11/28/2010

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. One new person joined the group for the Thanksgiving message. Bill and Caleb were down from Pennsylvania for the day, too. Afterward, Bill, Caleb, Lennard, and I had lunch together.

About 20 gathered for Kids' Church. After attendance and announcements, I lead the music then Bill and Caleb were responsible for the lesson and craft.

That evening was our monthly Celebration Service and our annual Dessert Potluck. Though we had a small group, the majority there were people who were not at a service earlier in the day. This included some friends from the Gatchelville, Pennsylvania, congregation. We had some open mike time to share what we're thankful for then indulged in all kinds of delicious desserts.

About 112 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. It was the first we'd seen Tamara since she got back from training in Nashville, Tennessee, so during the breaks between serving the kids we got to hear a bit about her experiences.

With Thanksgiving approaching, the schedule for the rest of Wednesday was a bit different from usual. Patricia opened and closed for the Narcotics Anonymous group. We canceled our Mid-Week Service we usually have on Wednesday night.

The church building was closed for the day on Thanksgiving. Paul's Place, which is located a few blocks from the church, provided a Thanksgiving dinner to those who wanted to share in that way. Some people active in the church served meals while others received them.

We spent much of the day Friday on paperwork and planning. We put together December's newsletters, printed our Advent readings, prepared a mailing, and redesigned some follow-up materials for youth ministries.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Usually the Friday after Thanksgiving has limited participation. This was not the case this year. The first two groups were at to slightly above our normal levels of participation. More people came to the third group than usually come in an entire evening. Also, Quentin was back in town from college so he came that evening, too.

We were running low on all kinds of supplies so a chunk of the day Saturday was spent shopping and restocking. Robert and Ebony came by that evening to clean the church as they would not be there in the morning to do so. Later that night was our monthly Sundae Church.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we're planning to take some kids who have been to church 40+ times since July out to Friendly's for ice cream on Sunday night. We'll be getting our December newsletters in the mail. We have four classrooms scheduled to come through the Peace Pavilion this week. We'll also be putting the finishing touches on some of our Christmas activities and preparing the mailing for the Christmas Eve Service.

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

The Wagner Family
The Kline Family
The Marsh Family
The Howe Family
The Spence Family
The Pringle Family
The Church Family
The Zachary 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/