It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Some of last week’s first time visitors returned for this service. We also started raising money for Haiti and brought in nearly $400.00.
During Kids’ Church we started our lessons from the book of Judges. Once learning about the book overall we learned about the judge Deborah.
That evening we hosted what we call a “Personal Solid Rock Cafe.” Kids earn this prize through attendance credits. For it, we block out an hour when just 2-3 kids are invited to come in play games, use the Wii on the big screen, and have snacks. We’ll be doing several more of these between now and summer.
A new semester started in the public schools on Monday. When Vonceil welcomed the new kids to her class she realized she had a couple of boys who used to come to the church when they were in elementary school. This was before we added onto the building back in ’05 so it had been a while. They recognized her and they all got reacquainted.
When we turned on the evening news Tuesday we learned that our neighborhood middle school was slated to close at the end of the year. Since the start of the 2010, our neighborhood has already lost its supermarket, pharmacy, and community advocacy center. This was not happy news.
Around 60 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Afterward we welcomed this semester’s nursing students to their first meeting at the church. I had a meeting with my mission center president mid-day. The NA group had an unusually large meeting that afternoon. Only a couple of people came to Mid-Week Service so we focused on some specific prayer needs instead of the lesson.
When I was closing up the building that evening I noticed something in the offering box that wasn’t there earlier in the afternoon. Apparently, someone at the NA meeting saw our envelopes with the red “Haiti Earthquake Relief” stickers on them, and decided to donate to the cause.
We spent a lot of energy on Thursday dealing with all the recent closures in the neighborhood. I visited the principal at the middle school to support her and get a better understanding of the plans for our kids. I began coordinating with Paul’s Place regarding space available for community meetings and events. Marjorie (UMB School of Nursing) spent some time on the phone with us starting to look at long-term strategies beyond the immediate crisis.
We also worked on more forward looking things on Thursday, too. We ordered our Easter marketing materials (we had a coupon that would expire on Sunday that saved us $95). We visited with Diane McNeil and worked on plans for when the Michigan State students are here in March. The Census Bureau verified their job testing dates for next week. We also got our web site and Facebook page updated.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups continued with their video lessons. One of Vonceil’s students who used to be active in church here along with another boy who we’ve reconnected with via Facebook participated in the senior high session.
On Saturday my family and I were at the home improvement show checking out contractors for some work we need on our house. We ran across a booth that featured bricks that are shaped a little differently so that they can more easily be used to replace vinyl siding with brick. This is something we’ve needed on the church since the first building went up (FYI --- vinyl does not withstand skateboards well at all). When the salesman came over we told him that we were just looking because we didn’t have money available for the product. We talked for a few minutes longer about the size of the project and he said that they had discontinued some colors and had leftover stock in the warehouse that they would be willing to donate to us to make room for the new colors. They’re going to come out, measure the church, and see if their discontinued bricks will meet our needs.
That afternoon people showed up for Elizabeth’s memorial service. The service, however, is next Saturday.
We had lots of paperwork on Saturday as well. This included such things as marketing materials for the “Big Game” Party and the February parent newsletter for Kids’ Church.
Sarah, Tamara, and I took three kids to Friendly’s on Saturday night. Each kid had earned a trip there through coming to church at least 40 times since July. Since we were in the middle of a snowstorm there was no waiting of ice cream at the restaurant.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we have a Personal Solid Rock Café scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I’m teaching the nursing student class on Wednesday morning to help the students learn more about the neighborhood. The Census Bureau will be administering tests at the church on Wednesday and Friday afternoon. I have my annual job performance evaluation on Thursday. Next Saturday afternoon is Elizabeth’s memorial service. Throughout the week we’ll be preparing for the “Big Game” Party on February 7.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Riddick Family
The Jones Family
The Zachary Family
The Kline Family
The Yankee Family
The Ruby Family
The Lydick Family
The King Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
1/24/2010
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had more kids at the service than usual, several of whom we hadn’t seen in more than a year. We also had lots of trouble with our video projection. Our back-up plan didn’t work as well as we had hoped and we ended up projecting the text on the screen backward. We were able to fix the back-up system before Kids’ Church.
At Kids’ Church we finished our study of the book of Joshua. We talked about what it meant for the Promised Land to be “a land of milk and honey.” We then made butter out of cream, something that almost none of the kids had ever done before.
As soon as Kids’ Church ended we headed home to watch the webcast from church headquarters. Because of a lack of internet connection at the church we decided to just encourage those people who could to watch it at home.
The webcast ended just in time to get back to the church for our monthly Celebration Service. As a part of the evening we watched one of the videos we’re using at Pizza Church then all ate pizza together.
We learned officially on Tuesday that the Village Center was closing at the end of the month. We’ve worked both collectively on projects and in parallel with this organization over the years in community development work. Their closing leaves a giant gap in the neighborhood for some much needed services.
About 65 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. We noticed that the pattern of kids coming into the building was a little different than usual. We later learned that the school was on a security alert and was sending kids through the metal detectors that morning. That explained why our pattern had changed.
The Census Bureau used the building on Wednesday and Friday for employment testing. The participation was much better this week than last. They still need to administer some additional tests so they’ll be using the building again in a couple of weeks.
I was able to get some things done around the church while people were taking their Census tests. Most notably I removed the well-worn bulletin boards from our front sign and replaced them with new ones. The new boards are of a much higher quality and were among the items in the cartload of free supplies that we received from Staples just after Thanksgiving.
Marjorie and I met together for breakfast on Thursday. We discussed several things that have happened recently, like the closing of the Village Center and the loss of Safeway, and their ramifications in the neighborhood. We also looked at some calendar planning for later this spring, including trying to nail down a date for the health fair.
We leaned officially on Friday that Elizabeth passed away earlier in the week. We’ll have a memorial service for her at the church on Saturday, February 6.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Each group continued in its own series. Saturday night was our monthly Sundae Church.
We also learned this week that the group from Michigan State University will be coming to the neighborhood on their spring break. We’ll start coordinating with them organizing plans for their time here.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we will welcome the nursing students from the University of Maryland for their first on-site class on Wednesday. I also have a meeting with our Mission Center President that day. Some kids from here will be heading to the Ski Retreat next weekend. We also have several kids who have earned rewards so we’ll be spending extra time throughout the week making sure that they receive them.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Partman Family
The Frasier Family
The Watson Family
The Starlipper Family
The Locklear Family
The Mays Family
The Armstrong Family
The Glaesar-Bolaski Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had more kids at the service than usual, several of whom we hadn’t seen in more than a year. We also had lots of trouble with our video projection. Our back-up plan didn’t work as well as we had hoped and we ended up projecting the text on the screen backward. We were able to fix the back-up system before Kids’ Church.
At Kids’ Church we finished our study of the book of Joshua. We talked about what it meant for the Promised Land to be “a land of milk and honey.” We then made butter out of cream, something that almost none of the kids had ever done before.
As soon as Kids’ Church ended we headed home to watch the webcast from church headquarters. Because of a lack of internet connection at the church we decided to just encourage those people who could to watch it at home.
The webcast ended just in time to get back to the church for our monthly Celebration Service. As a part of the evening we watched one of the videos we’re using at Pizza Church then all ate pizza together.
We learned officially on Tuesday that the Village Center was closing at the end of the month. We’ve worked both collectively on projects and in parallel with this organization over the years in community development work. Their closing leaves a giant gap in the neighborhood for some much needed services.
About 65 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. We noticed that the pattern of kids coming into the building was a little different than usual. We later learned that the school was on a security alert and was sending kids through the metal detectors that morning. That explained why our pattern had changed.
The Census Bureau used the building on Wednesday and Friday for employment testing. The participation was much better this week than last. They still need to administer some additional tests so they’ll be using the building again in a couple of weeks.
I was able to get some things done around the church while people were taking their Census tests. Most notably I removed the well-worn bulletin boards from our front sign and replaced them with new ones. The new boards are of a much higher quality and were among the items in the cartload of free supplies that we received from Staples just after Thanksgiving.
Marjorie and I met together for breakfast on Thursday. We discussed several things that have happened recently, like the closing of the Village Center and the loss of Safeway, and their ramifications in the neighborhood. We also looked at some calendar planning for later this spring, including trying to nail down a date for the health fair.
We leaned officially on Friday that Elizabeth passed away earlier in the week. We’ll have a memorial service for her at the church on Saturday, February 6.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Each group continued in its own series. Saturday night was our monthly Sundae Church.
We also learned this week that the group from Michigan State University will be coming to the neighborhood on their spring break. We’ll start coordinating with them organizing plans for their time here.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we will welcome the nursing students from the University of Maryland for their first on-site class on Wednesday. I also have a meeting with our Mission Center President that day. Some kids from here will be heading to the Ski Retreat next weekend. We also have several kids who have earned rewards so we’ll be spending extra time throughout the week making sure that they receive them.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Partman Family
The Frasier Family
The Watson Family
The Starlipper Family
The Locklear Family
The Mays Family
The Armstrong Family
The Glaesar-Bolaski Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
Saturday, January 16, 2010
1/17/2010
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with several things happening before church. First, I was greeted by a neighbor who is behind on rent wondering if we could help her from being evicted. Next came a Mission Center teleconference for the purpose of sustaining our new Mission Center President. About 10 people participated in it. As the teleconference progressed, the rest of the congregation gathered for Morning Worship.
The teleconference went a bit overtime so we started a Morning Worship a few minutes late. The scripture for the message was the story of twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple. Afterward we loaded the keyboard the Charlotte had lent us for the Christmas season into Earl’s van so he could return it to her.
During Kids’ Church we continued our study of the book of Joshua. For the craft, the kids each glued 12 rocks together as a representation of the practice of the Israelites in raising monuments to remember things God had done.
That evening was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. The bulk of our time was focused on the calendar, event planning, and looking at some issues we’ll be facing in a few months.
Monday night Tamara and Vonceil took a person from the congregation shopping. Between the snowstorm and some people being sick, we hadn’t been able to take this person out to spend the gift card they’d received through donations made to the church at Christmas time.
Attendance was back up a bit at Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Throughout much of the day I had a series of calls and emails to coordinate meetings in the weeks to come. This ranged from a group looking at the possibility of a mission trip to the area to meetings with my supervisors to scheduling with the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
I also met with the woman from the Census Bureau to review plans and procedures for testing and hiring workers from our area. She gave me information to distribute to people I knew might be interested in this employment. Some people I knew at the NA meeting and at the Mid-Week Service were happy to hear of this opportunity.
Knowing there are lots of people in need of work, we used many means of communicating with people about the job opportunities. This included phone calls, personal visits, email, and Facebook. We’re hoping that people will be hired and get some relief from economic stressors.
The first of the employment tests were administered on Friday. The turnout was disappointing, but the word was just starting to get out.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups each started their own new video-based lessons that will continue for several weeks this winter. The senior high group continued with its study of the Gospel of Matthew.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we have a webcast from our denomination’s headquarters on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. That evening is our monthly Celebration Service which this month will include a pizza supper. The Census Bureau will administer tests at the church on Wednesday and Friday. We have several additional meetings this week, including with Bill, our new Mission Center President, and Marjorie from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Next Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Davis Family
The Pearson Family
The Saffran Family
The Bookhultz Family
The Purnell Family
The Ceo Family
The Butler Family
The Pettis Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with several things happening before church. First, I was greeted by a neighbor who is behind on rent wondering if we could help her from being evicted. Next came a Mission Center teleconference for the purpose of sustaining our new Mission Center President. About 10 people participated in it. As the teleconference progressed, the rest of the congregation gathered for Morning Worship.
The teleconference went a bit overtime so we started a Morning Worship a few minutes late. The scripture for the message was the story of twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple. Afterward we loaded the keyboard the Charlotte had lent us for the Christmas season into Earl’s van so he could return it to her.
During Kids’ Church we continued our study of the book of Joshua. For the craft, the kids each glued 12 rocks together as a representation of the practice of the Israelites in raising monuments to remember things God had done.
That evening was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. The bulk of our time was focused on the calendar, event planning, and looking at some issues we’ll be facing in a few months.
Monday night Tamara and Vonceil took a person from the congregation shopping. Between the snowstorm and some people being sick, we hadn’t been able to take this person out to spend the gift card they’d received through donations made to the church at Christmas time.
Attendance was back up a bit at Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Throughout much of the day I had a series of calls and emails to coordinate meetings in the weeks to come. This ranged from a group looking at the possibility of a mission trip to the area to meetings with my supervisors to scheduling with the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
I also met with the woman from the Census Bureau to review plans and procedures for testing and hiring workers from our area. She gave me information to distribute to people I knew might be interested in this employment. Some people I knew at the NA meeting and at the Mid-Week Service were happy to hear of this opportunity.
Knowing there are lots of people in need of work, we used many means of communicating with people about the job opportunities. This included phone calls, personal visits, email, and Facebook. We’re hoping that people will be hired and get some relief from economic stressors.
The first of the employment tests were administered on Friday. The turnout was disappointing, but the word was just starting to get out.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups each started their own new video-based lessons that will continue for several weeks this winter. The senior high group continued with its study of the Gospel of Matthew.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we have a webcast from our denomination’s headquarters on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. That evening is our monthly Celebration Service which this month will include a pizza supper. The Census Bureau will administer tests at the church on Wednesday and Friday. We have several additional meetings this week, including with Bill, our new Mission Center President, and Marjorie from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Next Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Davis Family
The Pearson Family
The Saffran Family
The Bookhultz Family
The Purnell Family
The Ceo Family
The Butler Family
The Pettis Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
Friday, January 15, 2010
5/25/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with our three services. Some friends of the church stopped by during Morning Worship looking for help with their electric bill. We learned the story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) at Kids’ Church. The main focus of prayer during Evening Worship was about the upcoming youth camp.
I mailed in our first batch of camp forms on Monday morning. We sent in all that we have money for at this time. I’ll continue to process paperwork in hopes of raising additional monies to get the kids to camp.
On Monday evening I flew out to California. I spent Tuesday through Thursday at a pastors’ conference at Saddleback Church. I caught an overnight flight back to Baltimore arriving home shortly after 7:00 a.m. on Friday.
While I was gone things continued smoothly. At least I assume so as I believe I would have heard by now if things went badly. Nearly 90 kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday. That evening, the Adult Disciples group watched the movie “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together on the plasma TV.
This week LB had her baby. She was more than a week overdue. She and the baby are doing fine. Tamara and I took a gift of baby supplies over to her house on Saturday afternoon.
The Power House was featured this week in the Maryland Auto and Truck Recyclers Association newsletter. It included a couple of pictures of kids at camp and had a testimony from one business owner about the personal satisfaction she receives from sending kids to camp and providing gifts for families in the community each Christmas. She was encouraging others in the industry to do likewise.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. When I was telling the kids that I went to California because I had a conference, one of them got wide-eyed and asked, “You mean you got in trouble?!?” We explained that is wasn’t the same kind of conferences that they would have with their teachers, the principal, and their mother at the school.
On Saturday I continued working on hunting down signatures for camp forms. I was able to track down several more parents and process some additional forms.
