6/6/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 9 in attendance at our morning worship service. Kristin brought the message centered on Matthew 28:19-20. and I presided.
We were a bit surprised when time for Kids' Church rolled around. When I went down Sargeant Street to round up the kids, the street was empty. Doors were closed and curtains were drawn. With the beautiful weather and the holiday weekend, most of our regulars were away for the day. We did have one girl come and we had a great time making shields of faith (Ephesians 6:16) and strengthening our relationships.
The 6:00 Fellowship Service had 9 present, too. We knew several of our regulars were scheduled to be away so we weren't surprised by the lower turn out. There was a great spirit during the service and people must have been in a praying mood. Usually, when we have a smaller group we get out a little early. With no lag time in the service, we went until 7:45.
Tuesday was a "catch up and plan ahead day." I had quite a bit of catch up work to do from the previous week due to dropping everything and heading up to Michigan for my grandmother's funeral. I also had some planning ahead to do as I was leaving for Missouri on Thursday.
Tuesday evening, Gloria and I headed out to the Carroll Park committee meeting. After a lengthy discussion, the board made some progress in allowing us to proceed full steam ahead. The women from the Junior League also had some great networking and funding opportunities arise that I'll be involved in over the next few weeks.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 10 in attendance. We started a six week course studying prayer. The first lesson went by quickly as this crew is solid in the basics. The next few weeks we'll be hitting some specifics.
Tim was back from the Gulf Coast in time for class. He had spent a little over a week there exploring which city he would be moving to the first of August for his new church planting job. He announced that his new city would be Pensacola Florida.
Thursday morning, Tim took me to the airport for my flight to Kansas City. About 35 people directing a wide variety of children's outreach ministries gathered there with officials from World Church. The main purpose of the meeting was to share perspectives, needs, and priorities with the World Church so they could make sure they were doing their job in supporting outreach to children. It was also a great opportunity to meet other people, share ideas, and provide support.
Tutoring resumed on Thursday afternoon. Tim indicated we had regular sized crowds for the sessions.
Friday, Tim and Kristin were both available to run the Pizza Church sessions. Our numbers were down a little this week as they had 4 kids during the preteen meeting and 2 during the teen meeting.
One kid that has been wanting to get baptized for quite a while but who regularly sidestepped any of our baptismal services decided that he was ready. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Tim took him down to Patapsco State Park on Saturday and baptized him in the river. We'll have his confirmation in the coming weeks.
I got home late Saturday night and caught up with the events of the week with Tim.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities. In addition, I'll be pressing forward with our vendors regarding the playground improvements. On Saturday, I'll be meeting with some members of the Junior League and officials from Port Discovery, a local interactive children's museum, regarding a potential partnership with our playground.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Pooh
Omar
Bev
Danny
George
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
6/13/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with attendance up from last week at all three services. During the Morning Worship, Tim brought the message and I presided. There were eleven present.
Kids' Church had 20 in attendance. We talked about wearing the helmet of salvation as commanded in Ephesians and then made and decorated large hats.
The Fellowship Service brought out 13 people. I presided over the service of praise and prayer. It was good to share of some of the ministries from around the church that I learned about while at the Children's Ministries Gathering last week.
Monday morning came bright and early this week with the start of school. I began my first class at St. Mars Seminary and University in working toward an M.A. in Theology. I'll be up and about early in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays for the rest of the summer term. I've already gotten some great preaching material and will start using it Sunday morning.
Because of record-breaking heat, public schools closed early on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. Therefore, we didn't have tutoring on Wednesday as normally scheduled. We did, however, finish out this school year's tutoring time on Thursday and Friday.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 5 present. In our continued study of prayer, we moved into discussing how to pray authentically.
Thursday evening I was able to spend several hours walking the streets of the neighborhood and visiting with people throughout the community. There was a break in the heat so the streets were full of folks enjoying the cooler weather. With so many out and ready to visit, my usual 45-60 minute walk took over three hours and I didn't cover near the territory I usually do.
Friday brought Pizza Church. When there's a change in the school schedule we usually have a change in attendance on Friday nights. This week we only had a slight shift with 7 at the pre-teen and 4 at the teen session. The younger kids continued their study of the book of Luke and the older kids learned about the sacrament of confirmation.
Saturday, I met up with Susan, a member of the Junior League who has been helping with the playground project. She and I went to Port Discovery to meet up with some playground designers who were running a children's workshop there that day.
That evening, and all week for that matter, pastor's hours were especially good. With higher foot traffic on the streets, lots of people stopped in to visit.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities less tutoring (we're taking a break from that until after camp when it will return in the form of Bible School). In addition, we'll be rewarding some kids for their attendance at tutoring and/or Kids' Church with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheeze. On Friday, Bob Kyser (President of Seventy from Independence, Missouri) and Craig Woodward (a church planter from Australia) will arrive to spend about a week here in the neighborhood. We'll have several extra events while they're here. And, if all goes well, we are hoping to see some bulldozers arrive to begin the site work for our new building sometime this week.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Loretta
Allen
Lance
Joseph
James
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
6/20/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 9 people at our Morning Worship. Among those present was Marni Fisher, a member of the church from Madison, Wisconsin, who was in town on business and decided to join us for worship. I brought the message and Tim presided during the service.
We crammed in 27 people at Kids' Church. We made breastplates of righteousness as we continued our study of what it means to "put on the full armor of God."
The Fellowship Service had 13 present. It was a good mix of people who are there regularly, people who we hadn't seen in a long time, and a couple of people who were there for the first time.
Monday morning brought some troubling news. Nine teachers from our local junior high school, including Vonceil, were fired. Legally, no reason for the firings was necessary so no reasons were given.
Wednesday afternoon, Carol, Gloria, Kristin, Vonceil, and I took 8 kids to Chuck-E-Cheeze for an afternoon of pizza and fun. The kids had earned the trip there over the course of the school year by saving up their attendance points. There were two ways they could earn the trip to go. They either had to have saved at least 15 points (equaling 30 days attendance) through tutoring or they had to meet all the qualifications to go to summer camp but be too young to go for the week. We all seemed to have a great time.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 7 present. We continued our study of prayer with the topic of "Dangerous Prayers." Included on the list of dangerous prayers were "Search Me" and "Lead Me."
Friday morning Bob Kyser and Craig Woodward arrived. Bob is from church headquarters in Missouri. Craig is a newly hired church planter from Australia. They will be spending the week here learning from what has happened here, providing ministry, and hearing the testimonies of the people.
Friday night, Craig provided the leadership at Pizza Church. We had 9 kids at the pre-teen session and 3 kids at the teen session.
Saturday brought a luncheon during which Bob and Craig were able to meet some people from other congregations who have become active in the ministry here.
Throughout the week our Pastor's Hours time was especially busy. Lots of people came by to visit and fellowship with one another.
We also learned that the final papers from the city regarding the purchase of the property for our new building were signed this week. Bulldozers should be rolling momentarily.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities less tutoring (we're taking a break from that until after camp when it will return in the form of Bible School). In addition, we'll be spending time with Bob and Craig and making sure they meet as many people as possible while here. We have a district huddle meeting on Tuesday night and will be spending much of the week making final preparations for camp.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Dion
Sissy
Tom
Tony
Tabitha
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
6/26/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 19 at our Morning Worship. Bob Kyser, who was visiting from Independence, Missouri, brought the message and I presided.
We filled the place again during Kids' Church. The 25 present finished our unit on the full armor of God from the book of Ephesians.
I lost count of people at the evening Fellowship Service as there were some who left early and some who came late. I lost accurate count at 27. Craig Woodward, who was visiting from Australia, brought the message.
Monday, Bob and Craig spent the morning with Gloria. That afternoon, we toured a few of the sites here in Baltimore. Bob, Gloria, and I walked around the neighborhood and visited with people for a while in the evening .
Tuesday night brought the Mission Center Huddle. We met at the Power House and had 11 present.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class was headed by Bob. We had 13 come and be a part of the class.
Thursday morning, Bob and Craig headed back to Independence. Much of the rest of the day was spent hunting down forms for our upcoming camp.
Friday's Pizza Church sessions focused on camp procedures. There were 7 in the pre-teen group and 8 at the teen group.
After Pizza Church, Meagan came by. She's been wanting to be baptized for some time but hasn't been able to coordinate it with her mom's schedule. The family had an opportunity to move out of the area but she insisted on having the chance to see if I could baptize her before she moved. It worked out that we were all available at 11:00 Saturday so I started filling the font.
While I was filling it, friend who has claimed the Power House as his church for some time and has been contemplating baptism said that he had come to a decision. He wants to be baptized at the first service in the new building. We'll honor that request in a couple of months at our grand opening.
Saturday morning I dressed in whites and headed over to the church for Meagan's baptism. Even with only about 12 hours notice, we had 21 people there to celebrate with her.
