Thanksgiving Retreat coming up

The big news, as the headline goes, is the one-day Thanksgiving Retreat coming up on Saturday, Nov. 10, led by Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang (Gracepoint Berkeley). It's the date of the USC game, but we'll all watch it together on the big screen at the end of the retreat. It's our annual tradition to do this--the retreat, not the game--and I expect we'll be challenged and blessed by the messages. I also expect to hear department news of what's happening throughout our church, from the children's department Joyland to the post-grads in Praxis. If you have time (and even if you don't), I encourage you to go. Of course, this means you need to plan and study beforehand, but likely you'll be glad you did.

There's more Thanksgiving retreat info and signups online. Check it out.

Other news:

Bible study this week is at Lipman Room, 7 PM on Friday. Afterwards, the freshmen are heading to Dana House and the sophomores are going to Manny & Sunny's. The seniors... well... ya'll have a free night!

Also big in the news is the baptism on Sunday after service.

And we're also helping with NorthLoop cleaning on Saturday, @ 10 AM. Afterwards, we'll grab lunch @ In-n-Out, and then study for the rest of the day.

Sweet 16 of... Arm Wrestling?

You've heard of the sweet 16 in NCAA basketball, right? Ah, but have you heard of the sweet 16 of arm wrestling? Uh...neither did I until a couple Fridays ago when Eddie decided to draw up a bracket of the 16 guys in our home group for arm wrestling!

This is the picture. It is Oct. 12, 2007, our post-bible study event. 16 guys are at my home. We're making some nice nacho cheese and lemonade. And of course everyone is eagerly anticipating the event for the evening, but little did they know it is... arm wrestling?!
Everyone receives a bracket of all 16 people present who are matched up randomly, or at Eddie's whim.

The goal? Choose who will make it to the final round and win it all.
Incentive? Eddie or I will take the person who filled out the bracket most accurately to a free dinner anywhere they choose.

So what happened? Let's look at some pictures:


Look at how intense Chih Ming is going at it against Brian even in the first round!


But it's just mostly friendly competition right?


Maybe not... I hope they have licenses for those guns!


However, when the dust clears there is only one victor! Freshman John Kwon was no match for Senior Steve Choi... Or was John holding back...?

In the end everyone had a lot of fun and laughs. Who knew that arm wrestling could be such a bonding occasion? Guys just bond on a deeper level... you know without words
Oh yea, who won the bracket?! Senior Stephan Yoon, guess being older means something, like knowing who to choose in arm wrestling competitions...
Until next time...Koinonia 1 arm wrestling championship of the world...


We'll leave you with a little video I like to call... OH MY GOSH!

the News: upcoming and days gone by

First we'll tackle what's happening this week, and then we'll look at all the stuff that happened the previous couple weeks (there was a lot!):

• Friday bible study's at Lipman room, 7 PM. Our homegroup's in charge so if you can help, talk to Kevin D. Afterwards, there's RSF night. Time to see if the sophomores will hold onto their championship, and if the freshmen will continue to place in the top 3.
• Frosh and Soph smallgroups are same time, same place: 211 Dwinelle, 6:30 PM & 204 Dwinelle, 8 PM.
• Saturday Sierra Lodge trip: if you think you're manly (and even if you're not) and pretty good with power tools, love the smell of lumber, then I want to invite you to join us at Sierra Lodge this Saturday. It's a house we're building (that's right, us!) for all the good memories and trips we plan on taking. Plenty of people have pitched in to make the place wonderful, and all of us want to be able to point to a floorboard and say, "I painted that." Not only will it be good ol' hard work, it'll be fun being together with the rest of Koinonia, and have an opportunity to be a part of something our whole church is involved with. Plus, one of these days, we'll be staying there on one of our overnight trips! If you want to go, you got to let me know. Included a picture of the house to the right.
  
• Gracepoint's first anniversary is this Sunday. We're having all-combined service at 5 PM on campus @ Pauley Ballroom. Koinonia is in charge of the food so all of you guys, be prepared on Sunday to pitch in and help out for the celebration!

Now onto all the stuff that's been happening the last couple weeks.

