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/