Saturday, February 26, 2011

2/27/2011

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. A small group gathered and heard the message on Numbers 22.

We had a really fun time at Kids' Church as the kids were all in a good mood. We learned the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water. Our corresponding craft was a foam and glue project.

Sunday night was our monthly Celebration Service. Several people brought pots of home made soup and we shared in supper together. One of our neighbors stopped by toward the end and joined us for dinner.

We spent some time this week working on promoting two upcoming events, one being the March 6 health fair at the church and the other being the March 7 camp fundraiser at Chick-fil-A. We made posters and fliers and set up events on Facebook.

Monday was a holiday from school and Tuesday was a snow day so we were curious as to who would remember to come to SonRisers on Wednesday morning. "I thought you were only open on Wednesdays," was the greeting we had from one of our kids. After reminding him that it actually WAS Wednesday his world made sense again. 80 kids participated in SonRisers that morning.

After SonRisers the nursing students gathered in the front room. Meanwhile in the back room, I worked on attendance data while Gloria was interviewed by a person who was doing research on Carroll Park.

With the March youth ministries newsletters, the fliers for upcoming events, and the worship bulletins we had a larger copy order for the week so we spent some time at Staples that afternoon getting things printed. That evening after the NA Meeting we had our Mid-Week Service.

Thursday night I met up with Nick at the church. He and I assembled the Kids' Church News/Pizza Church Press mailings which included invitations to the Health Fair and the Fundraiser Night.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had small groups throughout the evening. Before the senior high session, Sarah talked with the group about next weekend's Hunger Challenge. It looks like we could have several kids participating this year.

Greg, a long-time friend of our congregation, got married on Saturday in Ohio. Tamara and some others from the area went there for the weekend to be a part of the celebration.

During the day on Saturday Onalee and I delivered information about the Health Fair to other churches in the neighborhood. We also had a poster to hang up at the Laundromat.

We had six different kinds of ice cream Saturday night at our monthly Sundae Church. Bryce welcomed a couple of his friends from school to the activity.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have several kids planning on attending the Hunger Challenge next weekend in Springfield, Virginia. I'll be out of town for training much of the week so Tamara, Sarah, Gloria, Vonceil, and Robert will all be putting in some extra time to make sure all the activities are covered.

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

The Jackson Family
The Cedillo Family
The St. Thomas Family
The Cole Family
The Jones Family
The Riddick Family
The Johnson Family
The Purcell 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, February 19, 2011

2/20/2011

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

It started out Sunday with a small gathering for Morning Worship. The message for the morning was on 2 Samuel 6.

One of our high school seniors brought her preliminary award letter from Graceland with her. We were able to see how much more money she would need to get to start school there this fall and to start strategizing for ways to make up the difference.

Several months ago the women of our Mission Center had been given us some beautiful basket sets of items for newborn babies. Strangely, no members of friends of the congregation had had a baby since that time. On Sunday, though, we gave out two of them within 90 minutes of each other.

At Kids' Church we learned the story of Jesus feeding the crowd with 5 loaves and 2 fish. We had a color/cut/glue project to go with it that the kids really focused on.

Before the Priesthood Meeting that evening, Gloria came by the church to work on some of the plants. The one we had by the front door had outgrown the space so she and Gary had moved it to the front room after Morning Worship. The smaller plant they had brought from the front room to replace it needed some serious attention so she gave it the help it needed.

Sunday night was our monthly Priesthood Meeting. Much of the agenda focused on church finance/fundraising, youth ministries, our calendar of events, and the Peace Pavilion.

107 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. In all the years we've been doing this I don't believe we've ever had over 100 kids come on a single day in February. Among the new kids who came were a few whose only other experience at the church had been Peace Pavilion activities.

The new kids who came also helped us cross a milestone in our youth participation. So far this year (since July) we've had 705 kids come to at lease one activity at the church where we track individual attendance. (Kids who participated in only Peace Pavilion or Bible School activities are not reflected in these numbers). We've crossed over 700 twice before, once last year and once back in 2004-2005.