While I was doing this I was also able to visit with several other people. Among them was the mother of one our kids who now serves in the Army. She told me that he was supposed to be home on leave this week but that he had gotten in a fight (which resulted in breaking the other guy’s nose) just before he was to leave so he could not come home as a part of his punishment.
That night brought our monthly Sundae Church. Afterward, Danny and I filled the font in preparation for Sunday’s baptisms.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition,
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Matthew
Keith
Tim
Tony
Derris
Diane
Stacy
Amber
Monica
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with our three services. Some friends of the church stopped by during Morning Worship looking for help with their electric bill. We learned the story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) at Kids’ Church. The main focus of prayer during Evening Worship was about the upcoming youth camp.
I mailed in our first batch of camp forms on Monday morning. We sent in all that we have money for at this time. I’ll continue to process paperwork in hopes of raising additional monies to get the kids to camp.
On Monday evening I flew out to California. I spent Tuesday through Thursday at a pastors’ conference at Saddleback Church. I caught an overnight flight back to Baltimore arriving home shortly after 7:00 a.m. on Friday.
While I was gone things continued smoothly. At least I assume so as I believe I would have heard by now if things went badly. Nearly 90 kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday. That evening, the Adult Disciples group watched the movie “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together on the plasma TV.
This week LB had her baby. She was more than a week overdue. She and the baby are doing fine. Tamara and I took a gift of baby supplies over to her house on Saturday afternoon.
The Power House was featured this week in the Maryland Auto and Truck Recyclers Association newsletter. It included a couple of pictures of kids at camp and had a testimony from one business owner about the personal satisfaction she receives from sending kids to camp and providing gifts for families in the community each Christmas. She was encouraging others in the industry to do likewise.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. When I was telling the kids that I went to California because I had a conference, one of them got wide-eyed and asked, “You mean you got in trouble?!?” We explained that is wasn’t the same kind of conferences that they would have with their teachers, the principal, and their mother at the school.
On Saturday I continued working on hunting down signatures for camp forms. I was able to track down several more parents and process some additional forms.
While I was doing this I was also able to visit with several other people. Among them was the mother of one our kids who now serves in the Army. She told me that he was supposed to be home on leave this week but that he had gotten in a fight (which resulted in breaking the other guy’s nose) just before he was to leave so he could not come home as a part of his punishment.
That night brought our monthly Sundae Church. Afterward, Danny and I filled the font in preparation for Sunday’s baptisms.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition,
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Matthew
Keith
Tim
Tony
Derris
Diane
Stacy
Amber
Monica
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
5/18/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had a few people come with their mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day together. We also had a lot of people come and go during the worship service. By the end of the hour, we really weren’t sure as to exactly how many people had been through the door for at least part of the service.
Because it was Pentecost the topic for the sermon was about the Holy Spirit in our lives today. As we were leaving, Patricia asked about taking one of our remaining recycling bins for a neighbor who had asked for one. When she came back by me she was carrying two. She said, “I got over to the stack and just felt like I should take two instead of one. I don’t know why, but that’s the kind of thing we’ve been talking about today so I thought I’d better.” She let me know the next time I saw her that as she was going home another neighbor stepped outside and asked her how to get one. She was glad to provide him one immediately.
At Kids’ Church we reviewed the story of Pentecost then talked about Mother’s Day for a while. The kids made key chains as gifts for their moms.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. Among the group, though, was a kid we haven’t seen too much of lately hoping to get some additional attendance credits so he can go to camp.
We learned this week that we were approved for a grant from Baltimore Fun-D and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to launch a virtual bowling alley this fall inside the church. The monies will provide about half what we need to start the program. We’re now on the lookout for Nintendo Wii games.
A strong storm came through the area on Sunday night and Monday. It blew the banner off the back of the church. When Danny took what was left of it into the building he discovered that we had a major leak of rain water. It was in the same spot that we thought had been repaired. The builder is coming back out to see what can be done. In the meantime, it’s quite a mess in our entry way.
The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church on Tuesday evening. Later that night we had our monthly priesthood meeting. With the craziness of summer upon us, we spent quite a bit of time synchronizing our calendars. We also were able to discuss some exciting plans for fall, including the virtual bowling alley and coordinating with the University of Maryland School of Nursing for different health screening programs.
For the second week in a row, 102 kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. While there I learned that Tony, a young adult who used to be active in church when I first got here, had been shot in the chest and was in the hospital. There were lots of rumors as to what happened, none of which seemed quite right. I was able to get up to the hospital several times this week to visit with him. He requested baptism upon his release.
That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of “Prince Caspian.” Next week they’re going to watch “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together. They’ll be going to see the movie “Prince Caspian” together in June.
As I was leaving the hospital on Thursday I ran into Charlene. She’s a church member who works in the food service at the hospital and she was just arriving at work. When she found out why I was there she took Tony’s room number and said, “I’m going to make sure he has some special things with his meals. Just don’t tell him where they came from. He needs to be blessed.”
Friday night brought Pizza Church. This marked the official beginning of our distribution of camp invitations. I’d run into a couple of parents the night before so a few kids got things early.
On Saturday Tamara and Jenn went to the Mission Center Young Adult Retreat in Virginia. They seemed to have a good time and made some connections about camp staffing.
Here in the neighborhood we spent the day doing a lot of visiting. We had two people in two different hospitals. We also started to track down parents to get kids registered for camp. We were able to get 10 kids registered for camp and one registered for Spectacular at Graceland. We also visited several other parents who were still deciding about sending their kids to camp and were able to get invitations to some kids who were not at Pizza Church on Friday.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, I’ll be attending a seminar at Saddleback Church. We currently have three baptisms scheduled for Sunday, May 25, so we’ll be doing some preparation visits with those being baptized and encouraging some others to be baptized, too. We’ll continue working on getting signatures on camp forms. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Joe
Denira
Charlie
Michelle
Amber
Scott
Walter
Brenda
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had a few people come with their mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day together. We also had a lot of people come and go during the worship service. By the end of the hour, we really weren’t sure as to exactly how many people had been through the door for at least part of the service.
Because it was Pentecost the topic for the sermon was about the Holy Spirit in our lives today. As we were leaving, Patricia asked about taking one of our remaining recycling bins for a neighbor who had asked for one. When she came back by me she was carrying two. She said, “I got over to the stack and just felt like I should take two instead of one. I don’t know why, but that’s the kind of thing we’ve been talking about today so I thought I’d better.” She let me know the next time I saw her that as she was going home another neighbor stepped outside and asked her how to get one. She was glad to provide him one immediately.
At Kids’ Church we reviewed the story of Pentecost then talked about Mother’s Day for a while. The kids made key chains as gifts for their moms.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. Among the group, though, was a kid we haven’t seen too much of lately hoping to get some additional attendance credits so he can go to camp.
We learned this week that we were approved for a grant from Baltimore Fun-D and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to launch a virtual bowling alley this fall inside the church. The monies will provide about half what we need to start the program. We’re now on the lookout for Nintendo Wii games.
A strong storm came through the area on Sunday night and Monday. It blew the banner off the back of the church. When Danny took what was left of it into the building he discovered that we had a major leak of rain water. It was in the same spot that we thought had been repaired. The builder is coming back out to see what can be done. In the meantime, it’s quite a mess in our entry way.
The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church on Tuesday evening. Later that night we had our monthly priesthood meeting. With the craziness of summer upon us, we spent quite a bit of time synchronizing our calendars. We also were able to discuss some exciting plans for fall, including the virtual bowling alley and coordinating with the University of Maryland School of Nursing for different health screening programs.
For the second week in a row, 102 kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. While there I learned that Tony, a young adult who used to be active in church when I first got here, had been shot in the chest and was in the hospital. There were lots of rumors as to what happened, none of which seemed quite right. I was able to get up to the hospital several times this week to visit with him. He requested baptism upon his release.
That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of “Prince Caspian.” Next week they’re going to watch “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together. They’ll be going to see the movie “Prince Caspian” together in June.
As I was leaving the hospital on Thursday I ran into Charlene. She’s a church member who works in the food service at the hospital and she was just arriving at work. When she found out why I was there she took Tony’s room number and said, “I’m going to make sure he has some special things with his meals. Just don’t tell him where they came from. He needs to be blessed.”
Friday night brought Pizza Church. This marked the official beginning of our distribution of camp invitations. I’d run into a couple of parents the night before so a few kids got things early.
On Saturday Tamara and Jenn went to the Mission Center Young Adult Retreat in Virginia. They seemed to have a good time and made some connections about camp staffing.
Here in the neighborhood we spent the day doing a lot of visiting. We had two people in two different hospitals. We also started to track down parents to get kids registered for camp. We were able to get 10 kids registered for camp and one registered for Spectacular at Graceland. We also visited several other parents who were still deciding about sending their kids to camp and were able to get invitations to some kids who were not at Pizza Church on Friday.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, I’ll be attending a seminar at Saddleback Church. We currently have three baptisms scheduled for Sunday, May 25, so we’ll be doing some preparation visits with those being baptized and encouraging some others to be baptized, too. We’ll continue working on getting signatures on camp forms. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Joe
Denira
Charlie
Michelle
Amber
Scott
Walter
Brenda
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
5/11/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with a large family we hadn’t seen in over two years come in to participate in Morning Worship. The topic for the sermon was John 21:15-19. We shared in communion together. We also had repeated troubles with the MP3 player as it kept shutting itself off mid-song.
After Kids’ Church Jenn and I took M’Rhaiyah and Jhaiyah to Burger King for milkshakes which they had earned through church participation. Though they’ve been regular participants in church this year they’re usually with a larger group so this gave us a chance to get to know each other a little better.
Due to the technical difficulties at Morning Worship, we changed formats and plans a bit for Evening Worship. Afterward, Ron and I had dinner together and caught up on what was been happening.
Bill Brian stopped by our house for about an hour on Monday afternoon. He was on his way home from work meetings in the Washington, DC, suburbs so we were able to catch up a bit.
Gloria headed the Friends of Carroll Park meeting on Tuesday. Patricia was responsible for exercise group since Gloria was gone.
102 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. We also had a couple of young adults who we hadn’t seen for quite a long time stop by to visit and have breakfast.
Later that morning Gloria and I both participated in the H3 meetings at Paul’s Place. This is a group of community service organizations coordinated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In just the two meetings we’ve had we’ve already made some significant progress in coordinating efforts in community service.
On Wednesday afternoon Marjorie and I went on a home visit together. Marjorie is the Director of Community Nursing at the University of Maryland and we went to visit a church member who is pregnant. Marjorie was able to help get some critical temporal needs addressed and helped me prioritize some of our ministerial support for when the baby comes. (It’s due any moment.)
That evening a man was stabbed to death within sight of the church. We were just learning of these events as the Adult Disciples class gathered to continue its reading of the book Prince Caspian together.
This week we added our 600th kid to our attendance list for the year (July – June). A few dozen of the kids are hoping to go to camp this summer but our fundraising efforts thus far have not yielded the resources to make it happen.
Danny and I were the only ones at Men’s Group this Thursday. That was OK as we were able to catch up on some issues we hadn’t addressed together in a while. When Gloria was getting ready to leave from Exercise Group we had her come in with us for a couple of minutes so we could all touch base on some items.
We were fortunate to receive a sizable rewards check from Staples. It was able to cover the purchase of a new MP3 player and a few other items as well.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups learned the story of Pentecost. The senior high group continued its study of the book of Acts. This week’s lessons talked about Paul in Ephesus. Since Tamara had visited Ephesus while in the Navy, she brought in pictures & maps and told the kids about her experiences there.
We had a good sized group participate in this month’s Solid Rock Café on Saturday evening. Toward the end a few of the middle school boys became especially squirrelly. They needed to be reminded that we’re still making decisions about who can go to camp and who can’t.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly priesthood meeting on Tuesday evening. We’ll also be working on collecting data from kids to prepare camp forms. There may be some young adults from here attending the Mission Center Young Adult retreat next weekend.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Mark
Bradley
Stacey
Heather
PJ
Josh
John
Melissa
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with a large family we hadn’t seen in over two years come in to participate in Morning Worship. The topic for the sermon was John 21:15-19. We shared in communion together. We also had repeated troubles with the MP3 player as it kept shutting itself off mid-song.
After Kids’ Church Jenn and I took M’Rhaiyah and Jhaiyah to Burger King for milkshakes which they had earned through church participation. Though they’ve been regular participants in church this year they’re usually with a larger group so this gave us a chance to get to know each other a little better.
Due to the technical difficulties at Morning Worship, we changed formats and plans a bit for Evening Worship. Afterward, Ron and I had dinner together and caught up on what was been happening.
Bill Brian stopped by our house for about an hour on Monday afternoon. He was on his way home from work meetings in the Washington, DC, suburbs so we were able to catch up a bit.
Gloria headed the Friends of Carroll Park meeting on Tuesday. Patricia was responsible for exercise group since Gloria was gone.
102 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. We also had a couple of young adults who we hadn’t seen for quite a long time stop by to visit and have breakfast.
Later that morning Gloria and I both participated in the H3 meetings at Paul’s Place. This is a group of community service organizations coordinated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In just the two meetings we’ve had we’ve already made some significant progress in coordinating efforts in community service.
On Wednesday afternoon Marjorie and I went on a home visit together. Marjorie is the Director of Community Nursing at the University of Maryland and we went to visit a church member who is pregnant. Marjorie was able to help get some critical temporal needs addressed and helped me prioritize some of our ministerial support for when the baby comes. (It’s due any moment.)
That evening a man was stabbed to death within sight of the church. We were just learning of these events as the Adult Disciples class gathered to continue its reading of the book Prince Caspian together.
This week we added our 600th kid to our attendance list for the year (July – June). A few dozen of the kids are hoping to go to camp this summer but our fundraising efforts thus far have not yielded the resources to make it happen.
Danny and I were the only ones at Men’s Group this Thursday. That was OK as we were able to catch up on some issues we hadn’t addressed together in a while. When Gloria was getting ready to leave from Exercise Group we had her come in with us for a couple of minutes so we could all touch base on some items.
We were fortunate to receive a sizable rewards check from Staples. It was able to cover the purchase of a new MP3 player and a few other items as well.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups learned the story of Pentecost. The senior high group continued its study of the book of Acts. This week’s lessons talked about Paul in Ephesus. Since Tamara had visited Ephesus while in the Navy, she brought in pictures & maps and told the kids about her experiences there.
We had a good sized group participate in this month’s Solid Rock Café on Saturday evening. Toward the end a few of the middle school boys became especially squirrelly. They needed to be reminded that we’re still making decisions about who can go to camp and who can’t.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly priesthood meeting on Tuesday evening. We’ll also be working on collecting data from kids to prepare camp forms. There may be some young adults from here attending the Mission Center Young Adult retreat next weekend.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Mark
Bradley
Stacey
Heather
PJ
Josh
John
Melissa
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
5/4/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out with a full day on Sunday. Before services Danny mopped the floors before setting up for the services. During Morning Worship the message was from final chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
As soon as the service was over, Tamara, Jenn, and I went over to Theresa’s house. She was home for the weekend from Job Corps so we helped her move back. While waiting for her to be ready we met up with a young adult from the congregation who we had not seen since he had gotten out of jail earlier in the week.
