It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. During this communion service we continued our series on the Beatitudes. As has been the norm lately, less than half the group was there at 11:00 but many filtered in during the opening songs.
At Kids’ Church we talked about Matthew’s invitation to follow Jesus. We then made cross necklaces.
Once the kids left we set up for the “Big Game” party. We ended up with a smaller group than we did the last couple of years but were able to reach some new people. This included some folks from the NA meetings who found it to be a fun, drug-free environment to enjoy the game with friends. Our sale of snacks raised enough money for about 1.5 camperships for summer.
While once we basically had everything cleaned up we remembered that we still had one balloon in the rafters left over from Saturday’s baby shower. Tamara and Jenn threw Frisbees at it until they knocked it free.
On Monday I met with the Latham family at the funeral home to discuss some funeral plans. The funeral was on Tuesday afternoon. The funeral time pushed up against when I pick my kids up from school so, in case there were delays, Gloria picked up the kids from school and took them to Tamara’s house. The funeral had about 30 minutes of delays so everything was covered.
We had a small group again at this Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Since we had a few dozen donuts leftover I took them to the middle school for the staff. The principal was especially happy for the encouragement for the staff that day. The news the night before and that morning was filled with stories of the serious charges being dismissed in the court case of the girl who assaulted a teacher then posted the video on YouTube. City teachers were on edge over this.
We had a small group gather for Adult Disciples this Wednesday. The group took a more in-depth look at the parables in Matthew 25 and how they paint a picture of discipleship for today.
I had gotten a call earlier in the week about the infant son of a church member. They no longer live in the area. The baby was in the hospital in Richmond, Virginia, and the baby’s dad requested someone from the church come to the hospital. I was able to get in touch with the Webbs from the Chester congregation and they were able to provide hospital ministry.
As I was pulling out from in front of my house to take the kids to school on Thursday I caught the bumper of the pickup truck parked in front of me. I did about $1K worth of damage to my van with only a minor scuff to the pickup. Fortunately, this neighbor has liked us a lot ever since he got medical care at the night clinic so he wasn’t too bothered by the silver paint on his bumper.
When I got back home that morning the garbage collectors had taken everyone’s garbage but ours. I called the city to have them come back. When they did, they let me know that they didn’t take my garbage because they were afraid of breaking my Rubbermaid garbage can. Though I’ve used it for some time I had to waive liability in case it broke.
One of the women who runs the NA group on Thursday night has a group home for handicapped adults. We had several packages of hot dog buns left over from the “Big Game” party and they were delighted to take them home.
Toward the end of the week I distributed letters to the parents of five senior high members of the church. The letters talked about this summer’s International Youth Forum in Missouri followed by SPECTACULAR at Graceland University in Iowa. We’ve never had this many potential participants before so I wanted to introduce the idea to the parents. I’ll be visiting with the families in the upcoming weeks to see who is committed to going and who is not so we can more accurately set our fundraising goals and get started on providing this once in a lifetime opportunity for them.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had good sized groups throughout the evening. As is usual for the first Friday of the month, I posted a listing of the top camp credit earners. This month, with dreams of summer camp starting to take root, kids paid a little more attention to the listing and noted what they would need to do to ensure a bed at camp this summer.
I spent a good portion of the day on Saturday working on a presentation at the upcoming Mission Center Pastors Gathering. I also spent some time on the front steps of the house with people who needed some spiritual counseling.
That evening when I went to the church to finish work on the morning’s message I discovered that the furnace in the front room of the church had quit working. It blows air but there’s no heat. Let’s hope it’s not too expensive of a repair.
Looking ahead to next week we have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, the Citizens of Pigtown will hold their monthly meeting at the church on Tuesday evening. Hopefully, we’ll have the furnace fixed in time for this meeting. On Thursday is our monthly Priesthood Meeting. Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Café.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Meyers Family
The Wheeler Family
The Beyer Family
The Cox Family
The Sykes Family
The Battle Family
The Brannon Family
The Pailer 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
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