It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out on Sunday, October 17, with Morning Worship. We had a good crowd that day, which included the return of a few people who hadn't been to church for some time. As a part of the service, we consecrated the balcony for the purposes of peace.
At Kids' Church that afternoon we learned about Nehemiah leading the people to build a wall around Jerusalem. The kids then had the challenge of using Legos to build a wall around me and the rug I was sitting on.
When Nick came in to the Celebration Service that night he shared some of his good news with me before sharing it with the congregation. Though he hadn't been trying to quit, he hadn't touched a cigarette since he'd gotten in the font to be baptized. He had tried unsuccessfully many times before but was now cigarette free for 5 weeks. To conclude the Celebration Service we shared in an especially good potluck dinner together.
88 kids participated in SonRisers that Wednesday morning. This despite the fact that the 6th and 7th grade classes, traditionally the core of our SonRisers participants, were on an overnight field trip.
We worked on the Peace Pavilion on and off throughout much of that day. This included a trip to IKEA to buy some area rugs (thanks to a contribution for that purpose), a visit with the principal at school 34 which concluded with setting up a schedule for her students' participation in the pavilion, and Joshua coming over at the end of the day to help move the last of the exercise equipment out of the way.
The Mid-Week Service started a little late that evening. This was because there was an anniversary party at the NA meeting. They had a buffet meal in celebration and were winding down just as the service was getting ready to start in the other room. We took a couple of minutes to help them clean up and get the back room shut down for the evening before starting our prayer time.
With the last of the equipment now downstairs, we took some time Thursday to put a fresh coat of paint on the steps to the balcony. Later that day I got cornered by a political candidate who was inappropriately seeking my endorsement for him to use in the community.
I was able to visit with the folks at the other school near the church on Friday. The teachers there had become disinterested in participating in the Peace Pavilion so I got some additional information in the principal's hands for their consideration.
That afternoon Patty from the Dundalk Congregation came by and we went to the airport. She and I were on the same flight to Cleveland together. We were going there for meetings with people throughout our mission field. We, along with several others from our area, spent the weekend in Ohio.
While I was out, Tamara and Robert were responsible for Pizza Church on Friday and Sundae Church on Saturday. Earl presided and Vonceil ran the AV equipment for a memorial service at the church on Saturday. Gloria presided and Earl brought the message for Morning Worship on Sunday while Bill Brian took the lead of the lesson and crafts at Kids' Church that afternoon.
Before leaving Ohio on Sunday, the Kramers from the Wadhams Grove Congregation in Michigan met up with us. They had filled their van with the Peacemobile items that were on loan to another congregation when we picked up the trailer there in August. Most of the supplies fit in Sarah's car and a couple bags of puppets went in Marian's back seat so that they could get reunited with the materials we had here in Pigtown. That night Sarah and I unloaded her car at the church.
I got a call from Marjorie on Tuesday. She said she was just a couple blocks from the church and had Halloween supplies for us. I met her at the church and received twelve dozen toothbrushes and nearly 100 tubes of toothpaste to hand out with our Halloween candy this weekend.
110 kids participated in SonRisers activities this Wednesday morning. Each week when kids come they are given a card with a scripture for the week on it. If they save them and bring in six different verses they can get a free T-shirt. We gave out our first T-shirt of the year this Wednesday.
Much of the rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent setting up the "Peace for Me" displays in the Peace Pavilion. Though a tight fit, we were able to set up 12 different learning centers focusing on the topic. I made a call to Michigan that night to make sure I had the right materials with each center. Though we have things generally arranged, we continue to make adjustments and organize some of the supplies. Pictures of the progress are posted at http://pigtownpeacepavilion.blogspot.com/.
That afternoon just before the NA meeting we had a major toilet malfunction in the men's room. Those who arrived to the meeting early had to walk through the puddles we were trying to mop up. Those who arrived late were greeted with a very strong smell of bleach.
Earl brought the Peacemobile puppets with him when he came to Mid-Week Service on Wednesday evening. He lives in the same retirement complex as Marian's mother so Marian had left them there with them.
We spent Thursday on paperwork. This included getting the newsletters for Kids' Church and Pizza Church written, printed, and ready to mail, as well as printing and distributing letters to the teachers for their preparation in bringing kids to the Peace Pavilion.
