6/1/2008

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



It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. The topic for the message was 1 Corinthians 1:11. We then had 4 people, Monica, Alyssia, Keith, and John, get baptized and confirmed. I baptized the kids and Danny baptized his brother-in-law. This was the first time Danny had baptized someone.



Just as I left the church I heard a car horn beeping. I turned around and I saw Josh get out. He had just gotten home from serving in the Army. It sounds like he’s going to now be in the reserves and start college in the fall.



Both Tamara and Jenn were out of town for the day so that left Vonceil and me in charge of Kids’ Church. We decided to show a Veggie Tale on the plasma TV. Unfortunately, most of the kids who showed up were at the older end of our age spectrum so it wasn’t quite the right lesson. After a while, though, they did settle in.



We had a different group of people than we usually do at Evening Worship. It included Dot Chapman who was one of the first teachers of Kids’ Church back before I got here. This was the first time she’d been in the new building.



Throughout the service people seemed to have an abundance of good news to share. Folks relaxed and celebrated what God was doing in their lives.



After the service, we celebrated Shawna’s high school graduation with cake and fellowship. Earl brought the cake and left the uneaten half for us to use up here. Once we closed up the church for the night, Bryce and I delivered the remaining pieces to neighbors who were sitting out on their steps on James Street and Glyndon Avenue.



And, in case anyone’s lost track of time, Sunday also marked the 10th anniversary of my family’s arrival in Pigtown.



We received a couple of donations for camperships this week. The Towson Congregation also gave us some money to help offset the rising costs of gas for transporting the kids to and from camp. We still have a ways to go to get all our camp expenses covered, but this week moved us in the right direction.



101 kids participated in Wednesday’s SonRisers activities. Historically, participation drops off this late in the school year but that has not been the case this year. We only have 2 weeks of SonRisers left before we close it down for the summer.



While setting up for NA Wednesday afternoon Christina came by. She used to attend when she was in middle school. She’s now in her 20s, lives several miles away, and has a 2 month old baby. She came by to see if we could schedule a baby blessing during an upcoming Morning Worship. We’ll have the blessing on June 8.



That evening the Adult Disciples group continued with “Prince Caspian.” A few people had seen the movie and were even more excited about reading the book. Afterward, Tamara and I walked over to LB’s house to give her baby gifts from some of the women in the congregation.



I was able to make contact with several other parents regarding sending their kids to camp. One came with her daughter for the baptism on Sunday so we were able to take care of it after the service. When I stopped at Darrell’s house to see his mom, she verified that the camp was at Prince William Forrest campgrounds in Virginia. She said, “That’s the same campground that I went to with a church when I was his age.” She was very excited that her son would now be able to go there, too.



Our Thursday NA group has not had much participation lately. The leader met up with another group that meets at a similar time that needs a new place to meet. They decided to merge the groups and see if they could meet in our building. We talked on Thursday and have a few details to work out and some schedules to shuffle but should soon have the combined group meeting at the church.



I when walking around the neighborhood I ran into a man who had done some work on our house. I hadn’t seen him in a few years. I was greeted by him with, “You’re still here?!?” He had recently moved back to Pigtown and found the place depressing. “People here won’t listen and won’t ever change,” he said. “Any work here is just a @*&$#% waste of time.”



We ordered some new banners for the church this week. We needed to replace the one that was damaged in the windstorm a couple of months ago. We also got a fresh new banner for Bible School as the one we’ve been using for several years is getting a bit worn and dated.



Friday night brought Pizza Church. We were planning on distributing permission slips to go to Friendly’s on Saturday but none of the kids who had earned a trip there showed up this week. We did, however, have a couple of senior high boys who we owed milkshakes show up at the 3rd session. Since the weather was nice and their parents were home so we could get permission easily, we walked down to Burger King together after Pizza Church. While there, one of the boys won a chicken nugget meal with the game piece that was on his cup. He redeemed it immediately and ate it while we walked home.



The font was still out on Friday. This always stimulates conversation about baptism. Usually, the kids have some concepts or ideas about baptism having witnessed them take place somewhere in their lives. If they haven’t seen one they’ve read about it in the Bible or friends have talked about it. We had one kid this week, though, where that was not the case. He had absolutely no idea, no concept, and no encounter with the whole concept of baptism. Hopefully, our discussions planted some good seed in his life.



The weather was especially beautiful Saturday evening so I had the chance to visit with lots of people who were out on their front steps enjoying the fresh air. When I got to the church Saturday evening Danny was already there. He was draining the font and getting it put away.



Looking ahead to next week we’ll have our regular schedule of activities. With camp upon us we’ll be in full preparation and planning mode for that event. In addition, we have an H3 meeting on Wednesday. Next Saturday Gloria and I are attending a “Celebrate Recovery” training in Annapolis.



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



Mary

Ed

Arthur

Michelle

Darrod

Jamie

Brent

Larry



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