5/23/2010

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

It started Sunday with Morning Worship. Gloria presided and Sarah spoke at the service. I was at Graceland University attending Donald's graduation ceremonies and returned to Baltimore Monday evening.

Vonceil and Sarah ran Kids' Church Sunday afternoon. Only a couple of kids came.

That evening was our monthly Celebration Service. Gloria again presided over that service. A smaller than expected group gathered but seemed to enjoy themselves. We had pizza together afterward.

86 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. Much of the rest of the day was dedicated to paperwork, including writing recommendations for jobs and schools for parishioners and continuing work on camp forms. We also received a coupon for a substantial discount on postcards so we designed and ordered the ones we'll use to market Bible School, saving nearly $100.

The leaders of the NA meeting stayed afterward to finalize their plans for Saturday's marathon session. I fielded several questions from the group about how to maximize their use of the facilities.

We've had continued problems with our video projector and have been trying to come up with a viable solution. After the Mid-Week Service, Gloria, Vonceil, and I had an impromptu meeting to look at some options. Good solutions are available but are outside our limited budget. Those that we might possibly be able to afford financially wouldn't serve the needs of the congregation.

The woman who is getting her community service hours through the church came and worked much of the day on Thursday. She helped with some additional spring cleaning. We'll be meeting again next week. Her hours are really helping us get our spring cleaning done.

Sarah and I spent some time talking about Camp and Spectacular. We're having a big push this weekend to try to get through the camp forms from the neighborhood. We've gotten some additional camp funds but still don't have enough to cover our anticipated costs. As for Spectacular, for the first time we could have 5 kids going. We've received scholarships to cover the cost of tuition but haven't yet been able to raise the money needed to get the kids there and back.

On Thursday afternoon I stopped by the school that is moving into the Diggs-Johnson Middle School building after it closes. I wasn't able to meet the principal but visited with some others and left a message for her. Hopefully we'll be able to be in contact before the school year is out.

Friday brought Pizza Church. The first two groups learned the story of Pentecost. The senior high group continued their video curriculum.

Between SonRisers and Pizza Church we had several new kids. With that we broke our participation record. The 2009-2010 school year has had more kids participate in activities at the church than any other year thus far. We have over a month until the year closes at the end of June so we'll see what our final total is.

The NA group hosted its marathon session from Noon - 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. They didn't know how many would show up and were overwhelmed with the turnout. We don't have firm numbers but it may have been the biggest event that's ever taken place in the building. As a thank you, the group gave funds to provide a campership for a kid from Pigtown.

Saturday evening brought our monthly Sundae Church. Our kids were coming in as the NA group was finishing. One of the kids had questions about addiction so I snagged a couple of friends who were in the NA group to join us for ice cream. They talked and the kids opened up with them and engaged in very frank discussions.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition we'll be finishing our camp forms as the registration deadline is June 1. We'll also be preparing for next weekend's graduation celebration.

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

The Jones Family
The Harrod Family
The Adams Family
The Vincent Family
The Brown Family
The Walker Family
The Covington Family
The Gibson 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/