Several Sundays ago, a ton of us from Gracepoint went to celebrate Waypoint Community Church's 10th anniversary on Sunday evening (9/30). God's faithfulness for 10 years, multiplying 5 original people into a group of more than 200! Amazing! As Gracepoint was the sending church 10 years ago, I was so thrilled to see and hear what God has done. Waypoint's our sister church out there in Davis, where the cows graze and the John Cai's of the world roam.

There was the Koinonia sports night at Alameda Gym after the More Than A Face talk. We had free play with three half-courts of basketball, and 1 full-court of volleyball. We ended the night by splitting up freshmen vs. all the upperclassmen in ultimate handball. Freshman team 1 rocked, and freshman team 2, unfortunately, got rocked. But hey, we had a good time and even took a bunch of pictures.

Allen C. from Taiwan says hello. He recently sprained an ankle and also badly sprained his finger. Recovery time is 6 weeks, during which time no sports and no heavy lifting. Please pray for him and the rest of the Taiwan team.

I became a dad. Ha ha! Abigail J. Ho was born Oct. 8, 2007, weighing in very respectably at 7 lbs, 5 oz. Jenny and I are absolutely delighted, and also very thankful for all your prayers, and for many of you who have expressed such love as you came to visit us, bringing food, laughter, taking camera phone pictures, and your happy smiles. Also, it was neat to see that for so many of you, it was your first time holding a newborn. I posted an indulgent amount of pictures online, so if you really want, you can look through them and maybe find yourself when you visited.

That's news for now. That's a lot of stuff, but it only goes to show that life in the community of faith is very, very full.

'Tais' to Taiwan

It's only been about a month since we sent off our Taiwan church planting team, but there are a lot of things going on over there! Especially for those who know Allen Chen and Jon Chou, you may be interested in keeping up with news from Hsinchu, Taiwan... newsletters and links to their website can be found on the gracepoint missions page. Let's be faithful in praying for these guys, many of whom gave up a job or school so they could bring the gospel to college students in Taiwan...

411 on this week: 10/8

With Kevan tending to demanding paternal duties (apparently the baby can recognize the mother's voice right after birth, but Kevan will have to work a little harder these first couple of weeks), I realize the info for this week's homegroup activities have not been put up. I suspect those who are interested already know these things, but it's always a good idea to double check, i suppose. So here's the information about what's going on this week:

• frosh smallgroup @ 6:30pm in 211 Dwinelle, Wed, 10/10 (yes, kevan will be there)
  
• soph smallgroup @ 8pm in 204 Dwinelle, Wed, 10/10 (ditto from above)
  
• koinonia bible study @ 7pm in 100 GPBB, Fri, 10/12

See ya'll soon..

She's Here!

Congratulations Kevan and Jenny! In case you guys haven't heard, Kevan and Jenny are now the proud parents of Abigail Ho. Please be sure to congratulate them.

Jenny is doing well, and Kevan was very excited when I went to visit them this morning. Jenny asked me if I wanted to hold her baby, and I was very hesitant at first. Little Abigail is so helpless and innocent! It was my first time holding a newborn; what an experience! It was a reminder of what a miracle life is.

More Than A Face talk tonight!

It's always exciting to meet on campus every Friday night, and this week even more so. Suzanne's giving a talk, More Than A Face, a look at media's effects on self-image. She's done a lot of research to compile facts, some excerpts, and even some applicable video clips and songs.

• what: More Than A Face
• where: 155 Dwinelle
• when: 7 pm

Afterwards, Koinonia 1 has gym night at Alameda H.S., so make sure you all bring appropriate gear for basketball and volleyball. If you need a ride, make sure to catch one of the staff or the seniors with cars.

Serious studying over food

Some of the guys came over for dinner and study Thursday night. Last week, it was just Stephan and he ate a lot of food. Not to be outdone, some of the sophomores and a lone senior came by this week, determined to make their mark on my couch and dinner table. Brandon had finished four midterms this week, John has a CS project to start on, James has Greek to study, and Justin had some music to sing and math problems to crank out. Basically Brandon came over just to sleep. But James came over with dessert: lemon bars he had made from scratch. Amazing! But then I noticed it had already been eaten. There's an etiquette lesson to be had there, but I won't spell it out. Anyway, the lemon bars were so good Jenny kept some for herself before letting the guys take it home.

