Bell Shoals Church sits at the center of Florida's west-central Tampa Bay region, with campuses reaching into Brandon, Apollo Beach, and Riverview and services offered in both English and Spanish. What began in 1961 as an outdoor gathering under an oak tree at the corner of Bell Shoals Road and Overhill Road has grown into a single church family meeting in five locations across two languages, with a worship team that records original music, an academy that runs alongside the church, and a global mission program that sends teams across continents. The church describes itself as part of a mission and a movement that is changing the world, and the people of Bell Shoals are encouraged to be a part of that movement wherever they live.
One Church in Five Locations and Two Languages
Bell Shoals describes itself plainly: one church in five locations and two languages. The Brandon campus at 2102 Bell Shoals Road is the original and serves as the hub, with Sunday services at 9:30 and 11:00 AM. The Apollo Beach campus, at 6414 Golf and Sea Boulevard, offers three Sunday morning services at 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30 AM. The Riverview campus meets at 11:00 AM on Sundays inside Sumner High School at 10650 County Road 672. Two campuses carry the Spanish-language ministry, known as Bell Shoals Español: Español Brandon at 11:00 AM on Sundays and Español Apollo Beach at 4:00 PM on Sundays. The Brandon service is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook each week, and on-demand messages are available through the messages archive.
Visitors are encouraged to pick the campus closest to home and to expect a familiar but personalized experience at each one. Greeters in Bell Shoals gear direct cars into parking spots, walk families to the right door, and answer questions inside the building.
The Hills We Die On
The congregation lives by six values the church calls the Hills We Die On. They are Aggressive Authenticity, Relatable Truth, Unwavering Unity, Community Minded, Bold Moves, and Fearless Generosity. The phrasing is intentional: Aggressive Authenticity means the gospel and authentic transformation are taken seriously rather than reduced to slogans. Relatable Truth expresses the conviction that Scripture is true and can be communicated in ways that connect with everyday life. Unwavering Unity seeks peace over preference, agreeing on the main things and pursuing understanding on the secondary ones. Community Minded aims at long-term relationships that open the door to gospel conversations. Bold Moves looks for a big God who does big things. Fearless Generosity gives freely of time, money, and effort to fuel the movement of the local church.
What to Expect on Sunday
A Bell Shoals worship service lasts about an hour, with three or four songs, a video feature, and a time of teaching from a member of the teaching team. Spanish-language services run about seventy-five minutes. There is a moment in the service for tithes and offerings, and a regular celebration of the Lord's Supper. Dress is casual, and the staff's standard is the same one they attribute to Jesus: everyone is welcome. Children of any age are always welcome in the worship service, and every campus also offers a dedicated children's environment called Shoal Kids along with a nursing mothers' room where moms and infants can watch the service together.
Shoal Kids: From Birth Through Fifth Grade
Shoal Kids is the church's children's ministry for children from birth through fifth grade. The teaching is age-appropriate, creative, and centered on the gospel, and the children's program gathers on Sunday mornings and again midweek. On Sundays, families check in at electronic kiosks where trained volunteers help first-time guests register; returning families can check in by last name or phone number. Each child receives a sticker matched to a parent sticker, and the matched number is required for any adult to pick up a child after the service. The Brandon campus offers Shoal Kids during its 9:30 and 11:00 AM services, Apollo Beach during its 8:00, 10:00, and 11:30 AM services, and Riverview during its 11:00 AM service. Wednesday midweek programming for kids meets at 6:30 PM at Apollo Beach and Brandon.
Shoal Kids makes a point of partnering with parents. The teaching staff encourage the drive home as a prime moment to ask what a child learned, and parent resources online walk through technology, media, and biblical sexuality conversations by age. A dedicated Special Needs ministry welcomes learners with cognitive, medical, or hidden disabilities, and an Adult Special Needs LIFE Group meets on the Brandon campus for adults with similar needs.