Theresa’s cousin came along for the ride out to the Job Corps center in Laurel. After dropping off Theresa, we took the opportunity to discuss with the cousin her pregnancy with her and get some better nutrition in her system.
During the activity time at Kids’ Church we had puzzle and coloring pages for the kids to work on. In trying to help them keep on task I started visiting with some of the older boys. I asked one of them how many people lived in his house. He said “7.” The boys sitting next to him, who I learned lived in the same house, began debating his number. One was pretty firmly set to the number 5 while the other was at “at least 9.” This seemingly simple initial question blew up into a heated argument about defining what it means for someone to actually live at a house.
After Kids’ Church we took Courtney to Burger King for a milkshake. She’d earned it through participation at church activities and was both eager and pleased to go and have people pay that much attention to her.
We had one person at Evening Worship in the middle of some personal trauma she was not equipped to handle well. She had a bit of a melt down during the service and eventually isolated herself from the rest of the group. Once the service was over it took some work to get her to have the courage to leave the building and go back home.
We spent some time this week working on soliciting funds to send kids to camp this summer. We estimate that we need to raise an additional $3000 to cover the camperships. A friend of the church is putting an article about sending kids to camp in her industry’s newsletter and hopes to help send a few kids to camp that way.
Around 95 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening at Adult Disciples we started our study of the book “Prince Caspian.”
We began working on seeing if we could accommodate some additional Narcotics Anonymous meetings in our weekly activities at the church. One local group has outgrown its current space and is looking for a new home. If we can get staffing lined up we could soon have a total of four different NA meetings happening each week in the church facilities.
Friday night brought our three Pizza Church sessions. Each of the groups was a little smaller than normal yet we had some kids we hadn’t seen in a while show up that night.
Robert signed the papers to start renting a house in the neighborhood this week. He’ll be moving into it in the coming days.
We had several different things happening on Saturday. Gloria helped host a clean-up day in Carroll Park. Several of us participated in our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Our apostle, Len Young, was at the conference so the mission center staff met with him afterward.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be taking some kids who have come to church at least 20 times this year out for milkshakes. On Wednesday morning I’ll be meeting with other local community development leaders to coordinate and support one another’s programs. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Steven
Jordan
Cherin
Pere
Maurice
David
Dajia
Kenyatta
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out with a full day on Sunday. Before services Danny mopped the floors before setting up for the services. During Morning Worship the message was from final chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
As soon as the service was over, Tamara, Jenn, and I went over to Theresa’s house. She was home for the weekend from Job Corps so we helped her move back. While waiting for her to be ready we met up with a young adult from the congregation who we had not seen since he had gotten out of jail earlier in the week.
Theresa’s cousin came along for the ride out to the Job Corps center in Laurel. After dropping off Theresa, we took the opportunity to discuss with the cousin her pregnancy with her and get some better nutrition in her system.
During the activity time at Kids’ Church we had puzzle and coloring pages for the kids to work on. In trying to help them keep on task I started visiting with some of the older boys. I asked one of them how many people lived in his house. He said “7.” The boys sitting next to him, who I learned lived in the same house, began debating his number. One was pretty firmly set to the number 5 while the other was at “at least 9.” This seemingly simple initial question blew up into a heated argument about defining what it means for someone to actually live at a house.
After Kids’ Church we took Courtney to Burger King for a milkshake. She’d earned it through participation at church activities and was both eager and pleased to go and have people pay that much attention to her.
We had one person at Evening Worship in the middle of some personal trauma she was not equipped to handle well. She had a bit of a melt down during the service and eventually isolated herself from the rest of the group. Once the service was over it took some work to get her to have the courage to leave the building and go back home.
We spent some time this week working on soliciting funds to send kids to camp this summer. We estimate that we need to raise an additional $3000 to cover the camperships. A friend of the church is putting an article about sending kids to camp in her industry’s newsletter and hopes to help send a few kids to camp that way.
Around 95 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening at Adult Disciples we started our study of the book “Prince Caspian.”
We began working on seeing if we could accommodate some additional Narcotics Anonymous meetings in our weekly activities at the church. One local group has outgrown its current space and is looking for a new home. If we can get staffing lined up we could soon have a total of four different NA meetings happening each week in the church facilities.
Friday night brought our three Pizza Church sessions. Each of the groups was a little smaller than normal yet we had some kids we hadn’t seen in a while show up that night.
Robert signed the papers to start renting a house in the neighborhood this week. He’ll be moving into it in the coming days.
We had several different things happening on Saturday. Gloria helped host a clean-up day in Carroll Park. Several of us participated in our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Our apostle, Len Young, was at the conference so the mission center staff met with him afterward.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be taking some kids who have come to church at least 20 times this year out for milkshakes. On Wednesday morning I’ll be meeting with other local community development leaders to coordinate and support one another’s programs. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Steven
Jordan
Cherin
Pere
Maurice
David
Dajia
Kenyatta
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
4/26/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with a wide variety of activities. Several people from the congregation participated in the closing activities of the Healing Workshop, which were being held at the Dundalk Congregation. Tamara was among them but left there in time to be back in Pigtown for Morning Worship.
Dark clouds were rolling in as people gathered for Morning Worship. When Danny opened his invocation with the phrase “Father in Heaven,” the first thunder of the day seemed to reply. Torrents of water rained down during the service sometimes drowning out the message from the story of Thomas. We had a couple of first time visitors at the service.
We’d been having some problems with the sound system and tried to figure out exactly the source (the sound board, cords, the MP3 player, etc.) between services. Tamara and I made some adjustments to make things a little better but were not successful in isolating the problem.
After learning the parable of the talents at Kids’ Church, the kids made dirt cake and buried butterscotch candies (like gold coins) in it. They seemed to enjoy themselves a bit too much and wouldn’t leave. This was especially true of the oldest kids. After much herding we finally got them out the door. Just as the doors latched closed, the clouds opened once again and drenched them in rain while they tried to huddle under our canopy. Had they left when they were supposed to they would have easily gotten home without getting wet.
As the rain let up and the kids ran home, Ron Gillilan stopped by the church on his way to taking Becky Savage to the airport (she had spent the weekend at the Healing Workshop). We were able to show her the facilities, do a quick walk through the neighborhood, and visit for a few minutes before they continued on to the airport.
Among the participants at Evening Worship was a young woman who was one of our core kids when she was in middle school and high school. She was scheduled to go off to Job Corps this week so we were able to offer her a blessing for this endeavor during the service. Afterward, Jenn presented her with a large package of school supplies and some personal gifts to equip and encourage her.
Several of us on the congregation’s leadership team were involved in a series of meetings this Monday through Wednesday. Some were held at the church and others were held at the Laurel Congregation.
110 kids plus an unusually high number of adults participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening well over 100 more people came to the Narcotics Anonymous meeting to celebrate one of their member’s 20th anniversary of being clean and sober. By the time these activities and the Adult Disciples class were over we had set a new one-day participation record for the congregation. Just over 240 different individuals came through the doors of the church that day.
On Thursday afternoon I met with the women sponsoring the baby shower we were hosting in the building this Saturday. Later that afternoon I chatted on line with Don as our new web site gets closer to its launch. There are some things I need to do at this end so that he’ll be able to complete it.
Charlie and I were the only ones at Men’s Group on Thursday. The members of the Exercise Group which meets at the same time chose to walk together through the park for their exercise. There was a new participant in Thursday’s NA meeting who seemed to add some new vitality to the group. Afterward, I met with a church member who was seeking some guidance.
Throughout the week I received several inquiries from others about using the church facilities for community meetings. With the new building two years old people in the neighborhood are starting to see its value to the community in new ways.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had a tough time getting the kids to focus and eventually threw in the towel and served the pizza. Joshua stopped by during one of the sessions to pick up a letter saying he participated in church so that he could play on another church’s softball team. In observing what was happening with the kids, he mentioned that it wasn’t like that when he was of Pizza Church age. I cited several exampled that contradicted his memory.
Just a couple of kids participated in Sundae Church on Saturday evening. Those there helped clear the chairs and tables off the floor so that it could be mopped. It wasn’t too difficult as most of the chairs had been stacked by the people who held their baby shower at the church earlier in the day.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be taking some kids who have come to church at least 20 times this year out for milkshakes. Next Saturday is our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Earl is scheduled to be ordained to the office of Evangelist during this conference.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Debbie
Brenda
Michael
Amber
Monica
Alyssia
Theresa
Raymond
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with a wide variety of activities. Several people from the congregation participated in the closing activities of the Healing Workshop, which were being held at the Dundalk Congregation. Tamara was among them but left there in time to be back in Pigtown for Morning Worship.
Dark clouds were rolling in as people gathered for Morning Worship. When Danny opened his invocation with the phrase “Father in Heaven,” the first thunder of the day seemed to reply. Torrents of water rained down during the service sometimes drowning out the message from the story of Thomas. We had a couple of first time visitors at the service.
We’d been having some problems with the sound system and tried to figure out exactly the source (the sound board, cords, the MP3 player, etc.) between services. Tamara and I made some adjustments to make things a little better but were not successful in isolating the problem.
After learning the parable of the talents at Kids’ Church, the kids made dirt cake and buried butterscotch candies (like gold coins) in it. They seemed to enjoy themselves a bit too much and wouldn’t leave. This was especially true of the oldest kids. After much herding we finally got them out the door. Just as the doors latched closed, the clouds opened once again and drenched them in rain while they tried to huddle under our canopy. Had they left when they were supposed to they would have easily gotten home without getting wet.
As the rain let up and the kids ran home, Ron Gillilan stopped by the church on his way to taking Becky Savage to the airport (she had spent the weekend at the Healing Workshop). We were able to show her the facilities, do a quick walk through the neighborhood, and visit for a few minutes before they continued on to the airport.
Among the participants at Evening Worship was a young woman who was one of our core kids when she was in middle school and high school. She was scheduled to go off to Job Corps this week so we were able to offer her a blessing for this endeavor during the service. Afterward, Jenn presented her with a large package of school supplies and some personal gifts to equip and encourage her.
Several of us on the congregation’s leadership team were involved in a series of meetings this Monday through Wednesday. Some were held at the church and others were held at the Laurel Congregation.
110 kids plus an unusually high number of adults participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening well over 100 more people came to the Narcotics Anonymous meeting to celebrate one of their member’s 20th anniversary of being clean and sober. By the time these activities and the Adult Disciples class were over we had set a new one-day participation record for the congregation. Just over 240 different individuals came through the doors of the church that day.
On Thursday afternoon I met with the women sponsoring the baby shower we were hosting in the building this Saturday. Later that afternoon I chatted on line with Don as our new web site gets closer to its launch. There are some things I need to do at this end so that he’ll be able to complete it.
Charlie and I were the only ones at Men’s Group on Thursday. The members of the Exercise Group which meets at the same time chose to walk together through the park for their exercise. There was a new participant in Thursday’s NA meeting who seemed to add some new vitality to the group. Afterward, I met with a church member who was seeking some guidance.
Throughout the week I received several inquiries from others about using the church facilities for community meetings. With the new building two years old people in the neighborhood are starting to see its value to the community in new ways.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had a tough time getting the kids to focus and eventually threw in the towel and served the pizza. Joshua stopped by during one of the sessions to pick up a letter saying he participated in church so that he could play on another church’s softball team. In observing what was happening with the kids, he mentioned that it wasn’t like that when he was of Pizza Church age. I cited several exampled that contradicted his memory.
Just a couple of kids participated in Sundae Church on Saturday evening. Those there helped clear the chairs and tables off the floor so that it could be mopped. It wasn’t too difficult as most of the chairs had been stacked by the people who held their baby shower at the church earlier in the day.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be taking some kids who have come to church at least 20 times this year out for milkshakes. Next Saturday is our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Earl is scheduled to be ordained to the office of Evangelist during this conference.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Debbie
Brenda
Michael
Amber
Monica
Alyssia
Theresa
Raymond
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
4/20/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out around 5:00 a.m. with a power outage throughout of the neighborhood. Most of the neighborhood was totally in the dark. The street where the church is located though, had pockets of power. At the church, some of the lights and some of the outlets worked while others, even on the same circuit, didn’t. We were able to rig things enough to have services in the morning. Even with the electricity out, we had one of the best crowds we’ve had since Easter. We kept the service a little shorter than usual as the building was a bit chilly with the blower not working.
By the time Kids’ Church rolled around the electricity was completely out. The kids were especially hyperactive having not had electricity yet that day and it was difficult to keep any semblance of order. To top it off, the battery on our alarm system was getting low so every 15 seconds (yes, we timed it) it let out a very loud high pitched screech for one second. This got old fast.
At 6:00 it was starting to get dark, the building was cold, we had no way to project lyrics or play music, and the alarm was still screeching. At that point we gave up for the day and sent the handful of people who came for the service home for the night. The power came back on across the neighborhood after 7:00 p.m.
At 5:30 Monday morning Danny took me to the airport. I flew to Missouri for a series of meetings at church headquarters. I got back late Tuesday night. Tamara watched Bryce and Onalee so that Vonceil could pick me up.
84 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. That night the Adult Disciples group studied Acts 1-2. They also finalized their decision to read C.S. Lewis’ book “Prince Caspian” together to learn some discipleship principles from it. We last did something like this a couple of summers ago when we read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together.
After Men’s Group and Exercise Group on Thursday I met with Marjorie, the Director of Community Nursing Education at the University of Maryland. She’s been working in the community and wanted to see what it was like at night. We walked around together for nearly 90 minutes interacting with people. We also discussed ways in which we could collaborate to address the critical needs before us.
We learned this week that one of our young adults who had dropped out of school has an opportunity to further her education. To support her, Jenn went out and bought a variety of school supplies to equip her for the tasks ahead.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first group went well. The second group had more people outside the church than inside and those outside were doing their best to distract the kids inside and disrupt the program. The third group went better but all but one of the kids left without eating.
On Saturday Tamara and a couple of others from the congregation participated in the Healing Workshop in Towson. That night she, Jenn, and I took a couple of kids to Friendly’s to celebrate their participation in church activities this year.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’re hoping that Becky Savage will be able to stop by the neighborhood on her way from the healing workshop to the airport. During the week several of us will be working with a conflict resolution model. On Wednesday we have a person celebrating 20 years clean and sober at the NA meeting so their gathering will have extended hours. Next Saturday we have a baby shower scheduled for the building. That evening is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Justin
Raymond
Donald
Ebony
Bob
Shirley
Patricia
Violet
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out around 5:00 a.m. with a power outage throughout of the neighborhood. Most of the neighborhood was totally in the dark. The street where the church is located though, had pockets of power. At the church, some of the lights and some of the outlets worked while others, even on the same circuit, didn’t. We were able to rig things enough to have services in the morning. Even with the electricity out, we had one of the best crowds we’ve had since Easter. We kept the service a little shorter than usual as the building was a bit chilly with the blower not working.
