Saturday, March 26, 2011

3/27/2011

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

It started out Sunday with a good group gathered for Morning Worship. In it we continued our series on peace.

At Kids' Church we learned the story of Zacchaeus. We unrolled old FAX paper and had the kids draw the crowds of people that were blocking Zacchaeus' view of Jesus. We then reenacted the story with these props.

Sunday evening was our monthly Celebration Service. A few of the people who had gone to the hunger challenge came and shared about their experiences at it. Several other people had good news to share as well. We then ate a potluck dinner together.

81 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. Afterward while Donna's class of nursing students was meeting in the front room some of Marjorie's nursing students came by. They needed to interview me for one of the projects that they're working on in class.

On Wednesday the NA group met with me between their meeting and the Mid-Week Service. They're looking at doing an all-day marathon again and were looking for available dates at the church.

We wrote and printed the Kids' Church News/Pizza Church Press newsletter for April on Thursday. While adding them to the queues on their respective blogs I ran across the statistics for them and the "This Week at the Power House" blog. Though most of the hits on these blogs are from the USA, we discovered people reading these reports in places such as Indonesia, Israel, Poland, Iran, Russia, India, United Arab Emirates, and other countries around the globe.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. All three groups were well attended and quite calm. Many of the kids who are usually there were not but several from the "once in a while" crowd and a couple new kids more than made up the difference.

With the cost of air travel on the rise we've been trying to get reservations made for our kids who are going to Spectacular. We've raised $180 so far on our team page through razoo.com. Our goal is $2500. If you are interested in giving or would like to set up a team page to invite your friends to do so just click here.

Sarah and I met up with 8 young adults at the church on Saturday afternoon. We drove them to the mission center's young adult pizza and game night in Laurel. This is the first time we've been able to take a group from here to a young adult event in the mission center.

That evening back in Pigtown was our monthly Sundae Church. The kids started out uncharacteristically quiet but by the end we had lots of different conversations going on simultaneously.

Once our ice cream time was finished I headed back down to Laurel to help transport our crew back home. They seemed to have had a good time and debated who ate the most pizza.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be working on packing up "Peace for Us" and setting up "Peace for Everyone in the Peace Pavilion. We're also expecting the delivery of our Easter fliers and will be including them when we assemble the mailing for our April newsletters later this week. We also hope to take a few kids who have earned a reward out for ice cream at Friendly's.

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

The Sims Family
The Hunter Family
The Nelson Family
The Beyers Family
The Davis Family
The Lester Family
The Sykes Family
The Coffman 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, March 19, 2011

3/20/2011

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

It started out with a small group gathering for Morning Worship. We continued our series on the topic of peace and celebrated Barry's baptism and confirmation. Earl and Janet brought a cake that we shared in at the close of the service.

During Kids' Church we learned the story of Jesus blessing the children. We made decorated clear "Jesus Loves You" boxes with permanent markers. The kids were more than happy to have leftover cake for their snack.

Our monthly Priesthood Meeting took place that evening. Though we covered a list of topics, the ones that received the most time were the calendar, fundraising for camp, and fundraising for Spectacular.

We were running low on some of our supplies. This warranted a trip to Sam's Club on Monday to stock up.

The conference call I was scheduled to be on Tuesday evening was postponed. It is now set for next Monday.

We had a very slow start to SonRisers on Wednesday morning. Though we were open for about 100 minutes, the vast majority of the 80 kids who came arrived in a 30 minute window near the end.

Even with the slow start and smaller group we had a few new kids. This set a new statistical milestone for us. We can now officially say that we've served more kids in 2010-11 than any other year as we surpassed our old record. With 2.5 months to go we've now had 260+ kids come to at least one activity at the church this year. My projection of a notable dip in youth participation this year due to some community factors outside the church was completely wrong.

I had lunch with Damon, who is home from Graceland University for spring break, on Wednesday. It was good that he was here for his dad's baptism on Sunday. We were able to catch up on more things over lunch.