Saturday afternoon, Darlene, Kristin, Tim, and I headed down to Springfield, Virginia, for a camp staff meeting. While down that way, I went over to the architect's house and signed all the papers authorizing the start of construction. Weather permitting, bulldozers should move this week. Because of this, we'll walk over to the lot during the morning service this Sunday and consecrate the grounds.
Looking ahead to next week, we will scrap our schedule of regular activities because of camp. We will have our Morning Worship and Fellowship Service on Sunday. I'll send out a full report next Saturday night.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Kirstie
James
Danny
Angel
Sarah
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
7/4/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 15 in attendance at our 11:00 a.m. service. During the service, we walked over to the lot where the new building will stand. We offered prayers of praise and thanksgiving for what has happened and what is to come, consecration and dedication of this land, and safety for the construction workers.
The evening's Fellowship Service was headed up by Vonceil. There were four present, mostly because so many of the people who regularly attend that service were involved with youth camp.
We cancelled Kids' Church because of camp. We gathered the kids together at the church at 3:00, packed ourselves into 7 vehicles, and hit the road. We had a couple of kids back out at the last minute (one literally at the curb with bags in hand) and ended up taking a total of 23 kids.
Camp was an extremely busy time for all. Having that many of our own spread out across the campground, we were constantly counting noses and tracking down anyone who didn't show up at the right place at the right time. Nearly every cabin had a kid from our congregation staying in it.
Over the course of the week, we did have some mishaps. A few of our kids had to go home. Another one fractured his leg while playing soccer. Aside from those things and a few scrapes and bruises, things went well.
During one of the evening campfire services, Eric Barber, who was a cabin counselor this year, was ordained. Prior to the service, we spent some time teaching the kids what ordination was about. After the service, several of our junior high boys immediately began calling him "Pastor Eric" and the next morning commented on how he had become a good pastor quickly because he had found them hiding in their cabins when they should have been going to class before Pastor Tim or I got there.
It was great to watch the kids develop new and/or stronger relationships with those from the Power House who spent the week at camp.
When camp ended, we chaotically stuffed the cars and vans with luggage and overwhelmed a local McDonalds with our order. They generously provided free ice cream to all our kids.
We arrived home about 3:00 Saturday afternoon. Exhausted, the kids claimed their baggage as we set it on the curb and then they slowly drifted back to their homes just blocks away.
The vacant lot where the building is to be built was just the way we left it. Hopefully, dirt will move this week.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities. In addition, Bible School will start on Wednesday afternoon. The Ashley family will be coming down from Michigan and will be directing the Bible School for the next two weeks. We'll also be working on the park project.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Reggie
Anthony
Debbie
George
Mike
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
7/11/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with our congregation meeting in two places. We had three present at the Power House for our Morning Worship. I presided and brought the message.
Five from our congregation went to the Living Christian Covenant congregation in Dundalk, Maryland, to be a part of the worship services there. As a part of the services, the priesthood calls for Darlene Stowell and Beth Rumbaugh, both to the office of Priest, were considered by the congregation. Darlene and Beth are both active in the ministry here in Pigtown and it was great to have so many from the Power House present to support them.
With record breaking heat and the holiday weekend, the streets of Pigtown were rather empty during the rest of the day as people celebrated Independence Day and tried to keep cool. We only had one kid come to Kids' Church and had 6 at the Fellowship Service (3 of whom left early).
Tuesday afternoon, Glen and Ruth Ashley from the Coldwater, Michigan, Congregation arrived. They came to spend a couple of weeks here providing Bible School for the kids and participating in the other activities.
Wednesday morning was the last of the meetings for my class on the Gospel of John. In the next two weeks, I will be writing a term paper on the story of the woman at the well.
Wednesday afternoon brought the start of Bible School. Glen and Ruth provided the instruction focusing on David. Over the course of the week, we had 18 different kids come through the program.
Wednesday evening's Discipleship class had 7 in attendance. We studied the topic of "The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer." We'll continue with the study of prayer through the end of July. At that point, we'll begin studying the book of Acts.
Friday morning I met with one of our playground planners. He had several good ideas and concepts for the park and began sharing his ideas of the possibilities for what could be there. He plans on having rough sketches sometime next week.
We had 10 people for our pre-teen session of Pizza Church on Friday night. No kids came to the teen session, however.
The rats started to be more active in the building the last few days. Gloria came over Friday night to set some traps. She no more than set them and we caught two before we could lock up the building. Over night we caught two more.
I spent much of the day on Saturday catching up on the book work (membership records, Temple School information, balancing the checkbook, etc.) that had piled up the last couple of weeks. Another few hours and I'll be all caught up.
After lunch, I headed out to the park to watch a little league all-star game. We have two kids from the church that made the team. I also got to visit with some of the parents and play catch with one of our kids that didn't make the team.
Saturday evening was cooler and breezy, so we moved Pastor's Hours outside. At one point, we had 12 people sitting in chairs or on the church steps just catching up with each other's lives. We ended up staying an extra 45 minutes for the fellowship.
Throughout the week, I was able to do some follow-up visits with people. Included in the visits were Jerrell, who broke his leg at camp. He got his cast on Thursday (they kept it in the splint until the swelling went down). I also visited with Lance, Troy, KJ, and their parents. These three boys will be baptized next weekend (Lance at Pizza Church, Troy at Kids' Church, and KJ at the Fellowship Service)
As for progress on the building, we haven't seen any. With the holiday and the record-breaking heat, the contractors weren't out this last week. Hopefully, the dirt will move this week.
In visiting with some of the ladies who live across the street from the lot, they continued to express their excitement about having a church across the street. Many of them used to be active in church but have been unable to attend regularly in several years due to transportation and safety issues. They're looking forward to being able to simply cross the street on Sunday morning and be a part of a worshipping community.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities. Glen and Ruth will continue with leading the Bible School on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Many of us will be getting ready for the upcoming Church Growth and Planting Reunion which starts in a couple of weeks. We'll also spend some time working with the kids in their final preparations for next weekend's baptisms.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Mary
Joe
Jean
Neil
Gloria
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
7/18/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 11 present for our Morning Worship. Glen Ashley, who was visiting from Coldwater, Michigan, brought a powerful message and I presided.
Kids' Church had 23 present. We started telling the story of Lehi and took the kids on "trust walks" (they were blindfolded and lead through a maze of other kids).
The Fellowship Service had 17 present. As a part of the service, we upheld many aspects of the drug problems in our community and prayed for the people who are involved in all aspects of the situation.
Our Bible School this week continued to be a success. Glen and Ruth Ashley focused this week's lessons on Jesus being the bread of life. The week's activities culminated on Friday when each kid got to make and eat their own piece of bread during class.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 10 present. We finished up our course work on prayer with the topic of "Painfully Honest Prayer." Next week, we'll begin our study of the book of Acts.
Friday night, we combined both sessions of Pizza Church because we had a baptism. 29 people came out to be a part of Lance's baptism and confirmation. After the service, we shared in food (pizza, of course) and fellowship.
Glen and Ruth headed back toward Michigan after Pizza Church. Their willingness to be a part of the community for the past couple of weeks was a real blessing to us.
On Saturday, the first of the preliminary plans for the new playground came in the mail. We had an impromptu meeting of those on the committee who live in the neighborhood to get their reactions and suggestions. It was exciting to just actually see the possibilities in print. A competing plan is scheduled to arrive on Monday and we're anxiously anticipating seeing it.
On my way home from the church around midnight Saturday, the mother of one of our kids flagged me down. She's never been to our church, but had heavy heart and needed a minister to talk to. It was a great opportunity to share with and pray for her.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities. On Sunday, we'll have a baptism during Kids' Church and one during our Fellowship Service. We'll be meeting with some playground designers early in the week to make amendments to the plans we have in hand. Thursday evening is the start of the Mission Center reunion at the Springfield, Virginia, congregation's facilities. That reunion overlaps with the Church Growth and Planting reunion which starts next weekend in western Pennsylvania. At least 11 people who are active in the ministry at the Power House will be packing up and heading to Pennsylvania. This week we'll also begin selling our newest T-shirts to raise money for next year's camp. (You can get a preview by going to our web site at
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
and clicking on our "how you can help" button.)
Due to the upcoming travels, I doubt that I will get a report out next week. If I do, it won't be on the regular day.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Geraldine
Gregory
Shawna
Della
Tony
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
7/24/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday 9 present at morning worship. Loretta was there and made the decision after the service to get baptized at the evening service.
Kids' Church brought out 21 people. Troy was baptized and confirmed as a part of this service.
I lost count somewhere after 25 at the evening service. During the service, Loretta was baptized and confirmed. KJ was scheduled to be baptized, but the packed house was a bit intimidating (with that many, folks sit almost next to the font) so we postponed it for him.
Monday morning Gloria, Tim, and I met with one of the playground planners to discuss design. He was very responsive to the feedback and is doing some additional design work. Those plans should arrive this coming week.