By the time Kids’ Church rolled around the electricity was completely out. The kids were especially hyperactive having not had electricity yet that day and it was difficult to keep any semblance of order. To top it off, the battery on our alarm system was getting low so every 15 seconds (yes, we timed it) it let out a very loud high pitched screech for one second. This got old fast.
At 6:00 it was starting to get dark, the building was cold, we had no way to project lyrics or play music, and the alarm was still screeching. At that point we gave up for the day and sent the handful of people who came for the service home for the night. The power came back on across the neighborhood after 7:00 p.m.
At 5:30 Monday morning Danny took me to the airport. I flew to Missouri for a series of meetings at church headquarters. I got back late Tuesday night. Tamara watched Bryce and Onalee so that Vonceil could pick me up.
84 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. That night the Adult Disciples group studied Acts 1-2. They also finalized their decision to read C.S. Lewis’ book “Prince Caspian” together to learn some discipleship principles from it. We last did something like this a couple of summers ago when we read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” together.
After Men’s Group and Exercise Group on Thursday I met with Marjorie, the Director of Community Nursing Education at the University of Maryland. She’s been working in the community and wanted to see what it was like at night. We walked around together for nearly 90 minutes interacting with people. We also discussed ways in which we could collaborate to address the critical needs before us.
We learned this week that one of our young adults who had dropped out of school has an opportunity to further her education. To support her, Jenn went out and bought a variety of school supplies to equip her for the tasks ahead.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first group went well. The second group had more people outside the church than inside and those outside were doing their best to distract the kids inside and disrupt the program. The third group went better but all but one of the kids left without eating.
On Saturday Tamara and a couple of others from the congregation participated in the Healing Workshop in Towson. That night she, Jenn, and I took a couple of kids to Friendly’s to celebrate their participation in church activities this year.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’re hoping that Becky Savage will be able to stop by the neighborhood on her way from the healing workshop to the airport. During the week several of us will be working with a conflict resolution model. On Wednesday we have a person celebrating 20 years clean and sober at the NA meeting so their gathering will have extended hours. Next Saturday we have a baby shower scheduled for the building. That evening is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Justin
Raymond
Donald
Ebony
Bob
Shirley
Patricia
Violet
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
4/12/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
Let me just give you a list of some of the things that happened this week in addition to or in conjunction with our regular weekly schedule:
-Earl shared a testimony of healing as a part of the message during Morning Worship.
-Members from Sargeant Street shared that Troy (who was active in church as a child) and his girlfriend had their baby overnight. Mother and baby are healthy and came home early in the week.
-Three of us worked unsuccessfully with one of our elderly members to try to stop him from being scammed by sending in money to claim his prize at a foreign lottery.
-We met with a woman and her family once she learned that abnormalities during her pregnancy caused the baby to not be viable.
-We had a couple of people who had missed communion during Morning Worship so we added communion at the last minute to Evening Worship.
-Gloria met with a couple for marriage preparation counseling on Monday.
-The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church on Tuesday for their monthly meeting.
-We held our Priesthood meeting on Tuesday. Our agenda ranged from updating the calendar to passionate discussions about issues at hand.
-You may have seen on national news the story about a Baltimore teacher being attacked by students, the students recording and posting the attack on the internet, and the non-responsiveness of the school administration. Follow-up attacks included a friend who teaches with Vonceil at Mervo High School.
-I met with an Episcopal seminary student this week who was interviewing several pastors on their approaches to pastoral care.
-After several unsuccessful attempts to balance the checkbook, I called in Vonceil and we worked on it for over an hour together. We still can’t find the error.
-For the first time in the nearly 10 years I’ve been here, the leaders of the core community service organizations in the area met together to talk about plans and strategies. We’ll be meeting next month to finalize some plans.
-With the weather warmer we were able to get out, walk around, and visit quite a few more people this week.
-While kids were waiting outside the church for Solid Rock Café on Saturday, we experience a sudden downpour. We ended up letting them in early (which we NEVER do).
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, I have some meetings in Missouri on Monday and Tuesday. Some people from the congregation will also be participating in the Healing Workshop that Ron Gillilan spearheads next weekend.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Shamira
Jeremy
Rayshard
Monica
Lamar
Alyssia
William
Michelle
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
Let me just give you a list of some of the things that happened this week in addition to or in conjunction with our regular weekly schedule:
-Earl shared a testimony of healing as a part of the message during Morning Worship.
-Members from Sargeant Street shared that Troy (who was active in church as a child) and his girlfriend had their baby overnight. Mother and baby are healthy and came home early in the week.
-Three of us worked unsuccessfully with one of our elderly members to try to stop him from being scammed by sending in money to claim his prize at a foreign lottery.
-We met with a woman and her family once she learned that abnormalities during her pregnancy caused the baby to not be viable.
-We had a couple of people who had missed communion during Morning Worship so we added communion at the last minute to Evening Worship.
-Gloria met with a couple for marriage preparation counseling on Monday.
-The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church on Tuesday for their monthly meeting.
-We held our Priesthood meeting on Tuesday. Our agenda ranged from updating the calendar to passionate discussions about issues at hand.
-You may have seen on national news the story about a Baltimore teacher being attacked by students, the students recording and posting the attack on the internet, and the non-responsiveness of the school administration. Follow-up attacks included a friend who teaches with Vonceil at Mervo High School.
-I met with an Episcopal seminary student this week who was interviewing several pastors on their approaches to pastoral care.
-After several unsuccessful attempts to balance the checkbook, I called in Vonceil and we worked on it for over an hour together. We still can’t find the error.
-For the first time in the nearly 10 years I’ve been here, the leaders of the core community service organizations in the area met together to talk about plans and strategies. We’ll be meeting next month to finalize some plans.
-With the weather warmer we were able to get out, walk around, and visit quite a few more people this week.
-While kids were waiting outside the church for Solid Rock Café on Saturday, we experience a sudden downpour. We ended up letting them in early (which we NEVER do).
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, I have some meetings in Missouri on Monday and Tuesday. Some people from the congregation will also be participating in the Healing Workshop that Ron Gillilan spearheads next weekend.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Shamira
Jeremy
Rayshard
Monica
Lamar
Alyssia
William
Michelle
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
4/6/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Both Danny and Gary were out with different illnesses so Robert was responsible for setting things up. Onalee was sick so with Vonceil home with her Jenn took over the sound board. With three different family groups having had a loved one die in the past week, we opened the service with Gloria offering prayer for those who mourn.
Even with all of that, things seemed to go fairly well. Three people who came at Easter returned. We also had a few folks come by who we hadn’t seen for quite a while. The scripture message focused on John 20:19-23.
Kids’ Church started out much better than it did the previous week. We were able to use our new camera and printer with the kids to include their photograph in their craft project. By the end of the session, though, behavior had disintegrated a bit and it took some work to clear the building.
Immediately afterward, Tamara, Jenn, and I walked to Burger King with Denira for a milkshake. Several kids had earned them through their participation in church but she was the only one who had her permission slip.
Part of the prayer time during Evening Worship focused on the upcoming camp. Jenn and Tamara are directing the Junior High and Senior High camps respectively. Locally we’re in the early process of determining which of our kids will be invited to participate. We’re also pushing to raise a few thousand dollars in order to be able to send kids.
Gloria led the Friends of Carroll Park meeting on Tuesday evening at the AME Church. Meanwhile, I met for some counseling with a kid who needed some new coping skills to help with his situation at home.
Nearly 80 kids participate in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Patricia had jury duty so Josh took her place at the registration table. That night the Adult Disciples group finished its study of 2 Peter.
I met up with Stella, Frankie, and Julia on Tuesday. Julia needed assistance getting to the store to get her check cashed. Her children (Stella and Frankie) were both sick and unable to push her in her wheelchair to the store and back.
While I was walking home from that I notice what looked like graffiti on our “Gospel Wagon” mural. From a distance I thought someone had taken a black marker and drawn a line across it. Once I got closer I saw that the renters in the upstairs apartment had gotten cable installed. The installer ran the cable right through the heads of some of the kids in the mural. Had they run the cable about 4 inches higher it would not have defaced the artwork in any way.
At men’s group that night I got a call from Gloria. She was out of town and had gotten a call that her house alarm had gone off. I went over and made sure the house was secure. Charlie and Danny kept the discussion going while I stepped out.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first group was unusually large while the other two groups were fairly normal sized. Earlier we had discovered some mice in the building so between sessions we cleaned out the food they’d gotten into. They destroyed about on garbage bag full of individual packages of chips.
I caught the Amtrak to Wilmington on Saturday. Bill Brian and I had been trying to meet together to discuss missionary issues for some time and finally found a date and time when we could squeeze in a few hours together. Somewhere along the way I lost my return ticket and had to get a new one at the last minute.
Jenn, Katilyn, and I went out to Friendly’s for ice cream Saturday evening. Katilyn had earned a trip there through her attendance at the church. She had never been there before. Just as we started to eat, Tamara came in and joined us.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have several different meetings going on. On Tuesday the Citizens of Pigtown have their monthly meeting at the church and we also have our priesthood meeting. On Thursday I’m meeting with a student from a local seminary so he can interview me for a paper he’s writing on approaches to pastoral care. That afternoon leaders of several community organizations are meeting with the director of Community/Public Health for the School of Nursing from the University of Maryland in hopes of better coordinating health care in the neighborhood. Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Vicky
Elizabeth
Violet
Carlo
Destiny
Hannah
Darrin
Desmond
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Both Danny and Gary were out with different illnesses so Robert was responsible for setting things up. Onalee was sick so with Vonceil home with her Jenn took over the sound board. With three different family groups having had a loved one die in the past week, we opened the service with Gloria offering prayer for those who mourn.
Even with all of that, things seemed to go fairly well. Three people who came at Easter returned. We also had a few folks come by who we hadn’t seen for quite a while. The scripture message focused on John 20:19-23.
Kids’ Church started out much better than it did the previous week. We were able to use our new camera and printer with the kids to include their photograph in their craft project. By the end of the session, though, behavior had disintegrated a bit and it took some work to clear the building.
Immediately afterward, Tamara, Jenn, and I walked to Burger King with Denira for a milkshake. Several kids had earned them through their participation in church but she was the only one who had her permission slip.
Part of the prayer time during Evening Worship focused on the upcoming camp. Jenn and Tamara are directing the Junior High and Senior High camps respectively. Locally we’re in the early process of determining which of our kids will be invited to participate. We’re also pushing to raise a few thousand dollars in order to be able to send kids.
Gloria led the Friends of Carroll Park meeting on Tuesday evening at the AME Church. Meanwhile, I met for some counseling with a kid who needed some new coping skills to help with his situation at home.
Nearly 80 kids participate in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Patricia had jury duty so Josh took her place at the registration table. That night the Adult Disciples group finished its study of 2 Peter.
I met up with Stella, Frankie, and Julia on Tuesday. Julia needed assistance getting to the store to get her check cashed. Her children (Stella and Frankie) were both sick and unable to push her in her wheelchair to the store and back.
While I was walking home from that I notice what looked like graffiti on our “Gospel Wagon” mural. From a distance I thought someone had taken a black marker and drawn a line across it. Once I got closer I saw that the renters in the upstairs apartment had gotten cable installed. The installer ran the cable right through the heads of some of the kids in the mural. Had they run the cable about 4 inches higher it would not have defaced the artwork in any way.
At men’s group that night I got a call from Gloria. She was out of town and had gotten a call that her house alarm had gone off. I went over and made sure the house was secure. Charlie and Danny kept the discussion going while I stepped out.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first group was unusually large while the other two groups were fairly normal sized. Earlier we had discovered some mice in the building so between sessions we cleaned out the food they’d gotten into. They destroyed about on garbage bag full of individual packages of chips.
I caught the Amtrak to Wilmington on Saturday. Bill Brian and I had been trying to meet together to discuss missionary issues for some time and finally found a date and time when we could squeeze in a few hours together. Somewhere along the way I lost my return ticket and had to get a new one at the last minute.
Jenn, Katilyn, and I went out to Friendly’s for ice cream Saturday evening. Katilyn had earned a trip there through her attendance at the church. She had never been there before. Just as we started to eat, Tamara came in and joined us.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have several different meetings going on. On Tuesday the Citizens of Pigtown have their monthly meeting at the church and we also have our priesthood meeting. On Thursday I’m meeting with a student from a local seminary so he can interview me for a paper he’s writing on approaches to pastoral care. That afternoon leaders of several community organizations are meeting with the director of Community/Public Health for the School of Nursing from the University of Maryland in hopes of better coordinating health care in the neighborhood. Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Vicky
Elizabeth
Violet
Carlo
Destiny
Hannah
Darrin
Desmond
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
3/30/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with our Easter services. We had some new visitors and several people who we hadn’t seen in a long time participate in Morning Worship. Danny and Gloria shared testimonies as a part of the message that morning.
Kids’ Church was another story. The kids were more wound up than we’ve seen in a while. It was also a large group. Early on during the music time it became obvious that the planned craft would be a disaster. Jenn dug out a different one that involved only coloring and tying a ribbon. We all lived to tell about it, but just barely.
Greg had come by and helped with Kids’ Church. Afterward, he helped Danny get some of his components connected to his new television.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. Those who were there seemed a bit worn out from the day so the service was relatively short as well. In the end, though, our total attendance for the day was over 90.
Wednesday evening’s NA group was especially well attended this week. Our Adult Disciples class that evening had a smaller attendance as we began studying 2 Peter.
Three different families in the congregations had loved ones die this week. Two were from natural causes and one was a stabbing. The church was not directly involved with any of the funerals.
I met up with Megan this week. I had baptized her back when she was a little girl. She had moved away and we’d lost track of her. She’s back living in the area again and is expecting her first child toward the end of summer.
I had lunch with Wade on Thursday. He’s the new pastor of the Washington, DC, congregation. We’re hoping to do this on a regular basis.
I got a phone call on Friday afternoon from Patricia. A friend of theirs (whose son used to come to church when he was little) was at her house and upset because her plans to use a nearby hall for a baby shower on Saturday had suddenly fallen apart. Patricia suggested checking to see if the church was available. It was and they were able to adjust their plans accordingly.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third groups went well. The middle group was a bit wild. We also learned from the junior high boys that they had graduated from jumping out second story windows onto mattresses to jumping off of roofs onto those mattresses. (They find abandoned mattresses in alleys and basements and stack them 3-5 tall.) They confessed that they’d been doing it on my block for a while but decided to move to a different one since they knew I lived there.
After Pizza Church, Patricia and Violet took charge of decorating the church for the baby shower. They created a beautiful and festive environment. They were unable to attend the shower on Saturday because it was at the same time as a funeral they needed to attend.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’re scheduled to take some kids out for milkshakes on Sunday and others for ice cream sundaes on Saturday.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
PJ
Mark
Jenny
Florence
Bev
Roxanne
Autum
Raequan
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with our Easter services. We had some new visitors and several people who we hadn’t seen in a long time participate in Morning Worship. Danny and Gloria shared testimonies as a part of the message that morning.
Kids’ Church was another story. The kids were more wound up than we’ve seen in a while. It was also a large group. Early on during the music time it became obvious that the planned craft would be a disaster. Jenn dug out a different one that involved only coloring and tying a ribbon. We all lived to tell about it, but just barely.
