1/24/2010

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had more kids at the service than usual, several of whom we hadn’t seen in more than a year. We also had lots of trouble with our video projection. Our back-up plan didn’t work as well as we had hoped and we ended up projecting the text on the screen backward. We were able to fix the back-up system before Kids’ Church.

At Kids’ Church we finished our study of the book of Joshua. We talked about what it meant for the Promised Land to be “a land of milk and honey.” We then made butter out of cream, something that almost none of the kids had ever done before.

As soon as Kids’ Church ended we headed home to watch the webcast from church headquarters. Because of a lack of internet connection at the church we decided to just encourage those people who could to watch it at home.

The webcast ended just in time to get back to the church for our monthly Celebration Service. As a part of the evening we watched one of the videos we’re using at Pizza Church then all ate pizza together.

We learned officially on Tuesday that the Village Center was closing at the end of the month. We’ve worked both collectively on projects and in parallel with this organization over the years in community development work. Their closing leaves a giant gap in the neighborhood for some much needed services.

About 65 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. We noticed that the pattern of kids coming into the building was a little different than usual. We later learned that the school was on a security alert and was sending kids through the metal detectors that morning. That explained why our pattern had changed.

The Census Bureau used the building on Wednesday and Friday for employment testing. The participation was much better this week than last. They still need to administer some additional tests so they’ll be using the building again in a couple of weeks.

I was able to get some things done around the church while people were taking their Census tests. Most notably I removed the well-worn bulletin boards from our front sign and replaced them with new ones. The new boards are of a much higher quality and were among the items in the cartload of free supplies that we received from Staples just after Thanksgiving.

Marjorie and I met together for breakfast on Thursday. We discussed several things that have happened recently, like the closing of the Village Center and the loss of Safeway, and their ramifications in the neighborhood. We also looked at some calendar planning for later this spring, including trying to nail down a date for the health fair.

We leaned officially on Friday that Elizabeth passed away earlier in the week. We’ll have a memorial service for her at the church on Saturday, February 6.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Each group continued in its own series. Saturday night was our monthly Sundae Church.

We also learned this week that the group from Michigan State University will be coming to the neighborhood on their spring break. We’ll start coordinating with them organizing plans for their time here.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we will welcome the nursing students from the University of Maryland for their first on-site class on Wednesday. I also have a meeting with our Mission Center President that day. Some kids from here will be heading to the Ski Retreat next weekend. We also have several kids who have earned rewards so we’ll be spending extra time throughout the week making sure that they receive them.

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

The Partman Family
The Frasier Family
The Watson Family
The Starlipper Family
The Locklear Family
The Mays Family
The Armstrong Family
The Glaesar-Bolaski 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