The First Baptist Church of Tampa was organized in 1859.
Churches began to meet in what was called the South Florida Baptist Association. The SFBA was organized in 1867, and held its first annual meeting in 1868.
Church members in the Hillsborough area began to see the need for their own association.
Perhaps it can be said that the Tampa Bay Baptist Association was born around noon, October 11, 1911, although there had been discussion and prayer before that date. The forty-fifth annual meeting of the South Florida Baptist Association was being held at Hopewell Baptist Church in Hillsborough County. There were 51 churches in the SFBA at this time and 19 of them withdrew to form the TBBA.

As of 2014, the TBBA includes 150+ churches from Hillsborough and Pasco County.

Excerpts from “Faithfulness” Tampa Bay and Beyond (The Story of the Tampa Bay Baptist Association) by Michael L. Moore 
Service Years – Treasurer/Director of Missions
1911 to 1934 – C.C Burns
1935 to 1941 – J.C. Reynolds
1942 to 1942 – J. Earl Tharp
1943 to 1949 – W.E. Bridges Sr.
1950 to 1951 – J.T. Terry
1952 to 1952 – Z.T. Wester
1953 to 1953 – Dorothy Campbell
1954 to 1955 – John M. Dickson
1956 to 1973 – Irl E. Kerley
1961 to 1993 – William R. Moyle
1993 to 2012 – Lee Thomas Biles
2012 to Present – Mike Kahn