Monday afternoon, we had a another worship service with 9 in attendance. This time, KJ was baptized and confirmed.
Tim and I were on a conference call business meeting on Monday night. During the meeting, the group approved Rhonda Radliff's call to the office of Priest.
Tuesday night we had the Mission Center Huddle down in Washington, D.C. This was the last huddle with Tim in the leadership of the group.
During Wednesday night's Discipleship Class we began our study of the book of Acts. Eight people were present. If you would like to study along with us, we covered some of the background of the book and began working through chapters one and two.
Thursday brought the start of the Chesapeake Bay Mission Center Reunion in Springfield, Virginia. Tim, Kristin, and I headed down to represent the Power House at the opening activities.
I spent the first half of the day on Friday back in Springfield. It was a good opportunity to catch worship, study, and catch up with friends.
Friday evening brought Pizza Church. We had 7 at the pre-teen session and 6 at the teen session.
I also got an email from Glenn Ashley with a web site address that features pictures from his trip here to Baltimore. Check it out at:
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/6051
Saturday morning, Tim, Kristin, Gloria, Vonceil, Bryce, and I will head out to the Church Growth and Planting Reunion at Temple Grove campgrounds near Transfer, Pennsylvania. Others from the Power House and churches from throughout the Northeast will gather there on Sunday for a week of worship, fellowship, and learning. Please keep these activities at the top of your prayer list.
Looking ahead to next week, most of our regular activities are cancelled due to so many being out of town at reunion. Narcotics Anonymous will still be meeting at its regular time. We hope that the crews will arrive and begin moving dirt at the construction site.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Darlene
Kristin
Suzy
Woody
Ron
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
8/1/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
Actually, there wasn't as much activity in the building as usual since the Narcotics Anonymous meeting one night of Pastor's Hours were the only regularly scheduled activities that took place. But, several of the members spent the week at Temple Grove campgrounds in western Pennsylvania.
All the people from the Power House played an active role in both directing the camp and providing leadership in the ministry. Though this is a far from comprehensive list, it can give you an idea how busy we were all week:
-Tim directed the camp and spoke on Friday.
-Kristin handled the registration and the ensuing paper work.
-Ron and Vonceil were the camp pastors.
-Jeff Rumbaugh played the guitar.
-Beth worked with the kids' class.
-Carol, Darlene, and Gloria shared testimonies.
-I was the speaker on Thursday evening.
It was a great week of worship, fellowship, and learning.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll be back to our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we will be loading up Tim's moving van on Monday morning as he moves on to his new assignment in Pensacola, Florida. Darlene will be transporting a couple of kids from the area to Camp Opportunity. Monday night we had a playground subcommittee meeting.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following Families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Hansel Family
The Iman Family
The Mandell Family
The Epifanio Family
The Moore Family
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
8/8/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 13 present for Morning Worship. I brought the communion message and Tim and I served communion.
12 people came out for Kids' Church. We studied part of the story of Nephi and made cards for Tim.
The evening service had 47 present. Tim brought the message and the congregation offered a blessing over him in his new area of ministry.
Monday morning, Darlene took four kids from the area to join other kids at Camp Opportunity. This camp is sponsored by the Mission Center and provides each camper with a personal counselor for the week.
Monday afternoon brought about moving day. Kristin, Suzy, and I helped Tim load up his truck. He pulled out of Pigtown that evening heading for new adventures in Florida.
Later that evening, we had a playground subcommittee meeting. After a lengthy discussion, we decided we were ready to proceed to the next step in the process with the city. Though this process is taking longer than any of us hoped, we are now able to begin to look at a completion date in about 9 months.
We also learned on Monday that our efforts were featured in this month's Baltimore Magazine. The article devotes more than 5 paragraphs to describing the efforts of the church in revitalizing the Carroll Park playground.
Tuesday I received an email stating that an article about and pictures from the Power House were now posted on the World Church web site. To view it, go to Ralston, click on "news," then on "RLDS Church Grows in one of Baltimore's Oldest Neighborhoods."
I was asked to provide a funeral service this week. It was for a man who had lived most of his 91 years here in the neighborhood. I visited with the family at the funeral home on Tuesday. The funeral was Wednesday morning in the chapel of the funeral home.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 8 present. We continued in our study of the book of Acts.
For much of the day Thursday, Bev worked at cleaning out the back room and the cupboards at the church. We'd had lots of things pile up there over the past few months and it had gotten out of control. Now we're back in shape.
Friday brought Pizza Church. We had six present for the pre-teen session. No one came to the teen session, though some kids came by later that night.
Saturday morning was our community cleanup day. It was good to be a part of helping get the trash and weeds out of the neighborhood. We also took advantage of having the dumpster here and took out all the garbage from cleaning the back room of the church on Thursday as well as cleaning things out of our own homes.
Saturday afternoon I headed up to Camp Opportunity to pick up the kids that Darlene had taken there on Monday. They all seemed to have had a wonderful experience.
Saturday night I went up to Georgia's house to participate in a pre-baptismal class with Jackie. She asked to be baptized after our last baptismal service so Ron is heading up some classes with her over the next few weeks before her baptism.
Before leaving Georgia's house, I loaded up the van with school supplies. The women from the Towsen congregation outdid themselves this year in getting school supplies for the kids of the neighborhood. It's a service this group provides for our kids each year.
While unloading the supplies at the church that night, Alicia and her dad came up and asked if she could get baptized. We'll be scheduling it in the next couple of weeks.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, the youth venture group from the East Coast will be in the neighborhood for the week. This group of about 20 ranging in age from 17-22 will be sponsoring four days of Bible School and will be doing a community service project while here. We also have a priesthood meeting on Thursday evening.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
JR
Theresa
Dustin
Edna
Stella
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
8/15/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
That opening statement is always true. However, this week the word "BUSY" doesn't begin to describe what's been going on here in Pigtown.
It started out Sunday with 8 at our Morning Worship service. I presided and brought a message on letting our light shine.
At Kids' Church, we had 21 present. We focused on the story of King Benjamin and made self portraits to show pictures of the Children of Christ.
Our Fellowship Service had 30 in attendance. I presided and brought a message on expectations and our need to expect God to be transforming people each time we gather together.
Among those in attendance were some of the people from the Venture group. This group of older teens/young adults came from all along the East Coast (from Main through Virginia) to spend a week in Pigtown hosting Bible School and doing a community service project.
After the service and dinner together, we met up with the rest of the Venture group at the hotel at which they were staying. While there, we got to know each other a little better, made some plans for the week, and had an evening devotion service.
On Monday morning, the Venture group gathered at the Power House for some preparation for working in the city. From there, we distributed fliers throughout the neighborhood to promote the Bible School and to get the group more comfortable with the urban setting.
Because of space, Bible School was to be held in the park. One of the difficulties with having it there was overcome with some picnic tables. They just appeared in the park sometime on Sunday right where we wanted to have the Bible School. No one from our group or that we talked to saw them being delivered. We were glad to not have to haul tables each day.
Monday night the Venture group came back to spend the evening in the neighborhood. We had pizza at the Power House and then had a chance just to hang out on the corner and get a feel for what it was like in the evening here.
They were baptized by fire as on of the neighborhood kids who they had just met ran out in the street and was run over by a car. His foot was injured but there were no broken bones. He won't be running a marathon any time soon, but he'll be OK.
9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning brought the first session of Bible school. 26 kids came to check it out. A dozen of the kids who came had never participated in any activities at the Power House before. After crafts, music, story time, games, and free time in the playground, we took the kids back to the Power House for a light lunch provided by Sutton Place Gourmet.
Bible School continued to be a dynamic event all week. We had 37 kids on Wednesday, 33 on Thursday, and 29 on Friday. We had a large core of kids that came each day and we ended up with about a dozen families having their first contact with the church.
The latest concept drawings for the playground project came in the mail on Wednesday. It was exciting to look at them and dream of its eventual reality here in the neighborhood.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 8 present. We continued in our study of the book of Acts covering chapters 5-7.
Woody's mother's house was broken into on Thursday morning. She was physically OK, but shaken. Her purse was stolen in the process, so after lunch the Venture group broke up into four search teams and went through the alleys and behind the school to look for it in hopes of finding some remnant. No such luck.
When I was pulling onto my street after returning home from St. Mary's Seminary on Thursday afternoon, Debbie, a member of the church, chased me down and had me roll down my window before I could park. "They've started to break ground," she said. "I'm going over to Miss Gloria's to tell her next."
Needless to say, I quickly grabbed the camera and ran down the street to get shots of the action. They were just doing some work with some heavy equipment to see exactly what kind of equipment they would need to use to get the job done. Many of the neighbors were out watching all the action.
The foreman checked with one of the women to see if he could park his equipment truck in her yard each night for some added security. He offered to pay her. She indicated that she would not rent him the space because it was for the church and therefore they were welcome to use her yard for free.