Students: Sixth Through Twelfth Grade
Bell Shoals Students is designed for sixth through twelfth graders and gathers across two campuses. At Apollo Beach, students meet at 10:00 AM on Sundays for Life Groups and at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays for a worship service designed with them in mind. At Brandon, the same rhythm meets at 9:30 AM on Sundays and 6:30 PM on Wednesdays. The Sunday gatherings center on community and relationships through small groups, while the Wednesday nights include dynamic worship, teaching, and an environment students are encouraged to invite their friends into. John Gibbons pastors students at Apollo Beach, Luis Ruiz pastors students at Brandon and leads the college-age ministry, and Cameron Abney and Morgan Rummage serve alongside them. The student ministry also publishes a podcast and maintains its own YouTube and Instagram channels.
CAM: College-Age Adults
CAM, the college-age ministry, is for adults roughly 18 to 23. The group exists for those who live in west-central Florida year-round as well as for students home for the summer, and it meets weekly for community, growth, and serving opportunities. The Brandon LIFE Groups page lists a College-Age 18-23 group that meets at 9:30 AM on Sundays in the Fellowship Hall. Luis Ruiz, who also serves as Brandon Student Pastor, leads CAM, and the ministry maintains its own Instagram presence.
Leading the Way for Adults 60 and Over
Leading the Way is the ministry for adults 60 and above. The church's posture is that this stage of life is not passive: senior adults are encouraged to mentor, serve, offer wisdom, and blaze trails for gospel impact. Reflections, a monthly gathering on the fourth Thursday from 10:30 to 11:45 AM in the Multi-purpose Center, is set aside as a time to discover God's calling for a life that reflects His character, love, and purpose. Terryl Delaney serves as the Leading the Way Pastor at Brandon. The Widows Ministry, part of the Care network, also reaches women whose husbands have died, with encouragement, comfort, and empathy.
Worship and Original Music
The worship team aims to create a space where the gathered church can focus on what God has done. Services feature hymns, brand new worship songs, and Bell Shoals originals written and arranged by the in-house worship artists. The team, led by Lead Worship Pastor Jason Millsaps, Music Director Dr. BJ Davis, and Worship Pastor Copeland Davis, records and releases music on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms under the Bell Shoals Music banner. Songs such as Even When, I Will Not Forget, Song of Heaven, All Praise, Oh Praise the One, Oh What a Grace, and The Victory Is Yours carry CCLI license numbers and credit the in-house writers. A Combined Campus Worship Night and Live Recording has been held at the Brandon campus, where the team leads the church family through original songs born from the stories, seasons, and moments the body has walked through together.
LIFE Groups and D-Groups: Discipleship in Community
LIFE Groups are the small-group strategy of Bell Shoals. They are life-stage specific, open to all, primarily on-campus on Sundays but also meeting off-campus throughout the week, and they walk through a sermon-based curriculum. The Brandon campus lists dozens of groups meeting at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 AM, including groups for senior adults, median adults, young adults, singles, couples, college-age, widows, post-addiction families, and a special needs group. Apollo Beach LIFE Groups meet at multiple times on Sundays and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Riverview LIFE Groups meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays off-campus and on Sunday mornings. Bell Shoals Español hosts LIFE Groups at 9:30 AM on Sundays at Brandon and on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM at Apollo Beach.
For deeper discipleship, D-Groups are closed groups of four to six men or women, gender-specific, meeting sixty to ninety minutes a week over the course of a year. The point of a D-Group is not just to study but to make disciple-makers. A virtual Summer of Psalms D-Group runs through the summer, with the church reading one Psalm together each day and reflecting on God's character and faithfulness.
Midweek Engage Studies
Midweek at Bell Shoals features adult Engage Studies that begin each August and January and typically run eight to ten weeks. Past and current studies include Bible Doctrine for Life with Pastor Ben Skaug, Every Man a Warrior on Mondays, The Book of Colossians, Precepts studies of Romans and Ephesians, Gospel and the Family, Mom's Bible Study, Women of the Word, Simply Jesus on the I Am statements, Jonah, Elijah, and Foundations for Godly Manhood. DivorceCare and GriefShare support groups run in thirteen-week cycles at the Brandon campus, with both in-person and online options, including Surviving the Holidays seminars.