That evening we noticed quite a few more helicopters overhead than usual. We turned on the news and learned that there had been a shooting (which turned fatal) in front of a home where several members and friends live. We went by a little later to make sure everyone there was ok.
Since Halloween in on Sunday, the kids at school 34 had their annual Halloween parade through the neighborhood on Friday. This year, not only did I get to greet the school kids, I got to see Bryce play his trumpet as his school's marching band came to lead the parade.
While waiting for the parade to start I met up with a young adult who had been very active in church activities as a youth. He had just gotten out of jail on Thursday after a three month stay so he was getting his bearings and making plans to try to stay out of jail in the future.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had guests who were in town for the Medical Science and Healing Spirit workshop that Ron runs each year. They shared pictures and stories from some of the medical missions they'd been on in recent years.
Some folks used the church for a birthday party on Saturday afternoon. That evening we spent some time on detail work in the Peace Pavilion and preparing the front room of the church for Sunday night's trick-or-treat crowd.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, Don Compier will be our guest speaker during Morning Worship on Sunday. We'll have some Peace Pavilion volunteer training after Morning Worship on Sunday. There'll be trick-or-treating at the church on Sunday evening. Newsletters go in Monday morning's mail. On Monday afternoon we're having a teacher in-service at school 34 in preparation for the teachers bringing children to the Peace Pavilion. First grade students will open the Peace Pavilion on Thursday morning. Next weekend Tamara will be participating in a Young Adult Retreat next weekend.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Meyers Family
The Squirrel Family
The Ruby Family
The Gray Family
The Lydick Family
The Graham Family
The Ayers Family
The Bonnett 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/
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
10/17/2010
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out with a Homecoming Breakfast early Sunday morning. We didn't have as many people come this year as we did last year but those who came seemed to enjoy the food and fellowship quite thoroughly.
More people joined the group for Morning Worship. This included a woman who is a part of the Wednesday services a the Dundalk Congregation. Someone had posted our Homecoming flier on their bulletin board so she'd hopped the bus across town to have a chance of pace for Sunday.
After the service we had a "game day" lunch. Tamara cooked hot dogs on the grill and we had bags of chips and cans of pop. After lunch a few people stayed to watch the Ravens game on the big screen in the front room.
We've been learning from the book of Ezra for a couple weeks at Kids' Church. Sunday's lesson was about the theme of remembering God's laws. We decided to review the 10 Commandments then have the kids do a corresponding sticker page craft. We had surplus copies of this craft from when we studied Exodus last year and were able to easily find it because of the organizing and categorizing that our World Service Corps volunteers did back in August.
I got a message that afternoon that the last of the Peacemobile materials. When we picked up the trailer in August, a few of the centers were on loan to another congregation in Michigan. The materials had now been returned to the Wadhams Grove Congregation in Michigan. We're now looking at ways to get these remaining items to Maryland.
Sunday night was our monthly priesthood meeting. Tamara shared about her experience at the African American Ministries Conference, we finalized the calendar through the end of the year, and we reviewed the status of some of the ministries, including our statistics on kid participation and the progress on the Peace Pavilion.
Our Mission Center President, our President of Seventy, and our Apostle all arrived in Pigtown Monday morning. We spent about 3 hours together touring the neighborhood, discussing ministry challenges, and having lunch together.
Not long after they left I got a knock on the door. A neighbor whose kids had come to church when they were in middle school came by to let me know that her uncle had died. They were wanting to have me lead a memorial service. I'm scheduled to be out of town the day they could have it so I got them connected with Earl. He was willing to take the lead in it.
We were in contact with Graceland University on Tuesday. Sarah had informed us of a new scholarship opportunity for kids who are members of our denomination. I got the further information I needed and got Fred and Crystal each on track to receive it. This scholarship is a super opportunity as it will cover about half of their tuition.
108 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. After they left we put the finishing trim on the floor in the balcony and started to haul out the tools and scraps. The nursing class came a little late that morning as did the NA group that evening. After a very small Mid-Week Service that evening we spent some time cleaning up all the sawdust off the new floor. (We'd decided to use the power tools inside and deal with the mess rather than setting them up outside and risk having them stolen (again) mid-project.)
