It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday, November 2, with only one person arriving an hour early for the communion service following the time change. During Kids’ Church the kids made self portraits on large cut-outs. After the football game and Evening Worship Smitty, Bryce, Tayvia, and I finished painting the floor of the main room. I then joined the mission center teleconference, which was already about half finished.
That Tuesday we waited in line at the polls to vote. This was the first time I’ve had to wait in line to vote since moving to Baltimore. While at the polls I got to see several people who I hadn’t seen in quite a while and catch up with what’s been going on in their lives.
90 kids participated in SonRisers that Wednesday morning. Afterward we reset the furniture at the church on the freshly painted floors.
That noon was the final New Moms Group. In discussing where to go from here we started talking about offering a babysitting class to the middle school girls. We’re starting to look at dates for that.
That night about 35 people participated in Family Bowling. Afterward, Heidi, Tamara, and I worked on changing the spotlights. (Yes, it took three of us to change a light bulb ---- two to hold the ladder and one to climb up 22 feet to switch out the bulb.)
On Tuesday voters approved slots machines in Maryland. By Thursday, the city had already approved spending $4M to acquire the remaining land needed for the slots parlor. The land for this parlor is within walking distance of our neighborhood.
Apostle Len Young arrived in town on Friday afternoon. He visited with a person considering membership in the church then taught two of the Pizza Church sessions that evening. After Pizza Church those who could stay set up the church for Saturday’s Mission Center Conference.
Saturday brought Mission Center Conference to Pigtown. Joshua, Bryce, and Robert greeted people in the parking lot at Diggs-Johnson Middle School and gave people directions for walking to the church from there. Gloria and Vonceil met people at the door while Shirley, Patricia, and Violet stayed in the main room to be available to help people and answer questions. Damon, Patricia, and Violet all shared testimonies during the opening worship service.
Some people who couldn’t be there provided critical support, too. On Friday night we realized that we didn’t have enough spoons for lunch so Danny went shopping and delivered them and some other supplies he realized we were short on before going to work Saturday morning. Before she went to class that day, Tamara brought over four kinds of bread she’d baked (pumpkin, banana, strawberry, and blueberry) and coffee for the morning break.
Throughout the morning session of conference people brought over soups. Several people had prepared them to serve at lunch. We also had rolls that Vonceil got from the bakeshop at her school, pop, and candy. The lunch was available for a free-will offering with all proceeds going to help provide church buildings in Russia and Ukraine. In all we raised $845 for the cause.
Our monthly Solid Rock Café was that night. With Jenn and Sarah at the Young Adult Retreat at Deer Park in Pennsylvania it was good that Edith and Tacy could join Tamara and me in staffing it. While there Johnathan talked about going to Graceland University. This surprised us all as he’s been cool toward attending college even though he’ll graduate this year with good grades. We all talked with him about what he needs to do to become a Graceland student.
This last Sunday was extra full. We had our regular Morning Worship service. At 1:00 we had a larger than normal group gather in the front room for the football game. At the same time we had a memorial service for Tim Conley in the main room. We were anticipating 12-20 people at the service and around 45 came. After that came Kids’ Church with a lesson and craft about Daniel in the lion’s den. As that was finishing up Jenn arrived back from the retreat and updated us on what happened there. Part of the focus for Evening Worship was on prayer for the new leadership in our country.
When this was all over, I took Bryce to McDonalds. He’d been my right hand all day at Mission Center Conference, helped clean up after Solid Rock, monitored the door and ran the sound system at the memorial service, then set up for Kids’ Church. This was in addition to his regular responsibilities on Sunday. He deserved a break that day.
On Tuesday the Citizens of Pigtown held its monthly meeting at the church. Afterward they were hosting a discussion about changing our neighborhood to a paid permit parking zone. This debate is passionate and has many people upset.
90 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities again this week. That night was our final Family Bowling Night for the season.
Thursday night was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. The most time consuming agenda item for the night was the discussion of some changes in our traditional programming for the Christmas season. We finally came up with a plan that looks like it will be viable.
This week we spent time preparing for the fast-approaching Advent season. We designed new fliers and ordered them. The daily advent calendars came in the mail and we composed a letter to go with them when we send them out in another week. We worked on quite a few odds and ends along those lines as well.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids didn’t have school that day due to staff development. It was also a drizzly evening. We knew that would mean we’d either have very large crowds or very small ones. We ended up with small groups throughout the evening.
By the time things were finished at Pizza Church fog had settled in. People behave differently in the fog so I took advantage of the weather and went out walking for a while to meet up with people and to see what was going on.
We spent some time this week completing the follow-up paperwork for the grant monies we received for Family Bowling Nights. They had several forms for me to fill out and a questionnaire for others who participated in the activities. If all goes well we’ll have the papers in the mail on Monday.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we’ll be taking some kids who have earned milkshakes to Burger King after Kids’ Church. On Wednesday we have our annual business meeting at 7:00 p.m. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Maybe Family
The Young Family
The Jackson Family
The Buchanan Family
The Wallace Family
The Player Family
The Hooks Family
The Smith 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
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