The News for December's first week

Jenny and I spent some time on Tuesday night just reading through the scrapbook, all the words you guys wrote, and we just thank God for how He's worked in each of you this past year. We look forward to how He'll continue to lead not only our homegroup, but all of Koinonia and our church in 2009. We're grateful to God for each one of you guys.

On to the news, starting with Friday (12/5):

• 6:00pm dinners by smallgroups. Listen for more info from your smallgroup leaders.


• "This Is Your Life" Bible study at 7:45pm, First Pres. It'll be our last Koinonia Bible study of the semester.


• The last RSF Night of the semester is after bible study. Come with a change of clothes and get ready to rumble and shake out all that Finals stress!

The other big news of the week is this Sunday's baptism. Several weeks ago, Tabby was baptized along with 6 other people. We gave God thanks for how He had worked in each of their lives and celebrated together afterwards by taking a ton of pictures. And this Sunday, after the 1:30pm Worship Service (at Willard Auditorium), we'll sit down to listen to the stories of 7 more people who are getting baptized, including our very own Hugo! Be sure to be there so we can celebrate together!

In other news:

• Heads up on our annual Winter Retreat! It's the spiritual highlight of our whole year. It'll be the first weekend after school starts (1/23-1/25) and you need to sign up online! There's early bird and late bird registration...
• Joyland Christmas Celebration is an awesome annual performance put on by the kids (and all the helping adults) at Gracepoint Fellowship Church.
The children from Joyland and Impact get on stage and tell the real story of Christmas! It's one of the highlights of our calendar. To put it into perspective: think of it as a kids' GLive! It'll be on Sunday, 12/14. But if you want to help as a stagehand, prop mover, acting coach, or anything else (AND you're prepared for finals), Joyland could always use more volunteers.
• If you want to help paint Sierra Barn, there's a workday next Saturday (12/13). You can sign up online and participate in the fun!
• Sophomore discipleship retreat is 1/13-1/15. Don't miss it. Sign up online.

That's all folks. Study hard... see you Friday!

TC: Vamos A La Gracepoint

Yes, it's really been put on the web and is accessible to everyone: a2f Gold's Vamos a la Gracepoint is online and viewable. Watch out folks. As the caption says,

Please don't watch this more than twice, as it can be harmful for your emotional health.

More to come. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bible Study this Thanksgiving week

Since this week is Thanksgiving and everyone's heading home, we're having a combined bible study on Tuesday (11/25) at 8:00pm @ First Pres!

If you want to join us for prayer meeting, it'll start at 7:00pm, also at First Pres.

In other news, Thanksgiving Celebration was this past Sunday. Pictures and videos will be posted soon, so watch out.

Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Berkeley, Thanksgiving lunch

Thanksgiving Celebration is over, but the turkey is just beginning! For those of you sticking around during Thanksgiving (11/27) and still in Berkeley, we'll be having lunch together with everyone who's around from Gracepoint Fellowship Church. Berkeley? No! We'll be in Alameda, doing a potluck barbecue at Tilman Park. So there'll be lots of food and sports too so we can get started working off all that accumulated Thanksgiving high caloric intake!

If you can come (or want to come), post a comment so we can make sure you have a ride, and also so we can cook together to bring food to the potluck!

News and Thanksgiving Celebration!

This week's news is super-punctuated by Thanksgiving Celebration, which is coming up really quick. But before we get there, let's have at it with this week's news:

• We were originally going to have a Koinonia in-house Thanksgiving Celebration this Friday, but no more! Instead of sending only one Koinonia act to Sunday's Thanksgiving Celebration, we're just going to send all four! That's the biggest change. What does that mean? Read on and find out.


• Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" Bible study on Friday (11/21) begins at 7:00pm @ Lipman Room on the 8th floor of Barrows Hall. Joanna (H.6 Lead) and Dan (H.4 Lead) will tell their personal stories of how they became Christian and committed to follow Jesus. Dinners will be by smallgroups beforehand so ask your smallgroup leader. Afterwards, we'll practice our Thanksgiving Celebration act and get it ready for Sunday's final performance.


• Sunday's (11/23) Gracepoint Worship Service is at 1:30pm @ Kauffman Auditorium in Alameda. Afterwards, we'll have our annual Thanksgiving Celebration right on the gargantuan stage. Each ministry group, from Element to ISM to all the different college groups (including us!), will have stage time to present their act in front of a Thanksgiving crowd of 1000+ people. How exciting!


• After the stage time where laughter and legends are born, H.1 and H.5 will dine together for our own traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, fixings, and everything else. Ya'll will be helping cook too so stay tuned. We're going to cook different dishes by classes.


• This part's really important: We need you to sign up online if you're coming so we can account for rides and food. After all, it'd be really sad if we ran out of food for dinner! Do it right now, just click on the link!

That's it for the news to come, but wanted to briefly talk about the news that's been happening in the last several days. Last Friday, Pastor Manny and Sunny joined us from Koinonia Austin. Pastor Manny gave us a message from the book of Jonah about God's calling for each of our lives. It was so good to see them again, and it's hard to believe that it's only been four months since the first Austin team departed Berkeley!
Saturday's Thanksgiving Retreat was really incredible, as we heard more than 30 personal stories from different brothers and sisters throughout our ministry. Moreover, we Pastor Manny gave an extended report from Austin, and we got a glimpse into what life is like over there.

Also, Prison Fellowship's yearly Christmas program, Angel Tree, is approaching. Our homegroup's been doing it together each of the past couple years. We "adopt" a family with 1-2 kids, children of a parent who's in prison. We buy them the Christmas present they wouldn't otherwise receive, meet the family, and invite them to a Christmas party at NorthLoop. It's been a wonderful experience thus far to touch people's lives, get out of ourselves just a little bit, and serve a community of people who often get lost during the bustle of the Christmas season. If you'd like more information or want to get involved, the H.1 lead on this is Allen, so send him an email.

In other news:

• DT Journals for December-January are available for order. Pre-order online, as usual, for $3. Very helpful if you like being lightweight and mobile! Highly recommended!

Gifts Gone Wrong

Here is a story of what happens to gifts when you don't claim them right away:

My roommate, Harry Jiang, calls me one Sunday afternoon after Sunday Worship Service asking me to ask Eddie to come over to the dorms because he has a present to give to Eddie. So after service, Eddie decides to drive me home so he can stop by. When we arrived at the dorms, we couldn't find a parking spot so we called Harry to bring down what he has for Eddie. Harry responds, "Ehh... that's okay. I can just give it to him next time." When I return back to the room, I find out that Harry planned to give Eddie some Chinese pastries.