With Peace Pavilion's space now looking pretty good (you can see current and past pix at http://pigtownpeacepavilion.blogspot.com/) we started pulling the "Peace for Me" materials out on Thursday morning. This took a couple of calls to Michigan so we could make sure we understood what we were looking for. Further, we learned which "Peace for Me" materials are still in Michigan. It's only a couple small items so we should be able to work around it for now if necessary.
That evening was a public lecture at St. Mary's Seminary about Biblical perspectives on land use. I was able to attend it and came away with some ideas and opportunities for our congregation.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids had been out of school the past two days for staff development and they were pretty chatty throughout the evening. Shortly after the last group left a couple of our neighbors came by to let us know that, shortly after leaving the church, several of the kids went over to the park an set things on fire. The fire department was packing up by the time we arrived. Naturally when confronted, the kids were totally unaware that there had even been a fire in the park.
While we were running errands on Saturday we found two high quality backpacks on clearance at 75% off. We bought them and stashed them away for next year's school supply drive. These were not the first donations for next fall, though, as Sally and George gave us a box of items when we were at Mission Center Conference last weekend.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll have our monthly Celebration Service on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. This service will include a potluck dinner. We're planning on shopping for some additional supplies for the Peace Pavilion midweek. One of the leaders of the NA group is celebrating a milestone in being clean and sober this Wednesday so they'll be having a meal together after the meeting. I'll be out of town for meetings next weekend. Earl will be leading a memorial service at the church during the day on Saturday. Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Stewart Family
The Brown Family
The Jones Family
The Star Family
The Giraldo Family
The Leach Family
The Parker Family
The Taylor 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/
It started out with a Homecoming Breakfast early Sunday morning. We didn't have as many people come this year as we did last year but those who came seemed to enjoy the food and fellowship quite thoroughly.
More people joined the group for Morning Worship. This included a woman who is a part of the Wednesday services a the Dundalk Congregation. Someone had posted our Homecoming flier on their bulletin board so she'd hopped the bus across town to have a chance of pace for Sunday.
After the service we had a "game day" lunch. Tamara cooked hot dogs on the grill and we had bags of chips and cans of pop. After lunch a few people stayed to watch the Ravens game on the big screen in the front room.
We've been learning from the book of Ezra for a couple weeks at Kids' Church. Sunday's lesson was about the theme of remembering God's laws. We decided to review the 10 Commandments then have the kids do a corresponding sticker page craft. We had surplus copies of this craft from when we studied Exodus last year and were able to easily find it because of the organizing and categorizing that our World Service Corps volunteers did back in August.
I got a message that afternoon that the last of the Peacemobile materials. When we picked up the trailer in August, a few of the centers were on loan to another congregation in Michigan. The materials had now been returned to the Wadhams Grove Congregation in Michigan. We're now looking at ways to get these remaining items to Maryland.
Sunday night was our monthly priesthood meeting. Tamara shared about her experience at the African American Ministries Conference, we finalized the calendar through the end of the year, and we reviewed the status of some of the ministries, including our statistics on kid participation and the progress on the Peace Pavilion.
Our Mission Center President, our President of Seventy, and our Apostle all arrived in Pigtown Monday morning. We spent about 3 hours together touring the neighborhood, discussing ministry challenges, and having lunch together.
Not long after they left I got a knock on the door. A neighbor whose kids had come to church when they were in middle school came by to let me know that her uncle had died. They were wanting to have me lead a memorial service. I'm scheduled to be out of town the day they could have it so I got them connected with Earl. He was willing to take the lead in it.
We were in contact with Graceland University on Tuesday. Sarah had informed us of a new scholarship opportunity for kids who are members of our denomination. I got the further information I needed and got Fred and Crystal each on track to receive it. This scholarship is a super opportunity as it will cover about half of their tuition.
108 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. After they left we put the finishing trim on the floor in the balcony and started to haul out the tools and scraps. The nursing class came a little late that morning as did the NA group that evening. After a very small Mid-Week Service that evening we spent some time cleaning up all the sawdust off the new floor. (We'd decided to use the power tools inside and deal with the mess rather than setting them up outside and risk having them stolen (again) mid-project.)
