5/1/2011

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

It started out with a broken bookshelf on Sunday morning. Somehow the bookcases that hold our Bibles got broken while people were setting up in the morning. They will stand for now but will need to be replaced.

Nearly 50 people gathered for our Easter Celebration on Sunday morning. This included most of our regular crowd, some folks we hadn't seen in quite a long time, and several first-time guests, many of whom came in response to the postcards Bryce and I distributed last week.

We also had a couple from Missouri who Vonceil met while registering for online classes at Graceland. She learned that they would be in the area for Easter and invited them. Their daughter had been friends with Robert when he was at Graceland so they were glad to catch up with him, too.

That afternoon 30 kids came to Kids' Church. Of those who came, 21 were at Kids' Church for the first time. Some came with baskets anticipating an Easter egg hunt even though none was planned or advertised. Additionally, this crew had clearly been eating lots of Easter candy before arriving.

A few of the new kids' parents came and stayed for the session, too. We were able to visit a bit with them and point them to times the church is open throughout the week for their families.

Wednesday was the first day back to school for kids. This impacted our numbers and we only had 70 kids for SonRisers that morning. We put a few dozen leftover donuts in the freezer to use as snacks at next week's Solid Rock Cafe.

Wednesday was also Robert's first day at his new job. I hope to hear details about it this Sunday. His employment became a more critical issue this week as we learned that Ebony is pregnant and due in November.

Hunting Season began this week. It's that time of year when we spend a lot of our time trying to track down parents to get signatures on camp forms. We're still hoping for grant monies to come through to make sure we're on solid financial footings for camp.

I met with Eric at the church on Thursday morning. He's a community organizer newly assigned to Pigtown now that we're a food desert. He was looking to both share information and get some feedback on the current virtual supermarket program offered in the neighborhood. We had a constructive conversation and hope to continue to connect share in helping resolve the lack of food availability in the area.

That evening a couple of us were to meet at the church to get Kids' Church News and Pizza Church Press out for the month. Unfortunately, I was the only one who showed up. Fortunately it was a relatively small project this month so it didn't take as long as it could have. The newsletters are also available electronically at the above links.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. We had good sized groups throughout the evening. The first two groups learned the story of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The senior high group finished its study of the Gospel of Luke.

I spent the day on Saturday in Springfield, Virginia, at our Mission Center Conference. Bill, our Mission Center President, included a few words at the conference about our exceedingly tight finances. Several people offered to help out with the situation and a few gave very generous donation that instant.

Meanwhile back in Pigtown, we were a designated neighborhood for Rebuilding Baltimore. Several organizations had parallel projects happening throughout the day. Plans included fixing up a couple of houses (including the home of one of our families), a painting project at the skatepark, street cleaning, and other activities. I hope to get updated on what happened when I get to church in the morning.

Sarah, Tamara, and I took Terry to Friendly's for ice cream on Saturday evening. He had earned the trip through his participation in church activities. While there we learned that his older sister is pregnant and that the baby is due in mid-May. Before taking him home we stopped by the church and picked up one of the "new baby gift baskets" to give her. She was surprised and delighted to be remembered in this way.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, we'll be pressing forward in registering campers for July's camp. 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 Sabedra Family
The Nickerson Family
The Stinchcomb Family
The Featherstone Family
The Burroughs Family
The Brown Family
The Price Family
The Martz 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/