2/28/2010

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

It started out Sunday with morning worship. For the first time since the series of storms, many people were able to get out of the house. Further, some people were able to drive in and find parking spaces. Therefore, we had a more normal sized group for the first time in February. People were genuinely happy and upbeat to be out of the house and at church on this sunny day. Some folks, though, were still basically homebound, especially those who depend on electric scooters to get around.

After the service Rose let us know that her son Chris had just been deployed to Iraq. Chris was one of the first people in his family to participate in the activities at church and attended camp several years.

Bill, Wendy, and Karin were down in Pigtown for the day as well. After Morning Worship and a quick lunch, we did a short walking tour of some places in the neighborhood. Then we set up for Kids’ Church.

We got back on track with our now revised curriculum for Kids’ Church. We finished our review of the book of Judges by learning about Sampson. Along with our regular staff and Bill & Wendy, Sarah was able to swing through for Kids’ Church, too. We were glad to have additional adults there to help as the craft involved braiding. It was a little more complex than most of our crafts but the kids really got into it.

Sunday night brought our monthly Celebration Service. Some of our newer teenaged boys joined the group and brought siblings with them. After the service we ate “Football Food” ---- items like hot dogs, nachos, chili, and the like that were to be used at the “Big Game” party. Tamara and Gloria made some items at home to go along with it. People stayed and visited for quite a long time.

With an improvement in the weather came an improvement in attendance at SonRisers. About 60 people participated in the activities Sunday Morning. Later that morning, Sarah and I met together to discuss a grant opportunity for camp this summer.

As we’ve been trying to update our address lists I’ve been searching for people we’ve lost contact with through Facebook. I was able to connect this week with a few more young adults who we haven’t seen since they were in middle school. It’s been a great tool for us to reestablish relationships with people.

That night after the NA Meeting was our Mid-Week Service. We had a more lively discussion than we sometimes do. We then spent quite a bit of time in prayer together.

By Thursday we were able to finalize the plans for the upcoming visit from student ministries at Michigan State University. Though there are some details still undone, the plans are now in place and we’ll be ready to have them working in the neighborhood for the week.

The plans for Michigan State overlap with the plans for the Health Fair on March 7. The crew from Michigan will be hosting some of the kids’ activities during the fair. I received the marketing materials from Marjorie this week and began that portion of our work.

This was especially timely as we were putting together the March edition of “Kids’ Church News” this week. Therefore, we were able to include Health Fair fliers in each of the envelopes.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. The elementary group is almost finished with its video curriculum while the middle school group returned this week to the Bible readings starting in the book of Ruth. The growing high school group continued with its study of the Gospel of Matthew.

We had our monthly Sundae Church on Saturday evening. It was a different mix of kids than usual so it took a bit to get the conversation rolling. Once it did it was quite a good time. We went over by about 20 minutes and didn’t even notice.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, Americorps is using the building on Thursday evening to meet with community leaders to discuss plans they have in the neighborhood. Some of our youth will be attending the annual Hunger Challenge next weekend in Springfield, Virginia. The crew from Michigan State is scheduled to arrive sometime next Saturday evening.

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

The Gray Family
The Erbe Family
The Bryant Family
The Brown Family
The Caldwell Family
The Miller Family
The Bunner Family
The Roussey 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
http://thisweekatthepowerhouse.blogspot.com/