After SonRisers I had a chance to visit with Donna, the instructor of the nursing classes, for a few minutes. We talked through some of the plans for the upcoming health fair. We then looked to fall and talked about having her groups develop health-related centers to be incorporated into the Peace Pavilion activities.

Once she left, Shirley, the leader of the after school program at Paul's Place Outreach, came by. She reviewed the Peace Pavilion centers in preparation for bringing her group by on Friday. Once she did that we solidified our specific times and procedures. She also let me know how wonderful it's been to have Tamara working with their after school program there and how helpful that has been in coordinating programming.

I spent some time that day on the phone with Legal Services at our denomination's headquarters. I had received some tax forms from the state and needed to know how to handle them. I'd also learned that the University of Maryland was missing its building use agreement and needed new copies from Legal.

After the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service I stopped by our other Graceland-bound student's house. I got a chance to look over his preliminary financial award letter and start coming up with a plan to fill in the gaps. He was working on his Community of Christ Leadership Program (CCLP) grant application so I encouraged him to continue with it and bring it to church with him on Friday for editing.

On Thursday we started working on our March newsletters and spent time getting some of the marketing materials ready for the March 7 Chick-fil-A night. The weather that day was unseasonably warm so many people were outside enjoying the warm air. It was a great opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and visit with people.

Tamara, Robert, Patricia, Gloria, and I gathered at the church on Friday afternoon to host the Peace Pavilion. The group from Paul's Place arrived and we worked with them for about an hour. They then had their snacks before leaving.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had regular sized groups for all three sessions. After the last group we spent some time helping edit the CCLP application materials.

We had a couple of high school boys who recently earned a trip to Friendly's by having come to church 40 + times since July. Sarah and I took them there for their ice cream sundaes on Saturday evening.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, our monthly Celebration Service is on Sunday evening. This month the service will include a soup supper. Next 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 Bagley Family
The Jones Family
The Marsh Family
The Rabb Family
The Magallanez Family
The Cain Family
The Iman Family
The Cizic 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, February 12, 2011

2/13/2011

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

It started out Sunday with Morning Worship. While we were getting things ready a woman stopped by to thank us for the work we've been doing with her grandchildren. She said she was on her way to another church that morning but had received a financial blessing and wanted to put some money in our offering box.

We celebrated communion during the service that morning. We were especially glad to welcome a couple of people back who had been to the baptism service the week before. They even signed up to bring a pot of soup to our upcoming soup supper.

At Kids' Church we learned the story of the Jesus calling disciples. We then made silhouette crafts.

I got an email from the man who sat next to me on the plane home from Nashville a couple of weeks ago. We had talked a little about the ministry during the flight. In the email he said that he'd since checked out our web site, shared it with his church, and wanted to begin exploring ways that their group in Tennessee might be able to find ways of supporting the work here.

SonRisers got off to a slow start on Wednesday morning with only 3 kids in the first 45 minutes, two of whom were from my house. We got a little swamped with kids later on and ended up with 85 total for the morning.

During the day on Wednesday the nursing students met in the front room of the church. Meanwhile in the back room and balcony we welcomed the fifth grade students from School 34 to "Peace for Us" at the Pigtown Peace Pavilion.

Wednesday evening the NA group had an anniversary celebration of one of its members. They had a dinner afterward and asked me to come offer a blessing on the food and festivities. Meanwhile in the front room we had an especially powerful prayer time at our Mid-Week Service.

Donna brought her class of nursing students to the church on Thursday to help with the Peace Pavilion. We had two different classrooms of 3rd graders participate. Having the university students help staff made things run even more smoothly and allowed lots of personal attention for the kids.

Friday morning started out with a loud encounter with a neighbor in the parking lot about some ongoing parking issues. Our peacemaking skills were tested (and we failed) as we tried to encourage her not to block the entrance to the church lot when she parks her van.

The first grade classes came to the Peace Pavilion that afternoon. With church members, nursing students, and parent volunteers from the school, the Pigtown Peace Pavilion was staffed this week by practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims. We couldn't have planned it any better if we'd tried.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had good sized groups all evening and had some kids show up who we haven't seen in many months. I was able to walk a couple kid home between sessions as a way to address some safety issues.

