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/