It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
Started out Sunday, January 16, with Morning Worship. Before the service started John requested baptism. We set the date for January 30. Only about 15 people were at church by 11:00 a.m. By the time the sermon started at 11:20 nearly 40 had gathered.
Karen had been considering baptisms for quite some time. After the service I checked in with her on the topic and she said she was now ready and would do so on the 30th.
The story at Kids' Church was about Jesus' baptism. We then made bracelets. Among the adults present was Tammy . Karen had stopped by her house to tell her about the baptism and invite Tammy to get baptized, too. Tammy let her know that she had been baptized here a few years ago. She also wanted to visit with Tamara and me about schooling opportunity for her daughter.
That evening was our monthly Celebration Service. About half the people there were folks who hadn't been at Morning Worship. At the end of the service we had pizza.
80 kids joined us that Wednesday for SonRisers. Afterward we worked on setting up "Peace for Me" at the Peace Pavilion.
A very large group gathered for the NA Meeting that evening. We had one object for the Peace Pavilion that was still downstairs because it was quite heavy. A few of the guys at the meeting carried it up to the balcony for us. After our Mid-Week Service I spent some time getting things ready for the weekend since I was scheduled to be out of town.
I had a meeting with Bill Pennington on Thursday morning. That afternoon we finished setting up the Peace Pavilion, which included a call to Michigan to make sure we had everything set up correctly and to get some help in its practical application. You can see pictures of the current setup at http://pigtownpeacepavilion.blogspot.com/.
On Friday I caught a flight to Nashville. I was in training for the weekend there and got home Sunday night.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. Tamara, Jenn, and Robert staffed the evening and had good sized groups throughout the evening.
I got a text from Vonceil on Saturday to call Ron. I did so during a break and learned that he was working with a girl who wanted to be baptized. He wondered if they could do it as a part of the service on January 30. That sounded like an excellent idea to me.
Tamara hosted our monthly Sundae Church that Saturday evening. Based on how long she said the kids stayed to visit they must have had a good time.
Gloria presided and Ron Gillilan brought the message on Sunday. He brought a friend with him who shared his testimony and sang some songs. I've gotten rave reviews throughout the week about the service.
Tamara, Vonceil, and Kathy ran Kids' Church on Sunday afternoon. The had the largest crowd we've had in many months. I was told they had a hard time focusing on the songs and lesson but got quite into the craft project.
On Monday Tamara and Bryce spent a good portion of the day giving part of the church a good scrubbing. It made things look much better.
A series of snow storms hit the area starting overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday. This closed schools for the rest of the week. Therefore, we didn't have SonRisers on Wednesday and our sessions with kids from School 34 at the Peace Pavilion were all cancelled.
After shoveling out the church for the NA Meeting Wednesday night only a few people attended. Between the NA Meeting and the Mid-Week service I spent about 30 minutes shoveling things out again. The snow was coming down so hard at that point that people who came to the service doubted that I had shoveled at all. Interestingly, we had more people than usual number at the Mid-Week Service since they were home due to the storm.
With more time at home this week I got caught up on a lot of things. I got the February newsletters written, the attendance from last weekend done, finished the letter that goes with our end-of-year receipts, wrote several letters of recommendation, updated the web site, and cleared most of a laundry list of items that had been overlooked for quite some time.
I also had a chance to visit with Marjorie this week. We finalized Sunday, March 6, as the date for the health fair at the church.
Ron and Tamara each stopped by St. Agnes Hospital on Friday to visit with one of our kids. We'd learned on Thursday afternoon that he had been hospitalized there. I got up to the hospital to visit him on Saturday.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had smaller groups throughout the evening. Afterward the senior high boys helped get the font out of the closet.
I woke up to a surprise on Saturday. I'd posted on the church's Facebook page that we'd gotten the font out in preparation for Sunday. I had a person respond that they were thinking about baptism and would like to do so in the spring.
I touched base with our baptism candidates on Saturday. They've been busy inviting friends and family members to come with them to the service. Let's hope the weather holds and that we can have a big crowd for the service in the morning.
We have trouble keeping the water in the font warm enough this time of year due in large part to the fact that it sits on a cold cement slab. It's not unusual to have very hot water at the top of the tank and ice cold water at the bottom. Before filling it on Saturday, we decided to see if putting a thick layer of carpet under it would help. We'll know in the morning.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have several baptisms scheduled for Morning Worship. We'll be working this week to try to reschedule the Peace Pavilion with School 34. I'm meeting with the director of Paul's Place Outreach on Thursday for some coordinated planning.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Ayers Family
The Magallanez Family
The Stinchcomb Family
The Meile Family
The Cizic Family
The Marsh Family
The Ghaffar Family
The Lancaster 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, January 29, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
1/15/2011
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. Earl and Janet surprised us by bringing in a cake to celebrate the new year. After the service we had lots of prayer requests as well as a time for sharing in cake together.