Anyway, I managed to get a quick video using my phone to get evidence of whose stomach the pastries would end up in.

Turkey Recipe from Dish-Gracepoint

For all you chefs out there, Tom has posted an article on his wonderful Dish-Gracepoint blog that gives you some great tips how to make a rock star turkey this Thanksgiving. Tim So from a2f actually provided the tips, and let's just say if you're looking for reading material, this one's a knockout. Plus, you can impress your friends (and family!) this Thanksgiving!

Check out the recipe on Dish-Gracepoint.

TC practice!

Hola H.1ers

As Thanksgiving draws closer and closer, we've been practicing hard for our annual Thanksgiving Celebration. For those of you who don't know what TC is, it basically happens every year around Thanksgiving time. We gather together as a church and gorge ourselves with delicious thanksgiving food while watching entertaining skits/dance performances/talent shows! Sounds fun right?

Anyways, this past Friday we went to St. Augustine's for bible study with Pastor Manny. We were all so excited to finally see him! (and his funny hair cut). Sunny was there too! It was such a blessing to see how Gracepoint Austin has been growing this past semester.

Afterwards we had our TC practice in St. Augustine's cafeteria. Together with H.5, we are putting on three performances: 1)Doing it God's way pilgrim dance (i forgot what the name of the song was) 2)Pilgrim puppet show 3)Pilgrim's paridise (hardcore gangster rap)

here are some highlights:
- Sarah Yuen's amazingly precise English accent
- Hugo Hua's "grand finale" in the Pilgrim dance
- Patti Suen, John Kwon, Simon Kim and many others rapping
- many many sick moves that are too sick to describe (come and see them for yourselves)

Hope you guys are excited for TC this Friday and Saturday! on Friday, all the Koinonia groups will be performing. The best group will be selected to perform on Sunday with the rest of the church.

News Flash: Pastor Manny here tonight!

Pastor Manny's in town for tomorrow's Thanksgiving Retreat! And since he's here, he'll be joining us at Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" bible study. In fact, he's not just joining us, he'll be speaking too and giving the message!

See you guys tonight!

Juniors Discipleship Retreat, Fall 2008

The juniors from across Koinonia, acts2fellowship, and Kairos all took off for Sierra Lodge some Fridays ago after "This Is Your Life" bible study. About 60 juniors left from Berkeley with a handful of staff for our Junior Discipleship Retreat, Fall 2008.

Once we got there, after registration, we played a fun game, "This Is Very Fun." The whole point is no laughing, no smiling, while trying to be as silly as you can to eliminate the other folks in your circle. Some people were terribly gross in their attempts to get others to laugh (ahem, K.Huang & K.Ding), and there were others who were just plain funny (Daniel).

The next morning, Pastor Ed and Kelly joined us and we shared insights from our week's devotion, Ezekiel 3. Then, we read an excerpt from Nation of Wimps before heading out to Island Lake for a short, but beautiful, hike. After returning to the house, we discussed the Nation of Wimps excerpt and how we could apply it to our lives and how we can understand the college campus. Then it was Sophie Scholl, an incredible movie about a young woman's conviction to stand up for what she believed to be right during the Nazi regime.

The next day, after some time of reflection and sharing, and some work around the house, we had our Worship Service there. And then we came back home to Berkeley. It was a whirlwind, but very memorable.

Caught some things on video. Think it's a pretty good summary of what happened:


Junior Discipleship Retreat, Fall 2008 from kevan on Vimeo.

As usual, pictures are posted online (and have been for a while now!). Until next time.

News This Week: Plus TC Preview

Thanksgiving Celebration in-house for Koinonia is just a week and a couple days away! We practiced last Friday (video below!) and are planning on practicing again this Friday. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's give the whole news, starting with the Friday plan:

• Dinner for the guys, 6pm @ Kevin D.'s on the corner of Hillegass and Parker. We'll do dinner, have "meaningful" conversation (maybe), and then head over to "This Is Your Life."


• Dinner for the girls is a surprise. More info forthcoming so check back soon.


• 7:45pm @ St. Augustine's, Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" study of the Bible with our very own Pastor Ed. The reason we're meeting at St. Augustine's is because afterwards, there's...


• ... Thanksgiving Celebration Practice! Koinonia's in-house Thanksgiving Celebration is next Friday (11/21) and our act has to be stage-ready by then! That means we need to practice! Got a small clip from this past week's practice below (which is a sneak preview for some of you peeping non-H.1 folks)! Even if you missed last week, there's still plenty to join in on. We have a special middle section which we didn't have a chance to practice at all last week... if you want details ask one of your friends who was able to make it. This isn't information I can post on the world wide web. :)

This Saturday (11/15) is our annual Thanksgiving Retreat, which you can sign up for online. I've written about it plenty already, and even posted the video. If you signed up to go, one of our Rides Czars (Mike or Hannah) will let you know who's giving you a ride. Just make sure you're ready to be out the door by 8:45am. Update: You can give your Thanksgiving Retreat fee to Caroline or Sieun before Bible study begins. They're the official collectors.

In other news:

• This Sunday at Gracepoint Fellowship Church (that's where most of us go to church on Sundays) there'll be a baptism. Among the 7 people getting baptized, one of them is our own homegroup's Tabby! I encourage you to come and hear her story and the stories of the other candidates getting baptized.


• Thanksgiving Celebration Sunday is 11/23. We'll have worship service at 4pm @ Kauffman Auditorium in Alameda. After that, we'll have the real deal Thanksgiving Celebration, and then a home-cooked Turkeyfest dinner!


• Our Annual Winter Retreat is Jan. 23-25.


• Koinonia Snow Trip, Jan. 15th. This is for all your early planners out there.

That's it for now. See you guys Friday. Below: Check out how awesome Cass is.


Thanksgiving Celebration Practice 1 from kevan on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Retreat & "More Than A Face"

Just wanted to send a reminder that if you're planning on heading to the Thanksgiving Retreat, please sign up online! This helps us plan for food (and rides!). The Thanksgiving Retreat is this Saturday (11/15), 10am-9pm, and the cost is $20 (lunch, dinner, facility):

• $20 is early bird, if you sign up by Wed, 11/12 (Tomorrow!)
• $25 is the cost of registration on the day of the retreat

And, in other news, Vivian and Kathy from Homegroup 8 are giving their talk, "More Than A Face," at the Norton Hall Main Lounge, Unit 3, tomorrow night (11/12) at 8pm. This talk will address the media's portrayal of women and its consequent effects on the self-image, self-perception, and even conduct. Check it out and invite your friends if you're free!

