9/20/2009

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

It started out Sunday morning as we continued our “If You” series during Morning Worship. Earl brought a cake to share with the congregation in celebration of his birthday. The cake said it was his 18th birthday. One of those numbers was incorrect.

The new attendance system portion of Kids’ Church went very smoothly at 3:00. During the session we learned from Genesis 3 then had a tasting party during which the kids sampled 9 different kinds of fruit. At the end we gave them each a piece of Earl’s birthday cake. After the service Jenn took some time to organize the crafts and clean out a bit of the closet.

We had a small group at Evening Worship. We only have a couple of weeks left of this format for Sunday night so things are winding down.

On Monday night the church was used by a couple of community organizations for a group meeting. It only took them about an hour to cover their agenda.

Nearly 80 people participated in Wednesday morning’s SonRisers activities. Afterward when the nursing students gathered they had me spend a few minutes helping them learn about some of the dynamics of health care, or lack thereof, in the neighborhood. This included a discussion of the lack of access to mental health resources.

Vonceil opened the church for the Narcotics Anonymous meeting so that I could participate in the World Church staff meeting via the internet. Afterward was our Mid-Week Service. We’ve had a different group of people there each of the three weeks since we started.

On Thursday we touched base with everyone who was scheduled to go to this weekend’s Women’s Retreat. Some had decided not to go. One who had decided not to go made that decision because she couldn’t come up with the registration fee. We found a way to get her costs covered.

I attended training on compassion fatigue at Loyola on Friday. The class was good but was directed more to people in a clinical setting so much of the information didn’t apply directly to my situation.

That evening six women headed out from the church to the retreat at Deer Park. They decided to take both our van and Sue’s car. Within a block of the church Sue had a flat tire so they transferred everything into the van and all rode up together.

We had good sized groups at all three sessions of pizza church that evening. Many of our most consistent attendees did not come but we had several kids who were new and some others who we hadn’t seen in several months.

I got a knock on the door of my house Saturday afternoon. Two girls who were at Pizza Church the night before (one was new to the church and the other hadn’t been around in a long time) had talked about wanting to sing at church. They showed up on my front steps ready to sing this Sunday. I had them sing for me there on the sidewalk to make sure that they actually had a plan. They did and will be in the service on Sunday.

Looking ahead to next week we have our regular schedule of activities. In addition, the women are scheduled to arrive back in Pigtown from their retreat in the late afternoon. Sunday night we’ll be having a Good-Bye Party for Jenn (she moves away on Monday). We’ll be working on details for our Homecoming Sunday throughout the week. Next Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.

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

The Boston Family
The Johnson Family
The Young Family
The Fowler Family
The Boone Family
The Gerlak Family
The Adams Family
The Jupiter 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 THI