A Valrico church campus built for Sunday services is now buzzing with homeschoolers five days a week. Centerpoint Church, located at 1720 S. St. Cloud Ave., has opened its facilities to Tampa Bay HEAT, a homeschool organization serving more than 3,000 students, and the partnership is reshaping how the campus gets used every day of the week.
Tampa Bay HEAT, short for Home Education Activities Teams, expanded onto the Centerpoint campus in January, according to the Osprey Observer. Founded in 2010, the group was formed to give homeschool families a structured community with academic courses, STEAM programs, field trips, and competitive athletics, according to Tampa Bay HEAT. The organization now provides homeschool families with educational opportunities, classes, activities, athletics and community, and it has seen significant growth since relocating onto the church campus, per the Osprey Observer's reporting.
Centerpoint Lead Pastor Bryant Golden said the church wanted to use its resources to serve families and the community seven days a week, and he described the partnership with HEAT as incredible, the outlet reports. HEAT families have since begun attending services at Centerpoint, which Golden has said reflects the church's broader goal of connecting with and serving the community through its facilities throughout the week.
A Coffee Shop Becomes a Daily Gathering Spot
Centerpoint was launched in 2010 by Golden, who grew up in Valrico and set out to build a non-denominational church that would operate as an alternative to church as usual, according to Centerpoint Church. The congregations united in June 2018, when Horizon Church's roughly 200-member congregation dissolved and combined operations with Centerpoint; Horizon planned to sell its St. Cloud Avenue property, as reported at the time by the Tampa Bay Times.
On campus, Quail Run Coffee now runs a coffee shop six days a week, including Sundays, giving families, students, church members and others a place to meet, work and connect, the Osprey Observer notes. The shop has become one of the more visible signs of how the campus now functions as something closer to a community hub than a building used primarily on weekends.
Gym, Auditorium and Library Projects on the Horizon
More physical changes are planned. Centerpoint intends to begin construction on a new auditorium and community-focused lobby starting in January 2027, with completion targeted for January 2028, according to the church's plans as described in the Osprey Observer's report. Once the new auditorium opens, the current auditorium will be converted into a gymnasium along with expanded classrooms and activity space for both HEAT students and church ministries, with that conversion expected in 2027.
Tampa Bay HEAT is separately renovating a large property cabin on campus into a library and meeting space, the outlet reports. Golden said the overall project is about using entrusted resources to serve more people, a framing that echoes his original mission for the church when it launched in 2010.
Part of a Bigger Homeschooling Boom
The Centerpoint-HEAT arrangement lands amid a broader surge in home education across Hillsborough County and Florida. Hillsborough County leads all Florida school districts in total homeschooled students, with more than 10,500 children registered in home education programs during the 2023–2024 school year, according to Newsweek. Statewide, registered home education enrollment reached 152,871 students across 114,370 families during the 2024–2025 school year, a 6.6% increase over five years, per the Florida Department of Education.
That growth has coincided with a decline in traditional public school enrollment locally. Non-charter student enrollment in Hillsborough County Public Schools fell from 183,015 students in the 2024–2025 school year to 171,553 in 2025–2026, while charter school enrollment held steady at 36,160 students, according to Hillsborough County Public Schools. Florida's Personalized Education Program, administered through Step Up For Students, has also made co-op classes and resource centers more financially accessible by providing eligible homeschool families with roughly $8,000 per student annually through Education Savings Accounts for curriculum, tutoring, and instruction, according to Step Up For Students.
What Families Get Through the Co-op
Tampa Bay HEAT offers homeschool families classes and support, according to Tampa Bay HEAT.
The organization also offers sports programs, with athletic opportunities through the Florida High School Athletic Association. The campus now includes classrooms, athletics and a coffee shop, with a gymnasium planned.