Baptist Faith and Message
Bell Shoals holds to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as the confession that anchors the church. The full text is published on the church's beliefs page and includes articles on the Scriptures, God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), Man, Salvation, God's Purpose of Grace, the Church, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Evangelism and Missions, the Lord's Day, Last Things, Education, Stewardship, Cooperation, the Christian and the Social Order, Religious Liberty, and the Family. Christian baptism is understood as the immersion of a believer in water, and the Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience memorializing the death of the Redeemer and anticipating His second coming. Marriage is described as the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime, and the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
Missions Near and Far
Bell Shoals operates a Difference Makers missions strategy built around short-term trips and long-term partners. Recent and upcoming international trips include South Africa with Africa 4 Jesus and Call 2 Africa, North Africa with North Africa Connection, London in partnership with the International Mission Board, El Salvador and Guatemala with Good News in Action, Argentina with the Crecer Foundation and Seminario Bíblico William Carey, Peru with a baseball skills clinic partnering with the Peruvian Baseball Federation, Mexico City with Good News in Action, and Cuba with a partnering Cuban church. Ireland and Germany are listed as future church-plant and post-Christian outreach partnerships. Local partners include a kid's place, Bread of Life, Choices Clinics, Community Issues Council, ECHO, Family Ministries of Florida, friends of internationals, Give 'Em Heaven Ministries, Hope for Her, Metropolitan Ministries, One More Child in Lakeland, Real Hope Food Pantry, Stitching Sisters, and vocation church.
The missions team publishes the Difference Makers magazine, a digital publication featuring stories, photography, and writing from people of Bell Shoals who have served on the mission field. Disaster relief is channeled through Florida Baptist Disaster Relief.
Bell Shoals Academy
Bell Shoals Academy is the church's Christ-centered school, with Daniel Padron serving as Head of School and Austin Hearn as Advancement Director. The academy operates its own hiring pipeline and runs alongside the church with shared spaces and shared purpose. The current Unrivaled Campaign funds strategic campus expansion and long-term investment so that the academy can inspire and equip the next generation of Christ-followers, with giving directed specifically to that initiative.
Care and Community Outreach
The Care ministry exists to walk alongside people through difficult seasons. Counseling, benevolence, bereavement, hospital visits, and the Widow's Ministry are part of the network. Pastoral counseling is available by request, and the benevolence team helps families in crisis with assistance funded by members who give over and above their tithe. The Real Hope food pantry operates from 1916 Bell Shoals Road in Brandon on Wednesdays from 10:00 to 11:00 AM, providing food, basic necessities, and the love of Jesus to those in need. Texting Bell Shoals at the listed number connects those needing help or wanting to volunteer. Hurricane resources and disaster relief information is published each season.
Give, Serve, and the GO2030 Vision
Giving runs through Pushpay, with the option to give online, set up recurring gifts, give to a specific mission trip, mail gifts to 2102 Bell Shoals Road, Brandon, FL 33511, give appreciated stock, name the church in a Last Will and Testament, or designate payroll deductions through the United Way. The Hills We Die On phrase Fearless Generosity gives shape to the church's posture toward giving: the church teaches tithing as a starting point and offers financial classes to support those working to get out of debt.
Serve teams plug members into ongoing ministry on their campus and into local and global mission opportunities. The Serve and Missions pages route interested people into the matching teams, and the Internship program offers paid summer positions in filmmaking, connections, pastoral ministry, operations, kids, students, marketing, IT, discipleship, worship, broadcast, production, and design.
The longer arc of the church is captured in the GO2030 initiative, a seven-year push with measurable goals. By 2030, Bell Shoals has set its sights on 1,200 new believers baptized, 1,000 members on mission, 750 academy enrollment, 700 people in D-Groups, five new campuses launched in west-central Florida, and zero dollars remaining in debt. The stated aim is to share the gospel, expand mission partnerships, provide Christ-centered education, grow together in faith, and multiply gospel impact across the region.
From an Oak Tree in 1961 to Five Campuses Today
Bell Shoals Church began in 1961 under an oak tree at the corner of Bell Shoals and Overhill Road. More than six decades later, that single gathering has multiplied into a five-campus, two-language congregation with original worship music, a K-12 academy, a global mission program, and a clear set of numerical goals through 2030. The lead pastor is Dr. Corey Abney, joined by an executive team, campus pastors, a worship team, a school staff, ministry directors, and a long list of volunteers. Services are casual, kids are prioritized, senior adults are honored, students are invested in, and the church is intentional about taking the next step together one sermon, one small group, one D-Group, one mission trip, and one campus at a time.