11/5/2006

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. The topic for the message was my life verse, 2 Timothy 1:7 (CEV). This Sunday was also the last week of our "backward offering" during which we passed the baskets and people took out invitation cards to distribute to friends. We'll continue to have a variety of cards available for people to pick up on their way out but they will not pertain directly to the coming week's sermon topic.

At Kids' Church we started learning the dance moves to a new song. We then did out traditional Halloween craft that illustrates the Pumpkin Prayer.

The time change brought a change in Evening Worship. Since the start of Daylight Saving Time we've had to turn the chairs around to face the back wall because the front wall had too much glare on it to use the overhead projector. We've now returned to facing the same direction for both services.

The whole church was put to use Monday evening. In the new section Danny, Tamara, and I put a fresh coat of paint on the floor in hopes of making it smooth enough to be mopped. (We had too much grit in our original coating so whenever we mopped the mop was shredded.) Gloria brought over refreshments to help keep us motivated. The front of the building was used for call-backs and auditions for Steve Gillilan's production company.

Tuesday night brought trick-or-treaters to the church doors. We had a significant increase in the number of kids which resulted in the highest number of kids served on Halloween since moving to James Street in 2000. We were also able to make a couple of good contacts with parents of kids who participate in activities.

We had a surprisingly smaller group of kids (around 72) participate in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. That evening after the Adult Disciples group's continued study of the Gospel of Mark, Jenn unveiled several new glass vases she had found for use both in our regular decoration and in worship centers. Once everyone had left I got out the paint rollers one more time and painted over the exit path we'd left dry on Monday.

Bob Kyser arrived in town from church headquarters on Thursday afternoon. It's been a little over a year since his last visit so it was his first chance to see the new building since we've moved in. That evening he joined the men's CORE group for a meal at a restaurant.

On Friday Bob and I had a chance to visit with each other and to visit in some homes. During this time we learned that Shirley's grandson Bobby had been arrested without a warrant. The story is too detailed to share in this format but it is a clear example of police overstepping their authority. Though his family has posted bail, he is still in jail at this writing and it is not anticipated that he'll be released before Monday.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Bob lead the instruction time in all three sessions and we had good participation throughout the evening. Afterward, Tamara, Jenn, Bob, and I went out together for a bite to eat.

Bob had breakfast at Woody and Gloria's house Saturday morning. Don came down from Princeton to spend the afternoon with him. Meanwhile, Jenn and I were at Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Jenn was responsible for much of the youth ministry during the conference and I shared the report from the congregation.

That evening Bob and I took Damon out to Friendly's for the ice cream sundae he'd earned by coming to church 40+ times in 4 months. (As I was walking over to find Damon, some other kids pointed out that the dumpster at the school was on fire and had me call 911 on my cell phone to get the fire department to come.) We had a good, open, lengthy time of visiting together. Damon described the church as "paradise in our neighborhood" and shared his testimony as to why he'd been baptized earlier this year. We continued to encourage him to stay in school and go to Graceland University upon graduation. We also started brainstorming as to how to get him out to experience a part of World Conference this March.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. Bob will be bringing the communion message at Morning Worship, participating at Kids' Church, and, during Evening Worship, sharing stories from his experiences traveling for the church in Africa. He returns to Missouri on Monday. In addition, our candle sale monies and forms are due in on Sunday. I'll be out of town at meetings for a couple of days this week and have an all day training with John Maxwell on Friday. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

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

Barry
John
Nate
Less
Angelique
Fred
Durrell
William

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