Gone: the music video

The Gone music video was uploaded. Hooray! Now we can see Howard in three different outfits go through a normal day.

Matt, part of Praxis and Element, worked on the video and prepared it for the event last week. We had a great time last Thursday! If you were able to join us, cool. If not, sorry! Don't miss out next time! You only missed out on hearing about Will owning noobs in Warcraft, Vivian living the KTown life in the real Los Angeles, Annie and her celebrities, Sam and all the Manga and Anime, and Steve's race that he was running.

We were all able to connect at different points with one of the people, and I for one am very thankful they shared as candidly as they did. It just goes to show that God can really change people and redeem their lives, even those parts of our lives that feel like they're gone and wasted.

Gone: the questions

Our special event, Gone, was a lot of fun and is now... yes, you guessed it, gone. During the night, the seniors who hosted asked a bunch of trivia, some of which I didn't know! Then there was the music video (when I find it, I'll embed it here), and personal stories from some of the Koinonia juniors and seniors.

Anyway, Josh also went onstage and asked a couple questions that led to some really neat conversation in the group I was a part of. I met Vanessa (soph from H.2) and David (from a2f Blue), and we talked through these questions:

• Is there was a season of your life that's gone now that you miss? What do you miss about that time?


• If you had to live today over again, what would you do differently?

As usual, there's pictures of the event online. But what prompted this post is the curiosity what you guys talked about in response to the questions! Answer away.

Billy Graham's 90th Birthday

I'm not into writing about extraneous stuff on this blog apart from Koinonia and H.1 happenings, but here's something a friend sent to me which deeply moved me. Billy Graham is turning 90 years old today (Friday, Nov. 7). He's been America's great pastor and preacher, and arguably, for the world, throughout the 20th century and into this new millennia. Despite his old age, he had this to say about his life:

"I have discovered that just because we grow weaker physically as we age, it doesn't mean that we must grow weaker spiritually," said Graham in a statement this week.

"In fact, we ought to be growing stronger spiritually, because our eyes ought to be on eternity and Heaven -- on the things that really matter."

What a radically different approach to growing older. We might think people degenerate and diminish in their engagement with the world as they get older; and subsequently, that their significance and impact likewise also diminishes. But Billy Graham insists this isn't the case, and his insistence is so strong because he's convinced that these 70-odd years on earth really do precede real life: eternity.

I was immensely moved by this CNN piece observing Graham's 90th birthday and would commend it to you as a different, more biblical, vision of living our lives.

Election Week News

It's election week and believe me, there's plenty of news. First, we have a new president! And more,

• Gone. Watch out. If you're not paying attention you could miss it... and it'll be Gone. Check the Gone video trailer and pass it along to your friends. 7:00pm @ First Pres, This Thursday, 11/6. Our very own Howard will be part of the Gone video, so if you want to see him on the big screen, you'll have to be there...


• In the realm of really, really great news... actually, I'll just let Joe's email speak for itself:
  

  I just wanted to share with you all the good news that we received today. Annie's CT/PET scan came out clear and there was no trace of any tumors in her lungs or anywhere else. Thank you so much for all your love and support the past several months. Through the surgery and then the six cycles of chemotherapy, we have received so much love and encouragement. So many people brought us dinners, Annie always had a ride to the hospital to receive her shots, we had so many visitors bringing flowers, cards, and snacks. We really experienced being carried and supported by everyone during this time, and so were able to go through it with so much more strength than Annie or I have within ourselves. Thank you so much!! I'm grateful that I can share this joyful news with so many of you who suffered through it alongside us.

  
  Tell me that isn't the most awesome news so far this month. Praise God.


• Koinonia hoodie. Pre-order online because the deadline's this Friday, 11/7.


• Thanksgiving Celebration practice starts this Friday. What's Thanksgiving Celebration? I embedded the trailer video below:
  
  
  
  Basically, we're going to practice for our homegroup's act (Practice is Friday, 5:30-7:30pm, Wheeler), which we'll present (together with H.5) two Fridays from now, 11/21, at Lipman Room. Best of the best go to the Real Thanksgiving Celebration on Sunday, 11/23, at Kauffman Auditorium, 1:30pm.


• After Thanksgiving Celebration practice, the seniors and juniors are hosting the sophomores and freshmen. Guys and girls separate... Guys are going to do something crazy at 8pm, Dana House, and the girls? Well, it'll be a surprise. But it'll be some upperclassman love as they host the underclassmen!


• Our annual Thanksgiving Retreat is on Saturday, 11/15, at GGBTS. We'll hear people's stories from how God worked in their lives this year, and also have a time of Communion together. Don't miss out, by signing up online now! There's even a trailer:
  
  


• Sophomores: you got one-day discipleship retreat on Tuesday, 11/11, with Pastor Ed and Kelly, so make sure you study so you're not stressed that day and miss out!

That's it for now. See you guys soon!

Gone

The trailer is on Youtube but you can see it here, now. It's two days away: Watch out.



First Pres., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. Invite your friends. See you there.

Koinonia Zip-Hoodie & Cordonices Park

Koinonia zip-up hoodies coming out soon before the end of the semester. If you want one, you'll need to pre-order online. Pre-order deadline is this Friday, 11/7, so do it soon! There's more details on the online order form.

And here's a video of some of the guys when we went to Cordonices Park several weeks ago. We got burritos to go and headed up Euclid in North Berkeley. Saw the beautiful Bay Area at sunset, and played around on the playground, the centerpiece of which was a 15 foot concrete slide. Totally fun. More pictures online, but here's that video:


Cordonices Park from kevan on Vimeo.

To the Driving Range

Last night, some of the guys came over. None of the sophomores (maybe because they're still reeling from their bowling defeat?) We made some quick dinner, thanked Annie profusely when she brought over extras, and then cleaned up. After dinner we crammed 9 of us into a single van and headed out to the nearby golf course: the driving range. None of us really know what we're doing when it comes to golf, but that's alright. Figured it'd still be fun and a nice way to relieve stress. Plus, the driving range is usually empty and last night was no exception. We paired up, got a couple buckets of balls each and started to whack at the balls. Mike, our in-house Tiger Woods, gave us some tips on swing, posture, form, and everything else. He's pretty good and we were impressed.