With Peace Pavilion's space now looking pretty good (you can see current and past pix at http://pigtownpeacepavilion.blogspot.com/) we started pulling the "Peace for Me" materials out on Thursday morning. This took a couple of calls to Michigan so we could make sure we understood what we were looking for. Further, we learned which "Peace for Me" materials are still in Michigan. It's only a couple small items so we should be able to work around it for now if necessary.
That evening was a public lecture at St. Mary's Seminary about Biblical perspectives on land use. I was able to attend it and came away with some ideas and opportunities for our congregation.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The kids had been out of school the past two days for staff development and they were pretty chatty throughout the evening. Shortly after the last group left a couple of our neighbors came by to let us know that, shortly after leaving the church, several of the kids went over to the park an set things on fire. The fire department was packing up by the time we arrived. Naturally when confronted, the kids were totally unaware that there had even been a fire in the park.
While we were running errands on Saturday we found two high quality backpacks on clearance at 75% off. We bought them and stashed them away for next year's school supply drive. These were not the first donations for next fall, though, as Sally and George gave us a box of items when we were at Mission Center Conference last weekend.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll have our monthly Celebration Service on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. This service will include a potluck dinner. We're planning on shopping for some additional supplies for the Peace Pavilion midweek. One of the leaders of the NA group is celebrating a milestone in being clean and sober this Wednesday so they'll be having a meal together after the meeting. I'll be out of town for meetings next weekend. Earl will be leading a memorial service at the church during the day on Saturday. Saturday night is our monthly Sundae Church.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Stewart Family
The Brown Family
The Jones Family
The Star Family
The Giraldo Family
The Leach Family
The Parker Family
The Taylor 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/
Saturday, October 9, 2010
10/10/2010
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had scheduled baptisms, confirmations, and communion as a part of the worship experience. After Terry and Icee were baptized, their older sister asked to be baptized, too. She immediately got into the font.
Usually during the serving of communion we usually have some music playing. This week instead of just playing music, we included a professional video of the song being sung in another church. It was not distracting and actually helped people gain a more collective experience. Though the song was new and no lyrics were on screen, most people joined in singing with it by the end.
We also had a couple of neighbors come to church for the first time. They were especially interested in the Peace Pavilion and volunteered to help get it going.
At Kids' Church we learned about the Israelites rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. We then broke up in groups and had "who can build the tallest" contest between a Tinker Toys team and a Legos team. Once they finished the groups switched blocks and worked to make the buildings even taller.
Afterward Bryce and I spent some time resetting the church. We drained the font, set up tables and chairs for SonRisers, recorded the day's attendance, and moved painting materials from the balcony back to the closet. That evening we spent some time putting together a mailing for next Sunday's Homecoming Celebration.
We were happy to see 98 kids at SonRisers on Wednesday morning. The nursing students were in and out of the building much of the rest of the day. While they were doing their work I spent some time working on installing the flooring for the Peace Pavilion. After the NA meeting and the Mid-Week Service, Josh came by to help carry some heavy and bulky things out of the balcony to their new homes on the main level.
Thursday included several errands and shopping. We needed to restock some Pizza Church supplies and also bought the non-perishable items for the breakfast and lunch at Homecoming. We were short of a couple of things for the floor so a Home Depot stop was required. That evening I thought I would finish the floor but had to quit with only about 4 pieces left to install.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups reviewed the Ten Commandments. Then the third group arrived. It was the highest number of kids we've had in a senior high group. And we do mean high. Once they were seated we recognized that several of them were high. We made it through the lesson OK but as we started serving pizza one kid vomited all over the floor. He said that he felt much better and was now ready to eat his pizza.
Afterward I took a few minutes to install the last few floorboards in the balcony. We have a little trim work and clean-up to do, but it is otherwise done.
On Saturday, Tim, Earl, Tamara, and I all participated in our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. While there we received a gift of 6 large beautiful baskets filled with gifts for mothers of newborns. These items were assembled as a part of the outreach of our mission center's women's retreat. Sally also brought a box of school supplies to start our collection for next August's distribution.
Meanwhile, Vonceil went shopping to get the hot dogs, buns, bagels, milk, and the like for Homecoming. Tamara will get the coffee and donuts in the morning.
That evening was our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. We had a good crowd that played well together.