I received an email on Wednesday from the Baltimore Community Foundation about some college scholarships they're making available to this year's graduates from Baltimore City Public Schools. I sorted through them and forwarded them to our high school seniors. We'll be working together on the forms in order to get everything in on time.

Just a handful of folks participated in the evening activities (NA and Mid-Week Service) on Wednesday night.

Marjorie and I met over breakfast on Thursday morning. We hadn't had a chance to sit down together and update each other on what's been happening in our neighborhood programming for quite a while so it was good to get each other up to speed. Bill and I met in the middle of the day to review and plan for some projects that are in the works.

Spring was in the air on Thursday so lots of people were out that evening enjoying the fresh air. I was able to visit with several folks who were out. This included a few of our young adults who are looking forward to going to Laurel next weekend for a game night with the mission center young adults.

We spent time on Friday setting up the our team fundraising page at razoo.com. We're trying this in order to raise money to get our high school kids to Spectacular at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, this July. You can set up a team page to invite your friends to donate by clicking on the "Join this Team" box at http://www.razoo.com/team/Spectacular or you can read our stories and donate directly by clicking on any of our names listed under "Team Members"

Friday night brought Pizza Church. The first two groups learned the story of Zacchaeus. The High School group continued its study of the Gospel of Luke.

We had lots of home visits on Saturday. While out we learned that one family in our congregation had been selected to receive some home safety repairs through a local grant program. They had applied through the church the work crew will be coming in April to make the upgrades and repairs.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our monthly Celebration Service on Sunday evening. This will include a potluck dinner. I have a conference call on Monday evening. Next Saturday some of our young adults will be meeting in Laurel while our high school students will enjoy Sundae Church here in Pigtown.

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

The Stallings Family
The Boycheck Family
The Shorter Family
The Pelsinski Family
The Starlipper Family
The Ceo Family
The Koethe Family
The Pringle 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/

Friday, March 18, 2011

SPECTACULAR

We're trying to send some kids from inner-city Baltimore for a week in Iowa on the campus of Graceland University. The program is called SPECTACULAR and lives up to its name.

We've already secured scholarships for the fees and now need to buy plane tickets and ground transportation. Several kids who have attended in the past have come home with academic and athletic scholarships which allowed them to be the first in their families to attend college.

Please consider helping make this happen for more kids from our church this year.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

3/13/2011

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

It started Sunday with just a handful of people for Morning Worship. We began a month-long series on Peace and shared in Communion together.

Shortly after the service the nursing students began to arrive. They along with Donna, their instructor, transformed the church into the health fair. With it pouring rain outside we feared that we'd have only a few people come. In the end, though, 40 people came through the event.

Just as the health fair was starting, the Tamara and five of our high school students arrived at back in town. They had been in Springfield, Virginia, at the Hunger Challenge. They were quite excited about their experiences there and will report to the congregation about them at the next Celebration Service.

Monday night brought our camp fundraiser at Chick-fil-A. Over 20 people from the church came through during the set hours. We all sat together and visited and had a good time. Several people who are not a part of the church but had heard about the event through Facebook and other promotions placed orders, too.

112 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. Afterward, Donna took her nursing students to experience Paul's Place while Marjorie, whose class is based there, brought her group our way. We spent some time talking about the community and then went through the Peace Pavilion.

Once they left Charlotte arrived. She was picking up the keyboard she'd lent us back in December. We had lunch together before she left.

I got a call that afternoon to come by Chick-fil-A and pick up the check from Monday's fundraiser. I also got a couple of checks from people who were unable to attend but wanted to support sending kids to camp.

With funding on the brain I checked up on our status with Spectacular this summer. Thankfully, there are scholarships available for some kids from here. We're responsible for buying them plane tickets.

Wednesday night after the NA Meeting and our Mid-Week Service, I finally got to the attendance work I normally do on Wednesday morning after SonRisers.

