire to have a collegiality with other ministries. Too much of Christian ministry can end up being a competition instead of an encouragement and a cooperation. So, dear pastors and church workers, please come and fellowship with us on Friday nights in order to let us bless you and so that you can bless us! NAU 2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” NOTE: FridayNiteBibleStudy is not a church. We do not baptize, we do not serve communion, we have no formal membership, we do not have deacons or elders, nor do we practice church discipline. Our purpose is to teach the Bible well to all levels. That’s it!
Kids
Kids are extremely important to us. We desire to have the kids with us in our study so they can learn and participate as appropriate. Our goal is to see our young people grow in their faith along with everyone else. Please bring your kids!
Refreshments
Light refreshments are typically provided after the study.
What We Believe
See what we believe… Read more
Time/Schedule
We start at 7:00 PM. We try to finish by 8:00 PM. We enjoy fellowship and refreshments afterward, so plan to stay around after.
Location
17607 Willow Creek Blvd, Lutz, FL 33549. The community is not gated. On a given Friday night, we are about 30 minutes from downtown Tampa, about 20 minutes from New Tampa, 10 minutes from Pasco county, and about 25 minutes from Wesley Chapel. Directions to location
Volunteers
Would you like to help with the food? Just occasionally would be really helpful! Maybe you could bring a dish every six weeks: meat, vegetable, starch, dessert, drinks. Would you like to assist with the children? You could work alongside our screened and trained KidKare workers. Could you perform some helpful administrative work for us? Someone to help with a FridayNiteBibleStudy calendar, a phone and e-mail address register, or to see that those who wants class study materials by e-mail get them. Maybe you are gifted in media, software, and presentation skills. Or. . . maybe you might be willing to offer an regular occasional car ride for one of our attenders who doesn’t have the blessing of “wheels.” All of these things really bless the whole group! We value your participation, whatever your gifts and talents. We would love to have you serve with us, regardless of your experience level. THANK YOU in advance! :). Please contact Lindsey–our coordinator– and she will help you find an opportunity for service. See her in person at FridayNiteBibleStudy or contact via e-mail (lindseymichaelson@yahoo.com) or phone (813-469-3143). Thanks.
Teachers
We realize we only have one true Teacher, that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 23:8). Nonetheless, all of our volunteer teachers (that is, teachers with a little “t” : 🙂 ) are passionate to share what they know about the story of God and the biblical languages. We hope that you will find the teaching to be insightful and life changing! That is our goal! To read more about our teachers, please refer to the tab “Bible Study Leadership.” view our Bible Study Leadership.
Missions
Our Missions Partners: BiblicalStory.org: A free site developed by Dr. Charles P. Baylis and his son Sam, it tells the whole story of the Bible from A-Z. Using video (some of which is onsite in Israel), Dr. Baylis’ commentaries and resources, it deals with almost all of the Bible text. A great tool for those new to the Bible as well as for experienced Christians and seminary students. CCCP Ministries: Christian outreach to Countries of the Former Soviet Union. cccpministries.org Founded by Warren G. Pledger, the minstry actively reaches out to children, churches, communities, and pastors in an area of the world where Christianity was shut out for decades. Zenon Ministries: Christian outreach to local Tampa area youth through on campus ministry. Bible teaching for men, Tampa Bay Storm chaplaincy, and High School Sports devotions are just a few of the areas that Zenon Ministries touches. zenonministries.org Affiliated Churches: Idlewild Baptist, Temple Crest Baptist, Keystone Baptist, South Tampa Fellowship.
Do you have a church or a mission that you would like to have represented on our website?
We would like to increase people’s awareness of Christ honoring ministries. Talk to Lindsey about this. Please see Lindsey’s contact information under the tab “Bible Study Leadership.” Thanks so much!
Donate
We are not a 501(c)(3) and therefore your donation is not tax deductible 🙁 But then again, neither was it in the first-century church :). Don’t worry, our needs are not a heavy burden. Nonetheless, we have basic needs and want to be good stewards. Our costs are food served weekly and money to pay our KidKare workers. We’re thankful for all gifts. Also, perhaps a gift to one of our “missions,” which have greater needs than we do–and are 501(3)C)–would be more satisfying to you. And by the way, your prayers that God would bless our feeble efforts would do more to sustain this ministry than gifts of thousands of dollars. Thank you in advance for your kind generosity. Gifts to FridayNiteBibleStudy can be cash or check (Made out to “John Bowen,” that’s me, Jack, my legal name). We have a little offering basket near where we serve the food. Remember, there is no need or compulsion to give anything ever. We just want to help you to discover or grow in the Christian faith. We remember that God had materially prospered us all differently. So then, “. . . let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:7 .
Communicate
Contact me, Jack @ 813-833-5388. Text messaging is best (fastest) method to communicate with me. E-mail is next best (trollbowen@gmail.com). Call if you need directions or need to speak with me live. Realize I’m frequently unavailable and may not be able to pick up a live call nor will I alweays be able to retrieve messages as quickly as I’d like. As a policy, I do not usually post a recorded audio or visual of our studies on the web. Sometimes these things have a way of going viral and are subject to being “cut and pasted” out of context. Then someone might get a false impression of what position our teachers hold concerning for instance Bible interpretation (hermeneutics), the end times (eschatology), marriage (and divorce and re-marriage), or the LGBT issue (anthropology/human sexuality/imaging God). Many issues are quite simple in the Bible (for example, we know that God loves the world, cf. John 3:16.). But the four above examples (as well as others) need a context for the discussion and take time to develop. Question and answer as well as elaboration and clarification are best given “live” where others can benefit from the discussion and misunderstandings can be avoided. Seems like God’s people should be gathered together for the best teaching and fellowship. While sometimes a “remote” site situation or an “web” church may be an option, there is nothing like face-to-face fellowship and teaching. Real time is most always best. I’ve not yet seen a way to give a handshake or a hug over the net! Isn’t the world a lonely enough place? You never know who you will encourage by just showing up! NAU 1 Corinthians 12:14 “For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” 1 Cor 12:14-18. Drink of that, dear brothers and sisters! 🙂
Biblical Greek Course
Camp Sites
Our “Camp Sites” are the Scripture passages and topics we plan to camp out on and discuss each week of our study. View our list of Camp Sites
The Book of Acts
We have now completed our study on the Acts of the Apostles. But we welcome your interest in that great book and so it was decided to keep this “Acts” portion of the website up and running. Acts was actually a follow on to the Gospel of Luke. Like the Gospel of Luke, Acts was addressed to a man named Theophilus (“God lover”) (cf. Luke 1:3 , Acts 1:1) who perhaps commissioned Luke, “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14), to write the book for him. Luke evidently joined Paul’s second missionary journey in Acts 16:10 in Troas, Asia Minor, as the “we” pronoun is interjected into the story just prior to the Gospel of Christ being formally introduced into the European continent (ca. A.D. 50). Luke’s concern for specific geographical locations, key people, and the occasional time marker make him a unique source for recording the early history of the Christian faith. Acts is a record of the Good News of Messiah Jesus being re-offered to the Jewish people throughout the book. It records their response and rejection (except for a remnant who believe) and the offer of that same Gospel to the Gentiles. It spans the time of the ascension of Christ into the sky (Acts 1:9) (ca. A.D. 33) to the time of Paul’s (first?) Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:11-31) (ca. A.D. 62). It is a testimony of how the Gospel spread in the first three decades after the Resurrection. Indeed, the Apostles were Christ’s witnesses when the power of the Holy Spirit had come upon them, “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8b).
Welcome to Friday Nite Bible Study. Click on a section above to read more detail.