After some fun and good coaching at the driving range, we stopped by for frozen yogurt, and then sat down to study for a good hour and a half. We even had baked cookies and ice cream for brain food. Pictures from the night are online, as usual.

Forgot to mention at the driving range, we saw H.2 guys: Joe, Sean, Paul, and Newton. Here's an inspiring video from Joe showing us proper golf form:


Joe at the Driving Range from kevan on Vimeo.

But seriously, here's a video where someone actually hits the ball further than 10 feet, and does so in style.


H.1 Driving Range from kevan on Vimeo.

The News in These Parts

The news in these parts:

This Friday, H.1 and H.3 are in charge of setting up. That means:

• 5:15pm setup at Dana House. We'll load the audio equipment and then head over to 155 Dwinelle. Here's the house!
  View Larger Map


• We'll finish setup at 155 Dwinelle as soon as we can and then eat dinner together. The best part comes after dinner! With the upcoming Thanksgiving Celebration (if you don't know what this is, don't worry, you'll find out real soon), we'll watch some of the Thanksgiving Celebration acts from previous years and have some good laughs beginning at 7:15pm.

As usual, we'll start Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" bible study at 7:45pm. And afterwards, all of Koinonia is heading to Alameda High gymnasium for Sports Nite Halloween Extravaganza! That's not really the name, however. I don't think we even have a name. But that's what I'm calling it in the absence of anything better! Make sure you come dressed (or with a change of clothes).

Let's see, what else is going on... I'm going to give you the whole 9 yards so hang on:

• Next week's prayer meeting (Tuesday, 11/4) will be different: we'll still be at First Pres, but sisters 6:00-7:50pm, brothers 8:00-9:50pm. So take note of that.


• All college event, Gone, Thurs., 11/6, First Pres. It's sort of like New Student Welcome Night-light, so it'll be great fun. Not only that, but we're changing things up from normal and will share stories, music, have talk interspersed in between more stories and music.


• Our annual Thanksgiving Retreat is on Sat., 11/15. If you want to join us, you'll need to sign up online by 11/12.


• Thanksgiving Celebration. Stay tuned. More info coming.


• Our annual Winter Retreat is coming up, Jan. 24-26. Plan accordingly. It's not something you want to miss!


• The sophomores are cooking dinner (b/c they lost) so stay tuned for that too.

Girls up at LBL for H.1 Friday

This happened a couple weeks ago, but because I just got the picture, wanted to post it. While the guys were at Cordonices Park, the H.1 girls were hanging out with Homegroup 5 girls. They took off to the Berkeley Hills, and while the guys were going down concrete slides on cardboard pieces, the girls were sharing a "special moment" gazing across the panoramic view of the Bay Area together... eating burritos (the remnants of which, were found in the trunk of our car 3 days later. Sick).

Thought it was worth sharing. Looked awesome.

Friday Fun - Bowling

Greetings, This past Friday turned out to be lots of fun for the Juniors and Sophomores as well! While the Freshman flocked to Steve and Suzanne's, the Sophomores, Juniors, and Staff (Kevan, Jenny, Eddie) decided to try our luck at some good ole' bowling.

However, getting there turned out to be trickier than expected. All three of our cars got lost at one point or another. After a bunch of calling and driving up and down the same street 3 or 4 times, we finally arrived at our destination! We were all eager and ready to relieve the stressful experience by crushing the little bowling pins with our 15+lb bowling balls.

Once we got settled, we decided to play Staff vs Juniors vs Sophomores - loser had to cook a homemade meal for all of us :) We played two games and averaged out the scores. Here were some highlights from my lane.

• Irene Kwan (who said she had only gone bowling twice prior), the only undergrad sister that went (ahem), getting gutter balls and then strikes! A+ for improvement Irene!
• Michael Kim's "finishing pose"- basically after he released the ball each time he would turn around before the ball hit the pins and raise one arm in the air like Superman. Amazingly it actually worked. There was one point in time when he had 5 or 6 strikes in a row!
• Kevan Ho getting 4 strikes in a row!
• Kevin Ding almost broke 100 but could not knock down the last pin on the last try and ended up with 99 :(

In the end, the Staff came in 1st, Juniors in 2nd, and the Sophomores in 3rd (aka last). We are all anticipating the wonderful home-cooked meal that the sophomores plan for us :) thank you in advance sophomores!

anyways in the spirit of fall I thought this would be nice:

Freshmen Gathering at Steve & Suzanne's

After bible study on Friday, the girls and guys from H.1 found themselves being ferried to Steve and Suzanne’s place. After some interesting car rides, everyone arrived at the house excited and ready to have some fun. The focus of the night was to get the Freshman to know each other better.

Other than the awesome food, which included shaved ice with tons of toppings, there were fun games as well:

• When playing the speed naming game, the twins Brandon and Brian confused everyone with their jacket switching. The game ended up at 4-2, with certain teams going negative at times. (there was a guessing penalty)
  
  
• Electricity was the last game of the day. Despite some scoring and referee issues, team 1 emerged as the clear winner.

the weekly scoop

I don't know about you, but it's amazing to me how much stuff goes on each week. Justin over there is pointing at the announcements you should be reading just below.

We'll start first with Friday night, which is always a weekly favorite:

• 6:00 pm, H.1 Guys over at Kevin D.'s place on the corner of Hillegass and Parker. We'll start with home-cooked dinner. No concrete slides this week... however, Chefs Kevin and David will be contributing to our collective culinary experience.


• 6:00 pm, H.1 Girls over at Virginia's place, also starting with dinner.

Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" bible study is at 7:45 pm @ 2050 VLSB. Afterwards, by popular demand, we're going bowling! It's going to be tons of fun. See you there.

UPDATE (10/24, 10:00am) All Koinonia freshmen going to Steve and Suzanne's afterwards! It'll be a chance to meet all the other freshmen and spend time with Steve and Suzanne.

Sign up online for our annual one-day Thanksgiving Retreat, which happens on Saturday, November 15. Sign up deadline is 11/12, so do it soon!

What's Up

Here's the news for this weekend, starting with Friday dinners (Oct. 17):

• H.1 Guys are meeting at 5:45pm @ Anna Head West parking lot on Channing. We'll be heading up to the Rose Garden and Cordonices Park to hang out, eat dinner (we'll bring the food!), and get away from Berkeley. Yes, it's only 10 minutes away from Berkeley, but it'll be fun.


• H.1 Girls are meeting at 6:00pm @ Anna Head West parking lot. The girls will head up to LBL for a nice dinner and hot chocolate. There's a Berkeley LBL webcam, but personally I don't think it does the view any real justice. You'll just have to go there yourself to experience it in person!

