8/9/2009

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

It’s been so long let me just make a list of some of the highlights:

-Dan Redick and his family came to Evening Worship on July 12 to share with the congregation about Graceland University. After the service they had pizza and visited with four of our high school students, all of whom are interested in going to Graceland.

-We completed a grant to paint a mural next summer. We received letters of support from Pigtown Main Street, H3 (Health People, Healthy Homes, Healthy Communities), and the Washington Village/Pigtown Neighborhood Planning Council. We’ll be submitting the grant next week.

-People started bringing in school supplies for us to distribute on August 30. We also received a couple of monetary gifts to let us buy things as well. We’ve had a great start but have a long ways to go to meet the needs of the kids.

-Four of our kids joined other from the North Atlantic States to go to the International Youth Forum (IYF) in Missouri. Tamara and I were the staff from our congregation. For three of them it was their first time on an airplane. The kids each had amazing experiences there and were incredibly well behaved.

-Those same four kids and Tamara continued on to Spectacular at Graceland University. The great experiences continued. While there, Damon was awarded a Wallace B. Smith scholarship towards Graceland tuition for four years.

-Tamara and Jenn hosted a baby shower for Theresa. She’s due in October.

-Yvette had her baby nearly two months early. We’re waiting on more information on the situation in the coming days.

-In the midst of this my family and I had a couple of weeks of vacation. This is why the report hasn’t come for several weeks.

-While we were out everyone here worked together to keep things running. In addition, Ron, Earl, and Edith provided the sermons on the Sunday I was gone.

-In an unusual glitch that no one has been able to figure out, my computer won’t print out next Tuesday’s Bible School project. We spent some time working on that today and have a backup in place. We’ll try to get things working before the kids come.

-We had our Priesthood Meeting on Thursday evening. In it we started synchronizing our calendars for the fall and made some decisions about adjusting our programming schedule.

-The annual Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit was this Thursday and Friday. It had the most timely and practical training I’ve experienced in the nine years I’ve been participating in it.

-At Pizza Church this week one of our kids let us know that they haven’t had electricity at his house since he got back from camp. In just the few days I’ve been back we’ve been made aware of a lot of practical needs (like food, utilities, etc.) some of which we can meet and some of which we can’t.

-Becky Savage arrived from church headquarters today. We walked around the neighborhood, visited with some folks, and invited some kids to Bible School. She’ll be with us this week to take part in the festivities.

Looking ahead to next week we have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, Becky will be bringing the message during Morning Worship. The kids who went to IYF and Spectacular will share their stories during Evening Worship. On Monday morning we have a crew ready to distribute fliers inviting kids to Bible School this Tuesday – Friday. We’ll put the finishing touches on the plans each afternoon. Wednesday night is the concert in the park. Next weekend is the mission center’s Youth Beach Retreat. Becky will fly home on Friday afternoon.

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

The Banks Family
The Stallings Family
The Ruby Family
The Moore Family
The Cizic Family
The Conley Family
The Battle Family
The Barrett 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