12/20/2009

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During the service we had “open mike” time to share how we’ve seen God’s love for us. Several people were eager to share and we heard testimony of a variety of ways God’s love is shown.

That afternoon was our Kids’ Church Christmas Celebration. Vonceil had baked Christmas cut-out cookies and manned a station where the kids could decorate them with frosting and sprinkles before eating them. Sarah staffed the crafts tables while Anna oversaw the coloring and games stations. Patricia took charge of attendance and I floated among the stations. The kids all came in, relaxed, behaved, and had a good time.

That evening was our monthly Priesthood meeting. We had a short agenda and mainly outlined the calendar through early May. We’ll conquer the details of the scheduled events once we’re through the Christmas season.

Monday had meetings with conflicting times. There was a meeting of the Drug Free Communities initiative at the Village Center. Gloria did double duty representing both the Friends of Carroll Park and the church (both of which have seats on the committee). Meanwhile, I was on a Mission Center Leadership Team conference call.

81 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Vonceil was sick that day and not able to take Onalee to her school program. Since I needed to go to it, Patricia closed for the NA meeting and we moved the teacher care package assembly to Thursday evening.

Much of the day on Wednesday was spent on our Christmas Eve mailing. We were working off of a couple different mailing lists so it took some time to cross-check them and eliminate duplicate mailings. By the end of the day things were printed, sorted stamped, and ready to go. They went out in Saturday’s mail.

Tamara and I assembled the teacher care packages on Thursday evening. Afterward we spent some time discussing how to best use the gift cards and gift money the congregation had been given to help bless people this Christmas season.

We had small groups throughout the evening at Pizza Church. Each group had age-appropriate games that involved putting the elements of the Christmas story in chronological order. Between sessions Tamara spent some time counseling with a girl whose friend had recently committed suicide.

Baltimore was hit with a major snowstorm on Saturday. It shut down the city. Though our postcards were put in the mailbox to go out on Saturday, we did not have mail service in the neighborhood due to the storm.

Apparently, the thing to do during a snowstorm is to spend time on Facebook. On Saturday we were able to reconnect with some young adults via Facebook who we haven’t seen since they were in middle school.

That night we filled the font for Sunday evening’s baptism service. Hopefully, everyone will be able to come as scheduled.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we’ll be dealing with the ramification of Saturday’s snowfall for Sunday’s activities. Sunday night we’ll have a baptism and confirmation at the Celebration Service and a Christmas dinner afterward. Throughout the first half of the week we’ll be distributing invitations to the Christmas Eve Service (though we’re not sure of the schedule due to needing passable sidewalks). Thursday at 7:30 p.m. is the Christmas Eve Service. With Christmas on Friday we’ve cancelled Pizza Church. Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.

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

The Lilly Family
The Wilson Family
The Sturgis Family
The Jackson Family
The Jones Family
The Holquist Family
The Cox Family
The Ashley 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