Afterwards, we're headed to Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" bible study. Pastor Ed'll be talking about the reliability of the bible, how we can know it's trustworthy as a document that tells us about the life of Jesus and about God. "This Is Your Life" will be at 7:45pm @ 2050 VLSB.

After VLSB, some of the juniors will be taking off for the Junior Discipleship Retreat with Pastor Ed and Kelly. Come to 2050 w/ your bags already packed because we're leaving directly from the parking lot! Pack appropriately: it'll be mostly low to mid-70s during the days, and low to mid-40s at nights.

The rest of H.1 will be going over to Steve and Suzanne's to hang out with them, and also with H.5. We'll watch GLive, laugh at the juniors and seniors, and look ahead to the Spring semester when we'll be putting together GLive for 2009! Wow. Crazy.

Extra: This past weekend the Koinonia staff went to Sierra Lodge to work on the Barn. It's awesome right now. There's a ton more pictures, but here's a small taste. For those of you going, you'll see this very soon.

H.1 Convalescent Home Visit

On Sunday morning, 14 of us (plus a little half-person) went to the Crown Bay Convalescent Home to spend time with the men and women living there. Richard and Lauren's Praxis homegroup goes each week to Crown Bay convalescent home to spend time with the residents and lead a worship service. H.1 got to join them this past weekend on Sunday morning. We sang a song we had prepared, "How Great Thou Art," listened to Allen give a brief message through 1 John 4 on God's love, gave a potpourri gift to each person, and spent time talking and being with each of the men and women who live at that home. I think we were the ones who walked away most blessed. Here's some words from people who went:

• I was thankful that the people enjoyed the service. I was touched when they sang along with us. I didn't expect to have such an memorable experience. (fr, Mindy C.)


• was touched that many old people show a tremendous thankfulness and passion about life through their smile when seeing Abigail moving around with Jenny. I was also touched when they tried to remember the joys and happiness in their early lives and the peaceful way they present these stories to me. And these stories teach me how rich life can be, and how well a person can enjoy from his journey of life. (fr, David Y.)


• I was thankful God helped me get past my mind block. Going into the convalescent home I felt intimidated to start a conversation with the elderly. Graciously God lessened the age gap and gave me questions and things to talk about. Eventually, one grandma, Joy, was able to brighten up for me and I was glad she was so open to listening and responding to me. I hope to visit her again. (jr, Hannah P.)


• I was thankful for meeting a woman who served God through years of missionary work in China. Her testimony displayed the timelessness and power of the gospel throughout generations. (jr, Madelaine B.)

On Friday, H.1 guys ate at Mike's apartment (barbecue chicken) and the H.1 girls joined with H.5 at Virginia's. At Koinonia's "This Is Your Life," Pastor Ed posed the question: How can we have reliable knowledge about God? How can we know God? He talked about revelation, and how the Bible fits into this picture of God's self-revealing to humanity. It was cool stuff, and the Q&A time afterwards was packed with good questions. Seems like people really like the whole text messaging thing as a question and answer format.

After VLSB, our group went to Dana House. While we were there, we prepped for the upcoming convalescent home visit, ate some brownies and ice cream prepared by our marvelous chefs (David Y. & Kevin D.), and even played some silly Guesstures game. We loved it when Daniel S. kept on pumping his fist in the air, trying to communicate "clench" to the rest of us, and doing nothing except clenching his fist and waving it in the air.

Hebrews 11 DT from Kelly Kang

For those of you who meditated on Hebrews 11 for this past week's devotion, here's some words from Kelly Kang. She writes often from the week's devotion on her Wordpress blog and I'm always thankful for her insight and reflections.

These words from Kelly's Hebrews 11 reflection really hit me:

Although God’s salvation and His grace are free, living by faith is costly.

Take some time and give it a read.

The Weekly News

It's like an annual tradition, except it's weekly. Here's the news, fully documented and published for your reading enjoyment.

Thursday, 10/9, 7 PM @ Wheeler Christian apologists and philosophers Mike Ramsden and Os Guinness present two lectures, "Is Faith Delusional?" and "A Thinker's Quest for Meaning." Admission is free and seating is limited. I say go for it if you have the time, and maybe take some good notes so you can share it here with the rest of us!

Homegroup Friday, 10/10, 6 PM

• Guys at Mike K.'s on Haste. Dinner will be provided and we'll catch up on each others' lives.
• Girls at Virginia's at Parker/Hillegass. Dinner and smallgroup time together w/ HG RED.
• Soph bros discipleship @ Dana House rooms 1 & 2.
• All Koinonia soph girls dinner with Suzanne at Dana House living room. Invite your friends!

Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" with Pastor Ed Kang. Friday, 7:45 PM @ 2050 VLSB. Afterwards, we're headed to Dana House to hang out, do smoothies (provided by our new Chefs!), and hang out. We'll also be preparing for Sunday's convalescent home visit by practicing a couple songs and putting together some gifts.

Sunday, 10/12 8:30 AM. We're meeting at Anna Head West to visit Crown Bay Convalescent Home. We'll spend time with the elderly, sing them some songs, give them gifts, and just talk to them and be with them. Transit Chiefs in charge of rides. More info? Just ask Caroline.

H.1 Committee
Here's the people who are helping our homegroup run. They're also the contact people if you got questions about their respective areas.

• Transit Chiefs: AKA rides. Hannah P. (for the girls) & Mike K. (for the guys)
• Chefs: AKA food. Kevin D. & David Y.
• Media: AKA photos & video. Irene K. & Justin K.
• News Reporters: AKA blog. Brandon T. & Min C.

Special Video: Pastor Manny "Usain Bolt" Kim on fire once again.

Earthquake Competition

Sometimes we look at the things we've done and we just don't understand why we did it. In this case, it's the Ghirardelli's Earthquake challenge this past Friday: my car (Allen, David Y., Mindy, and Hannah) against Jenny's car (Brandon C., Brian, Andy, Tabby, and Melody). Here's my video. Pay special attention to the MVP. I excerpted several incredible feats, never before seen on the world wide web.


2008-10-03 H.1 Ghirardelli's trip from kevan on Vimeo.

Yes, my car, ultimately came out the victor. There was heavy disqualification because the other team had an extra player on the field, and also left a whole tub of chocolate fudge untouched. It was abominable that they were trying to get away with claiming the win. Really, that's just too much.