At Kids' Church we learned the story about Jesus in the temple when he was twelve. We then made necklaces. There was cake left from Morning Worship so each kid to had a piece for snack time.
That night was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. Though the actual agenda was a little shorter than usual, we had some lengthy discussions and went a bit overtime.
I got a call from Donna on Monday. She wanted to make sure that her nursing classes could meet at the church on Wednesdays this semester. We also put a tentative date on the calendar for a community health fair.
We were greeted with snow and a two hour delay for the start of school on Wednesday. Because of this, we had a small group of kids for SonRisers that morning. Still, 28 kids found their way to the church for donuts.
The leftover donuts did not go to waste. We put a few dozen in the freezer for next month's Solid Rock Cafe. We then took three dozen to each of the schools for the teachers and staff. They were quite excited to see us come.
The bitter cold weather that day kept participation low at both the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service. Afterward we spent a few minutes organizing the materials in the Peace Pavilion as we prepared to transition from "Peace for Me" to "Peace for Us."
On Thursday we packed up the "Peace for Me" materials and stowed them in the attic. Earlier in the week we had arranged a schedule for kids from School 34 to come to the Peace Pavilion the last week in January so we needed to get the process going.
We also spent quite a bit of time writing curriculum and lesson plans for Kids' Church and Pizza Church. Though we usually plan in 6-month increments, we set out plans for the full year. By then end of the day we had the lessons and crafts scheduled for all but 4 Sundays in 2011. We have a rough outline for Pizza Church but still have some work to do on those plans.
We also received a notice on Thursday from the Baltimore Community Foundation. They are the group who manages the grants from the Fresh Air Society which gave funding to send 10 of our kids to camp last summer. The grant for this year is due the first week in February so we had to get right on it. Since the grant has to come from the camp rather than from the congregation, I contacted Sarah and she pulled her files from last year to start working on it.
Under Gloria's leadership, the church was used as a rendezvous point on Friday. People met there in conjunction with their work in the park.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had very small groups all evening. Sarah brought her grant materials and we spent a few minutes updating and reviewing it. We also discussed other fundraising potential. These topics are more pressing than usual because of the dramatic increase in youth participation, the steep rise in camp costs, and the difficulty in raising funds in the current economy. We also touched on the need to raise funds for sending a few kids to Spectacular this summer as well.
We had originally planned to take some kids who have come to church 40+ times since July out to Friendlys on Saturday. With the Ravens playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs that night we decided to postpone that trip.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Celebration Service on Sunday evening at 6:00. We'll be setting up "Peace for Us" in the Peace Pavilion. I'm meeting with Bill on Thursday and will be out of town for some training at the end of the week.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Riddick Family
The Ghaffar Family
The Stewart Family
The Johnson Family
The Jackson Family
The Lancaster Family
The Spence Family
The Covington 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. Earl and Janet surprised us by bringing in a cake to celebrate the new year. After the service we had lots of prayer requests as well as a time for sharing in cake together.
At Kids' Church we learned the story about Jesus in the temple when he was twelve. We then made necklaces. There was cake left from Morning Worship so each kid to had a piece for snack time.
That night was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. Though the actual agenda was a little shorter than usual, we had some lengthy discussions and went a bit overtime.
I got a call from Donna on Monday. She wanted to make sure that her nursing classes could meet at the church on Wednesdays this semester. We also put a tentative date on the calendar for a community health fair.
We were greeted with snow and a two hour delay for the start of school on Wednesday. Because of this, we had a small group of kids for SonRisers that morning. Still, 28 kids found their way to the church for donuts.
The leftover donuts did not go to waste. We put a few dozen in the freezer for next month's Solid Rock Cafe. We then took three dozen to each of the schools for the teachers and staff. They were quite excited to see us come.
The bitter cold weather that day kept participation low at both the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service. Afterward we spent a few minutes organizing the materials in the Peace Pavilion as we prepared to transition from "Peace for Me" to "Peace for Us."
On Thursday we packed up the "Peace for Me" materials and stowed them in the attic. Earlier in the week we had arranged a schedule for kids from School 34 to come to the Peace Pavilion the last week in January so we needed to get the process going.
