1/31/2010

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Some of last week’s first time visitors returned for this service. We also started raising money for Haiti and brought in nearly $400.00.

During Kids’ Church we started our lessons from the book of Judges. Once learning about the book overall we learned about the judge Deborah.

That evening we hosted what we call a “Personal Solid Rock Cafe.” Kids earn this prize through attendance credits. For it, we block out an hour when just 2-3 kids are invited to come in play games, use the Wii on the big screen, and have snacks. We’ll be doing several more of these between now and summer.

A new semester started in the public schools on Monday. When Vonceil welcomed the new kids to her class she realized she had a couple of boys who used to come to the church when they were in elementary school. This was before we added onto the building back in ’05 so it had been a while. They recognized her and they all got reacquainted.

When we turned on the evening news Tuesday we learned that our neighborhood middle school was slated to close at the end of the year. Since the start of the 2010, our neighborhood has already lost its supermarket, pharmacy, and community advocacy center. This was not happy news.

Around 60 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Afterward we welcomed this semester’s nursing students to their first meeting at the church. I had a meeting with my mission center president mid-day. The NA group had an unusually large meeting that afternoon. Only a couple of people came to Mid-Week Service so we focused on some specific prayer needs instead of the lesson.

When I was closing up the building that evening I noticed something in the offering box that wasn’t there earlier in the afternoon. Apparently, someone at the NA meeting saw our envelopes with the red “Haiti Earthquake Relief” stickers on them, and decided to donate to the cause.

We spent a lot of energy on Thursday dealing with all the recent closures in the neighborhood. I visited the principal at the middle school to support her and get a better understanding of the plans for our kids. I began coordinating with Paul’s Place regarding space available for community meetings and events. Marjorie (UMB School of Nursing) spent some time on the phone with us starting to look at long-term strategies beyond the immediate crisis.

We also worked on more forward looking things on Thursday, too. We ordered our Easter marketing materials (we had a coupon that would expire on Sunday that saved us $95). We visited with Diane McNeil and worked on plans for when the Michigan State students are here in March. The Census Bureau verified their job testing dates for next week. We also got our web site and Facebook page updated.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups continued with their video lessons. One of Vonceil’s students who used to be active in church here along with another boy who we’ve reconnected with via Facebook participated in the senior high session.

On Saturday my family and I were at the home improvement show checking out contractors for some work we need on our house. We ran across a booth that featured bricks that are shaped a little differently so that they can more easily be used to replace vinyl siding with brick. This is something we’ve needed on the church since the first building went up (FYI --- vinyl does not withstand skateboards well at all). When the salesman came over we told him that we were just looking because we didn’t have money available for the product. We talked for a few minutes longer about the size of the project and he said that they had discontinued some colors and had leftover stock in the warehouse that they would be willing to donate to us to make room for the new colors. They’re going to come out, measure the church, and see if their discontinued bricks will meet our needs.

That afternoon people showed up for Elizabeth’s memorial service. The service, however, is next Saturday.

We had lots of paperwork on Saturday as well. This included such things as marketing materials for the “Big Game” Party and the February parent newsletter for Kids’ Church.

Sarah, Tamara, and I took three kids to Friendly’s on Saturday night. Each kid had earned a trip there through coming to church at least 40 times since July. Since we were in the middle of a snowstorm there was no waiting of ice cream at the restaurant.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we have a Personal Solid Rock Café scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I’m teaching the nursing student class on Wednesday morning to help the students learn more about the neighborhood. The Census Bureau will be administering tests at the church on Wednesday and Friday afternoon. I have my annual job performance evaluation on Thursday. Next Saturday afternoon is Elizabeth’s memorial service. Throughout the week we’ll be preparing for the “Big Game” Party on February 7.

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

The Riddick Family
The Jones Family
The Zachary Family
The Kline Family
The Yankee Family
The Ruby Family
The Lydick Family
The King 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