The context surrounding all this is that some people went to go study after Koinonia's "This Is Your Life," but the rest of us went to Ghirardelli's in SF. We did do civilized things like take pictures in the chocolate shop (after pilfering their shelves for photo filler material). And then we took some more pictures (braving the rain to do so) at Treasure Island. We had a really good time and wish you could've joined us!

I think this upcoming week's after-This Is Your Life" activity has something to do with hanging out together to laugh, talk, and catch up. No field trips to SF or bowling alleys or mini golf courses (those are for later!). We also need to practice a song since we're going as a homegroup to visit a Convalescent Home this Sunday (10/12) and spend time with the elderly. You can ask Caroline for more information.

Anyway, as always, there's more pictures online. See you guys soon.
(Update 10 AM, 10/8: video uploaded to Vimeo where the quality's better!)

Summer Favorite Moments: Pirates

In the spirit of videos that are too good not to share, I feel compelled to post this for your enjoyment. The antagonists are Joe and Annie, H.2 leads:



Thanks to Jon over at H.2 for the priceless video.

Austin Farewell Dance!

Thought that this would bring back some good memories! Props to A2F-Gold junior brother Jeff Chiu for filming it!

The Real Long Version of Announcements

I don't know why each week there are so many announcements. I guess it just goes to show you there's a ton of stuff going on... which is a good thing! It also means: you got to pay attention! (update: video at the bottom of Kevin losing in pushups contest)

Here we go:

Jam-Packed Friday
For the guys: 6.30 PM dinner at Unit 3. Jrs & Soph guys will do setup beginning at 5.30 @ dHouse, and then we'll meet for dinner and decompress from the week @ U3. We'll grab a lounge or maybe the multi-purpose room. Just make sure you have your friend's cell number handy so you can find where we are!
For the girls: 6.30 PM dinner in the First Pres. Courtyard. Registration setup is at 6!
For both guys and girls, dinner will be provided!

This Is Your Life Koinonia bible study is at 7:45 PM, First Pres.

Afterwards, there's study hall or Ghirardelli's in SF. You make the call and bring your gear: books or spoons.

The rest of the announcements:

• 9 AM at the YWCA: Sophomore guys' discipleship group. Remember your homework!
  
• 11 AM, it's our turn (plus homegroups 2, 5 & 6) to clean NorthLoop. Afterwards, we'll eat lunch together, and for those who want to watch the Cal game (Homecoming!), we'll watch it together. Otherwise, you can study at NL or head back to Berkeley.
  
• Sierra Lodge construction (10/11). Yes, if you want to go and help build the Barn, make sure to let me know. It'll be all day Saturday. Not for wimps. If you were ashamed of your performance at the Sierra Lodge booth at the Gracepoint Open House, then come and get trained.
  
• Convalescent Home Visit (10/12). Our homegroup is going to the Crown Bay Elderly Home Sunday morning from 8:45 -10 AM. We'll spend time with the elderly there and have a small program for them. Please contact Caroline if you'd like to get involved.
  
• It's never too early to plug the College Winter Retreats! You don't want to miss this just because of bad planning around airline tickets! The dates are Jan. 23 - 25 (Friday to Sunday). Signups will be up soon so stay tuned!

Last but not least, there's the H.1 committee "To Keep Things Running". There's plenty that goes into helping our homegroup run and we need help! Thought some of you would like to get involved or maybe get trained? Check these out and email me what you'd like to do:

• Transit Chief: need one guy, one girl to take care of rides for the various events we do. Whether that means coming over to Alameda in the middle of the week, rides home after a Friday night, or when we head out to bowling or SF, you the man (er, woman). Pluses are that you get to meet everyone. Recommendations: cell phone, email, and text messaging is your friend.
• News Reporter: Be a journalist. Write about messages from Friday or Sunday, maybe a brief summary, a funny line. Write about life on campus, or the people in our homegroup. Offer your perspective and help broadcast some news. You can even video yourself and be an anchorman/woman. Short description: blog.
• Media Guy (or Gal): like photography or videography? Want to share them with people? This one's for you.
• Chef: food makes people happy. Food makes you happy and you like seeing people happy because of food. You got menu ideas for refreshments or meals? Want some guinea pigs to try it out on? What better place than for your homegroup!
• Entertainers: when we hang out as a group, it's not always fun just talking in little clusters here and there. Lots of times we need activities, games, icebreakers, and ways to jazz up the time together. Help plan out activities, make phone calls to bowling alleys, game times, and think of ways to help people bond and have fun!
  

The names are just for fun, of course, but each one represents an important role in keeping things running! Thanks for reading so much! (It's good for the engineers! Yes, Kevin, Howard, and Irene, I'm talking to you guys)

Here's a video of the push-up contest from two Fridays ago, when people came over and we played games. Not sure why we had a push-up contest, nor why it was 4 guys and a girl. But it sure is fun, especially Justin's quip at the 1:45 mark.

Congratulations on your Baptism, Mike!

Mike
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

Mike got baptized this past Sunday during Gracepoint's worship service. We heard his story (as well as Albert's, Kim's, and Anne's) and rejoiced together over how his life has changed. What a happy day.

Also, guest appearances by Magnet Man and Bad Apple were made at the Open House following the service. The Open House was our annual "Come & See" sort of event, where each ministry group set up their booth, showing pictures and information so people could get familiar with all the different arms, legs, and wings of our community of faith.

Plenty of barbecue, plenty of sun, and even a Sierra Lodge booth where participants take the proffered hammer and try their skill at banging in nails with the least amount of hits. Bend a nail and you're disqualified. Check out the video:

Posers and This Week's News

Posing in the sunset
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

H.1 & H.5 took off for the beach a couple Saturdays ago. It was relatively early in the semester and it seemed like a good time to get away before school got too busy. It was a nice half day, playing football on the beach, ultimate frisbee, grilling our own Evergoods, and even getting in a game of British Bulldog. Frankly, it was pretty awesome.

Aside from this gratuitous gushing, here's the news:

• "This Is Your Life" bible study at 7 PM, 155 Dwinelle. The first week, Pastor Ed talked about the passage of time. Last week, he talked about God, the Creator. What's next?
• After "This Is Your Life" (week 3), our homegroup's going out as a homegroup. Semester's been crazy and we haven't had a chance to sit down and stare deep into one another's eyes. We'll also be eating, having fun, and hanging out, getting to know one another better along the way. Look for H.1 people (your Koinonia friends) and find a ride!
• For those of you guys going to Gracepoint on Sunday, don't forget we got a new service time: 1:30 PM
• Saturday's Discipleship Kickoff: for all Christians serious about your relationship with God, you're invited to a time when we can all be challenged and inspired, 9:00 - 11:30 AM @ the YWCA.

