11/13/09

It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.

Here are some highlights:

We received a scholarship from Saddleback Church to participate in its "40 Days of Community" event this winter. It's the follow-up to the "40 Days of Purpose" campaign we did a few years ago and focuses on the life of the church instead on the life of the individual. This will start in late January and will continue through early March.

We had quite a few trick-or-treaters come through the church on Halloween. Each received candy, an invitation to kids' activities a the church, and a cookie. The cookies were provided by the women's group from the Towson congregation.

The builder finished up the contracted portion of the construction. All building permits have been signed off on by the city. We're now waiting for the installation of the fire alarm so we can gain full occupancy.

We've received several gifts for the new building. One family has donated a couch. Another person bought us a ping pong table and had it delivered. We've also had people commit to buying 61 of the 100 chairs we need to purchase.

Gloria performed a wedding a week ago Friday. This was the second one she's done. It was quite different from the first one she did because the couple and many of their friends were people she'd known for many years.

We had our monthly priesthood meeting last Monday night. We spent about half of our time beginning a process of envisioning the ministries here and how we can best be the people God has called us to be now that we're equipped with the expanded building as a powerful ministry tool. As we develop concepts we'll experiment with them this winter and have a new programming plan in place for next fall.

We also decided that December 9-11 will be our Grand Opening weekend. Among the events for the celebration will be a Turkey dinner for the entire neighborhood. We've started buying frozen turkeys that are on sale and stashing them in freezers around the neighborhood.

In tracking kid participation, we crossed over our 400th kid since camp. This is about on track with last year at this time.

We received a citation from the city this week for having too much garbage. It was construction debris that had since been removed. When I called the builder to see if there was anything in the permit about debris he told me that it wasn't worth fighting. He instructed me to mail the ticket to him and he'd pay it.

I've been stopped on the street quite regularly by people asking about when the new building will open. Many are asking about the activity schedule and seem interested in participation once we move. The common sentiment is that the old building is too small for them to feel comfortable in worship.

A church member who we had lost track of and hadn't seen in at least four years came to church on Wednesday night. He told us that after moving out of Pigtown he'd joined the military and been in for a couple of years. He's now a recruiter for the Army National Guard in a nearby town. It was especially good to reconnect with him.

Several people have worked on the finishing work in the building. Tamara painted trim one morning this week. Heidi and her mother painted a closet wall, some doors, and some trim on Saturday. Last weekend I laid a new floor in one of the bathrooms and most of the new lobby.

Jenn and I spent Saturday in Mission Center meetings in Springfield, Virginia. There was a business meeting for approval of the budget and the consideration of priesthood calls. This was followed by a Mission Center Leadership Team meeting. After that we had a Mission Center Youth Ministries meeting.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we'll be making preparations for our upcoming Grand Opening weekend and other fast-approaching holiday events in December. We'll also continue with finishing the details on the new building.

Along with the individuals and activities mentioned as well as the continued progress on finalizing our building project, please keep the following persons in the forefront of your prayers:

Keith
Bradley
Wayne
David
William
Ron
Pat
Mallory

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