Greg had come by and helped with Kids’ Church. Afterward, he helped Danny get some of his components connected to his new television.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. Those who were there seemed a bit worn out from the day so the service was relatively short as well. In the end, though, our total attendance for the day was over 90.
Wednesday evening’s NA group was especially well attended this week. Our Adult Disciples class that evening had a smaller attendance as we began studying 2 Peter.
Three different families in the congregations had loved ones die this week. Two were from natural causes and one was a stabbing. The church was not directly involved with any of the funerals.
I met up with Megan this week. I had baptized her back when she was a little girl. She had moved away and we’d lost track of her. She’s back living in the area again and is expecting her first child toward the end of summer.
I had lunch with Wade on Thursday. He’s the new pastor of the Washington, DC, congregation. We’re hoping to do this on a regular basis.
I got a phone call on Friday afternoon from Patricia. A friend of theirs (whose son used to come to church when he was little) was at her house and upset because her plans to use a nearby hall for a baby shower on Saturday had suddenly fallen apart. Patricia suggested checking to see if the church was available. It was and they were able to adjust their plans accordingly.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third groups went well. The middle group was a bit wild. We also learned from the junior high boys that they had graduated from jumping out second story windows onto mattresses to jumping off of roofs onto those mattresses. (They find abandoned mattresses in alleys and basements and stack them 3-5 tall.) They confessed that they’d been doing it on my block for a while but decided to move to a different one since they knew I lived there.
After Pizza Church, Patricia and Violet took charge of decorating the church for the baby shower. They created a beautiful and festive environment. They were unable to attend the shower on Saturday because it was at the same time as a funeral they needed to attend.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’re scheduled to take some kids out for milkshakes on Sunday and others for ice cream sundaes on Saturday.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
PJ
Mark
Jenny
Florence
Bev
Roxanne
Autum
Raequan
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
3/22/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out with our Palm Sunday service during Morning Worship. A woman who had come to a couple of other holiday events (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) came and brought her husband and son with her this time. Afterward we were able to help a family with food.
Tamara and Jenn were out of town so Shirley came to Kids’ Church to help staff it. I had craft supplies for 23 kids. 21 kids came. 3 more came after the crafts were started so we didn’t let them in (our normal practice). To try to disrupt things the kids who were outside performed a variety of antics at the back door, including slobbering all over the glass.
As a part of Evening Worship, Bryce shared about his experience at North Bay. North Bay is an environmental camp that his class had gone to for the week.
We started out a couple of weeks ago with 2000 postcards inviting people to participate in our Easter Sunday activities. We had passed them out to people in the congregation to give to friends and had done a mailing. By Monday we had around 1700 left. We took them throughout the neighborhood, sliding them under doors at every house on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday mornings until all were gone.
I got a call from Gloria on Tuesday warning me that one of our overhead light bulbs had burned out. This may not seem like a big enough deal to warrant a phone call. However, this was a day we’d been dreading. The light fixtures are over 20 feet in the air and this is the first bulb that’s burned out since we opened the building over 2 years ago. We don’t have a ladder that tall and had been delaying the inevitable.
70 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening the Adult Disciples group read through and discussed some of the stories Jesus told the last week of his life on earth.
Thursday night brought our Last Supper service. We gathered around the candlelit table to read through the scriptures from the Last Supper, sing some songs, pray, and share in communion together. Afterward, Bryce and I set up the church for Good Friday.
We opened the doors for Good Friday at noon. We had a worship center set up and the Bibles marked with that day’s scriptural accounts in each of the Gospels. Between noon and 3:00 p.m. people came in to read, pray, meditate, and reflect on the events of the day.
We left the worship center up for the three Pizza Church sessions that night. We walked each group through the symbols in the center, including bread and empty glasses, a pitcher, basin, and towel, the cross, palm plants, and the like.
Since Baltimore City Schools had started Spring Break early by having Thursday off, we had just a few kids at each Pizza Church session. A few kids who had gotten their days mixed up showed up just as I was ready to leave around 9:00. They came in and we visited for a few minutes. They were all interested in the worship center so they ended up getting the lesson, too. It opened the discussion about baptism with one of the kids.
I got an email from Don this week saying that he’d been working on a redesign of our web page. It’s not ready to launch yet but it is showing promise for being a big improvement over what we have now. I emailed him hundreds of more current pictures Friday night so he would have more timely material to work with.
While out delivering postcards this week I was able to visit with a lot of people. Among them were some of our older teens and young adults who we haven’t seen much this year. We were able to reconnect a bit and catch up on each others lives.
Saturday evening brought Sundae Church. Our core high school kids right now are some of the most fun kids we’ve had in the years I’ve been here. We had a good time laughing, eating, and playing table hockey with the lid off of one of the ice cream containers.
Danny stopped by the church just as that group was leaving. There were some things regarding setup of the building for Easter that I needed to let him know.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have most of our regular schedule of activities. Since schools are on Spring Break we will not have SonRisers on Wednesday morning. We have Easter activities planned for each of our services on Sunday. In addition, I’ll be meeting with Wade, the pastor of the Washington, DC, congregation on Thursday. Next weekend we’re hoping to take some kids out for attendance awards they’ve earned.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Forrest
Troy
Marquel
Amber
Michelle
Norman
Jordan
Carlo
Durrell
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out with our Palm Sunday service during Morning Worship. A woman who had come to a couple of other holiday events (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) came and brought her husband and son with her this time. Afterward we were able to help a family with food.
Tamara and Jenn were out of town so Shirley came to Kids’ Church to help staff it. I had craft supplies for 23 kids. 21 kids came. 3 more came after the crafts were started so we didn’t let them in (our normal practice). To try to disrupt things the kids who were outside performed a variety of antics at the back door, including slobbering all over the glass.
As a part of Evening Worship, Bryce shared about his experience at North Bay. North Bay is an environmental camp that his class had gone to for the week.
We started out a couple of weeks ago with 2000 postcards inviting people to participate in our Easter Sunday activities. We had passed them out to people in the congregation to give to friends and had done a mailing. By Monday we had around 1700 left. We took them throughout the neighborhood, sliding them under doors at every house on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday mornings until all were gone.
I got a call from Gloria on Tuesday warning me that one of our overhead light bulbs had burned out. This may not seem like a big enough deal to warrant a phone call. However, this was a day we’d been dreading. The light fixtures are over 20 feet in the air and this is the first bulb that’s burned out since we opened the building over 2 years ago. We don’t have a ladder that tall and had been delaying the inevitable.
70 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening the Adult Disciples group read through and discussed some of the stories Jesus told the last week of his life on earth.
Thursday night brought our Last Supper service. We gathered around the candlelit table to read through the scriptures from the Last Supper, sing some songs, pray, and share in communion together. Afterward, Bryce and I set up the church for Good Friday.
We opened the doors for Good Friday at noon. We had a worship center set up and the Bibles marked with that day’s scriptural accounts in each of the Gospels. Between noon and 3:00 p.m. people came in to read, pray, meditate, and reflect on the events of the day.
We left the worship center up for the three Pizza Church sessions that night. We walked each group through the symbols in the center, including bread and empty glasses, a pitcher, basin, and towel, the cross, palm plants, and the like.
Since Baltimore City Schools had started Spring Break early by having Thursday off, we had just a few kids at each Pizza Church session. A few kids who had gotten their days mixed up showed up just as I was ready to leave around 9:00. They came in and we visited for a few minutes. They were all interested in the worship center so they ended up getting the lesson, too. It opened the discussion about baptism with one of the kids.
I got an email from Don this week saying that he’d been working on a redesign of our web page. It’s not ready to launch yet but it is showing promise for being a big improvement over what we have now. I emailed him hundreds of more current pictures Friday night so he would have more timely material to work with.
While out delivering postcards this week I was able to visit with a lot of people. Among them were some of our older teens and young adults who we haven’t seen much this year. We were able to reconnect a bit and catch up on each others lives.
Saturday evening brought Sundae Church. Our core high school kids right now are some of the most fun kids we’ve had in the years I’ve been here. We had a good time laughing, eating, and playing table hockey with the lid off of one of the ice cream containers.
Danny stopped by the church just as that group was leaving. There were some things regarding setup of the building for Easter that I needed to let him know.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have most of our regular schedule of activities. Since schools are on Spring Break we will not have SonRisers on Wednesday morning. We have Easter activities planned for each of our services on Sunday. In addition, I’ll be meeting with Wade, the pastor of the Washington, DC, congregation on Thursday. Next weekend we’re hoping to take some kids out for attendance awards they’ve earned.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Forrest
Troy
Marquel
Amber
Michelle
Norman
Jordan
Carlo
Durrell
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
3/16/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with a full slate of activities. Danny changed out the banner on the front of the church before Morning Worship. The new banner features the schedule for Holy Week. During the service we finished our series on the life of Joseph. After the service a neighbor dropped by looking for some assistance with her electric bill.
At Kids’ Church we learned the parable of the lost sheep. The craft took less time than any of us expected so we were finished a bit early.
Immediately afterward a couple of friends of Ciara showed up at the church. We had been in contact earlier about their using the church for a baby shower on a Saturday in April. We were able to work out the schedule and make the building available for them.
As we were heading home around 4:00 a few kids showed up thinking it was 3:00. There’s always someone who misses the time change.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. During it, though, we heard that one person had gone several days without smoking and that another had a job interview on Monday.
On Monday we went shopping to stock up on paper products and other church supplies. Last month they closed the nearby Sam’s Club so I tried out the new one. It was further away than I thought it would be so we won’t be able to run there as often as we’re in the habit of doing.
The Citizens of Pigtown meeting on Tuesday night was well attended. We had originally planned a priesthood meeting for that night as well but had to cancel it.
Nearly 80 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening after the NA meeting, Maurice (who has run that meeting for several years) let me know that he’d just been diagnosed with cancer. The group had enough people to continue when he steps out of leadership during his treatments, but he has led the group with excellence and will be missed. That night the Adult Disciples finished their study of 1 Peter.
We spent much of the day on Thursday working on a mailing for our Easter activities. That evening we had a new person at Exercise Group and just Danny and me at Men’s Group.
I had a knock on the door on Friday morning just after I got home from taking Bryce and Onalee to school. One of our high school students was on his way to school. His class was having a party in honor of another student. He had baked a cake the night before and then picked up some pop at Safeway on his way to school. He didn’t realize how heavy and awkward this would be to carry and he feared he wouldn’t make it to school. I was able to give him a ride.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Along with our three sessions we had several people stop by between the groups. One was a member of the NA group who had left his paperwork behind on Wednesday. Another was a young adult who we had baptized when he was a teenager who was now in need of some spiritual assistance. Additionally, a man who said he used to come back when we were in the old building when Tim was pastor came by.
We had some beautiful weather on Saturday so I was able to visit with neighbors who were out enjoying the day. In the midst of this I was able to get a recycling bin to someone who wanted one and get Easter fliers and posters up at the local laundromat.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be encouraging participation in our Easter activities by distributing fliers throughout the week and sending out the mailing we worked on last week. We also have a Last Supper Service on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and the church will be open on Good Friday from Noon – 3:00 p.m. for prayer, reflection, and meditation. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Rayvon
Dave
Roosevelt
Nyshira
Brocca
Michelle
Brian
Anthony
Brenda
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with a full slate of activities. Danny changed out the banner on the front of the church before Morning Worship. The new banner features the schedule for Holy Week. During the service we finished our series on the life of Joseph. After the service a neighbor dropped by looking for some assistance with her electric bill.
At Kids’ Church we learned the parable of the lost sheep. The craft took less time than any of us expected so we were finished a bit early.
Immediately afterward a couple of friends of Ciara showed up at the church. We had been in contact earlier about their using the church for a baby shower on a Saturday in April. We were able to work out the schedule and make the building available for them.
As we were heading home around 4:00 a few kids showed up thinking it was 3:00. There’s always someone who misses the time change.
We had a small group at Evening Worship. During it, though, we heard that one person had gone several days without smoking and that another had a job interview on Monday.
On Monday we went shopping to stock up on paper products and other church supplies. Last month they closed the nearby Sam’s Club so I tried out the new one. It was further away than I thought it would be so we won’t be able to run there as often as we’re in the habit of doing.
The Citizens of Pigtown meeting on Tuesday night was well attended. We had originally planned a priesthood meeting for that night as well but had to cancel it.
Nearly 80 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening after the NA meeting, Maurice (who has run that meeting for several years) let me know that he’d just been diagnosed with cancer. The group had enough people to continue when he steps out of leadership during his treatments, but he has led the group with excellence and will be missed. That night the Adult Disciples finished their study of 1 Peter.
We spent much of the day on Thursday working on a mailing for our Easter activities. That evening we had a new person at Exercise Group and just Danny and me at Men’s Group.
I had a knock on the door on Friday morning just after I got home from taking Bryce and Onalee to school. One of our high school students was on his way to school. His class was having a party in honor of another student. He had baked a cake the night before and then picked up some pop at Safeway on his way to school. He didn’t realize how heavy and awkward this would be to carry and he feared he wouldn’t make it to school. I was able to give him a ride.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Along with our three sessions we had several people stop by between the groups. One was a member of the NA group who had left his paperwork behind on Wednesday. Another was a young adult who we had baptized when he was a teenager who was now in need of some spiritual assistance. Additionally, a man who said he used to come back when we were in the old building when Tim was pastor came by.
We had some beautiful weather on Saturday so I was able to visit with neighbors who were out enjoying the day. In the midst of this I was able to get a recycling bin to someone who wanted one and get Easter fliers and posters up at the local laundromat.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be encouraging participation in our Easter activities by distributing fliers throughout the week and sending out the mailing we worked on last week. We also have a Last Supper Service on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and the church will be open on Good Friday from Noon – 3:00 p.m. for prayer, reflection, and meditation. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Rayvon
Dave
Roosevelt
Nyshira
Brocca
Michelle
Brian
Anthony
Brenda
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
3/9/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with our three services. “Come to the Banquet” was the theme for the communion service during Morning Worship. Those present at Kids’ Church learned the story of the lost coin. We had a small group at Evening Worship.
On Tuesday Patricia opened up the building for Exercise Group. Usually Gloria does this but, as is always the case the first Tuesday of the month, she leads a Friends of Carroll Park meeting (She’s president of the Friends of Carroll Park) at the local AME Church. At the same time, the public safety group had a meeting in the front room of the Power House to discuss the ramifications of a neighborhood traffic survey designed to help improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians.
85 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening the Adult Disciples group continued its study of 1 Peter.
I spent much of the day on Thursday putting together a presentation for Saturday’s Pastors Gathering in Virginia. That evening we had Exercise Group and Men’s Group at the church.
After those activities were through I began writing a grant from one of the local foundations. I was able to get everything roughed in but needed a typewriter to complete all the forms.
Fortunately, the Catholic school Bryce and Onalee attend has a typewriter in the office. When I dropped off the kids on Thursday morning the secretary let me sit at her desk for about a half an hour to fill in all the forms for the grant.