DT Journals for Oct/Nov

This just in for all you guys who use DT Journals (DT stands for devotion time, and is part of our daily scripture reflection):

Once again, we will be providing DT journals for the months of October-November. You can submit your order online, but please read the following information:

• Before we actually print the journals, we will need for you to pre-pay for your reserved copy(ies). IF YOU DO NOT HAVE PAYPAL, please prepay at the booktable on Sundays, starting this coming Sunday.
• ALL journals will be available for pickup on Sundays (by the booktable) and at Tuesday prayer meetings, from Sept.28 thru Oct. 12. Thereafter, any unclaimed journals will be sold at the booktable on Sundays.
• Any journals requested after the deadline will cost $1 more.
• DEADLINE for orders: Wednesday, Sept. 24, 11:59pm
  

Order online. Alternatively, you can also order and pre-pay at the Sunday booktable.

Career Fairs at UC Berkeley: Getting a jumpstart on life

If you're a junior, it's not too early to go check out a Career Fair. The Career Center puts these fairs together on the Berkeley campus as a resource for students looking for internships for the summer, students looking ahead to start interviewing for jobs following graduation... it's an invaluable resource. I'd encourage you guys to go check it out. Maybe draft a resume and see how it's received. Learn to talk to professionals.

It's all a part of growing up. Plus they usually have free stuff. There's a Career Fair Sept. 9-11 on campus.

Gracepoint Fellowship Cool News... and Bad Apples

Hey people, can you believe school is already in its second week?! It feels like people are still arriving on campus... Anyway, the two New Student Welcome Nights are over. We had more than 1100 new people check out our event (and eat our food), and had a chance to meet tons of people. We're hoping they stick around and join smallgroups, swing by a Koinonia bible study, or just hang out.

Anyway, lots of stuff is going on and wanted to post the info for what's happening.

• 7 - 8:15 PM, Wed., 9/3: Freshman smallgroup, guys. 254 Dwinelle, includes scrumptious dinner.
• 7 - 8:15 PM, Wed., 9/3: wouldn't you know it, the girls also have freshman smallgroup! 251 Dwinelle
• 7:00-8:30 PM, Thurs., 9/4: low-key, get-me-away-from-the-DC barbecue at Dana House. Allen's in charge so you can send him an email if you need more info.
• 7:30 PM, Thurs., 9/4: Welcome back dinner for all the sophomores at Kevan & Jenny's place. Sign up online if you can come and need a ride (or want to help grill)
• 7:30 PM, Fri., 9/5: First Koinonia Bible Study of the semester! We'll be at 2050 VLSB and if you can help, we'd really appreciate your help doing setup. Afterwards, we're going out by classes to hang out. The freshmen and seniors are going to the Rec Room on the first floor of the YWCA. The sophomores are going to Steve & Suzanne's, and the Juniors are going mini-golfing (for shakes). Pastor Ed'll be leading our bible studies this semester, so that's extra incentive to come, invite our friends, and pay close attention!

That's a lot of announcements, and I'm breathless just writing them all down. Have a great week! And for all you Berkeley Cal Football fans, Go Bears! Let's rock Washington State this weekend!!



Oh wait... I almost forgot the whole point of this post. Our buddy, soph. John K. performed and showcased his thespian talents at last week's Gracepoint Fellowship Church Joyland production. He was the bad apple.

For the entire clip, you can watch online at the Gracepoint Berkeley Joyland website.

Sophomore Welcome Back Dinner

Hey sophomores, you're invited to a welcome back dinner. Come on over and let's grill some chicken and eat. Need to know how many of you are coming, so sign up online and let us know. Thursday, 9/4, 7:30 PM at Kevan & Jenny's.

Gracepoint Monthly: @ Golden Gate, not in Berkeley!

For those of you going to Gracepoint Monthly | Extended, make sure you sign up online. We need to make sure to order enough food for everyone coming. Unless, of course, you're going to bag your own lunch and bring it with you! It'll be most of the day, from 9-6 PM at Golden Gate Seminary... not in Berkeley! Gracepoint Fellowship Church Sunday service (don't forget) is at Willard this week, and no longer on campus at Pauley. Yes, so many places and names to remember. It's part of being a college student.

What happens at Gracepoint Monthly, you ask? Here's a short blurb from Pastor Ed,

It will be like our usual one-day Fall Retreat, except that we will fill the day listening to all the ways in which God worked this past summer through our mission trips, worldview camp, 30 hour famine, etc. People will be giving reports, sharing testimonies from all that happened this past summer, and it will be a time for all of us to get on the same page, and glorify God together as a church.

New Student Welcome Night is here!!

New Student Welcome Night is here! Well, technically, I guess it's tonight (Wed.), beginning at 6 PM, Pauley Ballroom, right across from Sproul Hall. I'm so excited.

The past couple days have been really full though. Sophs and Juniors from our homegroup have been out helping our friends move into the dorms. We've gone to Fenton's for ice cream, SF for In-N-Out and Ghirardelli's, played basketball on the Willard Courts, so much ultimate frisbee it's coming out of our ears, shaved ice, eating at the DCs, and just meeting a lot of people-friends from previous years just returned from their summers, and new students to our Cal campus.

I guess the best part is the laughter and new friendships. It's a special time of year these first couple weeks.

I can't wait til New Student Welcome Night. Music, a short sketch, lots and lots of people, and even a free barbecue, the main event will be the funnies, and the guy who talks for a bit trying to connect with each one of us. See you there, and invite your friends!!

Finals Overs, Barbecue Time

Hot Links
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

With Summer finals over, it's time to have a barbecue and throw the frisbee around in the waning days of summer... yes, folks, summer is almost over! Tonight, we're heading to the park to grill, throw the frisbee around, and stroll around in the early summer evening.

Afterwards, we'll head to NorthLoop to join the rest of the college groups and having a combined bible study (7:30 PM). Then, Olympics on the big screen in digital HD. Awesome.

Prayer Request: Battling Cancer

Annie on the left and her sister-in-law, Julie
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

My friend, Joe, recently posted about Blessing in the Midst of Cancer, by which he means, Annie's cancer and the current round of chemo being administered. Here's a bit from Joe's entry:

As Annie just finished her first week of chemotherapy last Friday, I had a chance to see how her battle with cancer, while frightening, has also resulted in an unexpected blessing of allowing us to experience God’s love through the encouragement and support of many people at our church.

