9/23/2007

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. As anticipated, we had a small group in part due to people being at the women's retreat at Deer Park Campgrounds in Pennsylvania. During the service we reviewed the story of Jonah. Immediately after the service Robert and I filled the font in preparation for Evening Worship.

At Kids' Church we learned a story from the life of Gideon. We again had a small group but the need for personal attention was quite high so it worked out well.

As Kids' Church drew to a close 4 young adults gathered for the "trial run" of our football parties. When the game started they showed a shot on TV from the blimp. We could see that shot on the TV and the blimp out our window at the same time. Everything went smoothly and those who gathered seemed to have quite a good time watching the game together.

Part of our hope with the football game time is to rekindle an interest in the church for people in the 18-25 year age range and then follow up the football schedule with a CORE group or the like. While they were waiting for the game to start, some were asking about the baptisms scheduled for later that day. It turned into a discussion in which Robert fielded questions about priesthood roles and authority within the Community of Christ.

The women who had been to the retreat arrived back in town around 4:30 p.m. I got a quick report about the weekend from Vonceil and, because of her enthusiasm, expected many more good reports from the others.

As we gathered for Evening Worship, Charlene looked and acted like she was about to explode from joy. She'd just finished what she described as "the best weekend of my life" at the Women's retreat and she had six of her grandchildren with her ready for baptism.

In visiting with the kids and reviewing baptism procedures with them before the service, one asked (as is usually the case), "How long will you hold me under the water?" I assured him that it would be very quick. He responded with, "Please hold me under for a while because I want to make sure ALL the sin is washed out." He then estimated that 20 seconds ought to do it. I assured him that Jesus would work faster than that.

After the baptisms we had time in the service for the women to share their experiences from the retreat. They talked of the healing and freedom they received through much laughter and tears. Each shared their own stories and those who had been to other women's retreats there agreed that this one was the best one they'd been to.

The service ended with only a few minutes left in the football game. The "old people" were allowed to join the young adults to see how the game ended and to cheer the Ravens into victory.

Don was in town the first part of the week to work on some things in his house. He got here in time for church on Sunday night and stayed with us through Tuesday evening.

Just over 80 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. That evening the Adult Disciples group continued its study of the book of Hebrews. Gloria also brought pictures from the women's retreat that the group had a chance to see.

We learned that Joshua got a job as an electrician this week. It's his first job after graduating from trade school as an electrician. His first project is to work with a team to wire a local warehouse.

Much of the day on Wednesday was spent working on a mailing for this Sunday's football game. We designed the fliers, addressed the envelopes, and got things in the mail. We'll be anxious to see the response to it.

Our sales tax exempt status with the state of Maryland is set to expire the end of September. We filed all the necessary paperwork back in June for our renewal. We learned this week, though, that the state says they never received that paperwork so we will loose our exemption on October 1. We've begun the filing process again but it will take a few months before it will be complete. The biggest thing that will change is our monthly power bills.

On Thursday I had a breakfast at my alma mater, St. Mary's Seminary and University. They are celebrating the Ecumenical Institute's 40th Anniversary in 2008 and took the opportunity to share with us some of the planned events and encourage our congregation's participation in them.

We're in the process of making some schedule adjustment to try to make things work out a little better. The exercise group will be resuming activities soon. They will be changing nights and possibly adding a second night to their schedule. Also, the community organization Citizens of Pigtown will be moving their monthly meetings to our facilities beginning in November.

Friday's mail brought our annual building insurance bill. This was the first full-year bill which included our expanded facilities. We were obviously anticipating a jump in premiums but not the nearly six-fold increase the bill reflected.

Pizza Church went well throughout the evening on Friday. The first two groups learned the story of Ruth while the senior highs continued their study of the Gospel of Mark.

Saturday's beautiful weather brought people outside. I was able to spend some time in the afternoon out visiting with people. In a relatively short period of time I was able to talk with over 25 people. I was also able to deliver a CD and photo that Susanne Carver sent down from Maine for a woman she met at Bible School.

Robert and I were in charge of Saturday night's Sundae Church. We had a small and quiet group that seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ice cream. Earlier in the day Robert had gone shopping for snack food for Sunday's football game so he and I unloaded it from his van and got it stashed away until morning.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our first official football game party at the church starting at 1:00 p.m. Sunday.

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

Kristen
Donald
Timothy
Autumn
Shane
Jordan
Troy
Samantha

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