9/5/2010

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

It started out with relief that our van was in the church parking lot in the morning. Since there had been several attempts at stealing it already that weekend and with our car already gone, it was nice to see it in the morning.

During Morning Worship we reviewed how God's Spirit had been moving among us over the summer. Hannah and Sam then shared about their time working with the congregation. This was followed by a congregational blessing for them and then a reception with cake.

Right after church we began setting up for the school supply distribution. A few of our high school kids joined Tamara, Sam, Hannah, and me in hauling everything out of the closet, organizing things, and setting up displays for the kids to make their choices. For all their help, the high school students were able to select from some backpacks that we'd received.

We had more supplies donated to us this year than ever before. People in the congregation continued to bring in bags of supplies right up through Morning Worship that day. Individuals and congregations around Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Michigan all gave generously to the cause. One woman decorated a box and set it out at work to collect donations from coworkers. This took a full and broad effort to make this all happen.

Vonceil, Patricia, and two of our neighbors got to the church shortly before opening to help staff the event. Kid and parents filled the space outside from the church doors to the street and then around the corner on the sidewalk in front of the church.

I stepped outside at 3:00 to assure people that we had plenty of supplies and that there was no need to rush. We then let people in to go to the registration table and choose their supplies. People moved quickly and in an orderly manner. While they waited in line they could watch a series of photos and announcements of youth ministries at the church that Vonceil had playing on the big screen.

In the first 45 minutes over 150 kids received school supplies. By the time we closed up a couple hours later 218 kids had bags of supplies. We went from six tables heaped with supplies and boxes of supplies stacked on the floor near them to one table about half full of leftover items.

Five years ago we helped 66 kids. It was gratifying to be able to help that many people and troublesome to recognize how much the need has grown.

By the time we got everything cleaned up and all the statistics run for the day it was 8:45 p.m. Though completely out of some supplies, we had some leftovers, too. The few boxes of "non perishable" items like notebooks and crayons will be saved for next year. Things that won't last (like glue sticks or markers) will be given to the teachers at our local schools.

Sam and Hannah's time in Baltimore came to an end on Monday. Tamara and I had lunch with them at Tamara's house then Tamara took them to the airport for their overnight flight back to the UK.

With the locks at the church changed last Saturday (due to my keys being gone) Tamara and I were the only key holders. We got copies made and distributed them to most people who needed them early in the week.

Our fall schedule resumed on Wednesday. It started with about 25 kids participating in SonRisers that morning. We anticipated a small group because the new charter school wasn't opening until next week. Also, the new 6th graders who would have traditionally gone to that building are taking busses out of the neighborhood now that the local middle school has closed. As we were setting up in the morning we realized that we were opening too late for those kids who now have to catch busses by 7:00 a.m. Next week we'll start opening at 6:45 in order to let them be a part of SonRisers each week.

Once SonRisers ended the nursing students began to arrive. They'll be using the church as a launch site for their work in the neighborhood again this year.

We put the September newsletters in the mail. You can see Kids' Church News at http://kidschurchnews.blogspot.com/ and Pizza Church Press at http://pizzachurchpress.blogspot.com/.

I stopped by a family's home to discuss baptism with them. Some have decided to get baptized on Sunday, September 12, and others are considering it.

That evening after the NA meeting we resumed Mid-Week service. Afterward we hung the new banner on the front of the church and changed out our sign to reflect the fall's schedule.

Part of the job on Thursday included finding the surface of my desk. All the remnants of the summer's projects were cleared off to make room for fall. We also prepared some fliers needed for next Saturday's Pigtown Festival.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids looked good as many of them arrived in new school uniform shirts. A couple of the boys asked for help to change high schools because their school didn't have as many girls as some of the other schools. The first two groups learned about Solomon while the third group continued its study of the Gospel of Luke. Don was in town working on his house so he joined us for the third session.

The weather on Saturday was exceptionally beautiful all day. We were able to visit many people who were out enjoying the weather.

That afternoon an abandoned house on my street caught on fire. Some junkies had broken into the house and had caused the fire while they were in there. This is not an unusual occurrence.

Sometimes when the fire hoses are being used we get some brown water from our spigots for a little while. This happened today. Unfortunately, we running the washing machine and didn't notice it. All our white clothes came out covered with large, blotchy, brown stains. This includes the kids' and Vonceil's school uniform shirts. We'll see if Oxy Clean is as good as it claims to be. Fortunately, we had prepared the communion cloths earlier so they're unstained.

And just as I was getting ready to send this letter out at about 1:00 a.m. I had a loud knock on the door. It was the police. They had found our car several blocks away and wanted me to pick it up immediately. The car was missing its radio and hubcap, had some bumps and scrapes, and featured some graffiti inside. Though the steering was very much out of alignment it was still drivable. The van keys were not inside. The officers scolded me for letting my car get stolen then sent me on my way.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, I'll be teaching the nursing students about the neighborhood during their class on Wednesday. I'm having lunch with Bill, our Mission Center President, on Wednesday as well. Next Saturday is the Pigtown Festival. Meanwhile, Violet will be attending the Mission Center meeting in Springfield, Virginia, that same day. Saturday evening is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. After that we'll be setting up and filling the font for next Sunday's baptisms.

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

The Lydick Family
The Handy Family
The Sykes Family
The Barrett Family
The Battle Family
The Brown Family
The Stintchcomb Family
The Burley 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/