9/19/2010

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

It started out Sunday with very hot water in the font. Robert went to the store and bought a bag of ice. We dumped it in and then left the lid off. It was at a much more appropriate temperature by the time the service started.

Family and friends of the four baptism candidates came to join in the celebration. We ended up with over 50 people at the service. Though a bit chaotic at times, the Spirit provided powerful blessings both to those in the water and those gathered to witness and celebrate.

As a part of the celebration, some folks brought cake and snack food to eat together after the service. Earl also brought a cake to mark is 79th birthday so we had plenty of sweets to eat. Most people stayed for quite a while to enjoy the food and fellowship.

A few people, though, needed to leave right away. Tamara took a some of our high school kids straight from the service to Washington, DC, to join in the unity walk. At this event, people from a variety of faith traditions walk Massachusetts Avenue showing understanding and respect for people of all faiths.

Since it was raining we gave a couple people rides home once people had cleared the building. The Paulsons were down from Pennsylvania for the day so we got lunch together then set up for Kids' Church.

The kids seemed to really get into the singing time at Kids' Church so we added a couple of songs to what we had originally planned. I took care of the lesson and the Paulsons lead the craft time.

Sunday evening brought our monthly Priesthood Meeting. We filled in much of the calendar through Christmas, did some planning for the October 10 Homecoming Celebration, and discussed some of the temporal concerns we're having as a congregation.

Last week at the Pigtown Festival, Tamara was invited to come over to Paul's Place, a local not-for-profit that provides services in the community, to visit with Shirley, the director of their after school program. Shirley had heard of Tamara's training in counseling and experience in working with kids in the neighborhood and was interested in seeing if it would help in their programming. As a result of the meeting, Tamara will be working with their program two afternoons each week.

About 45 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. We've had a bit of a slow start to SonRisers this fall compared to recent years. Several factors are in play, including schools being closed on Tuesday for the primary election. However, with the charter school's replacing the middle school, we're expecting a significant drop-off in participation this year. We'd love to be proven wrong.

Gloria stayed after SonRisers to talk with the nursing students. They moved their start time to 8:30 so we now have a smoother transition from one activity to the next. We took some of the leftover donuts to the elementary school for their staff.

That afternoon the people who had borrowed a few chairs for a birthday party last week returned them to the church. After the NA meeting we had our Mid-Week Service.

For once, we spent time on Thursday getting a jump-start on some paperwork rather than using that time to play catch-up. We got the October newsletters outlined and took care of some arrangements for an upcoming training. We also worked on fliers for Homecoming and updated the "upcoming events" section of the web site.

Marjorie and I met for breakfast on Friday morning. We've both had a lot going on the last few months so it was a good chance to review what's been happening and look to future coordination between the School of Nursing and the church.

Women started gathering at the church in the late afternoon on Friday. Gloria, Sue, and Vonceil were the drivers of the caravan up to Deer Park Campgrounds for a women's retreat. This year 11 women went from our congregation. This included three women in their early 20s who went through our youth ministries programs a few years back.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had good numbers of kids throughout the evening. Since Vonceil was out of town, I had to leave right after the Senior High lesson to pick up Bryce after his first experience marching in the band at his high school's football game. Tamara and a few of the kids stayed at the church late so I was able to visit with them for a few minutes once I was back in the neighborhood.

We have a couple people trying to earn some court ordered community service hours. I met with one of them on Saturday morning to do some prep work for painting. This needs to get done in order to have the room ready for the Peace Pavilion. We (and hopefully some others) will be meeting next Wednesday to get some more of the work done.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we're expecting the women to get back in the neighborhood late in the afternoon on Sunday. We have our monthly Celebration Service (which this month includes a pizza supper) on Sunday evening. We've scheduled some painting time for Wednesday morning after SonRisers. I'll be out of town for training for a couple of days this week so Tamara and Robert will be in charge of Pizza Church on Friday. Next Saturday is our monthly Sundae Church.

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

The Leslie Family
The Ruby Family
The Taylor Family
The Threet Family
The Burrs Family
The Jones Family
The Alexander Family
The Fisher Family

Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
http://thisweekatthepowerhouse.blogspot.com/