We also spent quite a bit of time writing curriculum and lesson plans for Kids' Church and Pizza Church. Though we usually plan in 6-month increments, we set out plans for the full year. By then end of the day we had the lessons and crafts scheduled for all but 4 Sundays in 2011. We have a rough outline for Pizza Church but still have some work to do on those plans.
We also received a notice on Thursday from the Baltimore Community Foundation. They are the group who manages the grants from the Fresh Air Society which gave funding to send 10 of our kids to camp last summer. The grant for this year is due the first week in February so we had to get right on it. Since the grant has to come from the camp rather than from the congregation, I contacted Sarah and she pulled her files from last year to start working on it.
Under Gloria's leadership, the church was used as a rendezvous point on Friday. People met there in conjunction with their work in the park.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had very small groups all evening. Sarah brought her grant materials and we spent a few minutes updating and reviewing it. We also discussed other fundraising potential. These topics are more pressing than usual because of the dramatic increase in youth participation, the steep rise in camp costs, and the difficulty in raising funds in the current economy. We also touched on the need to raise funds for sending a few kids to Spectacular this summer as well.
We had originally planned to take some kids who have come to church 40+ times since July out to Friendlys on Saturday. With the Ravens playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs that night we decided to postpone that trip.
Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Celebration Service on Sunday evening at 6:00. We'll be setting up "Peace for Us" in the Peace Pavilion. I'm meeting with Bill on Thursday and will be out of town for some training at the end of the week.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Riddick Family
The Ghaffar Family
The Stewart Family
The Johnson Family
The Jackson Family
The Lancaster Family
The Spence Family
The Covington 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, January 8, 2011
1/8/2011
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
It started Sunday with Morning Worship. During this communion service we talked about what things within ourselves we needed to leave in 2010 rather than carry into 2011.
Just a few kids came to Kids' Church that afternoon. We talked about looking forward in the new year then made a craft that involved tracing our hands on a New Year poem.
Afterward we worked on our Kids' Church News/Pizza Church Press mailing. Normally we would have had it in the mail on the last mailing day of December. Activities of the Christmas and New Year holidays overtook our schedule causing the newsletters to go out a couple of days late.
We had used up most of our candles and postcard stamps over the holidays. That meant a trip to IKEA and the post office on Monday to restock.
108 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. We then spent time that morning taking down the Christmas decorations at the church and getting the youth evangelism postcards in the mail. That night after the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service, Tamara and I changed out the banner on the front of the church.
Also that evening Salem's family stopped by. He had died just before Christmas and they were ready to have a memorial service for him. We scheduled it for Saturday afternoon.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third sessions had small groups while the middle school session was very well attended. The elementary and middle school groups started their study of the life of Jesus while the high school group resumed its study of the Gospel of Luke.
Saturday afternoon was the memorial service at the church. Many in attendance were young adults who had gone through the youth program here when they were kids. Though not the choice circumstances, it was really good to see them all together and to touch base with the ones we hadn't seen in a while.
That night was our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. Though they were a bit loud outside before hand, the kids settled down and had a pleasant evening playing together at the church. Because it was bitter cold out we drove the kids who lived more than a block or two from the church home afterward.
Looking ahead to next week we will return to our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Priesthood Meeting on Sunday evening. We'll be working on taking down "Peace for Me" and setting up "Peace for Us" in the Peace Pavilion. We'll also need to catch up on some curriculum writing.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Barrett Family
The Wade Family
The Lester Family
The Battle Family
The Bass Family
The Brown Family
The Singleton Family
The Bunner 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. During this communion service we talked about what things within ourselves we needed to leave in 2010 rather than carry into 2011.
Just a few kids came to Kids' Church that afternoon. We talked about looking forward in the new year then made a craft that involved tracing our hands on a New Year poem.
Afterward we worked on our Kids' Church News/Pizza Church Press mailing. Normally we would have had it in the mail on the last mailing day of December. Activities of the Christmas and New Year holidays overtook our schedule causing the newsletters to go out a couple of days late.
We had used up most of our candles and postcard stamps over the holidays. That meant a trip to IKEA and the post office on Monday to restock.
108 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. We then spent time that morning taking down the Christmas decorations at the church and getting the youth evangelism postcards in the mail. That night after the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service, Tamara and I changed out the banner on the front of the church.
Also that evening Salem's family stopped by. He had died just before Christmas and they were ready to have a memorial service for him. We scheduled it for Saturday afternoon.
Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first and third sessions had small groups while the middle school session was very well attended. The elementary and middle school groups started their study of the life of Jesus while the high school group resumed its study of the Gospel of Luke.
