9/1/2007

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We were glad to have Jeff Rumbaugh worship with us. He and Beth were moving this week so it was the last time we'd see him for a while.

Our annual school supply distribution started during Kids' Church. Between services Bryce, Tamara, Jenn, and I had sorted through and inventoried the mountain of supplies that had been donated this year so that they could be distributed easily and equitably. Kids and parents started arriving well before we were ready to open and continued coming through the end of Evening Worship. Bryce, Tamara, Jenn, Vonceil, Shirley, and I organized the crowd and made sure the kids got the right supplies. In all we estimate that we served over 120 kids. This is nearly twice as many as last year.

We had some special things happen during Evening Worship. Charles was baptized. We also had a young adult who had been very active in church as a teen come and open up with an especially powerful testimony of her experience in returning to the church. All the while people kept stopping by to get school supplies.

Wednesday brought the start of SonRisers for the new school year. Over 60 kids came by the church while we were open. Of those, many were kids we'd never seen at any church activity before.

That evening the NA meeting again had a full house. This has been the norm the last couple of months for this group. The group's leader said that the heat and the increase in violent crime has made a lot of people who have been running the streets for heroin say "ENOUGH!" and start to work at getting clean.

The Adult Disciples group started its study of the book of Hebrews. We decided not to put a time frame on this study because we always seem to take longer than we schedule when we review a book of the Bible.

We gave some support to some folks in keeping appropriate boundaries this week. We have a very young adult who has had to spend some nights sleeping in a friend's car. People have wanted to take him in but know right now that it would only make the situation worse.

Ron Gillilan and I met together on Thursday afternoon. We'd been trying to do so for several weeks but between our two calendars it had been quite a challenge. That evening we had our Men's Group and the women's NA meeting.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. All three sessions had unusually small groups of kids at them.

I was able to visit with several people on Saturday. Some of the main topics of discussion were the upcoming women's retreat, baptism scheduling, and the trials of quitting smoking.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be celebrating Janet's retirement with a time of fellowship and cake after Evening Worship. Next Saturday is Pigtown Fest where we'll have a booth. That night is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

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

Troy
Forrest
Donsaygo
William
David
Durrell
James
Davon

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