Dinner consisted of a pretty Korean menu (thanks to my wife): roast gui, kimchi chun, fried tubu, sam and kenyip, and potstickers. It was a lot of food. After cleaning up, feeding the fish, some vain attempt at studying (some more productive than others), we had cherry pie a la mode (courtesy Justin and good ol' Sara Lee), James' lemon bars, and moon cakes from Shanghai. Wenjie also came a little later and Steve also dropped by too at the end of the evening, just in time for dessert.

I'm always grateful when people invite themselves over. After all, home's not meant to be a private, secluded place where the rest of the world is kept at bay. Acts 2 tells me home's a place to eat together, have fun, read God's word, experience encouragement, and enjoy our friendships under the umbrella of Christian community.

Frosh Angel Island & "This is very fun"

The frosh from our homegroup joined up with all the frosh in Koinonia for our annual Freshman Angel Island trip. The weather was beautiful, and with 91 total people in attendance, it was a huge excursion packing into the cars at 8 in the morning, getting all the ferry tickets, and having enough food for everyone!

The ferry ride was great and by the time we were in the middle of the Bay, the fog had burned off, the water was shimmering blue, and the SF skyline in the distance was quite a sight to see. After getting our picnic tables and grills, and after doing a quick mixer to meet the many new faces, all of us took off for the hike to the peak. Some guys, like John K., started complaining about how "hard" the hike was before we cleared the first hill. Then there were others, like Manny, who decided they would prove their manhood by running to be at the lead of the pack. Between the many vistas and stopping points on the way up, what greeted us at the top was a beautiful panoramic view of the entire Bay. We hung out there for a while and then before everyone got too ravenous, headed down to basecamp for a barbecue lunch.

To end the day, we got into our majors, posed and took pictures, and then played "This is very fun," where all the people stand in a circle, hold hands, and say with a straight face, "This is very fun," without breaking a smile or laughing. The most serious, no smiling, no-fun person who says, "This is very fun" wins and takes all. Needless to say, there were plenty of laughs.

It was a great day, and I took tons of pictures. Wish you were there!

It's October! 411 on the week of 10/1

It's October already. Unbelievable how quickly the semester's going by. The sophomores went bowling last Friday, and the freshmen went to Angel Island this past Saturday (pictures coming soon!). In between school, midterms, studying, Koinonia bible study, Gracepoint on Sundays, outings, basketball, and Cal football games, we still find time for weekly smallgroup:

• frosh smallgroup @ 6:30pm in 211 Dwinelle, Wed., 10/3
• soph smallgroup @ 8pm in 204 Dwinelle, Wed., 10/3 (Ben's smallgroup is meeting at Ben's home over dinner; more info to come)
• Friday, 10/5, Koinonia's presenting "More Than A Face," a look at how media affects self-image in 155 Dwinelle

And last, if you're interested in community service, stay tuned and let Wenjie know (wenjiecATgmailDOTcom). He's organizing a way for our homegroup to give to our community.

Extreme bowling with the sophomores

Just the week before, the sophomores walked away with the RSF night championship in the first RSF night of the year for Koinonia. Pretty impressive stuff.

Now that class competition was out of our system, we paired up with the sophomore girls from H.4 this past Friday after bible study and headed out to the bowling alleys of Pinole. We got three lanes, laced up our shoes, selected our weapons of choice, and before we could bowl our first ball, all the house lights turned off. What's going on? Strobe lights turned on, and the black lights glowing purple on everything white made all of us feel like we were back in a junior high dance. Loud music also came out over the house speakers. We took it all in stride and refused to be deterred. Extreme bowling, after all, is nothing for RSF night champions.

We split into three teams and played for two hours, with popcorn, nachos, and drinks on the side. Of the three teams, the last team had a pregnant woman. When we took team pictures, the whole team put bowling balls in their t-shirts to show their deep camaraderie and empathy. How about that for Christian fellowship?

You can find our cool bowling pictures on Flickr, as usual.