That afternoon our new banner arrived. This banner announces our Easter activities and I was a little late in ordering it. I wanted it up by this coming Sunday so I stayed close to home so I wouldn’t miss UPS. Once it was delivered, I headed downtown to turn in the grant.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. For the most part, the kids were calm, relaxed, and happy throughout the night. The one dramatic exception came from a girl who adamantly disputed the number of attendance credits I had recorded for her. Fortunately, by the time the lesson was over she was OK again.
On Saturday I spent the day at the Pastors Gathering in Springfield, Virginia. I got back home in time for a quick bite to eat then headed over to the church for our monthly Solid Rock Café. Though running a little later than usual, Bryce, Tamara, Jenn, and I were able to get things set up quickly. Afterward, we stacked all the chairs and folded all the tables so that the very dirty floor could be mopped in the morning in time for Morning Worship.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, there’s a Citizens of Pigtown meeting at the church on Tuesday evening and a priesthood meeting at our house after that. We’ll also be making preparations for Easter by addressing postcards, hanging the new banner, and the like.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Raekwon
Angelea
Shane
John
Mike
Gary
George
Shirley
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with our three services. “Come to the Banquet” was the theme for the communion service during Morning Worship. Those present at Kids’ Church learned the story of the lost coin. We had a small group at Evening Worship.
On Tuesday Patricia opened up the building for Exercise Group. Usually Gloria does this but, as is always the case the first Tuesday of the month, she leads a Friends of Carroll Park meeting (She’s president of the Friends of Carroll Park) at the local AME Church. At the same time, the public safety group had a meeting in the front room of the Power House to discuss the ramifications of a neighborhood traffic survey designed to help improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians.
85 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening the Adult Disciples group continued its study of 1 Peter.
I spent much of the day on Thursday putting together a presentation for Saturday’s Pastors Gathering in Virginia. That evening we had Exercise Group and Men’s Group at the church.
After those activities were through I began writing a grant from one of the local foundations. I was able to get everything roughed in but needed a typewriter to complete all the forms.
Fortunately, the Catholic school Bryce and Onalee attend has a typewriter in the office. When I dropped off the kids on Thursday morning the secretary let me sit at her desk for about a half an hour to fill in all the forms for the grant.
That afternoon our new banner arrived. This banner announces our Easter activities and I was a little late in ordering it. I wanted it up by this coming Sunday so I stayed close to home so I wouldn’t miss UPS. Once it was delivered, I headed downtown to turn in the grant.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. For the most part, the kids were calm, relaxed, and happy throughout the night. The one dramatic exception came from a girl who adamantly disputed the number of attendance credits I had recorded for her. Fortunately, by the time the lesson was over she was OK again.
On Saturday I spent the day at the Pastors Gathering in Springfield, Virginia. I got back home in time for a quick bite to eat then headed over to the church for our monthly Solid Rock Café. Though running a little later than usual, Bryce, Tamara, Jenn, and I were able to get things set up quickly. Afterward, we stacked all the chairs and folded all the tables so that the very dirty floor could be mopped in the morning in time for Morning Worship.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, there’s a Citizens of Pigtown meeting at the church on Tuesday evening and a priesthood meeting at our house after that. We’ll also be making preparations for Easter by addressing postcards, hanging the new banner, and the like.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Raekwon
Angelea
Shane
John
Mike
Gary
George
Shirley
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
3/2/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we resumed our series on the life of Joseph. As the service ended, Violet and Joshua came in. Violet had just been released from the hospital and wanted everyone to know that she was out and that she was OK. We were able to anoint and pray for her before she left.
At Kids’ Church we learned the story of the great banquet. The kids then drew, colored, and cut out food items that we put on a drawing of a banquet table. They did a great job and in the end it was the best looking banquet table ever.
Michelle stayed after Kids’ Church. She’d shared at Pizza Church last Friday that she’d been having trouble at school with her math class so Tamara volunteered to help her after Kids’ Church. They worked together while Jenn and I cleaned up and prepared for Evening Worship.
We had a good crowd at Evening Worship. 2/3 of the group who gathered were teenagers, many of whom have been a part of Pizza Church but had never been to Evening Worship before that night.
Dave Anderson came up on Tuesday afternoon. He and I attended two lectures by NT Wright together that day. Wright was at my seminary (St. Mary’s Seminary and University) as a part of the celebration of its Ecumenical Institute’s 40th anniversary.
Dave stayed overnight to participate in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. 99 kids came in for breakfast. Afterward, he and I took care of some administrative and Mission Center issues.
Later that day I was able to get an additional 10 recycle bins. The city had run short of this particular size bin when the program first started. We will now be able to wind up our end of this project.
When I went back to the church that afternoon to set up for the NA group, our 20+ foot tall downspout was broken off the building and on the ground in the alley. Onalee and I put it inside the church and I contacted Danny about getting it repaired. That night the Adult Disciples group began its study of 1 Peter.
While entering attendance data Wednesday night I was able to instant message with Donald. He was excited because he was going to be the starting pitcher for the Graceland University baseball team later this week. He said that classes were going OK, too.
As we gathered for the activities on Thursday evening Paulette came by. She had discovered exercise group on Tuesday night and was excited to be back. She said, “I don’t know why you don’t have a line of people at the door right now because this is fun!”
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third group were unusually small while the middle group was unusually large. Also, since none of the kids who were at the first group were also there last week we replayed last week’s video in hopes that they will all be able to be here next week to continue.
On Saturday afternoon I was able to distribute a couple of the recycling bins we got earlier in the week. One person invited me in to show me what she discovered. When she was going through some old papers she found a copy of the Baltimore Sun issue from 1999 when the congregation was featured on the front page. She gave it to me requesting we get it laminated and mount it somewhere in the church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, there’s a Citizens of Pigtown meeting at the church on Tuesday evening. During the day on Saturday I’ll be participating in a pastors’ gathering in Springfield, Virginia. That evening is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Justin
Jordan
Steven
Hannah
Melinda
Kevin
Shane
Jasmine
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we resumed our series on the life of Joseph. As the service ended, Violet and Joshua came in. Violet had just been released from the hospital and wanted everyone to know that she was out and that she was OK. We were able to anoint and pray for her before she left.
At Kids’ Church we learned the story of the great banquet. The kids then drew, colored, and cut out food items that we put on a drawing of a banquet table. They did a great job and in the end it was the best looking banquet table ever.
Michelle stayed after Kids’ Church. She’d shared at Pizza Church last Friday that she’d been having trouble at school with her math class so Tamara volunteered to help her after Kids’ Church. They worked together while Jenn and I cleaned up and prepared for Evening Worship.
We had a good crowd at Evening Worship. 2/3 of the group who gathered were teenagers, many of whom have been a part of Pizza Church but had never been to Evening Worship before that night.
Dave Anderson came up on Tuesday afternoon. He and I attended two lectures by NT Wright together that day. Wright was at my seminary (St. Mary’s Seminary and University) as a part of the celebration of its Ecumenical Institute’s 40th anniversary.
Dave stayed overnight to participate in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. 99 kids came in for breakfast. Afterward, he and I took care of some administrative and Mission Center issues.
Later that day I was able to get an additional 10 recycle bins. The city had run short of this particular size bin when the program first started. We will now be able to wind up our end of this project.
When I went back to the church that afternoon to set up for the NA group, our 20+ foot tall downspout was broken off the building and on the ground in the alley. Onalee and I put it inside the church and I contacted Danny about getting it repaired. That night the Adult Disciples group began its study of 1 Peter.
While entering attendance data Wednesday night I was able to instant message with Donald. He was excited because he was going to be the starting pitcher for the Graceland University baseball team later this week. He said that classes were going OK, too.
As we gathered for the activities on Thursday evening Paulette came by. She had discovered exercise group on Tuesday night and was excited to be back. She said, “I don’t know why you don’t have a line of people at the door right now because this is fun!”
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third group were unusually small while the middle group was unusually large. Also, since none of the kids who were at the first group were also there last week we replayed last week’s video in hopes that they will all be able to be here next week to continue.
On Saturday afternoon I was able to distribute a couple of the recycling bins we got earlier in the week. One person invited me in to show me what she discovered. When she was going through some old papers she found a copy of the Baltimore Sun issue from 1999 when the congregation was featured on the front page. She gave it to me requesting we get it laminated and mount it somewhere in the church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, there’s a Citizens of Pigtown meeting at the church on Tuesday evening. During the day on Saturday I’ll be participating in a pastors’ gathering in Springfield, Virginia. That evening is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Justin
Jordan
Steven
Hannah
Melinda
Kevin
Shane
Jasmine
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
2/24/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started on Sunday with Morning Worship. Dave Brock, Presiding Evangelist for the denomination, was the speaker. Four members of the Towson Congregation joined with us in worship. As a part of the message, Dave shared stories from around the world that exemplified the church and its members being sanctuaries of peace. Afterward, he and I joined the friends from Towson for lunch at Italianos.
We had more kids participate in Kids’ Church on Sunday than we’ve had in a couple of years. In fact, we had nearly as many first time visitors at this service as we normally would have for total attendance. Dave shared a story from Africa and the kids made a craft.
After Kids’ Church Dave and I were walking around the neighborhood and I was showing him some things he had heard about earlier in the weekend. My cell phone rang and it was Jenn. She had found one kid who was complaining that his knee hurt during church sitting on the steps of a house crying. Several other boys had tried to carry him home but were unsuccessful. I got my van and Dave and I got him home safely. We heard later in the week that it was broken. The boy told us it was from playing football, but all the others described a game that they had been playing before church that was the more likely culprit. It seems some of them had stacked some abandoned mattresses that they had found and were playing a game of jumping out a second story window onto them.
By the time we got back from that adventure it was nearly time for Evening Worship. We had a potluck dinner scheduled afterward so people came in carrying food. One woman brought a cake even though she couldn’t stay for church or dinner. During the service we had a variety of prayers, prayer requests, and testimonies. We also had several young adults who haven’t been to a service in a while participate. Dave shared one final story with us as a part of the service.
Dave flew back to Missouri on Monday morning. Later that afternoon while I was setting up for a neighborhood Land Use Committee meeting, a truck arrived to deliver the roofing materials. That evening I opened for the group and Danny secured the building afterward.
Also, while at McDonalds for supper that night Bradley came up and said hello. He’s about 12 years old and was there eating with a few friends. I hadn’t seen him since his grandmother died last Easter. I learned he’s living with his dad and that he’s within walking distance of the church again. I encouraged him to come to Pizza Church and bring his friends from McDonalds with him.
The contractors began working on the roof on Tuesday. That evening Gloria led Exercise Group. There seems to be a different group for that activity each time it meets.
Over 70 kids participated in the SonRisers activities on Wednesday morning. As the last of the kids were leaving the roofers arrived. They finished the job by mid-afternoon so we made our final payment on the project. The evening’s Adult Disciples group finished its study of the book of Judges.
When we set up for the community group on Monday we discovered a new breed of dust bunnies and skid marks on the floor of the front room. I took a little time on Thursday morning to get the mess under control. Later that morning I designed and ordered the marketing materials for Easter.
An ice storm hit overnight that night closing schools on Friday. Because of people being a bit off schedule we had small sessions of Pizza Church that evening. During the high school session we had a new spin put on the book of Acts. We read the story of people putting sick people along the path where Peter would walk in hopes that his shadow would pass over them and they would be healed. One kids exclaimed that this was so “gangsta,” which was a new way for the rest of us to view the situation.
The topic of conversation for the last several Sundae Church sessions has revolved around football. We’ve been wondering where the conversation would go now that football season is over. This week we had spirited discussions about camp. This included their likes, dislikes, what they got away with, and funny stories from their experiences. It seemed as if everyone talked loudly at the same time for the whole session.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, Dave Anderson and I will be attending a couple of lectures by N.T. Wright at St. Mary’s Seminary on Tuesday evening. Dave is spending the night so that he can be a part of our SonRisers activities on Wednesday morning.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Carol
Harry
Katzen
Justin
Mykell
Heather
Sissy
Mark
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started on Sunday with Morning Worship. Dave Brock, Presiding Evangelist for the denomination, was the speaker. Four members of the Towson Congregation joined with us in worship. As a part of the message, Dave shared stories from around the world that exemplified the church and its members being sanctuaries of peace. Afterward, he and I joined the friends from Towson for lunch at Italianos.
We had more kids participate in Kids’ Church on Sunday than we’ve had in a couple of years. In fact, we had nearly as many first time visitors at this service as we normally would have for total attendance. Dave shared a story from Africa and the kids made a craft.
After Kids’ Church Dave and I were walking around the neighborhood and I was showing him some things he had heard about earlier in the weekend. My cell phone rang and it was Jenn. She had found one kid who was complaining that his knee hurt during church sitting on the steps of a house crying. Several other boys had tried to carry him home but were unsuccessful. I got my van and Dave and I got him home safely. We heard later in the week that it was broken. The boy told us it was from playing football, but all the others described a game that they had been playing before church that was the more likely culprit. It seems some of them had stacked some abandoned mattresses that they had found and were playing a game of jumping out a second story window onto them.
By the time we got back from that adventure it was nearly time for Evening Worship. We had a potluck dinner scheduled afterward so people came in carrying food. One woman brought a cake even though she couldn’t stay for church or dinner. During the service we had a variety of prayers, prayer requests, and testimonies. We also had several young adults who haven’t been to a service in a while participate. Dave shared one final story with us as a part of the service.
Dave flew back to Missouri on Monday morning. Later that afternoon while I was setting up for a neighborhood Land Use Committee meeting, a truck arrived to deliver the roofing materials. That evening I opened for the group and Danny secured the building afterward.
Also, while at McDonalds for supper that night Bradley came up and said hello. He’s about 12 years old and was there eating with a few friends. I hadn’t seen him since his grandmother died last Easter. I learned he’s living with his dad and that he’s within walking distance of the church again. I encouraged him to come to Pizza Church and bring his friends from McDonalds with him.
The contractors began working on the roof on Tuesday. That evening Gloria led Exercise Group. There seems to be a different group for that activity each time it meets.
Over 70 kids participated in the SonRisers activities on Wednesday morning. As the last of the kids were leaving the roofers arrived. They finished the job by mid-afternoon so we made our final payment on the project. The evening’s Adult Disciples group finished its study of the book of Judges.
When we set up for the community group on Monday we discovered a new breed of dust bunnies and skid marks on the floor of the front room. I took a little time on Thursday morning to get the mess under control. Later that morning I designed and ordered the marketing materials for Easter.
An ice storm hit overnight that night closing schools on Friday. Because of people being a bit off schedule we had small sessions of Pizza Church that evening. During the high school session we had a new spin put on the book of Acts. We read the story of people putting sick people along the path where Peter would walk in hopes that his shadow would pass over them and they would be healed. One kids exclaimed that this was so “gangsta,” which was a new way for the rest of us to view the situation.
