10/3/2010

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

It started Sunday with Morning Worship. We again had a small group at the service. The message was on Malachi 3.

At Kids' Church we learned a story from Ezra. The kids broke into groups and made different food items that, when combined, made a dessert treat. Afterward Tamara and I stayed at the church and finished up some overdue paperwork.

101 Kids participated in SonRisers on Wednesday morning. The theory that, because of the closing of the middle school and it's reopening as a charter school, we would have substantially fewer kids at SonRisers was disproven quite completely.

During the day on Wednesday we wrote the October newsletters for Kids' Church and Pizza Church. They are available on line at http://kidschurchnews.blogspot.com/ and http://pizzachurchpress.blogspot.com/.

After the NA meeting we had our Mid-Week service. Some of those who usually come couldn't be there but a couple others who hadn't been there for a while came by.

Once that group dismissed, Josh and I headed to The Home Depot. We purchased all the materials we needed to install the laminate floor in the balcony. The flooring is necessary as the current floor was basically a painted sub-floor which was not nearly sufficient for the Peace Pavilion which will be located there.

Early Thursday morning we met with folks to haul some construction garbage out of the attic. It was put there when we added onto the church and had never been removed. We wanted it hauled out before the new floor was installed so that the floor wouldn't be damaged during its removal and so that we could have the storage space available.

Once they left we started working on the floor. That afternoon we put together the newsletter mailings.

Tamara flew out to Kansas City on Friday morning. She's attending the church's African American Ministries event at church headquarters this weekend.

Sarah and I staffed Pizza Church on Friday evening. All three groups had lots of energy and not a lot of focus. Once all the kids left I spent some time working on the flooring. You can follow the progress with pictures posted at http://pigtownpeacepavilion.blogspot.com/.

We spent some time on Saturday searching for subject-appropriated video shorts to use as a part of the Morning Worship experience. The training I got in Chicago last week directed us to some resources to help make this happen.

That evening when I was finishing up the sermon preparation at the church I got a phone call from one of our high school kids. He said that he wanted to get baptized on his birthday and that his birthday was this Sunday (meaning tomorrow!). I said that I'd have to talk with his mom first. He said she was getting off work late so that she would call me when she got home.

When I hung up the phone, I called Vonceil so she could rework the music and order of worship. I got in touch with Sarah and she'll be able to come and assist with the confirmations. I called Robert to let him know about changes in the setup for the morning. I texted Tamara to let her know what was going on. I then filled the font and reworked the sermon.

He called me around 11:00 p.m. and put mom on the phone. Mom was so excited that he was doing this and wondered if his sister (who has attended regularly) could get baptized in the morning, too, if she wanted to.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have the baptisms on Sunday morning. Tamara is scheduled to get back from her conference Sunday night. We'll be sending out a mailing about the 10/10/10 Homecoming Celebration and making preparations for it throughout the week. We plan on trying to finish up the flooring in the balcony. Saturday is our fall Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. Saturday is also our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

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

The Ratcliffe Family
The Sturgill Family
The Zerwonka Family
The Cox Family
The Bagley Family
The Riddick Family
The Stallings Family
The Boycheck 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/