Paperwork was the word of the day on Thursday. I got the order of worship for Sunday ready to print. Since they were having a sale, I designed and ordered the postcards for Easter. I also went back and forth with the school in scheduling "Peace for Everyone" at the Peace Pavilion as we needed to schedule around their state standardized testing dates.

I got a call on Friday morning from Damon. He and his friends are OK but were in a minor wreck in Ohio on their way to Baltimore for spring break. He didn't know quite what to do so I guided him throughout the day.

Meanwhile, we learned on Friday that the Pigtown Festival is on a different weekend than usual this year. We adjusted our calendars and will plan accordingly.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. The behavior of the kids at the first two groups, both inside and outside the building, was really bad. Though we made it through, it was a tough one. The senior high group was was much better.

Earl and I spent the day on Saturday at a mission center class in Stafford, Virginia. While I was there, Vonceil filled the font and got the heater going and Bryce set up the church for that evening's activities

I got back that night in time for our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. The group was smaller than last time and much more under control than was Friday night so Tamara and I had no trouble staffing the event.

Two of our college students joined us at Solid Rock Cafe as well. Damon was safely home from Graceland University and Quentin was home from Lancaster Bible College. Both will be here all week for spring break.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have a baptism scheduled for Morning Worship on Sunday. Sunday night is our monthly Priesthood Meeting. I have several meetings scheduled throughout the week, including a conference call on Tuesday, a lunch meeting on Wednesday, and a breakfast meeting on Thursday.

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

The Carson Family
The Covington Family
The Riddick Family
The Fitzpatrick Family
The Johnson Family
The Spence Family
The Allen Family
The Stewart 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, March 5, 2011

3/6/2011

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

It started out Sunday with some neighbors stopping by before Morning Worship. They were inquiring about getting married. They hand their license in hand and were quite literally ready to be married on the spot. With only about a half an hour before Morning Worship was to start, I was not ready to do so. We scheduled the wedding for 2:00 that afternoon.

A small group gathered for Morning Worship. We finished out the preaching series we'd started back in mid-January.

The couple and their witnesses arrived at the church a little before their scheduled time. We had a short ceremony and they were on their way.

By 3:00 we had a bunch of wound up kids in the building for Kids' Church. We were a little short on staff that day and I was concerned. But once we got going they really focused on the Bible story and the building block project that went with it.

On Monday I boarded a plane to California. I had a couple of days of training there at the end of the week so I spent a couple of days on my own out there ahead of time.

I got a message while out west that Barry was ready to get baptized. We scheduled it for the morning of March 13.

95 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. Along with everyone's regular responsibilities, Tamara got up early to get the donuts and Sara helped staff the activity.

Once that was over the nursing students met in the building. They sent me a Power Point presentation that they want to have scrolling on the big screen during next Sunday's health fair.

That afternoon Patricia welcomed the NA group to the building while Gloria closed up afterward and then led the Mid-Week Service.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Tamara, Sarah, and Robert staffed one of the busiest Friday nights we've had in a long time. Many of the kids who came were there for the first time.

With my conference ending Friday evening it made more sense to fly back east on Saturday. With that evening free I was able to meet up with Don for dinner. I learned more about what he's doing with his church there and he got updated on his friends here in Pigtown.

On Saturday morning Sarah picked up Bryce, Fred, Crystal, and Carlo. They were going to the Hunger Challenge in Springfield, Virginia. Tamara joined them a little later in the day.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we have our Community Health Fair on Sunday afternoon from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The folks who participated in the Hunger Challenge should be returning to Baltimore right around the time that the fair starts. On Monday evening from 4:30-7:30 is our camp fundraiser at the Lansdowne Chick-fil-A. We'll be working mid-week to coordinate the next set of dates for the Peace Pavilion with the schools. There's training in Virginia all day next Saturday. Next Saturday night is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe. Somewhere in there we'll need to get the font filled and heated for the baptism the following Sunday.

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

The Purnell Family
The Conley Family
The Miskimon Family
The Whalen Family
The Powers Family
The Calhoun Family
The Jeffers Family
The Griffiths 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/