In the Sarasota District’s Osprey community, Bay Life Community United Methodist Church, which bills itself as "A United Methodist Church for the 21st Century," held its grand opening worship service. The Rev. Don Nations was appointed by Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson in June 1999 to plant a new church there.

Rev. Nations has spent the months since then assembling a core team, finding a place to hold services, conducting Bible studies, training and rehearsing his worship team, hiring staff, and casting the vision for the new church. The fruits of those efforts were readily visible at the grand opening. The 175 plus people were blessed with a well-planned and -executed worship service. The new congregation is worshiping at the Pine View School. For directions or to extend your greetings, call 941-923-9779 or e-mail www.baylifecommunity.com. 

The Rev. Gary Bullock was appointed Dec. 1, 1999 to launch a new United Methodist congregation in the Villages of Lady Lake in the Leesburg District.

Soon after arriving, Rev. Bullock discovered there was no school, strip mall or other meeting site readily available for a new church to assemble for worship. In a chance conversation with a Roman Catholic priest he learned of a Roman Catholic mission facility in Wildwood that might be available. Even though it is five miles from the 10-acre site the district has purchased for the new church, Rev. Bullock decided to approach the leaders of the Catholic Mission to see if they would permit him to use it to launch a new United Methodist congregation. Since the mission’s mass is celebrated at 8 a.m., its leaders were glad to make the mission available for a 10:30 a.m. worship service. The wonderful spirit of the Catholic leaders made their facilities available at no cost. As a result, 163 people gathered April 9 for the first worship service of New Covenant United Methodist Church. For directions to the New Covenant gathering site or to wish the congregation your support and prayers, call 352-259-4087.

The New Church Apportionment your church supports pays the pastoral compensation of these two pastors, plus the 11 other new church pastors launched in the last three years. Thank you for your continued support of New Church Development.