We had a chance to visit with several people whose homes are within sight of the new building and share in the excitement with them.
Thursday evening was our first official Priesthood Meeting at the Power House. We had 100% attendance. We laid some groundwork for our group study and prayer discipline plans. We also began some visioning and planning for some upcoming activities (like the grand opening) and future programming.
On Friday, one member of our congregation who had fallen back into heroin addiction allowed her love, service, and excitement to shine through. In the blistering heat, she made it a point to continually supply the work crew with ice water throughout the day.
I also found out that Rosie, a blind and retarded girl in the neighborhood who occasionally attends church at the Power House, went over to the lot pulled up a weed, and broke up the dirt around it. She told her care giver that now she had been able to break ground for the new church, too.
We had a good bunch out for each Pizza Church session on Friday evening. The 6:00 group had 14 and the 7:00 group had 8. Of those, six were new to Pizza Church. They came because of their contact this week through Bible School.
Saturday morning the picnic tables we had used in the park were gone. No one that we talked to saw them removed.
The Venture group spent a couple of hours Saturday in 90+ degree heat working on the lot. They cleared debris from the back half of the property, raked the ground, and covered it with straw. They also cleared weeds from the front sidewalk and the alley. We were able to utilize the construction crew's equipment because the foreman gave me a key to the back of his truck and welcomed our participation.
You can see pictures of all the construction at our web site at
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
There are quite a few pictures so it will takes a couple of minutes to download that page. We'll try to keep this part of the web site as current as possible. Keep on coming back to keep up to date.
On my way home around midnight Saturday, I was stopped by a couple of men who live a few doors down from me. One said that he just wanted to shake my hand. He was thrilled to see the church actually building and was excited about the possibilities of lives being changed right at the end of his block. The other man then piped in about how his kids had attended Bible School and then Pizza Church this week and was looking forward to a long and growing relationship with the church.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be tracking the progress of the construction by the hour and maximizing the opportunity to witness in the midst of it.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Bev
Robert
Tim Tim
George
Anne
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
8/22/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
Let me start by giving you an update on the building project. We have a scheduled delivery date for the building of Wednesday, September 1. This is exactly 5 years to the day from when Tim began the work of planting the church here in Baltimore. The contractor is trying to time everything so that the foundation doesn't just sit there unguarded and, therefore, potentially damaged for several days. Therefore, there wasn't much work done on the lot this week but we are anticipating a full effort the end of next week.
Vonceil brought the message at the Morning Worship on Sunday. Ten people were present.
Kids' Church had 25 present, many of whom had been introduced to the Power House through Bible School. Over the past five Sundays, we've had 50 different kids participate in Kids' Church. I'm not sure what we would do if all of them came on the same Sunday.
Sunday night was our mid-month communion service. Twenty-two people shared in the service.
Wednesday afternoon Vonceil received a call from Baltimore City Schools. They had "un-fired" her and offered her a teaching position. Though she was able to teach at the junior high school in the neighborhood last year, they offered her instead a high school science job across town and she accepted it.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 7 present. We studied chapters 8 & 9 in the book of Acts.
After a summer of traveling to reunions, camps, and training events, Darlene arrived home on Thursday. We all had a good time hearing of her adventures and bringing her up to date with what's been going on here.
Friday night's Pizza Church sessions went extremely well. We had five at the pre-teen and seven at the teen sessions. In another week, each group will have completed their studies of the first half of the book of Luke and will move into some thematic studies for a while.
Time on the street and time during Pastor's Hours seemed especially well-spent this week. On the street I was able to make several new contacts and follow up with what's been happening in a lot of people's lives. When at the church for Pastor's Hours, there was a constant stream of people each day for visiting and counseling.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, several women in the congregation will be getting together to figure out how to best package and distribute the school supplies donated by the women's group at the Towson congregation. We're also anticipating more work being done on the building project in preparation for the building's arrival a week from Wednesday.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Tom
Phil
Shirley
Shane
Alicia
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
8/29/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday at 11:00 a.m. with our Morning Worship. Bonnie Barber from the Washington, D.C., congregation brought the message. One of the 13 people present came in about 10 minutes into the service. Before I could get to the door afterward, she came up to me and said, "I've decided to come to church here from now on. Do you want my address and phone number?" She came back for the Fellowship Service and Discipleship Class.
Kids' Church had 15 total. We reviewed the story of the good Samaritan and saw a video on loving our neighbors.
Twenty came to the Fellowship Service on Sunday evening. We spent a portion of the service focusing our prayers over the program of the church.
Monday morning, Gloria, Edna, Shawna, and Loretta got together at the church and packaged up the school supplies provided by the Towson congregation's women's group. They're set and ready for distribution to the kids after Kids' Church next Sunday.
Much of the week was spent doing catch-up work. The last couple of weeks haven't allotted much time for doing the "office" work of the congregation (paying bills, filing paperwork, making phone calls). I spent several days this week trying to catch up with it.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 7 in attendance. We studied chapters 10-12 of the book of Acts.
Work continued on the building. The back hoe being used for digging out the ground was damaged in the process on Thursday but was supposed to be fixed on Friday (I don't know if it was or not).
Thursday night we had torrential rains here in Baltimore. There were many flooded basements in Pigtown. Just a couple of blocks from her house, Kristin's car got swept away and flooded with water as she was driving home. She's ok, and she invited the people she met while stranded to come and be a part of the church.
In talking with the architect on Friday, Rhonda and I learned that the crew coming to lay the foundation were delayed due to the weather. Because of this, the delivery date has been moved to Thursday, September 9. We also learned that the building has been built and is sitting at the factory in Pennsylvania awaiting shipping.
Friday's Pizza Church sessions each completed the first half of the book of Luke. We had 9 at the pre-teen and 4 at the teen sessions.
Saturday evening Kristin and I joined a group out at Ron and Carol's house for some inquiry classes for Jackie. Afterward, she and I came back to Pigtown and opened up the church for an hour. We got to visit with some girls who wanted to know about the services we have for kids here.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. Since school starts this week, so will our after school tutoring program. We also have a Priesthood meeting on Thursday evening.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Theresa
Billy
Tom
Reggie
Gloria
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
9/5/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 11 present for our Morning Worship service. I presided and brought the message on Psalm 118:24.
We had 32 at Kids' Church. At the end of the service, we handed out the school supplies donated by the Towson congregation women's group. We had a few teenagers come in at the end to get supplies, too. We ended up passing out 39 packets.
Our fellowship service had 16 present. We took some time for introspection during the service.
Wednesday afternoon brought the start of this year's tutoring time. Carol, Gloria, and I held down the fort as the kids reappeared ready for help with their homework.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 6 present. We continued our study of the book of Acts by covering chapters 13 & 14. At prayer time, which follows class each week, we grew to a group of 8.
Thursday evening we had our monthly priesthood meeting. We discussed the congregation's activities and schedule through the month of October, addressed prayer concerns, and began our group's study program.
We had six at the pre-teen and 4 at the teen sessions of Pizza Church on Friday night. We began working with the new "Power and Light" materials sent out by world church.
We amended the curriculum during the teen session. Between the groups, a woman who lives in the apartments across the street from the church stopped by to see if I would be available to perform a wedding for her and her fiance. She had the license in hand and preferred to have a minister perform it rather than a Justice of the Peace. The Pizza Church kids were the witnesses.
The Pastor's Hours time at the church continues to grow in the number of people stopping by and the different types of activities taking place. Friday night, for example, we had about a dozen people in there at one time. Two groups of kids were playing checkers, one group was playing Uno, and two groups of adults were visiting.
On Saturday night we had a special surprise. Bethany Shiflett stopped by. She, her mom, and her two sisters had moved to Texas at the end of school. She and her mom told us that they've moved back. The girls were very active in Kids' Church, Pizza Church, and Tutoring and are anxious to again be a part of the group.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we have a Carroll Park Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday evening. But, the biggest and most exciting addition to the schedule is that our building is slated to arrive on Thursday.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Angel
Doreen
Brittany
Jean
Danny
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
9/12/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday at our Morning Worship service with 12 present for our celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The sermon topic was on the story of the Good Samaritan and focused on the need to keep our heart in good condition.
We had 20 at Kids' Church. We focused on the phrase from Romans 13:9 which says "Love others as much as you love yourself." (CEV)
Our fellowship service had 19 present. Vern Foster from Cincinnati, Ohio, brought the message.
Tuesday we found out that the delivery of the building would once again be delayed. We are now tentatively scheduled to have it delivered this coming Friday. The delivery itself is always weather permitting, so we're keeping a close watch on hurricane Floyd as it is tracks up the Atlantic coast.
Tuesday evening was the Carroll Park Advisory Committee meeting. The plans from the playground subcommittee were presented to the full committee. We have a target date of March 2000 for releasing of the funds for construction.
Wednesday brought the start of another full week of tutoring. Gloria was on vacation so Carol and I held down the fort.
