4/5/2009

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 two families bring their babies for blessings. The message put both the babies right to sleep. Earl assisted with the blessings.



We had 24 kids come for Kids’ Church that afternoon. Of the 24, 13 are new to the church since November. We talked about the change of seasons and made a spring craft.



Evening worship went longer than it usually does. We had a couple of people requesting administration and prayers over many needs as well as several testimonies of answered prayers.



Bill Brian was in town for a conference this week. He visited with Tamara and Jenn over dinner on Monday then he and I had dinner together Tuesday evening.



About 85 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. We had about 30 April Fool’s Day Beanie Babies that were given to us a while back that we gave to kids that morning, too.



Shortly after SonRisers ended the alarm system repair crew came to fix our system. They said it would be 3-4 hours to complete the job. Instead, they were at the church nearly 7 hours. During that time, we had a sound system company come in and analyze our system to find the source of some of its problems. The analysis was free and they’re writing up a quote for the repairs needed for it.



After the NA meeting that night we had two different groups meeting at the church. Adult Disciples met in the front room and studied the first several chapters of the Gospel of John. In the back room Gloria, Marjorie, and Graham met to put together some plans for the community walkability map. I joined that group once Adult Disciples was finished.



On Thursday morning a group of students from Diggs-Johnson Middle School their chaperones came to the building. They had been doing community survey walks and used the church for debriefing their experiences and for lunch. After lunch, we had a panel of community leaders that the kids could interview to get some further insights and ideas for their upcoming community service project.



That night there was a wedding rehearsal at the church. Meanwhile we had our monthly priesthood meeting at our house. The main topics of discussion at the meeting were the upcoming events (Easter through Bible School) and the congregation’s budget, which is stretched very thin right now.



We started working this week in getting our camp invitation list together and filling out camp forms. We sent a few out this week but will hit the bulk of them right after Easter. We still have a ways to go to get enough funding to send all the kids who have earned a trip there.



On Friday I got a call from the alarm company saying that our system was not working properly again. This did not make me happy. With all the extra activities next week we were unable to come up with an immediate time when we could have the system serviced.



That evening Janet came over to the church with her computer. We wanted to do a trial run for Sunday’s webcast from church headquarters. We found some glitches in our plans and came up with some alternative ideas.



That night brought Pizza Church. All groups studied different portions of the Palm Sunday scriptures. Near the end of the lesson, one middle school boy asked, “Did they ever find out who killed Jesus?” I told him we would be talking extensively about that next Friday and that he should be sure to come.



I met Violet at the church on Saturday morning. She was in charge of setting up for the wedding and I helped her get things going. Afterward I made a trip to Radio Shack to get some additional wires needed to connect the computer to the television for Sunday’s webcast.



On Saturday afternoon we got a letter from the Catholic school that Bryce and Onalee attend. It announced that the school will close in June. This school has been open 125 years but is not financially viable in our current economic situation.



That evening Vonceil and I tried out the technology from the morning’s trip to Radio Shack. With it we were able to tap into Tamara and Jenn’s wireless DSL connection from across the street from the church.



Looking ahead to next week we have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, we have an Evangelists Blessing scheduled after Morning Worship on Sunday. We’ll be watching the webcast from church headquarters at 8:00 p.m. Sunday night. Monday night from 5 – 7:00 is our fundraising night at Chick-fil-a at Lansdowne Station. I have a staff meeting on line from headquarters on Wednesday afternoon. This Thursday we’ll have our Last Supper Service at 7:00 p.m. On Good Friday the church will be open from noon – 3:00 p.m. for prayer and reflection. Throughout the week we’ll be distributing postcards in the neighborhood inviting people to celebrate Easter at the church. Next Saturday evening 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 Holquist Family

The Dennis Family

The Conley Family

The Epifanio Family

The Jeffers Family

The Compton Family

The Bryson Family

The Rhue 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