Nondenominational Christian Bible Study Classes Available Now At St. James UMC

On Thursday mornings in New Tampa, dozens of women gather together to laugh, read the Bible and share life with each other.
Some are young women.

Others are moms, who may bring their young children to attend their own classes in a nearby room. Still others are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers.

Whether they’re young or old, married or single, parents or not, and whatever their religious preference, all women are invited to join the Tampa Northeast/New Tampa Community Bible Study (CBS) class, says the group’s teaching director, Karis Tiberia.

“We’re there to study the Bible together,” Karis explains. “One of the things I think is special is that we focus on the essentials of the Christian faith, not on denominational distinctions. Whether they attend church or not, everyone is welcome.”

While the focus is on studying the Bible, that’s not all that’s happening in the group.
“We encourage each other, love each other, challenge and take care of each other through all of the ups and downs of life,” Karis says.

The Tampa Northeast/New Tampa CBS class is part of an international organization called Community Bible Study. The group that meets in New Tampa has just completed its third year, with about 75 women registered, and will begin its fourth year this fall.

It meets most Thursday mornings, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., at St. James United Methodist Church, 16202 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. While St. James provides meeting space for the group, it is completely independent and supported by other churches, too, such as Grace Episcopal Church, where the group’s Leaders Council meets each week to prepare.

Moms who have children who are in third grade and younger can bring the kids along. Carmellia Loyd is the children/youth director. She says children will be cared for in a loving, fun and safe environment, and all teachers are trained and background checked.

“It’s not childcare,” Carmellia says. “From the time they’re two and older, they’re in programming, learning Bible stories, songs, simple verses, and how to have a relationship with God.”

The group’s leadership team is made up of 15 women, including Karis and Carmellia. When women join CBS, they’re placed into a smaller discussion group, called a “core group.” New this year, one core group will be meeting in the evening to accommodate more women’s schedules.

The first class will be held Thursday, September 6. An Open House will be held on Thursday, August 30, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m., for people to drop by, find out more about CBS, meet the leaders, pick up a study book and/or register. The group will meet most weeks, except for holidays, and will end on May 9, 2019.

The group will be studying the Book of Matthew. Registration is $35 and children’s registration is $10.
Participants complete a 10-15 minute lesson in their CBS study book each day, then gather for the weekly class, where they sing worship songs, break into discussion groups, and then come back together for a large group teaching, led by Karis.

“Some people gain knowledge by answering questions, others by sharing in discussion, and some by hearing the teaching,” Karis says. “CBS covers all of those ways.”

Carmellia says she has been involved in CBS, which has several groups in the Tampa Bay area, for 18 years.

“The thing I like about it is it is straight Bible study,” says Carmellia. “They ask you questions, you look at the answers in the Bible and discuss it in your small group. It doesn’t matter if someone has known Jesus for six weeks or has been a saint for 60 years — everybody has something to contribute.”

Carla Rybolt is the group’s coordinator, handling logistics, including member registration. She has participated in the New Tampa group since its inception.

“Being in God’s word keeps me closer to God at all times,” Carla adds. “I was in the midst of a terrible storm when I started with CBS and the class led me through a gamut of learning how to completely trust God and let go of all of my anxieties. Through everything that I’ve learned, I’ve been surrounded by amazing women who hold me up.”

Karis agrees. “It’s made a difference as I go through life to have women who I know will be there for me. Aside from the Bible study and how we grow in our faith, I am also personally encouraged by my participation both in the class and as a leader.”

All three women say they love the diversity of the women who attend the group.

“The number one thing I liked about CBS from the beginning is that it’s biblically-based and everybody is welcome. Whether you’re Atheist or Jewish, no one is ever turned away,” says Carla. “Jesus tells us to love one another, and that’s the way it is at CBS.”

Carmellia adds, “It’s for anybody, whether you want to find out what the Bible is all about or have studied it for years. It’s a great place to feel comfortable and not judged.”

Registration is open now. For more information, visit the group’s website at TampaNortheast.CBSclass.org or email Carla Rybolt at CBS.Tampa.Northeast@gmail.com.

Freedom’s Softball & Tennis & Wharton’s Baseball & Track Teams Spring Forward

Wharton Baseball (Photo: Gigante Productions)

The spring sports season ended last month, and, of all the spring teams at New Tampa’s two high schools, the Wharton baseball team proved to be the last team standing, falling in the Regional semifinals.

They weren’t the only team to put up a strong postseason, however, as Wharton’s softball, track & field and girls tennis teams all made it past Districts, as did the softball and both tennis teams at Freedom.