That night's discipleship class had 6 in attendance. We continued through the book of Acts by studying chapters 15-17. We had 3 additional people join us for our community prayer circle.
After the torrential rains let up on Thursday night, Kristin and I spent some time exploring some of the streets a block or two outside of our central target are. We were able to share information and ideas about expanding some of our focus into the next couple of blocks.
Friday night's Pizza Church sessions focused on the topic of forgiveness. The pre-teen group had 11 and the teen group had 7.
During the teen group, one of the boys asked a question about what needed to be done to gain salvation. Before Kristin or I could answer, another of the kids piped in with the correct answer and the two engaged in a brief discussion which lead to questions about baptism and its relationship to salvation. Both of them had already accepted Jesus and decided they wanted to move into covenant relationship with him. A third boy joined in the conversation and all three decided it was time to go home and ask their parents permission to be baptized.
And if that wasn't cool enough, when we were done with the lesson and discussion for the night and were getting ready for the closing prayer, one of the boys (who is extremely rough and street-wise and has been kicked out of church more times than I can remember) asked if we could PLEASE read some more from the Bible together. All agreed so we kept on going a little longer.
Saturday had a wide variety of activities going on. Kristin spent a good portion of the afternoon walking in the areas we covered on Thursday night getting a better feel for the area and visiting with those she met. She ended up playing basketball with a bunch of the kids. I met up with Anne who told me that her mother gave her and her brother Robert permission to be baptized. Danny and I did some catching up over dessert. When I got back, Kristin already had the church open and about a dozen kids were inside playing games. When Pastor's Hours were over, we did some brainstorming about the future of Kids' Church and set up for Sunday morning.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, I'll be starting back to seminary on Monday and Tuesday nights. Joyce Meyer will be doing a seminar in town and many from the congregation will be attending sessions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Friday evening, five women from the Power House will be heading up to Deer Park Campgrounds in New Hope, Pennsylvania, for a women's retreat. If the weather holds, the building will be delivered on Friday, too.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Bobby
Tony
Jackie
Roxie
Bethany
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
9/19/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 12 present for our Morning Worship. I presided and brought the message on the Ten Commandments.
Kids' Church was a bit more under control this week when compared to past weeks. We had about a dozen there and we learned about forgiveness.
Sunday night's Fellowship Service had 19 in attendance. The focus thoughts came from some of the most recent writings in the Doctrine and Covenants.
At the end of the service, we learned that the elementary school was extending the school day by one hour. Between confusion with the kids, scheduling conflicts, and Hurricane Floyd, we didn't have a full tutoring session this week. Next week we'll be try again.
Quite a bit of time this week was invested in creating a new travel display board to go with our T-shirts. We sell them whenever we're on the road for church business to raise funds to send kids to camp. Since the women's retreat was coming up and our old board didn't survive well on its last trip, we put together a new one with current pictures.
Wednesday night was Discipleship Class. We studied chapters 18-20 of the book of Acts. Six people were present.
Thursday brought Hurricane Floyd. Overall, Pigtown survived quite well. A streetlight blew over in front of Woody & Gloria's and Kristin's houses, just missing the cars. Several basements were flooded. Other than that, there was no major damage.
The rain stopped by Thursday evening so several of us went to the "Life in the Word" conference hosted by Joyce Meyer. Sessions were scheduled Thursday through Saturday and we had a total of 7 people attend at least one session. While there, we ran into folks we knew from other congregations and from my classes at St. Mary's Seminary. It was a great experience to worship and learn in a group of 6,000+ people from many denominations.
As was no real surprise, the building delivery (which was supposed to be Friday) was delayed due to the hurricane. The architect is amazed at how dawn out this project has become, repeatedly stating that it SHOULD have been done months ago. He has never had to reschedule a project delivery as many times as he has with this one. The current plan is pretty much the same as before only bumped back another few days: to finish the foundation this week and have the building come on the following Tuesday.
(Just a side note: the architect's home was damaged during the hurricane when a tree limb fell through the roof into the room where his wife and children were. They are physically ok but shaken. Extra prayer for them would be good.)
Friday afternoon Vonceil and Gloria headed up to Deer Park Campgrounds in New Hope, Pennsylvania, for the women's retreat. Dawn was driving up later and the other two planning to attend had to cancel at the last minute. Some roads had been washed out so they had to detour and the electricity had not yet been restored at the campgrounds. In spite of that, they made it there. Power was restored on Saturday.
Kristin took charge of both sessions of Pizza Church on Friday night. There were 14 at the 6:00 group and 7 at the 7:00 group. Things went so well she kept the doors open for kids for a few hours afterward.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be looking for a full report on the events of the women's retreat as people return from that on Sunday. Tuesday morning is another playground subcommittee meeting. We'll also be experimenting to get the new tutoring schedule to work out right.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Pestridges
The Moores
The Mandells
The Imans
The Shifletts
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
9/26/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
We're not sure of all the reasons, but we've had yet another delay in the delivery of the building. The new target date is October 4. I'm hoping to give you a "two thumbs up" for the project in next week's report.
Our Sunday Morning Worship had 11 present. I brought a message on getting to the promised land.
Kids' Church had 22. We talked about the concept of the family of God. We then made leaves with the name of each person in our family, attached them to branches, then put the branches together to make a tree.
Mid-afternoon, the women arrived safely home from the Women's retreat. They shared their experiences during the Fellowship Service. That service also had 11 present.
Tuesday's mail brought permission from the city to paint over the graffiti on an abandoned property adjacent to where the new building will be. We'll be attacking that project in a couple of weeks.
On behalf of the playground subcommittee, Gloria addressed the PTA at the local elementary school on Tuesday evening. She invited the parents to come by the church to see the concept drawings of the playgrounds so they could provide input to the project.
Wednesday morning we had a playground subcommittee meeting. We continued to plod along on this process.
Wednesday afternoon we opened up tutoring at 4:00 p.m. With the change in the school schedule, we are giving this time slot a try to see if it works better. We had a limited response, but it was good enough to try again this coming week. We're throwing around some ideas to better use this time but have not made any final decisions yet.
People came in anxious to study and with questions about passages in Acts 21-22. Six were present for class and 7 were present for the prayer time that followed.
With absolutely beautiful weather on Thursday evening, the streets and sidewalks were full of people. I got to spend lots of time visiting with people at their homes. Included in the visiting was getting one parent's permission for her daughter to get baptized.
Friday night brought busy sessions with Pizza Church. Kristin lead the pre-teen group of 15. I lead the teenage group of 6. Each group studied the story of Jacob and Esau.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, there is a Baltimore area pastors meeting on Thursday night. Next weekend, some men will be going to the Promise Keepers stadium event in New Jersey.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Tony
Bobby
Shane
Brittany
Shirley
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
10/3/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 12 present at our Morning Worship service. Kristin brought the message and I presided.
We had 13 at Kids' Church. We working on keeping God's word on our heart and played games to help us learn a verse from the Psalms.
The fellowship service had 9 present. During the praise music time, a woman walked in, put money in the offering box, waved, and walked out. None of us had ever experienced someone coming to church just for the offertory before.
I visited with the architect about the current status of the building project. We don't have any tentative dates for delivery that I know of at the time of this writing.
Our tutoring time this week had just a few kids each day. With the change in the school day, there is less of a need for this ministry. We're continuing to explore alternatives for this time slot.
We finished our study of the book of Acts this week at Discipleship Class. 8 people were present. We'll have a couple of weeks with miscellaneous topics then Georgia Stewart from the Towson Congregation will be joining us to teach a series on church history.
Thursday evening the local pastors met at St. Agnes Hospital to finalize the plans for an area newsletter. The first issue should be mailed out the beginning of November.
Friday afternoon, Mike Barber and I headed up to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for a Promise Keepers event. The others who were planning to go had last minute problems that prevented them from joining us. We stayed at Rhonda Radliff's house on Friday night in New York City.
We got back to Pigtown around 10:30 Saturday night so I didn't get the information on how Pizza Church went. I'll get that information from Kristin and let you know in next week's report.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be having a baptismal service as a part of Pizza Church on Friday night.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
Bobby
Tony
Otts
Michael
Anne
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
10/10/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning while Gloria was preparing the emblems for the communion service. A few kids stopped by and were quite curious as to what she was doing. They ended up staying for church to see what it was all about. We had 16 present for the celebration of the Lord's Supper at the 11:00 service.
Kids' Church had 17 present. We learned the story of the great banquet (Luke 14:15-24). Afterward, covered the tables with butcher paper and had the kids draw place settings and food on their banquet tables.
13 attended the Fellowship service. During the time of sharing the news of what God's been doing in each of our lives, Danny announced to the congregation that he had accepted his call to the office of Deacon. We'll be beginning the courses he needs prior to ordination during Discipleship Class in a few weeks.
Wednesday afternoon the builder poured the concrete at the construction site. Some long-awaited progress finally happened.