The topic of conversation for the last several Sundae Church sessions has revolved around football. We’ve been wondering where the conversation would go now that football season is over. This week we had spirited discussions about camp. This included their likes, dislikes, what they got away with, and funny stories from their experiences. It seemed as if everyone talked loudly at the same time for the whole session.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, Dave Anderson and I will be attending a couple of lectures by N.T. Wright at St. Mary’s Seminary on Tuesday evening. Dave is spending the night so that he can be a part of our SonRisers activities on Wednesday morning.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Carol
Harry
Katzen
Justin
Mykell
Heather
Sissy
Mark
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
2/16/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we began a series on Joseph, with this week focusing on his response to the dreams he had as a teenager.
We experienced a strong windstorm that afternoon. While kids were waiting outside for Kids’ Church, some shingles blew off the roof and hit them. Our downspout, which is over 20 feet tall, disconnected from the building except at its highest point so it was blowing back and forth across the alley. Once inside, one girl let us know that her scooter had hit her in the belly and she had consequently vomited on the sidewalk before she came in. We went through the story of the Kingdom being like what happens with a mustard seed and began assembling herb gardens that we’d gotten as a donation from Home Depot. At this point Bryce got sick and had to be taken home by Vonceil. I cleaned up the bathroom after him while Tamara and Jenn helped the rest of the kids finish their projects.
With Bryce out sick I opened Evening Worship by seeing if there was anyone willing to manage the overhead projector for the night. Tayvia, who normally sits to the side by herself, jumped up and was very excited to take over that responsibility for the night.
On Monday I met with Wade Wallace. He’s the newly hired pastor for the Washington, DC, congregation. We were able to visit for a couple of hours and he was able to get a glimpse of things here.
Mayor Dixon was the guest at Tuesday’s Citizens of Pigtown meeting. Because she was coming we moved the meeting to the back room to accommodate the crowd. Over 80 people came out for the meeting. This all took place amid an ice storm. Before people arrived I put about 20 pounds of salt on the walkways into the building. When the mayor arrived mid-meeting the first thing she said was that she nearly broke her neck on the way in and ordered some of the firemen present to take care of the situation. Within minutes they had poured buckets of salt all over the sidewalk, the alley, and the streets.
With the ice and the Mayor’s meeting going over the scheduled time, we ended up postponing our Priesthood meeting that was planned for that night. We did have one urgent agenda item so we met for a little while after Adult Disciples on Wednesday to address it.
With the ice storm and temperatures right at freezing, we had a one hour delay in the start of school on Wednesday. That throws everyone and everything a bit off schedule. Further, many kids just don’t go to school when there’s a delay. Therefore, we only had 31 kids at SonRisers that morning. We put most of the extra donuts in the freezer to use them at future Solid Rock Cafes.
That afternoon I was able to finally put a down payment on the roof repairs. That evening before Adult Disciples while the NA meeting was going on I met for a few minutes with our Mission Center President Dave Anderson to discuss a couple of pending issues. The Adult Disciples class studied the story of Sampson.
I woke up sick on Thursday morning. I had whatever Bryce had earlier in the week. That evening Vonceil had the same experience. It was a 24 hour thing but drained us of all energy for a few days.
On Friday Tamara and Jenn headed to the Richmond, Virginia, area to help with part of the mission center’s youth ski retreat. Meanwhile here in Baltimore Dave Brock arrived from church headquarters in Independence, Missouri. We had question and answer sessions with him for all three Pizza Church sessions that evening.
On Saturday Dave did some training with Evangelists in the area at the Dundalk congregation. I spent a chunk of the day trying to catch up with things Vonceil and I would normally have done on Thursday.
Tamara and Jenn arrived back in town late that afternoon and Dave returned from Dundalk that evening. We all met together at Tamara and Jenn’s house and visited for a while that evening.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. Dave Brock will bring the message during Morning Worship and participate in Kids’ Church and Evening Worship. In addition, we’ll have a potluck dinner after Evening Worship on Sunday. Dave flies home Monday morning. That evening we have a community development meeting at the church. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Neil
Larry
Edna
Kyle
Jean
Joshua
Troy
Mike
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we began a series on Joseph, with this week focusing on his response to the dreams he had as a teenager.
We experienced a strong windstorm that afternoon. While kids were waiting outside for Kids’ Church, some shingles blew off the roof and hit them. Our downspout, which is over 20 feet tall, disconnected from the building except at its highest point so it was blowing back and forth across the alley. Once inside, one girl let us know that her scooter had hit her in the belly and she had consequently vomited on the sidewalk before she came in. We went through the story of the Kingdom being like what happens with a mustard seed and began assembling herb gardens that we’d gotten as a donation from Home Depot. At this point Bryce got sick and had to be taken home by Vonceil. I cleaned up the bathroom after him while Tamara and Jenn helped the rest of the kids finish their projects.
With Bryce out sick I opened Evening Worship by seeing if there was anyone willing to manage the overhead projector for the night. Tayvia, who normally sits to the side by herself, jumped up and was very excited to take over that responsibility for the night.
On Monday I met with Wade Wallace. He’s the newly hired pastor for the Washington, DC, congregation. We were able to visit for a couple of hours and he was able to get a glimpse of things here.
Mayor Dixon was the guest at Tuesday’s Citizens of Pigtown meeting. Because she was coming we moved the meeting to the back room to accommodate the crowd. Over 80 people came out for the meeting. This all took place amid an ice storm. Before people arrived I put about 20 pounds of salt on the walkways into the building. When the mayor arrived mid-meeting the first thing she said was that she nearly broke her neck on the way in and ordered some of the firemen present to take care of the situation. Within minutes they had poured buckets of salt all over the sidewalk, the alley, and the streets.
With the ice and the Mayor’s meeting going over the scheduled time, we ended up postponing our Priesthood meeting that was planned for that night. We did have one urgent agenda item so we met for a little while after Adult Disciples on Wednesday to address it.
With the ice storm and temperatures right at freezing, we had a one hour delay in the start of school on Wednesday. That throws everyone and everything a bit off schedule. Further, many kids just don’t go to school when there’s a delay. Therefore, we only had 31 kids at SonRisers that morning. We put most of the extra donuts in the freezer to use them at future Solid Rock Cafes.
That afternoon I was able to finally put a down payment on the roof repairs. That evening before Adult Disciples while the NA meeting was going on I met for a few minutes with our Mission Center President Dave Anderson to discuss a couple of pending issues. The Adult Disciples class studied the story of Sampson.
I woke up sick on Thursday morning. I had whatever Bryce had earlier in the week. That evening Vonceil had the same experience. It was a 24 hour thing but drained us of all energy for a few days.
On Friday Tamara and Jenn headed to the Richmond, Virginia, area to help with part of the mission center’s youth ski retreat. Meanwhile here in Baltimore Dave Brock arrived from church headquarters in Independence, Missouri. We had question and answer sessions with him for all three Pizza Church sessions that evening.
On Saturday Dave did some training with Evangelists in the area at the Dundalk congregation. I spent a chunk of the day trying to catch up with things Vonceil and I would normally have done on Thursday.
Tamara and Jenn arrived back in town late that afternoon and Dave returned from Dundalk that evening. We all met together at Tamara and Jenn’s house and visited for a while that evening.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. Dave Brock will bring the message during Morning Worship and participate in Kids’ Church and Evening Worship. In addition, we’ll have a potluck dinner after Evening Worship on Sunday. Dave flies home Monday morning. That evening we have a community development meeting at the church. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Neil
Larry
Edna
Kyle
Jean
Joshua
Troy
Mike
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
2/10/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with communion at Morning Worship. We were joined in worship by one neighbor who has never been to a service here before. We also had one member return who hadn’t been at church for a while because of working night shift. She had recently quit the job and is hoping to be more active in church again.
The overall energy level at Kids’ Church was off the chart this week. It took quite a bit of work to get them to focus. That work was not very successful. We did learn a parable about a fig tree then made treats out of Fig Newtons.
Some kids at Kids’ Church planned to stay there for the Super Bowl. There were two problems with that. First, the game didn’t start for a couple of hours. Second, we have a “children must be accompanied by adults for this event” rule in place. These facts were reviewed with them numerous times before, during, and after Kids’ Church.
Once the kids were out Bryce, Jenn, and I did the bulk of the set-up work for our football game party. We had the church decorated, the electronics functioning, the chairs and tables arranged, and food heated and ready by game time.
At game time, a group of kids all of whom were at Kids’ Church earlier in the day were at the door ready to attend. They did not have parents with them. They argued and made quite a bit of a racket for quite some time. This did not help their case for wanting to come in and assured us of the right decision to require parental supervision.
Throughout the game it seemed we had only a handful of people at the church. However, some people came only for the first half while others came in time for the second half. Some came and got food at the snack bar and took it home to watch the game. In all, though, we had over 40 people take part in the festivities and we raised enough money to send one kid to camp.
I got an email on Monday from a nursing student at the University of Maryland asking to interview me regarding community health issues. She was surveying community leaders so that the nursing school could better provide community health services in the area. We were able to meet and visit for about an hour on Thursday afternoon.
86 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening after a very large Narcotics Anonymous meeting the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges.
On Thursday evening some people stopped by as the men’s group and the exercise group were getting ready to start. They were looking for a community group meeting that they thought was scheduled at the church. They either had the wrong night or the wrong location.
That night the men’s group had a chili supper together in celebration of having completed our study of a book together. We’ll now begin deciding what text we would like to read together next.
We got an estimate on repairing the portion of the roof that blew off in a storm last week. It was quite a bit more than we had anticipated.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids were chatty most of the evening but we were still able to get through the lessons as planned.
On Saturday Tamara, Jenn, and I headed down to Stafford, Virginia, for the Mission Center Leadership Team meeting. We got home from that around 3:00 p.m. That evening was our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, mayor Sheila Dixon will be at the Citizens of Pigtown meeting on Tuesday night so we’re expecting a bigger crowd for that. They’ll need to use the main room rather than the front room so exercise group is cancelled on Tuesday. Later that night is our monthly priesthood meeting. Next Friday Dave Brock will be arriving in the area for a training he’s doing at Dundalk on Saturday. He’ll be staying at our house and will be participating in ministry activities in Pigtown on Friday and Sunday.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Barry
M’Rhaiyah
Francis
Keith
Amber
Alyssia
Monica
Less
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with communion at Morning Worship. We were joined in worship by one neighbor who has never been to a service here before. We also had one member return who hadn’t been at church for a while because of working night shift. She had recently quit the job and is hoping to be more active in church again.
The overall energy level at Kids’ Church was off the chart this week. It took quite a bit of work to get them to focus. That work was not very successful. We did learn a parable about a fig tree then made treats out of Fig Newtons.
Some kids at Kids’ Church planned to stay there for the Super Bowl. There were two problems with that. First, the game didn’t start for a couple of hours. Second, we have a “children must be accompanied by adults for this event” rule in place. These facts were reviewed with them numerous times before, during, and after Kids’ Church.
Once the kids were out Bryce, Jenn, and I did the bulk of the set-up work for our football game party. We had the church decorated, the electronics functioning, the chairs and tables arranged, and food heated and ready by game time.
At game time, a group of kids all of whom were at Kids’ Church earlier in the day were at the door ready to attend. They did not have parents with them. They argued and made quite a bit of a racket for quite some time. This did not help their case for wanting to come in and assured us of the right decision to require parental supervision.
Throughout the game it seemed we had only a handful of people at the church. However, some people came only for the first half while others came in time for the second half. Some came and got food at the snack bar and took it home to watch the game. In all, though, we had over 40 people take part in the festivities and we raised enough money to send one kid to camp.
I got an email on Monday from a nursing student at the University of Maryland asking to interview me regarding community health issues. She was surveying community leaders so that the nursing school could better provide community health services in the area. We were able to meet and visit for about an hour on Thursday afternoon.
86 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. That evening after a very large Narcotics Anonymous meeting the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges.
On Thursday evening some people stopped by as the men’s group and the exercise group were getting ready to start. They were looking for a community group meeting that they thought was scheduled at the church. They either had the wrong night or the wrong location.
That night the men’s group had a chili supper together in celebration of having completed our study of a book together. We’ll now begin deciding what text we would like to read together next.
We got an estimate on repairing the portion of the roof that blew off in a storm last week. It was quite a bit more than we had anticipated.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids were chatty most of the evening but we were still able to get through the lessons as planned.
On Saturday Tamara, Jenn, and I headed down to Stafford, Virginia, for the Mission Center Leadership Team meeting. We got home from that around 3:00 p.m. That evening was our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, mayor Sheila Dixon will be at the Citizens of Pigtown meeting on Tuesday night so we’re expecting a bigger crowd for that. They’ll need to use the main room rather than the front room so exercise group is cancelled on Tuesday. Later that night is our monthly priesthood meeting. Next Friday Dave Brock will be arriving in the area for a training he’s doing at Dundalk on Saturday. He’ll be staying at our house and will be participating in ministry activities in Pigtown on Friday and Sunday.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Barry
M’Rhaiyah
Francis
Keith
Amber
Alyssia
Monica
Less
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
2/2/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During that service we talked about how to be prepared for miracles. At Kids’ Church we learned about being generous. We had a small group for Evening Worship.
I got a call this week from the state of Maryland. Though we had filed all or our renewal paperwork on time (and an additional two times after the deadline) our tax exempt status had not been renewed. Our purchases have been taxable since October 1. They finally discovered that they had used our paperwork to renew other Community of Christ congregations in Maryland but not ours. They gave us tentative approval over the phone but are requiring paperwork beyond my capacity to make us fully legal again. I’ll be in contact with headquarters to see what needs to be done next.
Three police officers stopped by the church during SonRisers asking us to tell the kids not to litter between the church and school. (We already do that and we pick up trash off the streets after each SonRisers.) 89 kids participated in the activities.
We had a wind storm come through on Wednesday. It took part of the roof of the old section of the building with it. Danny is working on getting a contractor to fix it. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had this same problem since the place went up in 2000.
With the strong and cold winds we had just a couple of people for Adult Disciples. We suspended the scheduled lesson and instead discussed current events then had our prayer time together. Afterward I tried out our new video projector. I had been out earlier in the day to get the necessary cables and after playing around with it for a while was able to get it working.
Throughout the week I had several people inquire about the church. We got an inquiry through our web site, the first one since it went on line in 1998. The person didn’t live in the Baltimore area but I was able to point him to Community of Christ congregations in his area.
We were finally able to replace the church’s digital camera this week. Our old one was stolen a little over 3 years ago. The new ones at the time were incompatible with our old computers. Since I have a new laptop with a portable printer we were able to align technology. I got it this week as I was able to combine coupons, sales, and promotions at Staples and get it for less than half price.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Since the youngest group is currently in a video curriculum they were the first group to use the projector for official business.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our “Big Game” party on Sunday evening. During the day on Saturday is our Mission Center Leadership Team meeting in Stafford, Virginia. That night is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Stephanie
George
Keith
Roland
Brian
Katilyn
Courtney
Jennifer
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During that service we talked about how to be prepared for miracles. At Kids’ Church we learned about being generous. We had a small group for Evening Worship.