Saturday afternoon was the memorial service at the church. Many in attendance were young adults who had gone through the youth program here when they were kids. Though not the choice circumstances, it was really good to see them all together and to touch base with the ones we hadn't seen in a while.
That night was our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. Though they were a bit loud outside before hand, the kids settled down and had a pleasant evening playing together at the church. Because it was bitter cold out we drove the kids who lived more than a block or two from the church home afterward.
Looking ahead to next week we will return to our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Priesthood Meeting on Sunday evening. We'll be working on taking down "Peace for Me" and setting up "Peace for Us" in the Peace Pavilion. We'll also need to catch up on some curriculum writing.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Barrett Family
The Wade Family
The Lester Family
The Battle Family
The Bass Family
The Brown Family
The Singleton Family
The Bunner 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, January 1, 2011
1/2/2011
It’s been a busy week at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.
As expected for the day after Christmas, we had a small gathering for Morning Worship on Sunday. During the service we had some "Open Mike" time for people to share Christmas miracles they'd experienced in the past. Those present heard some powerful testimonies.
I also got to share with the congregation about a card I'd received in the mail last week. It was from the woman I sat next to at Tamara's graduation back in May. She noted in the card that she remembered our conversation before the ceremony and wanted to make a year-end contribution to the ministry.
During Kids' Church we talked about thankfulness. The kids then made thank you cards to take to people who had helped make their Christmas special. Afterward, we decorated and ate leftover cookies from the Kids' Church Christmas Party.
My family and I had a chance to have some time together away from the neighborhood for a few days. Gloria took us to the train station Sunday evening. Our southbound train was delayed in New Jersey due to the start of the blizzard but made it out OK.
While we were out the burglar alarms were triggered both on our house and on the church. Woody and Gloria took care of the situation at the house (strong winds and a loose fit on the basement door's hardware). I'm still missing information as to what happened at the church.
With school out of session we did not have SonRisers on Wednesday morning. Patricia was responsible for opening and closing for the NA group that afternoon.
Because New Year's Eve was on Friday this year we cancelled Pizza Church.
Gloria picked us up at the train station on Saturday evening. Vonceil and I spent time putting together the service and sermon for Sunday morning's communion service.
Looking ahead to next week we will return to our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be getting the January newsletters for Kids' Church and Pizza Church in the mail. We'll need to clean up the building while taking down the Christmas decorations and returning it to a more normal state. We'll also start packing the "Peace for Me" centers from the Peace Pavilion and begin organizing the "Peace for Us" materials. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Compton Family
The Calhoun Family
The Cizic Family
The Shiflett Family
The Williams Family
The Wheeler Family
The Wharton Family
The Meile 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/
As expected for the day after Christmas, we had a small gathering for Morning Worship on Sunday. During the service we had some "Open Mike" time for people to share Christmas miracles they'd experienced in the past. Those present heard some powerful testimonies.
I also got to share with the congregation about a card I'd received in the mail last week. It was from the woman I sat next to at Tamara's graduation back in May. She noted in the card that she remembered our conversation before the ceremony and wanted to make a year-end contribution to the ministry.
During Kids' Church we talked about thankfulness. The kids then made thank you cards to take to people who had helped make their Christmas special. Afterward, we decorated and ate leftover cookies from the Kids' Church Christmas Party.
My family and I had a chance to have some time together away from the neighborhood for a few days. Gloria took us to the train station Sunday evening. Our southbound train was delayed in New Jersey due to the start of the blizzard but made it out OK.
While we were out the burglar alarms were triggered both on our house and on the church. Woody and Gloria took care of the situation at the house (strong winds and a loose fit on the basement door's hardware). I'm still missing information as to what happened at the church.
With school out of session we did not have SonRisers on Wednesday morning. Patricia was responsible for opening and closing for the NA group that afternoon.
Because New Year's Eve was on Friday this year we cancelled Pizza Church.
Gloria picked us up at the train station on Saturday evening. Vonceil and I spent time putting together the service and sermon for Sunday morning's communion service.
Looking ahead to next week we will return to our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be getting the January newsletters for Kids' Church and Pizza Church in the mail. We'll need to clean up the building while taking down the Christmas decorations and returning it to a more normal state. We'll also start packing the "Peace for Me" centers from the Peace Pavilion and begin organizing the "Peace for Us" materials. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.
Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:
The Compton Family
The Calhoun Family
The Cizic Family
The Shiflett Family
The Williams Family
The Wheeler Family
The Wharton Family
The Meile 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/
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