We had kids all week during the tutoring time. We're still exploring alternative ways of using this time as most do their homework during the extended school hours.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 5 present. During it, we addressed some questions that had arisen the last few weeks about how the denomination is structured. Starting next week, Georgia Stewart from the Towson Congregation will be coming down to teach four sessions of church history during this time period.
Thursday night we had a priesthood meeting. We considered new ideas for our opening weekend, coordinated calendars to make sure activities were covered while each of us is out of town at different times in the next month or so, began planning holiday activities, and discussed some of the joys and frustrations of work.
Friday night's combined Pizza Church had 28 in attendance. During the service, Anne and Robert were baptized. Mike Barber, Mission Center Youth Director, came and participated in their confirmations. Afterward, Kristin hosted a time for games with the kids.
Saturday morning, Gloria, Kristin, and I began painting the graffiti covered wall of an abandoned house next to the new property. We spent about 3 hours painting the base then invited the kids to come and paint each brick one of six colors. About 25 participated at some point during the painting and the bulk of the work was done in a few more hours. There'll be a lot of finishing work to be done over the next few weeks, but the graffiti is covered and the look of the wall is beginning to take shape.
While we were painting, the construction crew worked on finishing the foundation to the new building. There is still a lot of work left, but if they work all day Sunday the building will be able to meet its current delivery date of this Monday. I'll keep you up to date mid-week as to its status.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be having baptismal services during both Kids' Church and the Fellowship Service on Sunday. We're scheduled to have the building delivered on Monday. There's a full park committee meeting on Tuesday evening and a playground subcommittee meeting Wednesday afternoon.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people in the forefront of your prayers:
John
James
Stella
Shirley
Earl
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
10/15/99
Good News!!!
The building is scheduled to arrive around noon on Friday, October 15! Keep us in your prayers and check out the web page Friday night as we will try to get pictures up on it.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
10/17/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 10 people present for our 11:00 a.m. worship service. I presided and brought a message on tithing and sacrificial giving.
Kids' Church was an historic day. The nineteen people present witnessed Kristin's first baptism as she baptized Latoya. Mike Barber, Youth Minister for the Chesapeake Bay Mission Center, assisted as I confirmed her.
That afternoon, the architect called to tell us officially that the building would not be delivered on Monday. He said he would call later in the week to reschedule again.
We had an overflow crowd at the Fellowship Service. I lost count at 34. Mike Barber brought the baptism message. Melissa was baptized by me and confirmed by Mike.
Overnight Monday, vandals struck the construction site. We had about $1500 in damage, including having one wall of the foundation knocked down, piles of cinder blocks overturned and broken, and stolen bags of cement. The construction crew spent much of the day Tuesday repairing the damage.
Tuesday morning I was able to visit one of our parishioners who is in Jail. She was in good spirits and is working on a plan to get her life back in order as soon as she gets out.
Tuesday evening Gloria represented the church at the Carroll Park Committee meeting. Most of what was discussed did not pertain directly to the playground as the historical aspects of the park were highland that night. She found it very informative and shared some of the historical society's vision for the overall scheme of the park.
We took turns standing guard over the property Tuesday night. Kristin took watch in the early evening and I took over after class. I went home about midnight and checked it again around 2 a.m. All was well. We hired a security guard for the hours of 6-10 p.m. the rest of the week.
Wednesday we hosted a playground subcommittee meeting at the church. We had planned on having a marathon session, but not the nearly 5 hours it took. We made no progress during that time and, in fact, lost some ground as another delay arose in the city's red tape.
Immediately after the meeting we started with our tutoring session. We keep plugging away at this as we continue to plan for the future of this time slot.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 8 present. Georgia Stewart from the Towson Congregation came down to begin teaching her series on the history of the church. She started this week by providing the background information about what was going on in society at the time of the church's founding.
On Thursday we got the official call from the architect that the building would come on Friday. We immediately spread the word to have people come out and watch. We also sent out notices to those living next to and across from the site to have them move there cars so the truck could get around the corner and down the street.
Friday morning started with visiting some of the church's new neighbors as we awaited the arrival of the building. The Cain arrived about 11:15 and the building rolled down the street at about 11:30.
It was an exciting day all day as people from the neighborhood came out to watch the construction. Earl Jamison and Mike Barber from the Washington D.C. Congregation and Mischele Sadler from the Laurel Congregation came to join us in this celebration.
By about 5:45, the crews had finished their portion of the setup of the building. There was still a lot of finishing work left (mostly on the exterior) for the subcontractor to do in the next few weeks. Woody and Gloria came by shortly after we discovered that the locks on a couple of doors weren't working quite right and he was able to fix them for us on the spot.
You can see pictures of Friday's events on our web site at home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/. It will take a few minutes to download, but the pictures are great. A special thanks to Mike for letting us use his digital camera and to Kristin for getting the pictures on the page that very evening.
In the middle of the night Friday night, I had to go back and just be in the building for a while to let the reality of it sink in. After some time of dreaming of how the furniture would fit and what new activities we'll be able to host here, I just began to sing hymn 33 "The Spirt of God Like a Fire Is Burning" allowing the sound to echo through the rooms. Thoughts race back to the church's first major building project of the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, in the 1830s and how that song, first sung at that building's dedication, was now being sung in this building for the first time. I spent some tearful time thanking God for this blessing and for the lives that will be transformed because of it.
Gloria and I were each invited to attend two different luncheons at noon on Saturday. We decided to split up so that the church was represented at each. I headed over to "Pruning in the Park" sponsored by the Junior League of Baltimore. The Junior league had partnered with local arborists to have them come out and prune the trees in the park. They provided a luncheon and we were able to discuss the entire park's future. Some of the ground that we lost at Wednesday's meeting was restored as a result of our conversations there.
Gloria and Woody attended the luncheon hosted by the Pigtown Neighborhood Planning Council and Tri-Churches Housing. They presented several people in the community, including Gloria and me, "Community Revitalization Awards" for our work in "rebuilding, revitalizing, and restoring" the neighborhood.
The week ended with a walk by the new building on the way home from Pastors' Hours. As I was picking up some of the packing materials that had blown off the garbage pile, a twelve-year-old boy who has never been to the current location and who had been nothing but a terror during the building of the foundation came out of his house to visit with me. He stood in absolute awe of the building as it was so much more than anything he had dreamed of. He told me how important is was that he and I take care of the place so that it will stay nice. He shared his dreams of what would happen here in his church and how he can't wait to bring all his friends so that they can come his church with him and that we'd have to make it bigger because there would be so many people. Could I have asked for a better ending to the week?
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be working on getting the building completed and putting in some basic additional security items such as window coverings. There is also a priesthood retreat next weekend.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep those who have never been to the Power House but were touched by the delivery of the building the forefront of your prayers.
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
10/24/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 11 present for our morning worship service. I presided and brought a message on vision.
At Kids' Church, we made T-shirt shaped posters telling of Jesus' love for us. 24 were in attendance.
The 6:00 fellowship service had 10 present. Though excited about the building's arrival on Friday, we used our tradition of having the sacrament of the Lord's Supper during the third Sunday's evening service the to refocus our thoughts on the One we will glorify in that place.
After the service, I took Ron, Carol, Jackie, and Danny over to see the inside of the building. While we were there, no fewer than six police cars arrived as officers responded to a call for a possible breaking and entering. We were glad that someone in the neighborhood was watching the building and that the police were so responsive to the call.
At about 12:25 that night, Rhonda Radliff from New York City surprised those of us who were still up by arriving unannounced. She has handled the nightmare of the logistics of the building project for over a year and found that her van just turned onto I-395 and into Pigtown as she was heading through Baltimore to the Washington area. She got to see the fruit of her labor and spent time up here on Monday as well.
I cannot count the number of hours spent on the phone this week. With the building here, it was time to coordinate with the security company, the subcontractors, the architect, the city, the power company, and many others to work at getting the building finished. It was also time to start collecting invoices, cutting checks and distributing them to those who did the work last week.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 9 present. Georgia Stewart from the Towson Congregation continued her teaching of church history.
Friday night's Pizza Church groups studied sections of the book of I Thessalonians. There were 7 at the pre-teen session and 4 at the teen session.
This weekend was a time for training. Kristin spent the weekend at the Kirtland Temple near Cleveland, Ohio, at a priesthood training seminar. I attended the Chesapeake Bay Mission Center priesthood retreat near Washington, D.C.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. Wednesday night's Discipleship Class will assemble 400 candy packets to be distributed on Halloween. Also, I will not be able to access this computer next Saturday night so I won't be sending out a report next week. I'll bring you up to date two weeks from tonight.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Jackie
Bev
Darlene
Aubrey
Woody
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
11/7/99
It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday, October 24, with our Morning Worship. I preached on Mark 5. Later at Kids' Church, we had over 20 kids present. After Kids' Church, I got on a plane headed south for an evangelism training seminar and a summit of church planters in southern Alabama.