Here’s a recap of some of the highlights:

WHARTON BASEBALL: The Wildcats made yet another Regional playoff run in 2018, after finishing as the runner-up in the Class 8A, District 4 tournament. Wharton set down crosstown rival Freedom 4-0 in the District semifinals, but fell to the Strawberry Crest Chargers in the final.

After an 8-1 win over Ocala Forest in the Region quarterfinals, Wharton got another shot at the Chargers, but dropped a 3-2 decision to finish the season at 17-9.

The Wildcats’ three-man pitching rotation was a strength all season. Duncan Pastore, a senior, and junior Brian Baughman each won six games — Pastore had three shutouts — and junior Zach Allen was 4-2. The trio combined for 127 strikeouts in 117 innings.

Pastore also led the Wildcats with a .431 average and 17 RBI, while Baughman batted .398 and led the team in hits. Senior Leo Alfonzo batted .397 and tied for the team lead with 17 RBI.

“Starting pitching, as well as talented freshmen and sophomores, have been key to our success this year,” coach Scott Hoffman said. “Brian Baughman was a stud down the stretch.”

The Wharton baseball team even earned the District’s Team GPA Award with a team Grade Point Average of 3.505.
Freedom’s baseball team finished 6-16, dropping its last eight games. Senior Hunter Kniskern hit .333 with five doubles to lead the Patriots.
FREEDOM SOFTBALL: After a slow start,. the Patriots went 13-1 down the stretch to finish 19-6.

The only loss in that streak was to arch-rival Wharton, but the Patriots got revenge when it mattered most, beating the Wildcats 13-0 to win the District 8A-4 title.

“That was the first District title for softball in Freedom’s history, so it was a great accomplishment for those 11 girls,” Patriots head coach Autum Hernandez said. “The girls were motivated before the game, they wanted to prove that they hadn’t played their best against Wharton the two previous times we played them.”

Freedom advanced to the Regional semifinals by beating Ocala Forest 6-2 in the first round of the State Class 8A playoffs, before a 7-0 loss to East Ridge ended the Pats’ season.

Sophomore Ellis Erickson led Freedom with 34 hits and a .442 batting average. She was one of a number of underclassmen — sophomore Shaniyah Pope had 25 RBI, while freshman Lilly Kiester led the team with 26 runs and junior Abigail Vandeberg hit .361 — to shine for the Patriots, who have a bright future, according to Hernandez.

The team only had two seniors, with Kristina Calixto driving in a team-best 27 runs while going 8-2 in the pitching circle, and Dallas O’Clair batting .333.

The future also looks promising for Wharton, as underclassmen led the team in average, runs and doubles (freshman Tieley Vaughn), hits and RBI (junior Jordyn Gendron) and triples (junior Asia Thomas).

Sophomore Jillian Long was the winning pitcher in 13 of Wharton’s 15 wins.

The same East Ridge team that ended Freedom’s season did the same to Wharton in the first round at Regionals.

FREEDOM TENNIS: The Patriots broke through for a historic season in 2018, taking two boys and two girls to the Class 3A State tournament in Orlando under fourth-year head coach Rich Simard.

“We’ve been pretty consistent the last four years, both boys and girls,” Simard said. “We’ve been either District champs or runners-up over that time.”

The Freedom boys won a third straight District title in 2018. At the District 3A-9 tournament, Patriots sophomore Hakim Zerki took the title at No. 1 singles, and then teamed up at No. 1 doubles with senior Jared Klay for another title. The wins qualified both players for States.
The Zerki-Klay doubles team made the Round of 16 at the State tournament, the highest climb for a boys doubles team under Simard. Things look even more promising for the future, as Zerki’s younger brother, Malik, will be a Freedom freshman next year.

On the girls side, sophomore Julianna Gibson won her second straight District singles title at No. 1, and then teamed up with sophomore Zoe Ruszin to win at No. 1 doubles. That helped the Patriots team to a second-place team finish at Districts, but Gibson and Ruskin qualified for States as individuals.

“The girls are going to be even stronger next year,” Simard said. “Gibson was very close to breaking through deep into the State tournament, and next year is going to be a good shot for her.”

WHARTON TRACK: The Wildcats took 13 athletes from the boys and girls teams to the Class 4A State meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville on April 16.

Senior AJ Hampton was the top finisher for Wharton, running the 400 meters in 48.09 seconds to take fourth place. The time was just off his personal and school record of 47.53, set a week earlier at Regionals.

Hampton capped his high school career with three medals at States. Next year, he will attend Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, on a football scholarship. Northwestern, however, does not have a men’s track program.

