11/30/2008

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



It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Privately just before the service began I was able to get a Safeway gift card in the hands of a family in need. The Towson Congregation had provided the card for a Thanksgiving meal as it has for many years.



At Kids’ Church we wrote things we were thankful for on leaf stickers then stuck them on the tree branches in the picture. In helping one of the younger kids write, the first thing he was thankful for was “Bugs!,” second was “Crayons,” and third was “Jesus.” The young adults in the front room were thankful that the Ravens won.



We had a rather small Evening Worship considering that it was our annual dessert potluck. In any event, we had a great selection of sweet treats to share together. As one person said, “It’s like a circus on my plate.”



Throughout the day on Sunday we handed out Advent packets to people. These consisted of a letter from the pastor and calendar with daily scripture readings for the Advent season. The ones we weren’t able to give out on Sunday went in Monday’s mail.



I got a call from Charla on Monday. She’s a friend of a friend of the congregation who had her baby shower here several months ago. She wanted to see if there was a time we could have a blessing for the baby. We found that the Christmas Eve Service worked well for all of us so we scheduled it for then.



Speaking of babies, we learned that Courtney and Will had their baby on Monday. The delivery went fine. They named him Adam. Later in the week I heard through a couple of branches of the grapevine that John and his girlfriend had their baby this week, too. I hope to find out more information there soon.



As expected with the holiday, we had a smaller group of kids for SonRisers on Wednesday. About 60 kids participated in it. Afterward, Tamara and I provided some pastoral counseling to a person who has been through a series of challenging events lately.



With Thanksgiving preparations and celebrations we cancelled all activities after the NA meeting on Wednesday and all day on Thursday. We still had a little activity at the church as one family needed to borrow a table and another needed to get something out of storage.



Christmas gifts came early for us this year. There were some things we needed at the church that were “doorbuster” sales at Staples this Friday. While there the manager told me she had a few things they were donating to the church. She then had one of her employees roll out an entire palate full of supplies, including folders, a lamp, computer bags, copy paper, stationary, file folders, envelopes, and numerous other things. It was good that I had the van with me as it would not have all fit in the car. I estimate we received well over $500 worth of supplies in the donation.



Later that day I ran into Bobby while I was out walking. He and his girlfriend had been talking about wanting to have their baby blessed so we set it up for Christmas Eve as well.



We had good groups throughout the evening at Pizza Church. The first two groups read and talked about prophecies about Jesus while the third group continued its study of the Gospel of John.



On Saturday I made and distributed posters for the upcoming Christmas Concert with the Arundel Singers. This initial phase of marketing focused on getting some posters in strategic locations (the Laundromat, the library, etc.) and getting the information out to other churches in the neighborhood.



Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, Dave, Tamara, and I will go to the bank together on Tuesday to update the signature cards in preparation for Tamara becoming the financial officer in January. Next Saturday we’ll be filling the font for a baptism during Morning Worship.



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



The Saffran Family

The Ceo Family

The Yankee Family

The Starlipper Family

The Pearson Family

The Torres Family

The Whitfield Family

The Bryant 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