While I was away, most of our regularly scheduled activities continued without interruption. Ron Gillilan from the Towson congregation presided over the evening service. During discipleship class, the group put together 400 Halloween packets for the kids. Kristin took both sections of Pizza Church on Friday and Kids' Church on Sunday. Vonceil brought the message on Sunday morning.
When I arrived back in town on Halloween, Kristin and Gloria were at the church handing out the candy packets prepared by the Discipleship Class and the cookies provided by the Towson women's group to the trick-or-treaters. By the time church was to start all our packets and all the loose candy was gone. With the holiday festivities, we had a smaller group than we usually do at our Sunday night fellowship service.
Since we're no longer on daylight savings time and our tutoring time starts later now that it did last year, we were watching the sun set while we took kids to the park. In about a week, we probably won't be able to take them any more because it will be too dark. We'll have to be creative and come up with alternate activities.
Georgia Stewart continued her series on church history at Wednesday night's Discipleship Class. We had as many out to class as we usually have on Sunday morning. She'll be finishing up her series next week. Then we'll be teaching the Temple School class "Servant Ministry of the Deacon" through the end of the year.
Thursday night several of us joined with one of our members in celebrating his third anniversary of sobriety. We did so by joining him at his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Friday night's Pizza Church sessions both had boisterous groups. We studied Matthew 25: 1-13.
Apostle Tyree was in town Friday night at a class Kristin was attending. After class, she brought him to Pigtown to tour the new building and catch up with what's been going on with the ministry.
Saturday afternoon, the entire class came over and saw the facilities. Since many hadn't been our current building, they got a full tour of both.
Saturday night's Pastor's Hours turned into an impromptu playground planning meeting. We ended up working on plans until around midnight.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, I'll be flying to Massachusetts after church tomorrow and will be there a couple of days to attend a meeting of ministers from throughout the Northeast. We're also hoping to see some major progress on the building.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Meagan
Donald
Danny
Woody
Stella
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
11/14/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 11 people present at our Morning Worship service. During the worship we celebrated the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and received a special sacrificial offering.
Kids' Church had 14 present. We studied the first parable in Matthew 25 and made little lanterns to help us remember the story.
The fellowship service also had 11 present. We continued the theme of sacrifice and gave an opportunity for those who attend this service to participate in the sacrificial offering.
Immediately after the service, I caught a plane to Providence, Rhode Island, to attend a meeting of our denomination's church employees from throughout the Northeast. The meetings were held in Onset, Massachusetts, through noon Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, Gloria represented the Playground Subcommittee at the Carroll Park Master Plan Committee meeting. She came back excited at the unparalleled spirit of cooperation that was present among the different groups represented and the progress that was made in the midst of it.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 9 present. Georgia finished up her series on church history. Next week we'll start the Temple School course "Servant Ministry of the Deacon."
After class, we had a brief priesthood meeting. With all the upcoming holiday activities, we had a few things that needed to be discussed that couldn't wait until our December meeting.
Friday night's Pizza Church sessions studied the parable of the talents (Matthew 24:14-30. We had 12 at the pre-teen session and 6 at the teen session. One new kid at the pre-teen session came in carrying one of the seed cards that had been given for the kids to distribute to their friends.
During the discussion, one of the girls briefly shared how her life had changed since she had been baptized. She said that she found it easier to follow Jesus since she had entered into a covenant relationship with God.
On Saturday, Kristin uploaded the latest updates on the Power House web page. It is now updated and there is a faster download of the pictures. Be sure to check it out at
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
Looking ahead to next week, we'll have our regular full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be making final preparations for the additional activities for the upcoming holiday season.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Alisha
Jamie
Kirstie
Theresa
Anne
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
11/21/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 10 present for our morning worship service. The scripture lesson was from Matthew 14:13-21.
Kids' Church had about a dozen there. We studied the parable of the talents.
The fellowship service had 10 present. We discussed the history of the service and began to recognize what needs to be done in the present to move it into the future.
Wednesday night's Discipleship class had 9 present. We began our Temple School course entitled "Servant Ministry of the Deacon." This will take us through the end of the calendar year.
At Pizza Church we studied the last section of Matthew 25, the story of the sheep and the goats. We had 11 at the pre-teen session and 7 at the teen session.
Looking ahead to next week, we have an unusual schedule of activities. Sunday morning many of the members of the Power House will be going to the morning worship at the RLDS church in Dundalk to participate in the ordination of Darlene and Beth. Kristin will be responsible for the service here in the neighborhood. Sunday night we'll celebrate Thanksgiving together with a dessert potluck after church. We won't have tutoring, Discipleship Class, or Pizza Church due to Thanksgiving.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Danny
Gloria
Kristin
Vonceil
JR
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
11/28/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with the congregation meeting in two places. Kristin presided over and spoke at the worship service in Pigtown. Several of us headed over to the Living Christian Covenant in Dundalk, Maryland, to participate in the ordinations of Darlene and Beth.
Kids' Church had 16 present. We talked about thankfulness and the Thanksgiving holiday. We then made turkeys out of construction paper.
The fellowship service had 22 present. We had an especially powerful service as we focused on the blessings for which we were most thankful.
After the service we had a dessert potluck. It was a great time of fellowship over fabulous desserts.
The women of the Towson congregation outdid themselves again this year in their generosity at Thanksgiving. On Monday night I picked up a car full (literally) of food for a family in need in our neighborhood.
Because of Thanksgiving, many of our regularly scheduled activities were cancelled this week. We'll be back on full schedule next week.
Quite a bit of progress was made on the building this week. The door handles were all changed, the siding is nearly complete, and most of the seam where the two sections came together is now sealed. The contractor expects that he will finish up with the building itself sometime this next week. From there, we'll be waiting for the phone, plumbing and electric hookups, installation of the fire alarm, the final grading of the land, and the paving of the plaza area. We're still unsure of a moving date.
Looking ahead to next week, we'll be back to our full schedule of activities. In addition, the playground subcommittee will be taking a tour of local playgrounds designed and built by our "first choice" vendor on Wednesday. Thursday night we'll have our monthly priesthood meeting.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
George
Suzy
Shinnel
Shirley
Bobby
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
12/5/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 13 at our Morning Worship service. My parents were down from Michigan so my dad brought the first message of the advent season.
Kids' Church had 25 present. We stared preparing for the Christmas season by making a paper chain to decorate the building for the holidays.
The Fellowship Service also had 13 present. I presided and brought the message.
Wednesday morning brought a field trip for the playground subcommittee. Through it and the discussions afterward, we made some tremendous progress on this venture. We all have some intensive work over the next few weeks so that we will be able to present a finalized proposal to the full playground committee the first Tuesday in January. Hope springs eternal for a new playground by summer 2000.
During Wednesday night's Discipleship Class, we continued our study of the Temple School course on the servant ministry of the deacon. 8 were present.
Thursday night brought our monthly priesthood meeting. During this time, I presented our themes, goals, calendar, and a rough outline the program for the year 2000 to this group. We'll be updating the web page soon and so you will be able to access the specifics of the ministry for the year.
Since the kids' participation in tutoring has pretty much stopped, we put that time to good use this week by beginning the preparations of our Christmas cards that we'll distribute in the neighborhood in the next couple of weeks. We have 600 of the 1000 labeled. Next week, we'll finish labeling, insert invitations to the Christmas services, and stuff the envelopes.
Friday afternoon, the boy who started coming to pizza church a few weeks ago due to the kids' distribution of seed cards knocked on my door. He wanted to know if he could bring his 10-year-old friend with him. I let him know how wonderful it was to bring friends to church with him.
We had two of the best Pizza Church sessions we've had in months on Friday. They've been good lately, but both the pre-teen (12 present) and the teen (9 present) were excellent as we reviewed the Christmas story in a game show format.
During Pastor's Hours that night, Kristin brought over new sets of Legos that her mother had bought for the Power House. The kids were thrilled to be able to play with 2406 new blocks and we all had a good time building together.
While we were building, the boy working with me turned to me and said, "So, what do I have to do to be a disciple." What an opening. We'll be doing some one-on-one work in the next few weeks.
On Saturday, Kristin represented the Power House at the mission center's steering committee meeting in Springfield, Virginia.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities. In addition, the playground subcommittee will meet Tuesday midday and the park committee will have a public forum Tuesday night. Between tutoring and Discipleship Class on Wednesday night, we'll be working in the a playground committee meeting to discuss the previous night's input and the park's master plan.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Latoya
Robert
Melissa
Sissy
Alan
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
12/12/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with 6 present at our morning worship. The topic was on hope and the scripture focus was Luke 2:1-7.
Kids' Church had 25 in attendance. After learning the story of the wise men, we made presents for Jesus and put them in a box to be delivered to Jesus.
The fellowship service had 11 present. Afterward, Kristin surprised us by bringing in a cake so the congregation could join in celebrating my birthday.