On my way back from walking the kids home I noticed that the needle exchange van was in the neighborhood. I stopped by to say hello to the staff and give them some encouragement.

Our monthly Solid Rock Cafe was on Saturday evening. Usually, kids stagger in throughout the evening. This week they all came right at the beginning. Further, nearly everyone left about 5 minutes before they had to. Usually we have to herd them out when it's over.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Priesthood Meeting on Sunday evening. The after school program at Paul's Place Outreach is bringing kids to the Peace Pavilion on Friday afternoon. We're hoping to take some kids out to Friendly's next weekend as well.

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

The Bryson Family
The Lancaster Family
The Zerwonka Family
The Fitch Family
The Jackson Family
The Russell Family
The Smith Family
The Saffran 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, February 5, 2011

2/5/2011

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

It started out with a big crowd at Morning Worship for the baptism service. John brought several family members and friends from the neighborhood with him to celebrate. The Towson Congregation and several members of Ashly's family came in to the neighborhood for her baptism. Ashly's grandmother played the keyboard for the prelude and for one of the songs. Earl and Janet brought a cake so people stayed for most of the hour after the service to visit and eat.

We had a mid-sized group at Kids' Church that afternoon. We learned the story of Jesus turning water into wine. After our craft we finished off the cake from Morning Worship.

Shortly after the kids left, Bill, our Mission Center President, came to the church. I had emailed him some ideas earlier in the week so he stopped by on his way home from Springfield, Virginia, to talk about them for a few minutes.

Once he left we worked on getting the Kids' Church News/Pizza Church Press mailing ready. We ran out of stamps so had to go to the post office on Monday to get some more. I also had a chance to walk around the neighborhood and visit with people before the night was over.

We touched base with the folks at Graceland University on Monday. The two kids who are going there this fall wanted me to verify that the admissions office had the scholarship information I'd called in a couple months ago. Their files were up to date and their main scholarships were in place. The students are both working on their Community of Christ Leadership Program applications.

Sarah turned in our grant application on Tuesday. This year we're asking for $7000 in camp scholarships for kids from Pigtown. Last year this same organization granted us $1500. We won't know how much (if any) money we'll get until sometime in May.

75 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. Afterward we welcomed the nursing students for the semester. I spent some time with the group introducing them to the neighborhood. During lunch I took them through the Peace Pavilion.

Speaking of the Peace Pavilion, we received confirmation from School 34 that the kids will come next week for the "Peace for Us" activities. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time. We also scheduled the after school group from Paul's Place to come a week from Friday.

After the NA Meeting and Mid-Week Service I worked on the things I would have normally done in the morning when I was with the nursing students. Later, Tamara stopped by and we talked about camp funding issues.

I met with Bill McLennan, the director of Paul's Place Outreach, for breakfast on Thursday. We talked about things in the neighborhood as well as funding and staffing issues.

I stopped by Chick-fill-A that afternoon to schedule a fundraiser for camp. We set it up for Monday, March 7, from 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. Anyone who places an order at the Lansdowne store during those hours and says "I'm with The Power House" will have 20% of what they spend come back to the church's camp fund.

I had a chance to visit with several different people in their homes Thursday evening. Afterward I spent some time trying to clean up the desk and tables in the front room of the church.

Tamara went to the youth ski retreat on Friday. We didn't have any kids from Pigtown go this year but have several that are looking to attend next month's Hunger Challenge.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Before things started one girl's grandmother stopped by. She let me know that her granddaughter and some of the girl's friends were being bullied on their way home from church activities by another girl who has been participating lately. She asked me to talk with the girl and said she'd be around later to escort her granddaughter home. The kids were really well-behaved at all three sessions. The first two group learned about Jesus calling his disciples while the high school students continued their study of the Gospel of Luke.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, School 34 will come for "Peace for Us" three afternoons this week. The NA Group will be staying extra long on Wednesday evening to celebrate an anniversary. Next Saturday in our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

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

The Whittington Family
The Quick Family
The Purnell Family
The Calhoun Family
The Sturgis Family
The Wheeler Family
The Johnson Family
The Lucas 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/