7/16/2006

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

It started out Sunday morning with people very excited about their experiences at the Billy Graham festival. Several people in the congregation had attended and all who went had powerful experiences there that they couldn't wait to share with one another. We had a small group for Kids' Church. During Evening Worship we heard testimonies from campers and staff about their experiences at this year's youth camp.

As a part of the announcements at church on Sunday I held up a flier from Staples. They had several school supply items on sale for $.01 each. Naturally, there were limited quantities on these items. I encouraged people from the congregation to buy these items and donate them to the church for our annual school supply distribution. By 1:30 p.m. I had people who had been at Morning Worship knocking at my front door dropping off the supplies they had purchased immediately after church. Different people continued to bring the supplies in over the course of the week.

Our van was vandalized again overnight on Sunday. This is at least the fourth time in the past couple of months.

On Monday evening there was a concert in the park. The Friends of Carroll Park, under the direction of Gloria, was able to use some of the tables from the church as they sold snacks.

I got a letter in Tuesday's mail from the Billy Graham festival. In it I received a listing of people from the congregation who had registered at the event. It encouraged me to visit with them and asked that I return the forms to them once I had. I was impressed with how quickly they provided follow-up information to local pastors.

On Tuesday we had a priesthood meeting. The main topic of discussion was the synchronization of our schedules for the next 6 weeks. In that time period we have several guest ministry opportunities, Bible School, vacations, and a conference so making sure everyone was on the same page was essential. Once it was over Tamara, Jenn, and I met to discuss Bible School plans. We followed that up by reserving an inflatable obstacle course and a moon bounce for the last day of Bible School.

The Adult Disciples group continued its study of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on Wednesday evening. As we were transitioning from class time to prayer time several police cars raced past the church. Within seconds we heard gunfire. The police had shot and killed a man at the end of our block. This was the 4th serious violent incident that had happened within a block of the church in 7 days. It's been a tough summer so far. After discovering what had happened most people felt the need to get home right away so we had individual rather than group prayer time that night.

In watching the news that night and the next day it was extremely frustrating to see how much more air time was given to keeping people up to date on the health of a horse that had injured itself in the Preakness back in May than was given to the police killing someone in the last 24 hours.

On Thursday we had a pleasant surprise visit from Melody. She was in town from Afghanistan for some training and found a couple of hours to come by.

Friday brought Pizza Church. We had a good group as we experimented with the format of the activity. The group learned the story of Zacchaeus.

On Saturday Jenn, Bryce, Tamara, Donald, Erin, and I participated in some of the activities at our Mission Center Reunion in Springfield, Virginia. At the end of the day there was a time for congregations to present gifts to Rick and Kay, our Mission Center President and his wife, as they retire and move out of the area. Bryce presented a bird gazebo with a church seal and a Power House logo on it from our congregation.

While at Reunion a couple of people who had heard about the school supply drive brought several bags and boxes of items for me to take back to the congregation. One person told me how much she liked buying school supplies but didn't have many kids to buy them for any more. She wondered if she could watch the sales, shop, and send what she bought our way. Naturally, we were happy to empower her to do so.

Looking ahead to next week we will have our regular schedule of activities. In addition we'll be welcoming Kris and Peter Judd who will be providing guest ministry in the neighborhood throughout the week.

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

Alicia
Donna
Patricia
Karin
Shirley
Violet
Theresa
Vickey

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