Tuesday midday brought a playground committee meeting. We made a little progress, but not as much as the last time. That night was a community forum on the park. Gloria represented the playground subcommittee at that meeting.
We had a couple of kids during tutoring time this week. While there, we also continued preparing the Christmas cards that we'll distribute to each home in the neighborhood the week of Christmas.
Wednesday evening brought yet another park meeting. This time, it was the full advisory board meeting. I represented the playground subcommittee at that meeting.
I did make it back to the church in time for Discipleship Class. We continued our study of the role of the Deacon. 10 were in attendance.
Throughout the week, the contractor made notable progress on the building. By Thursday afternoon, the roof was finally finished. The city came to hook up the water and sewer lines only to discover that the lines they had planned to tap into were from an outdated map and were no longer in service. This meant that a trench had to be dug and piping laid at the opposite end of the property. The crew began working on that immediately.
Because of the construction progress, I was able to pick up some of the finishing items. We now have the exterior lighting and the water fountain ready for installation this coming week.
If the weather holds, the various subcontractors keep relatively close to their schedules, and the city inspectors come for their inspections, the bulk of the work on the building could be completed by next weekend. The phone is scheduled for installation on the 22nd and, if all goes well, we should be able to schedule a final inspection and receive our occupancy license in early January.
Friday night brought 15 to our 6:00 and 8 to our 7:00 sessions of Pizza Church. We studied the Christmas story.
Looking ahead to next week, we have our full schedule of regular activities less tutoring, which is starting its Christmas vacation. In addition, we'll be joining the Towson congregation for their Christmas party following our Sunday evening service. Friday night is our annual Christmas caroling time that we'll tie in with Pizza Church. On Saturday, we're doing a marathon session of the Temple School course "Introduction to Scripture." (We didn't schedule this early enough to put out the word throughout the Mission Center, so if you get this and are interested, please email me and I'll get you more information.) We also anticipate seeing lots of work being done on the building.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
John
Donald
Pooh
Kimberly
Shirley
Thank you for your continued prayer support.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
12/19/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 13 present at our morning worship service. I brought the message and presided as we celebrated the third Sunday of advent.
Kids' Church was a full house with 29 present. Mike Barber came up from Virginia to help us out. He brought his digital camera with him so that the kids could make personalized Christmas cards with their pictures printed on them.
We had a smaller group at the fellowship service with 6 present. Afterward, Jeff Rumbaugh and I joined the rest of the Towson congregation at the Gillilan's house for the church's annual Christmas party.
Throughout the week the builders made progress on the building. The electrician indicated that Baltimore Gas and Electric should have service on in the building before the first of the year. The telephone will be switched over this coming Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday evening I met with some women who are business associates of Danny. They were interested in seeing what we do and how they could support the children's and youth ministries here. During their short visit, they gave us a large basket of beanie babies, provided funds for a neighborhood Christmas celebration for the kids, offered to sponsor Christmas for two families in need, and committed to doing a fundraiser in February. They were thrilled to see a group of people committed to caring for the kids in the neighborhood.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 7 present. We continued our study of the office of Deacon.
Thursday was filled with a variety of activities. Much of the day, Mike Barber and I shopped for the sound system for the new building. That afternoon Hal and Sarah Davis, friends from Houston, Texas, and their daughter Jodi, who lives in the Baltimore area, stopped by on their way to the airport. They've provided long-distance support for the ministry and didn't want to leave town without seeing the new building. A little later that evening, Carol Gillilan delivered the community Christmas gifts from the Towson Women's group. Included in their offering were 40 stuffed Christmas stockings that will be distributed during Kids' Church this Sunday and a holiday meal and gifts for a local family.
Friday evening we combined the Pizza Church sessions. We dressed the kids up in choir robes and went Christmas caroling around the neighborhood. We had a total of 41 participants.
Saturday we did a marathon session of the Temple School course "Introduction to Scriptures." This class was his only remaining course required prior to his ordination.
Looking ahead to next week, we have a slightly different schedule due to Christmas. We will have our regularly scheduled services on Sunday and will distribute the Christmas stockings during Kids' Church. Wednesday we will distribute Christmas cards to everyone in the neighborhood and will have our Narcotics Anonymous meeting and the Discipleship Class that evening. Thursday we'll finish up the holiday projects like distributing gifts and meals to families. Friday night we'll be having our candlelight Christmas Eve service at 7:00 p.m.
Throughout the week, we're anticipating meetings with different subcontractors. Bell Atlantic will be here on Wednesday. We're anticipating visits from a couple of inspectors from the city and possibly our electric connection from BGE.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Bill
Lindy
Gregory
Diane
Fran
Thank you for your continued prayer support. Have a very Merry Christmas.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
12/26/99
It's been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday morning with 11 at our worship service. Traditionally, I present the children with the best attendance for the semester a special gift at Christmas time during Kids' Church. However, our top two in attendance were active during this service so I presented the gifts then. Especially noteworthy was that Shawna was the first kid at the Power House (at least as far as Suzy and I could remember) to have perfect attendance for an entire semester.
Kids' Church had 34 present. After the service, we handed out the Christmas stockings supplied and filled by the women of the Towson congregation. They provided 40 stockings this year (twice as many as last year). The few left over after Kids' Church distributed to kids who came to other services that day and a couple of families who live near the church who were in need this Christmas.
After Kids' Church, I was able to deliver the first of the holiday sponsorships. Again, thanks to the Towson women's group, a family in Pigtown received a complete Christmas meal and gifts.
The fellowship service had 8 present. During the service, Darlene and Vonceil served communion.
I got an email Sunday night stating that some people in the Washington, D.C., congregation had gifts for some of the kids at the Power House. Bryce and I headed down Monday morning to pick them up. The gifts were for the kids that attended camp this summer, so Monday night I put on my Santa hat and went to their homes to surprise them.
The builder wasn't on site much this week. The city inspections that were necessary to complete his portion of the work and that were scheduled this week were cancelled due to Christmas. We're all hoping they will come and do the inspections early next week.
Wednesday morning Gloria, Bryce, and I began distributing Christmas cards to all the families in the neighborhood. We canvassed all but one block each of James Street and Glyndon Avenue before the cold got the best of us. I finished those two blocks on Thursday morning. We ended up distributing about 800 cards.
Wednesday afternoon Bell Atlantic was scheduled to come and switch over the phone to the new building. As has been the norm on this project, they didn't show up. They're going to try again this coming Thursday.
Wednesday night's Discipleship Class had 6 present. We continued our study of the office of Deacon in preparation for Danny's ordination.
Thursday morning was consumed with rescheduling subcontractors that needed the phone lines in the building in order to install their components (like the fire alarm people and the security system people).
A little later that day I was able to accept the delivery of the second family holiday sponsorship. The mom of the family receiving the gifts talked with me on Wednesday and asked if I would please not deliver anything to her house unless she was present. She was certain that if she wasn't there, the gifts would be opened and the food eaten before she got home. Since she had gone to work by the time things were delivered, I stashed the gifts away overnight.
Thursday night I received and was able to distribute the last two family holiday sponsorships. This brought a total four families provided a Christmas celebration that they otherwise could not afford. This doubled the number of sponsorships from last year.
With all the activities and the gifts coming in and out of the building all week, the church was a complete disaster. Much of the day Friday was spent in preparing the place for that night's Christmas Eve service. After a diligent day's work, we were able light the 48 candles for the service with 30 minutes to spare.
The Christmas Eve service had 42 in attendance. 38 had chairs, 2 kids had laps, and 2 teens stood. We set the definition for the term "full house." We had a powerful service of scripture, song, and spoken word. Afterward, we set up the church for Sunday morning and delivered the last of the Christmas presents.
After family Christmas celebrations on Saturday, we printed out the first batch of the new seed cards for the Morning Worship and the Fellowship Service. We'll provide them to each person in attendance on Sunday as a simple way of inviting people to church.
Looking ahead to next week, we have an unusual schedule due to the New Years Eve and New Years Day holidays. We will have our regularly scheduled services on Sunday but with some special events in them. During the Morning Worship, Mike Barber will be providing guest ministry. During the Fellowship Service, we will have a brief business meeting to show our support for Danny in his call to the office of Deacon. Narcotics Anonymous will meet as scheduled on Wednesday and our Discipleship Class will complete its Temple School course. Friday afternoon we'll be having special activities for the kids to help celebrate the new year.
Our head contractor said he plans on being here most of the week to meet with inspectors and complete his portion of the work on the building. Bell Atlantic will is scheduled to come on Thursday afternoon.
In addition to these activities, those individuals mentioned, and the continued progress on our building project, please keep the following people the forefront of your prayers:
Billy
Patricia
Loretta
Shirley
Ron
Thank you for your continued prayer support. Happy New Year.
Jeff and everyone at The Power House
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
home.sprintmail.com/~vajaba/
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