11/29/2009

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

It started with people gathering an hour early for church. The mission center’s teleconference for the election of officers for World Conference started at 10:00 a.m. Between the end of the teleconference and the start of Morning Worship we had donuts and coffee.

This breakfast time also provided an opportunity for the group visiting from out of state to interact with the Morning Worship crowd. Bob Kyser brought the message during the service. We had a couple of administrations afterward.

The Michigan and Missouri crew and I went out to get lunch between Morning Worship and Kids’ Church. As we ate we debriefed the weekend and shared some additional thoughts to topics we’d already discussed.

It was a good thing that the group stayed for Kids’ Church. We had the highest number of kids in attendance that we’ve had on any Sunday this fall. Many of the kids were new to Kids’ Church. Everyone jumped into the fray and helped kids with their Thanksgiving craft projects.

The vanload of people from Michigan headed out right after Kids’ Church. Those driving back to Missouri stayed through the evening’s Celebration Service.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving is traditionally the day for our annual Dessert Potluck. Last year it had limited participation so I thought that it may have run its course. This year the opposite was true. After having open mike time at the Celebration Service during which people shared things for which they were thankful, we dived into a buffet of desserts. We had to set up an extra table just to hold all the sweets. Everyone ate all they wanted. Most people took a plate of leftovers home and we took additional leftovers to neighbors.

The next morning I took Bob to the airport to catch his flight back to Missouri. Afterward I shopped for some Christmas supplies for the church.

We expected a smaller group of kids on Wednesday as often kids don’t go to school the day before a holiday. We were surprised when 94 kids participated in SonRisers that morning.

Later that day we worked on some projects. We ordered our marketing materials for the Christmas Eve Service, printed posters for the upcoming Arundel Singers concert, and wrote the Kids’ Church Newsletter for December. After the unusually small NA Meeting that evening just a couple of us gathered for the Mid-Week Service.

We were up at the crack of dawn on Friday waiting in line at Staples for doorbuster sales. The church’s computer is over 10 years old and the printer with it came with us from Texas and is over 12 years old. We were early enough to get the church a new laptop computer.

Bryce and I went back to Staples a couple of hours later once the copy center was open so we could get our printing done for the weekend. While there, the manager gave us a cartload of odds-and-ends merchandise that had been discontinued. The cart included things ranging from pens and tape to bulletin boards and dry erase boards.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Due to the holidays and a last minute emergency I ended up being the only adult present. The first two groups went well as we read some of the prophecies of Christmas. Most of the kids knew very little about the Christmas story so I encouraged their participation over the next few weeks as we study it. The third group was a little rough but not bad. In it we continued our study of the Gospel of Matthew.

We had about double the usual number of kids Saturday night at Sundae Church than we usually do. It was still a small gathering but that’s what it’s designed to be. We did consume quite a bit of ice cream in the process.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we have our annual business meeting on Sunday evening. Throughout the week we’ll be preparing for the two extra events of Sunday, December 6: baptisms at Morning Worship and the Arundel Singers Christmas Concert that evening.

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

The Spence Family
The Whitfield Family
The Stewart Family
The Coates Family
The Pendleton Family
The Watkins Family
The Allen Family
The Heck 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