“AJ willingly did the most painful event in track, knowing that if he qualified for States, it would be his last race,” Wharton boys coach Kyle LoJacono said. “Having AJ as kind of the captain of the sprints and Frankie (.) as captain of distance was huge this year.”

Godbold, a four-year runner and two-year captain for the ‘Cats, surprised even Coach LoJacono with his chance entry in the 800 meters.

Godbold, more of a traditional long distance runner that LoJacono threw into the 800m halfway through the season, was only seeded eighth at the District meet. However, he finished second in 2 minutes, 3 seconds. He cut his time even further at Regionals, with a 1:57.97, the fastest time for a male 800m runner for Wharton in the last decade.

“Just getting to states for Frankie was incredible, it made me so proud,” LoJacono said.

Teammate Nehemiah Rivers, a junior, became the first male Wildcat distance runner to win the 1600m at Regionals. He also became the first Wildcat to qualify for the State meet in both the 1600m and 3200m races in the same season.

Rivers placed 12th in the 3200 at the Class 4A State finals with a time of 9:44.44, and he was 22nd in the 1600m finals, running a 4:36.70.
Both times were markedly slower than Rivers’ breakout performances at Regionals, where he set personal and school records in the 1600 (4:25.39) and 3200 (9:25.77).

While winning the 1600 at Regionals, Rivers ran a sterling 59-second final lap.

Tennis Event At Hunter’s Green On June 23 To Benefit Victim Of Lyme Disease

For years, whatever it was that was ailing Courtney Krysa befuddled doctors.

Fatigue and horrible joint pain had transformed her life into a difficult struggle. Even when she was able to play soccer for Freedom High, Courtney would sometimes pass out. She developed a heart arrhythmia, several neurological deficits and debilitating arthritis.

That finally led to a definitive diagnosis — Courtney had Advanced Neurological Lyme disease, likely the result of a tick bite she was treated for in 2008.

Although she wasn’t diagnosed with Lyme disease at the time of the bite — never developing the bulls-eye rash that is often the first symptom of the disease — she has suffered with the consequences and a series of setbacks ever since.

While there is no actual cure for the disease, and very few effective treatments, after years of searching, Katie Krysa thinks…hopes…she has found the answer.

But mostly, for the first time in a while, Katie says she has found hope.

On Saturday, June 23, at noon, at the Hunter’s Green Country Club Sports Club, friends of Katie will host “A Twist of Lyme” tennis social to raise money for Courtney’s continued treatment.

Katie, a Tampa Palms resident who plays league tennis with teams based out of West Meadows, is not surprised the New Tampa tennis community is stepping forward to help cover the costs of Courtney’s treatments. Katie says she already has exhausted her bank account by spending $20,000 for six weeks of the treatment; another 18-24 weeks is likely needed.

“I’ve relied on many of my tennis friends during this entire process,” she says. “They have been so great.”
A minimum $30 donation is requested to be part of the social, which also will have silent auctions and raffles.

The first 50 people to sign up will receive a tennis towel, and everyone who plays gets lunch, two margaritas and an afternoon of tennis and music, provided by D.J. Robby Rob.
Once a vibrant, energetic teenager, her mother says Lyme disease has ravaged Courtney’s body, penetrating her nervous system and damaging her kidneys. Courtney missed most of her senior year at Freedom, and couldn’t attend graduation ceremonies.

Katie says she has spent over $100,000 visiting clinics in Cleveland and Nashville, as well as visiting dozens of specialists, with every potential solution, most of them not covered by insurance, leading to a dead end.

Ready to give up, Katie says she discovered David Minkoff, M.D., an alternative medicine specialist, at the LifeWorks Wellness Center in Clearwater.

LifeWorks specializes in treating chronic illnesses, and Katie says she has been encouraged by the early results.

Courtney, who has spent much of the past few years bed-ridden and in a wheelchair, can today walk 25 feet without assistance, and has displayed cognitive improvements.

“I didn’t know where to go anymore before I found this treatment,” Katie says. “I didn’t have a lot of hope. I just thought I was going to have to watch her slowly get worse.”

After years of disappointment, Katie is optimistic her last hope can help restore to Courtney some of the quality of life she once enjoyed.

To read more about Courtney’s story and register for the A Twist of Lyme tennis social, visit HopeRisingInc.org. The HGCC Sports Club is located at 18050 Hunter’s Oak Ct.

HART To Improve Bus Service in New Tampa

New Tampa’s current one-stop Route 51LX is getting a makeover, with more stops, making it easier for local residents to get to nearby malls, downtown & Tampa Intl. Airport!

New Tampa residents without vehicles and/or in need of access to public transportation have always lived with a dearth of options. But, that is about to change.