The first week in October is also a time when we check on how we're doing in youth participation. So far since July 1 we've had over 450 different kids come to at least one of our regular activities at the church. Last year (which had the best participation levels of kids in our history) we were just short of 400 kids total by the first week of October.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll have breakfast before and lunch after Morning Worship as a part of our Homecoming Celebration. Some folks will probably stay and watch the Ravens game on the plasma TV afterward. Sunday night is our monthly Priesthood Meeting. On Monday our Apostle, our President of Seventy, and our Mission Center President are all scheduled to visit Pigtown. We're planning on installing the trim in the balcony then organizing our first round of Peace Pavilion materials throughout the week. I'm scheduled to meet with the public schools about the Peace Pavilion this week as well.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Ceo Family
The Pettis Family
The Houston Family
The Johnson Family
The Nelson Family
The Sanchez Family
The Bookhultz Family
The Moore 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/
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. We had scheduled baptisms, confirmations, and communion as a part of the worship experience. After Terry and Icee were baptized, their older sister asked to be baptized, too. She immediately got into the font.
Usually during the serving of communion we usually have some music playing. This week instead of just playing music, we included a professional video of the song being sung in another church. It was not distracting and actually helped people gain a more collective experience. Though the song was new and no lyrics were on screen, most people joined in singing with it by the end.
We also had a couple of neighbors come to church for the first time. They were especially interested in the Peace Pavilion and volunteered to help get it going.
At Kids' Church we learned about the Israelites rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. We then broke up in groups and had "who can build the tallest" contest between a Tinker Toys team and a Legos team. Once they finished the groups switched blocks and worked to make the buildings even taller.
Afterward Bryce and I spent some time resetting the church. We drained the font, set up tables and chairs for SonRisers, recorded the day's attendance, and moved painting materials from the balcony back to the closet. That evening we spent some time putting together a mailing for next Sunday's Homecoming Celebration.
We were happy to see 98 kids at SonRisers on Wednesday morning. The nursing students were in and out of the building much of the rest of the day. While they were doing their work I spent some time working on installing the flooring for the Peace Pavilion. After the NA meeting and the Mid-Week Service, Josh came by to help carry some heavy and bulky things out of the balcony to their new homes on the main level.
Thursday included several errands and shopping. We needed to restock some Pizza Church supplies and also bought the non-perishable items for the breakfast and lunch at Homecoming. We were short of a couple of things for the floor so a Home Depot stop was required. That evening I thought I would finish the floor but had to quit with only about 4 pieces left to install.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups reviewed the Ten Commandments. Then the third group arrived. It was the highest number of kids we've had in a senior high group. And we do mean high. Once they were seated we recognized that several of them were high. We made it through the lesson OK but as we started serving pizza one kid vomited all over the floor. He said that he felt much better and was now ready to eat his pizza.
Afterward I took a few minutes to install the last few floorboards in the balcony. We have a little trim work and clean-up to do, but it is otherwise done.
On Saturday, Tim, Earl, Tamara, and I all participated in our Mission Center Conference in Springfield, Virginia. While there we received a gift of 6 large beautiful baskets filled with gifts for mothers of newborns. These items were assembled as a part of the outreach of our mission center's women's retreat. Sally also brought a box of school supplies to start our collection for next August's distribution.
Meanwhile, Vonceil went shopping to get the hot dogs, buns, bagels, milk, and the like for Homecoming. Tamara will get the coffee and donuts in the morning.
That evening was our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. We had a good crowd that played well together.
The first week in October is also a time when we check on how we're doing in youth participation. So far since July 1 we've had over 450 different kids come to at least one of our regular activities at the church. Last year (which had the best participation levels of kids in our history) we were just short of 400 kids total by the first week of October.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll have breakfast before and lunch after Morning Worship as a part of our Homecoming Celebration. Some folks will probably stay and watch the Ravens game on the plasma TV afterward. Sunday night is our monthly Priesthood Meeting. On Monday our Apostle, our President of Seventy, and our Mission Center President are all scheduled to visit Pigtown. We're planning on installing the trim in the balcony then organizing our first round of Peace Pavilion materials throughout the week. I'm scheduled to meet with the public schools about the Peace Pavilion this week as well.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Ceo Family
The Pettis Family
The Houston Family
The Johnson Family
The Nelson Family
The Sanchez Family
The Bookhultz Family
The Moore 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/
Saturday, October 2, 2010
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/
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/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)