4/24/2005

It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.

It started out Sunday, April 10, with our three services. We had above-average sized
crowds throughout the day. Everyone who came was given a flier about the Anniversary
Open House. They were to take it home and give it to someone else. One girl who had
only been to church a couple of times gave it to her dad. He immediately called the
church to let us know he was studying to become a ventriloquist and volunteered to do a
show at the event.

The water stain on our ceiling from the leak in the roof got bigger over night. This was
especially strange since we hadn't gotten rain in a few days. We're still working on
this one.

Jenn, Onalee, and I walked over to the stable building on Tuesday morning to check out
the facilities for the banquet. We were able to decide how to arrange tables and
decorations.

About 70 kids participated in SonRisers. That night the Adult Disciples group studied 1
Kings.

Throughout the week we distributed fliers advertising the upcoming Open House. We handed
out a few hundred each evening.

By Thursday night most of the final preparations for the banquet and open house were
complete. We'd bought hundreds of hot dogs and buns as well as many bags of chips and
bottles of pop. The cakes were baked, the decorations ready, and the gifts assembled.

Peter and Kris Judd arrived from Missouri on Friday afternoon. Once here we took a short
walking tour of Pigtown. We looked at the murals and park improvements, visited with
people, and got a feel for the lay of the land.
Each session of Pizza Church had a Q&A time with Peter and Kris. Along with the pizza,
each group had its own anniversary cake in celebration of the congregation's 10th
anniversary. Friday was April 15, the actual anniversary date.

When Peter, Kris, and I arrived at the church around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, Danny, Jenn,
and Tamara were already there decorating the church and setting up the grill for the hot
dogs. Others stopped by to drop off cakes and help finish the setup. Among them was
Jerry. He was on his first trip back to Pigtown since he started treatment for Leukemia
back in January.

By 11:00 we were ready for business. Over the course of the next two hours, we had
performances by a magician, a ventriloquist, and Sparkles the clown. Tamara and Jenn did
face painting and Danny grilled the hot dogs. The sunny day was perfect for this event.
By the end we had served 200 hot dogs, gone through about 17 2-liter bottles of pop, and
eaten about 8 cakes.

By about 4:45 we began to gather at the stables to get the room ready for the banquet.
Tamara and Jenn decorated the tables and other key areas. The caterers came and set up
the food. Don helped set up tables and handled the electronics for the evening.

The Judds weren't the only ones to come from out of town for the anniversary. Darlene
flew in from Florida for the weekend and Don drove down from New Jersey for the banquet
on Saturday. We also had several people from the Towson congregation and a few people
from other congregations in the mission center come for the festivities.

As people arrived for the event they were directed to the courtyard where we had set out
14 large photo albums filled with thousands of pictures taken at events over the last 10
years. We left them out for the entire evening and people kept going back to them to
relive old memories.

Along with eating the wonderful food at the banquet, we read poetry by Jimmie Radliff,
recognized people's service from the last 10 years, and had an address by Kris and Peter.
While they were eating, each of the 70 or so people there was given a framed photograph
of themselves participating in an activity at the church.

We had everything cleaned up and were ready to head home by shortly after 9:00. Once
everything was out of the van I took the Judds to Washington, DC, to see some of the
monuments by night. We got back from that at about 1:30 in the morning.

Sunday brought our three services. During Morning Worship we elected delegates to World
Conference, had short messages from me and from Peter, and had a congregational blessing
offered by Peter. We danced and sang at Kids' Church then shared together in an
anniversary cake, complete with 10 candles. At Evening Worship Kris and Peter shared
some of their experiences with the saints from around the globe.

Once the services were over the young adult group took the Judds out to dinner. After
they got back to our house we visited until about 2:00 a.m.

Danny and Gloria met up with Peter, Kris, Onalee, and me for breakfast on Monday morning.
After that there was about enough time for the Judds to pack up as they needed to leave
for the airport by 11:30.

The rest of the week was spent getting back on schedule after the weekend. In the midst
of that, Tamara started a new job, a family with some of our most actively attending kids
moved away, one member was hospitalized due to concerns with her heart, and we had
several pressing issues with our building contractor.

By the weekend we learned the results of the election of delegates for World Conference.
Among the 23 delegates from the Chesapeake Bay Mission Center, Robert, Jenn, and I will
be serving in this way.

By Saturday night we were ready for some ice cream. We had our monthly Sundae Church
with the senior high kids that evening. With several of our best-attending high school
students moving out of the neighborhood in the past week we had a different mix of kids
for the event.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we
expect to hear from legal services regarding the contract on the new building.

Along with the individuals and activities mentioned as well as the continued progress on
our building project, please keep the following individuals in the forefront of your
prayers:

Damon
Julia
Theresa
Jamie
Forrest
Troy
Donsaygo
Durrell

Thank you for your continued prayers support.

Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
"Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now"
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org