12/25/2010

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We talked about how, like that wise men, when we encounter a God who loves us enough to become Emmanuel that our dreams change and we take our life down a different road.

Between services the Paulsons arrived along with the friends they brought with them. They set up for the Kids' Church Christmas Party then had time to finish putting stamps on our Christmas mailing and the one for January, too. I had underestimated and bought only 300 stamps so I'll have to get some more in order to complete the January mailing. Gary took the Christmas mailing to the post box that evening.

We opened the doors to the Kids' Church Christmas Party at 3:00 p.m. Upon entering, each kid got to choose from either a box of markers, colored pencils, or crayons for a Christmas gift. They were then free to spend as much or as little time at each of the centers we had set up. Vonceil supervised the cookie decorating center where the kids frosted, added sprinkles, then ate cookies she and Carol had baked. Tamara supervised the coloring center. The rest of the crew supervised the Nintendo Wii center, the Lego center, the UNO center, the checkers center, the sticker page center, and the Tinker Toys center.

We normally finish Kids' Church at 3:45. We'd had absolutely no behavior problems so we extended the activities for another 15 minutes. One girl's older brother arrived to take her home at the regular dismissal time. I think she was having a good time as she told him, "I'm not going home until they make all of us go home."

About 25 people came to the Celebration Service and Christmas Dinner that evening. It was an almost completely different crowd than the ones at either of the other services. Gloria had baked the church's 20 lb. turkey and the church provided cookies for people to decorate. Others took part in a vegetable potluck. We polished off every morsel and had a great time visiting together.

We started distributing the postcards in the neighborhood on Monday. That day we covered the Camden Crossing and Round House Square areas of Pigtown. Once that was done I worked on putting together a wedding for later in the week, finalizing the order of worship for Christmas Eve, and contacting people to staff that service.

Damon and I distributed postcards on Tuesday. We covered several blocks on the 21230 side of the boulevard. Afterward we drove out to Wendy's for lunch. There we met two of our young adults who were filling out job applications

While we were distributing fliers we'd run into another young adult who had been active in church as a kid. I knew that he worked for the city but was surprised to see him pull up in a big green city dump truck. We were able to chat for a few seconds. Our main topic of conversation was about some people he was trying to find on Facebook. I was able to help him connect with those friends once I got home.

With fewer than 70 participants we had a surprisingly small SonRisers on Wednesday morning. Those in the office at school 34, however, were very pleased to receive a few dozen leftover donuts later that morning.

Later that morning we finished our postcard distribution as we covered the 21223 side of the boulevard. That evening was the NA Meeting and the Mid-Week Service. Following that service we prepared for a Staples run by printing off the orders of worship for Christmas Eve, Sunday (12/26), Sunday (1/2), Pizza Church Press, and Kids' Church News.

With that, we spent some time on Thursday in Staples getting the copies made and organized. When we got back home Marjorie was waiting for us. She updated us on some potential new initiatives in the neighborhood as well as updated us on some current programs, some of which are not functioning well.

When she left I got a call from Paul's Place Outreach. They'd finished their Christmas toy distribution and had a few toys left over. They wondered if we had any use for them. I arranged to meet them a few hours later.

Upon my arrival I learned that we have very different definitions of "a few." With the large quantity of toys and games I sent out a text message calling all hands to the church that evening to wrap gifts for kids. We had planned to set up the church that night for the Christmas Eve Service but the toys now took priority. Damon, Carlo, Fred, Tamara, and I showed up to work. We wrapped, sorted, and packaged the gifts from 7:30 until nearly 11:00 p.m. In the end we had presents for kids in 24 different households.

We also learned on Thursday that Salem had died. Though I don't think he'd ever been to church at the Power House, he was a close relative of several members and friends of the congregation. He had been hospitalized for over a year prior to his passing.

Tamara and I loaded up the van and delivered presents on Friday morning. We were able to surprise a lot of people in just a couple of hours.

At 1:00 that afternoon I officiated at a wedding. It was held in the couple's home just a few miles away. They're friends of many people in the congregation and have been at a high percentage of the weddings and funerals I've done over the years. It was a really neat ceremony in front of their Christmas tree.

After the wedding I had some gifts for families that still needed delivery. After that was finished we finally got around to setting up the church for the Christmas Eve Service. This takes more time than usual as we have more elaborate worship centers, configure the chairs for a bigger crowd, place candles throughout the building, and the like. Tamara designed some amazing worship centers for the event. Along with this, Bryce came to the church to practice the song he was playing on his trumpet at the service.

We'd gotten several calls and questions during the day about Pizza Church. The kids had been informed repeatedly that the Christmas Eve Service replaced Pizza Church this week yet confusion seemed to abound. I decided to be at the church by 5:45 in case kids were still confused and came looking for pizza.

By 7:38 a crowd had gathered for the 7:30 service. Charlotte played the keyboard. Vonceil ran the A/V equipment, Bryce played the trumpet, Tamara and Lennard read the scriptures, Earl offered a Christmas blessing, and I presided and shared several short messages throughout the service. Afterward a quick clean-up afterward, I took Gary out for some dinner and dropped him off at home. I went back to the church to close up. Of course, once I got home I noticed that I'd left something important there so had to go back and find it.

As is our tradition, the offering at the Christmas Eve Service is called our Christmas Gift to Jesus. The monies received go to support a project somewhere outside our neighborhood. This year the congregation helped purchase a water purification system for a village in a developing country. We don't have a grand total yet, but it looks like we'll have raised enough money through this offering to provide nearly 70 people with clean drinking water for the rest of their lives.

Robert got to the church not long after I left it on Christmas night. I finished my final sermon preparations a little earlier than usual and he came over to set up for Morning Worship since he wouldn't be there the next day to do so.

Looking ahead to next week we have a different schedule of activities. Sunday will include Morning Worship and Kids' Church. With school closed we will not have SonRisers on Wednesday morning. We will have the NA Meeting on Wednesday evening but have cancelled Mid-Week Service that night. We'll be closed on Friday because of New Year's Eve. Our regular schedule resumes on Sunday, January 2.

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

The Carroll Family
The Wilson Family
The Smith Family
The Battle Family
The Sykes Family
The Braxton Family
The Boozer Family
The St. Thomas 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/