10/18/2009

It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.

It started out Sunday with our Homecoming celebration. Though activities were scheduled to begin at 10:15, people began arriving at 10. (That has NEVER happened here before.)

The first thing we did was have breakfast together; donuts, bagels, fruit, juice, coffee, and milk were on the menu. A few people who we haven’t seen for a very long time came. A couple of people who normally attend other services during the week but not Morning Worship participated this morning. Of course, many of the usual Morning Worship crowd was there for breakfast, too.

By 11:00 several more people had come in and the group moved over to the chairs for the worship service. Upon the service’s conclusion two people requested baptism. We scheduled the baptisms for Sunday, October 25, during Morning Worship.

We weren’t sure if people would, after having been at church since 10:00, want to stay for lunch. However, most people did stay, eat, and visit for nearly another hour. We had hot dogs, chips, cake, and pop. People cleared out by 1:00 to get home in time for the Ravens game.

During Kids’ Church we learned the story of baby Moses. The craft was more complicated than it looked in the catalogue we ordered it from. It was a bit taxing to complete, especially on the adults.

That evening we had our monthly priesthood meeting. We updated the calendar, discussed some upcoming events and issues, and started thinking about some long-range plans.

As we were locking up for the night, we had about ¼ of a cake still left over. I took it across the street to a neighbor family for them to enjoy for the evening.

Over 80 kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. After finishing the attendance data that day and noting the kids who had come to it that hadn’t been to the church, we noted that we crossed over 400 different kids who have come to the church at least once since July 1.

After the NA meeting the secretary of the group pulled me aside. There had been a problem with the toilet in the men’s room and he had turned off the water to it. I looked at it and it was beyond what I knew to do so I emailed Danny that night to come and look at it.

During Mid-Week Service that evening, Gloria reminded us that it was the 10th anniversary of the front part of the building’s arrival. Those of us who were there for it shared a couple of memories of the truck coming, the build’s sections swinging through the air, immediate security problems, and the kids’ response to it.

I got an email from Danny saying that whatever was wrong with the toilet was beyond his plumbing capabilities, too. I closed down the bathroom for the weekend and changed the sign on the women’s room to allow everyone to use it. We’ll get a plumber to come in the first of the week.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had small groups throughout the evening, in part due to the rain and the two days off of school for teacher in-service.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, some kids are scheduled to go with Sarah to Washington, DC, on Sunday afternoon for the Unity Walk. Sunday evening is our monthly Celebration Service followed by a potluck. We’ll be arranging for the plumber to come to the church and fix the toilet. I have two different meetings on Wednesday. I’m scheduled for jury duty on Friday so others will be responsible for starting Pizza Church. On Saturday Earl and I will be attending training from Willow Creek via Satellite in Columbia, MD. Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church. We’ll also be setting up the font that night in preparation for the baptisms the next morning.

Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:

The Northrop Family
The King Family
The Mints Family
The Galloway Family
The Gillard Family
The Howard Family
The Ludwig Family
The Rogers 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