8/7/2009

It's been a busy few weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland. Here are some to the highlights:

Donald and I flew out to the Midwest for the International Youth Forum at church headquarters in Independence, Missouri, and for Spectacular at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. Donald had an incredible time at both events and won several medals in the sports competitions at Spectacular. By the time it was over he'd decided to attend Graceland this fall. We're in the process of getting his financial paperwork finished and raising money to make up the difference. He starts there the end of August.

In the past few weeks we've had several people who we haven't seen in a long time (some over a year) show up at services. Among them was and Tammy. Tammy was excited to share with us that two of her daughters are pregnant and she'll become a grandmother twice this fall. We've got her thinking ahead and planning to have all the family come and share in a service in which both babies can be blessed.

We had two students graduate from high school at the end of June this year. We had a cake after Evening Worship last weekend to celebrate their accomplishment. Tayvia was present but Donald ended up not being there as he was asked to be on staff at Camp Opportunity.

Construction of the addition has continued at a brisk pace. The bulk of the masonry work is now finished. The trusses for the roof are scheduled for delivery on Monday and installation later in the week. After that they will be able to pour the floor. The contractor contacted me this week to tell me that they are actually running a couple weeks ahead of schedule.

One side effect of the construction has been problems with our air conditioning. All the dust, especially from the cutting of the concrete, easily clogs up our air intake filter. With little warning, once it is clogged the cooling system shuts down. With heat indexes around 100 each day, Danny has had to come over to the church and clean it out at least daily throughout this week.

We had our annual Bible School August 2 - 5. With the construction we intentionally limited marketing in hopes of having a smaller group of kids this year. That in conjunction with us scheduling it a couple weeks earlier than usual and summer school running later than most years brought us the smallest Bible School attendance since summer of 1998. Though it wasn't our best year for evangelism, the kids who came received some much-needed one-on-one attention from the adults. We also have enough craft supplies and snacks left over that we have a nice stockpile for future use.

Gloria has been preparing for her first opportunity to officiate at a wedding. She's met with the couple a few times and she's had me look over the service she's put together. The wedding is later this month.

Jerry was able to receive his bone marrow transplant from his brother Joshua. So far he hasn't had to deal with many of the negative side effects that often accompany such a procedure. He's expected to be in the hospital for another 6 weeks or so. The family had a car wash on Saturday to help raise money to cover his bills.

Also on Saturday Tamara, Jenn, Tayvia, and I went to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. Tayvia had earned a trip there for coming to church on average of three times a week during the last school year.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly priesthood meeting on Thursday evening. I'll be attending the Willow Creek Leadership Summit out of Chicago live via satellite at a church just north of Baltimore. Saturday brings our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

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

Pat
Bruce
Mark
Gary
Brittany
Lachelle
Jasmine
Butch

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