I got a call this week from the state of Maryland. Though we had filed all or our renewal paperwork on time (and an additional two times after the deadline) our tax exempt status had not been renewed. Our purchases have been taxable since October 1. They finally discovered that they had used our paperwork to renew other Community of Christ congregations in Maryland but not ours. They gave us tentative approval over the phone but are requiring paperwork beyond my capacity to make us fully legal again. I’ll be in contact with headquarters to see what needs to be done next.
Three police officers stopped by the church during SonRisers asking us to tell the kids not to litter between the church and school. (We already do that and we pick up trash off the streets after each SonRisers.) 89 kids participated in the activities.
We had a wind storm come through on Wednesday. It took part of the roof of the old section of the building with it. Danny is working on getting a contractor to fix it. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had this same problem since the place went up in 2000.
With the strong and cold winds we had just a couple of people for Adult Disciples. We suspended the scheduled lesson and instead discussed current events then had our prayer time together. Afterward I tried out our new video projector. I had been out earlier in the day to get the necessary cables and after playing around with it for a while was able to get it working.
Throughout the week I had several people inquire about the church. We got an inquiry through our web site, the first one since it went on line in 1998. The person didn’t live in the Baltimore area but I was able to point him to Community of Christ congregations in his area.
We were finally able to replace the church’s digital camera this week. Our old one was stolen a little over 3 years ago. The new ones at the time were incompatible with our old computers. Since I have a new laptop with a portable printer we were able to align technology. I got it this week as I was able to combine coupons, sales, and promotions at Staples and get it for less than half price.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Since the youngest group is currently in a video curriculum they were the first group to use the projector for official business.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our “Big Game” party on Sunday evening. During the day on Saturday is our Mission Center Leadership Team meeting in Stafford, Virginia. That night is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Stephanie
George
Keith
Roland
Brian
Katilyn
Courtney
Jennifer
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
1/27/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had some visitors from the Dundalk congregation worship with us during this service. Glen Ashley was here from Michigan for all three services of the day.
At Kids’ Church we acted out the story of the Good Samaritan. Afterward, the kids made a “God’s First Aid” kit.
We had a small group for Evening Worship due in part to bitter cold weather. Afterward, Tamara, Jenn, Glen, and I went out to dinner together.
Bryce and Glen toured the B&O Railroad Museum on Monday. That evening Glen flew back to Michigan.
Robert started his new job with Americorps on Tuesday. He will need to work some evenings and weekends so it will impact his church involvement. We should be able to plan around it accordingly.
SonRisers started out extremely slow on Wednesday morning. In the end, though, we ended up serving 104 kids. That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges.
I got a call this week from a neighbor that her son had died. She asked if I could do the funeral service. The time and date had already been set so I had to verify things against my calendar. I called the funeral home just to double check the time and date and they informed me that there was already a minister assigned by the family. I called the woman back and learned that was they were actually looking for was money to pay for her son’s burial. That’s something we’re unable to do.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had an unusually large group for the first session and unusually small groups for the other two sessions. Since there were just a couple of people at the senior high group that impacted participation in Saturday night’s Sundae Church as kids didn’t get their reminders that this was the weekend for it.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be making final preparations for our party during the “Big Game” a week from Sunday (2/3/08).
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Kenyatta
Ryan
Isaiah
Tyquandra
Tayvia
Alice
Florence
Justin
Lamont
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had some visitors from the Dundalk congregation worship with us during this service. Glen Ashley was here from Michigan for all three services of the day.
At Kids’ Church we acted out the story of the Good Samaritan. Afterward, the kids made a “God’s First Aid” kit.
We had a small group for Evening Worship due in part to bitter cold weather. Afterward, Tamara, Jenn, Glen, and I went out to dinner together.
Bryce and Glen toured the B&O Railroad Museum on Monday. That evening Glen flew back to Michigan.
Robert started his new job with Americorps on Tuesday. He will need to work some evenings and weekends so it will impact his church involvement. We should be able to plan around it accordingly.
SonRisers started out extremely slow on Wednesday morning. In the end, though, we ended up serving 104 kids. That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges.
I got a call this week from a neighbor that her son had died. She asked if I could do the funeral service. The time and date had already been set so I had to verify things against my calendar. I called the funeral home just to double check the time and date and they informed me that there was already a minister assigned by the family. I called the woman back and learned that was they were actually looking for was money to pay for her son’s burial. That’s something we’re unable to do.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had an unusually large group for the first session and unusually small groups for the other two sessions. Since there were just a couple of people at the senior high group that impacted participation in Saturday night’s Sundae Church as kids didn’t get their reminders that this was the weekend for it.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be making final preparations for our party during the “Big Game” a week from Sunday (2/3/08).
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Kenyatta
Ryan
Isaiah
Tyquandra
Tayvia
Alice
Florence
Justin
Lamont
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
1/20/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we began a series from the book of Exodus. At Kids’ Church we learned the parable about seeds scattered in the field. Just before Evening Worship it started to rain so many people chose to stay at home.
The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church for its monthly meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile a couple of young adults joined with the exercise group in the balcony.
Afterward we had our priesthood meeting. The bulk of the time was focused on items such as synchronizing our calendars through mid-August and discussing the viability of some potential ministry opportunities.
90 kids participated in this week’s SonRisers activities. That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges. As the study was winding down, some teenage boys came by to walk some of the class participants home. They took a few minutes to check out the plasma TV so we all watched the start of “Deal or No Deal” together.
We learned later in the week that Mayor Dixon will be coming to next month’s Citizens of Pigtown meeting. Therefore, they’ll be using the big room instead of the small one.
A winter storm hit on Thursday afternoon. Danny and I were the only ones at Men’s Group. The NA meeting and the exercise group were cancelled due to the weather.
When I stopped by Wal*Mart on Friday I was pleasantly surprised at the checkout. My casher was the mother of one of our kids. She has been fighting a heroin addiction for more than 10 years but was clean, sober, and proudly in her fourth day at her new job.
That night we had good pizza church sessions throughout the evening. The first group continued with its video curriculum while the middle group learned the story of The Good Samaritan. Glen Ashley arrived in town in time for Vonceil to get him to the senior high session. In it we finished our study of the Gospel of Mark.
On Saturday Glen and I walked the neighborhood and visited people both in homes and along the street. We met up with Tamara and Jenn then we all took Michelle to Burger King for a milkshake. She had earned it through her attendance at church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, Danny and Shawna are scheduled to go out to Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, to help her make her decision about which college to attend. We’re also hoping to finish up the contributors receipts for 2007.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Karen
Destiny
Mike
George
Christian
Tiffany
Anne
Elizabeth
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this service we began a series from the book of Exodus. At Kids’ Church we learned the parable about seeds scattered in the field. Just before Evening Worship it started to rain so many people chose to stay at home.
The Citizens of Pigtown met at the church for its monthly meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile a couple of young adults joined with the exercise group in the balcony.
Afterward we had our priesthood meeting. The bulk of the time was focused on items such as synchronizing our calendars through mid-August and discussing the viability of some potential ministry opportunities.
90 kids participated in this week’s SonRisers activities. That night the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Judges. As the study was winding down, some teenage boys came by to walk some of the class participants home. They took a few minutes to check out the plasma TV so we all watched the start of “Deal or No Deal” together.
We learned later in the week that Mayor Dixon will be coming to next month’s Citizens of Pigtown meeting. Therefore, they’ll be using the big room instead of the small one.
A winter storm hit on Thursday afternoon. Danny and I were the only ones at Men’s Group. The NA meeting and the exercise group were cancelled due to the weather.
When I stopped by Wal*Mart on Friday I was pleasantly surprised at the checkout. My casher was the mother of one of our kids. She has been fighting a heroin addiction for more than 10 years but was clean, sober, and proudly in her fourth day at her new job.
That night we had good pizza church sessions throughout the evening. The first group continued with its video curriculum while the middle group learned the story of The Good Samaritan. Glen Ashley arrived in town in time for Vonceil to get him to the senior high session. In it we finished our study of the Gospel of Mark.
On Saturday Glen and I walked the neighborhood and visited people both in homes and along the street. We met up with Tamara and Jenn then we all took Michelle to Burger King for a milkshake. She had earned it through her attendance at church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, Danny and Shawna are scheduled to go out to Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, to help her make her decision about which college to attend. We’re also hoping to finish up the contributors receipts for 2007.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Karen
Destiny
Mike
George
Christian
Tiffany
Anne
Elizabeth
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
1/13/2008
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Being the first Sunday of the year we laid out the theme for the year and celebrated the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper together. At Kids’ Church we made a banner reflecting this year’s theme. There were a few people at Evening Worship who we hadn’t seen at church for quite a long time.
Early Monday morning Danny took me to the airport. I had curriculum meetings at headquarters in Independence, Missouri, for much of the day on Monday. Instead of catching the flight back that night, I stayed over and met with several other people on Tuesday then flew home Tuesday night.
Meanwhile back in the neighborhood, the Citizens of Pigtown had their monthly meeting on Tuesday night while the exercise group was working out in the balcony. COP had about 50 people show up, an unusually large group for them.
There was quite a bit of violence over by Robert’s house on Monday and Tuesday as well. On Monday 4 people were shot and on Tuesday 2 more were shot in basically the same location. The police kept the street closed off the rest of the week as they didn’t believe this was the end of the situation that caused the violence. This kept Robert home after dark for many of the evening activities.
94 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. Bruce also hung out at the church during this time. That night the Adult Disciples group began their study of the book of Judges.
Throughout the day on Wednesday the city had police out of their cars and walking the beat in Pigtown. This was refreshing. We had the quietest day around here that we’ve had in years. Of course, when I was driving in and out of the neighborhood I saw all our local junkies, prostitutes, etc., all a few blocks away where there was no foot patrol that day.
I got an email this week from the Jamisons stating that Janet’s mother had died. We shared the news with the congregation and Gloria sent out a card from all of us.
As I was returning from taking my kids to school on Thursday morning I got a call from Tamara. As she came out of her house that morning she saw that the church had been tagged with red spray paint. I tracked down a kid who used to be active in church but is now more active in a local gang to translate it for us. Danny picked up the needed chemicals on his way home from work and then removed the paint before Men’s group started.
Two other exciting things happened on Thursday as well. First, when our middle school let out a high percentage of the kids ended up on my street to be a part of a fight. After I called 911, the police from the school came and broke it up. The other exciting thing was about participation at church that night. Charlie came to Men’s Group for the first time, some people who had talked about exercise group but hadn’t participated in a while came by, and there were some new people at the NA meeting.
On Friday I worked on setting up the Pizza Church and Kids’ Church curriculum for now through June. That night brought Pizza Church. The elementary group began an 8 week video curriculum while the other groups continued with their Bible study.
Since we now have firm dates for summer camp I spent some time looking for bargains in rental vans. I was able to lock in at the lowest prices we’ve ever had quoted for vans to get kids to and from camp.
Damon invited me to stop by his house on Saturday to share in his birthday celebrations. I was able to join him, three other kids from church, his dad, and his step-mom in enjoying some cake and ice cream. His older brother wasn’t able to participate because the police had taken him away earlier that day.
When Bryce and I went over to the church on Saturday night an hour ahead of time to set up for Solid Rock, there were already nearly a dozen kids waiting to get in. They spent the next hour misbehaving loudly in front of the church. Two in the group were way too young to participate in the night’s activities so we tried to get the older ones to take them home and come back with time to spare. They didn’t and were quite surprised that we were consistent with the rules regarding age. Even with that we had one of the bigger groups we’ve had in a while for this activity. A few kids were first time participants at this church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly priesthood meeting Tuesday evening. Glen Ashley will be with us next weekend. The Mission Center Young Adults have the building reserved for an activity next Saturday as well.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Darod
Roland
Denira
Raekwon
Amina
Jessica
Jennifer
Tyrone
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Being the first Sunday of the year we laid out the theme for the year and celebrated the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper together. At Kids’ Church we made a banner reflecting this year’s theme. There were a few people at Evening Worship who we hadn’t seen at church for quite a long time.
Early Monday morning Danny took me to the airport. I had curriculum meetings at headquarters in Independence, Missouri, for much of the day on Monday. Instead of catching the flight back that night, I stayed over and met with several other people on Tuesday then flew home Tuesday night.
Meanwhile back in the neighborhood, the Citizens of Pigtown had their monthly meeting on Tuesday night while the exercise group was working out in the balcony. COP had about 50 people show up, an unusually large group for them.
There was quite a bit of violence over by Robert’s house on Monday and Tuesday as well. On Monday 4 people were shot and on Tuesday 2 more were shot in basically the same location. The police kept the street closed off the rest of the week as they didn’t believe this was the end of the situation that caused the violence. This kept Robert home after dark for many of the evening activities.
94 kids participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. Bruce also hung out at the church during this time. That night the Adult Disciples group began their study of the book of Judges.
Throughout the day on Wednesday the city had police out of their cars and walking the beat in Pigtown. This was refreshing. We had the quietest day around here that we’ve had in years. Of course, when I was driving in and out of the neighborhood I saw all our local junkies, prostitutes, etc., all a few blocks away where there was no foot patrol that day.
I got an email this week from the Jamisons stating that Janet’s mother had died. We shared the news with the congregation and Gloria sent out a card from all of us.
As I was returning from taking my kids to school on Thursday morning I got a call from Tamara. As she came out of her house that morning she saw that the church had been tagged with red spray paint. I tracked down a kid who used to be active in church but is now more active in a local gang to translate it for us. Danny picked up the needed chemicals on his way home from work and then removed the paint before Men’s group started.
Two other exciting things happened on Thursday as well. First, when our middle school let out a high percentage of the kids ended up on my street to be a part of a fight. After I called 911, the police from the school came and broke it up. The other exciting thing was about participation at church that night. Charlie came to Men’s Group for the first time, some people who had talked about exercise group but hadn’t participated in a while came by, and there were some new people at the NA meeting.
On Friday I worked on setting up the Pizza Church and Kids’ Church curriculum for now through June. That night brought Pizza Church. The elementary group began an 8 week video curriculum while the other groups continued with their Bible study.
Since we now have firm dates for summer camp I spent some time looking for bargains in rental vans. I was able to lock in at the lowest prices we’ve ever had quoted for vans to get kids to and from camp.
Damon invited me to stop by his house on Saturday to share in his birthday celebrations. I was able to join him, three other kids from church, his dad, and his step-mom in enjoying some cake and ice cream. His older brother wasn’t able to participate because the police had taken him away earlier that day.
When Bryce and I went over to the church on Saturday night an hour ahead of time to set up for Solid Rock, there were already nearly a dozen kids waiting to get in. They spent the next hour misbehaving loudly in front of the church. Two in the group were way too young to participate in the night’s activities so we tried to get the older ones to take them home and come back with time to spare. They didn’t and were quite surprised that we were consistent with the rules regarding age. Even with that we had one of the bigger groups we’ve had in a while for this activity. A few kids were first time participants at this church.
Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly priesthood meeting Tuesday evening. Glen Ashley will be with us next weekend. The Mission Center Young Adults have the building reserved for an activity next Saturday as well.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your prayers:
Darod
Roland
Denira
Raekwon
Amina
Jessica
Jennifer
Tyrone
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
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