Starting Sunday, July 1, a long-overdue, all-day, hourly bus route is being launched by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) that will transform public transportation between S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel near the Shops at Wiregrass and the University of South Florida area.

The new route, called Route 275 Limited Express (275LX), will replace the existing and limited Route 51LX. It is funded at $1.2-million annually through fiscal year 2019 by an Urban Corridor grant from the Florida Department of Transportation.

The new route will run from Wesley Chapel through New Tampa, the University area and downtown, all the way to Tampa International Airport (TIA). Additional stops in New Tampa will make the service more accessible for more people who need to use public transportation.

Ruthie Reyes-Burckard, the chief operating officer at HART, says it will now be possible to take a bus from a number of new stops in New Tampa all the way to TIA in less than two hours, for the price of a $2 ticket. And yes, the HART buses are equipped with WiFi.
“That’s a pretty good deal,” she says.

More important is that the new route will offer a slew of brand new stops at New Tampa locations, as opposed to the one (in front of the Lowe’s at the corner of Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd. and Commerce Palms Dr.) that exists now.

The new route promises to be a dramatic improvement for those who currently use public transportation, with the hope, Reyes-Burckard says, that the added convenience will encourage more use.

Interim HART CEO Jeff Seward (left) and Tampa International Airport CEO Joseph Lopano at HART’s TIA Rental Car Facility stop. (Photo Courtesy of HART)

The soon-to-launch Route 275LX will merge with Route 51LX to provide hourly service beginning at 5:30 a.m., with 13 stops between the Pasco County Public Transportation (PCPT) Park-N-Ride (at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel in Wiregrass Ranch) and the University area, with 28 total stops to TIA. Service will be available until 10 p.m.

New Tampa will have stops at BBD and Hunter’s Lake Dr., Hunter’s Green Dr., Richmond Place Dr., Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., Commerce Palms Blvd./Lowe’s, Palm Springs Blvd., Tampa Palms Blvd., Amberly Dr. and Lake Forest Dr.

From there, the 275LX will head south, turn west on Fowler to I-275, to the Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa, to stops on Westshore Blvd. and Spruce St. before arriving at the TIA rental car facility.

A route to TIA was a big selling point for Tampa residents who participated in surveys and email questionnaires distributed by HART, which also held 10 public outreach sessions, four on-board sessions and an open house at the New Tampa Regional Library on Cross Creek Blvd. in March.
HART proposed three route options.

One proposal was a seven-day, 6 a.m.-10 p.m. route running from Wiregrass Ranch to the Marion Transit Center, without an airport stop. A second proposal presented a route running from Wiregrass Ranch to the airport during the week, but only going as far as the University area on weekends.
At a public hearing March 28, a majority of the 105 attendees said they preferred the third option, Wiregrass Ranch to TIA, or 275LX route. It was approved at the May 7 HART Board of Directors meeting.

“We’ve heard many requests for more routes for years,” says Reyes-Burckard. “The (current) options for a few trips in the morning and afternoon doesn’t work for people who might have emergencies, or work an alternate schedule. This will provide them with much more flexibility.”

The current 51LX route available to New Tampa bus riders is extremely limited. Riders can only catch buses heading south from the Park-N-Ride location at Lowe’s, but only at 6:05 a.m. and 6:42 a.m. Riders needing to go north to the Park-N-Ride lot next to Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (off BBD in Wiregrass Ranch) have no morning options. In the evening, buses leave the Lowe’s stop at 5:29 p.m. and at 6:02 p.m. to return to their original starting point, with no stops in between and no return service to New Tampa.

The current route was one of HART’s underperforming lines. It was established in 2005, but since 2014 has seen declining ridership. It was projected to serve fewer than 10,000 passengers for all of 2018 and the most recent data shows that Route 51LX has had 500 fewer passengers compared to last year at this time.

Ridership has been stymied by a number of issues, including the difficulty getting there for many New Tampa residents, especially those north of the I-75 intersection. But, with additional stops, as well as easier access to the Shops at Wiregrass (and even the Tampa Premium Outlets, via the Pasco County Public Transportation (PCPT) Route 54 connector), the hope for HART is that a more robust route will successful.

Reyes-Burckard, who has been with HART for nearly 17 years after spending 10 years with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City, said the new Route 275LX is part of HART’s revamped strategy to make their system into more of a grid that offers more frequency and more connectivity.

She adds that at least some of the impetus for the new route is the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area’s recent and additional development still to come.

“The development in that area is what is really spawning the need to include this (route with more stops and all-day buses) in our service,” Reyes-Burckard says. “This is not only an opportunity to serve the community going downtown. It also will serve businesses in that (BBD) corridor.”