I've been Joe's friend for more than 10 years now and we've gone through a lot of ups and downs. Jenny and Annie, likewise, have been friends for just as long. One thing that's clear to me is that Annie's illness is very much our illness too, as it is our whole church's, and we're praying for them, helping out wherever we can, being together, and just trying to live life together each day.

Please pray for our dear sister, Annie, and for Joe as well. When you see them, give them a smile and say hello.

Koinonia - Why I Love the Olympics

This past Friday Koinonia watched the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. It is difficult to express in words what we saw, but it was a mixture of awe, wonder, excitement, and intimidation. Everyone was blown away by the sheer magnitude of the spectacle. WOW. Even people who were remotely connected to China were suddenly being filled with Chinese nationalistic pride. Needless to say, I am really excited about this year’s Olympics.

There are so many things about the Olympics that I love. There's the awe-inspiring physical skill and strength of the athletes. There's the national pride in which the athletes compete not just for themselves, but for something greater than themselves. Then there are the things in the Olympics that simply transcend sports. In history, there's Jesse Owens winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (embarrassing Hitler and the Nazis), the U.S. Men’s Hockey team defeating the Soviets in 1980 (inspiring America in the midst of the Cold War), and Eric Liddell refusing to run on Sunday (honoring God first above country).

A few years ago, I saw a replay of an Olympic moment from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics that impacted me. It was a simple yet memorable last-place finish by a sprinter, Derek Redmond, from Great Britain. He was one of the favorites to win the 400m dash, but collapsed in the middle of the race because he tore his hamstring. Courageously, he still tried to finish the race, but struggled. Then a figure from the stands broke through security and rushed to help Derek while Derek was weeping. They finished the race together. Who was that figure? It was his father.

New Student Welcome Night... around the corner

Believe it or not, it's that time of the year again: Fall Semester. You know what that means. Anyway, the New Student Welcome Night website is up, and it's cool.

Here's the tag line:

New Student Welcome Night 2008 @ UC Berkeley is sponsored by three campus fellowships to introduce you to Cal, student life, and who we are. (Loud) Music, skits, video, a brief talk, some laughter and even food, we're into community, culture, our campus, and a God who's got something relevant to say to all of us.

And here's the video trailer for the evening.


Trailer: New Student Welcome Night from kevan on Vimeo.

Or you can grab the video from Youtube if you'd like.

Running a Marathon

Steve Suh is the man. He ran the San Francisco Marathon last week, averaging 10 minute miles. Afterwards, he even went to Sunday service. He is the biggest man I know.

Since H.1 went to the Sierras to camp last weekend, we couldn't even run the Alameda 10K. But hey, forget the 10K, try a marathon. Read more about it and even watch a 2-minute documentary on the experience.

EXTRA: I found him in the official registry of runners who finished the full marathon, listed as runner "Stephen Steve Suh" from "Alameda, CA," placing 1874, finishing in 4:37:50.

Sierras Camping: Homegroups 1 & 5

We went camping to the Sierras this past weekend. We roughed it. However, "roughing it" applied differently to different groups of people. We arrived to Hampshire Rocks when the sun had already set, so the girls got busy pitching the tents and getting hot food ready. The guys... well, they got lost and took a sightseeing trip all the way to South Lake Tahoe before joining up with the rest of us.

Some trip highlights:

• S'mores around the campfire... not one night, but two.
• Running water
  
• Off-roading in 4 tough trucks
• Kevin D. playing guitar (his favorite song: Let Me Sing)
  
• Bowman Lake sweeping across the horizon
• Lake Faucherie, the most beautiful place in the Sierras
• Bigfoot Sighting

• Freezing cold waterfall
• Hiking at Faucherie
• Attacking the unsuspecting, trusting Homegroup RED
• Kayaking on Spaulding Lake
• Barbecue grilled dinner
• Hannah and Howard's stories
• Jenny's ghost stories
• Wendy and Maurice's jokes (turtles, "disagree," "can, nut, bread")
• Colossians 3 along the lake's shore at dusk
  

Sorry if you couldn't make it... maybe next time!

Element Road Trip to Oregon & Centrifuge

Centrifuge: Gone
Originally uploaded by gracepoint.element

Element's the high school youth group at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Berkeley. They recently did something neato--Centrifuge: Gone. And now they're off on a road trip to Oregon. Talk about cool. I wish I could go with them.

They sound like they're having a ton of fun... how do I know? Well, they got their own Element Twitter feed, complete with pictures via iPhone.

And if you check out the pictures of Centrifuge, it looks pretty... well... youthful.

Ribs with Barbecue Sauce from Texas

Homegroup Dinner at the YWCA
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

This past week, Hannah and Howard surrendered their lives to Christ. Totally great news! We got together last night to celebrate over dinner, which Jenny (and Hannah) prepared: beef and pork ribs w/ authentic barbecue sauce straight from Texas, garlic green beans, buttered potatoes, and even a delicious fruit tart. It was mouth-watering good, and with the summer winding down and so many people in and out the last couple weeks (myself included), it was great to sit down and eat together.

Over dessert, we read through John 4's Samaritan Woman and talked about this fascinating conversation Jesus had with her. It led to an active discussion about the upcoming fall semester. So many of us have been excited at the prospect of meeting new friends, dialoguing with our fellow students about life and God, and we started brainstorming about what we envisioned the fall semester could look like and how we could all be a part of it.

Celebration, brainstorming, good food. It doesn't get much better.

Junior Discipleship Retreat at Gracepoint Berkeley

Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang

It's an annual thing (starting this year) for the juniors to head up to Sierra Lodge during the summer and have a discipleship retreat with Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang. It's a nice getaway from Berkeley, and as beautiful as campus is during the summer, it's just not the same as going to the mountains, rivers, lakes, and meadows of the Sierras.

Pastor Ed Kang teaching archery

About 50 of us--all the juniors of Gracepoint Fellowship Church involved in discipleship classes--took off from Berkeley on Friday afternoon. We arrived (after stopping by In-N-Out) around 9:30. After the requisite registration stuffs, we sat down for a guys-dominated game of King Kong Shower (yes, we crushed the sisters), and then each wrote out one truth, one lie. It was one way to get to know one another, laugh a little, and for names to attach themselves to faces. For many people, it was their first time seeing all their classmates in one room. Last year's Gracepoint Live seemed like a massive throng of people, but this was a lot cozier, and it was a real opportunity to see who our "partners in the gospel" were.

We listened to Tony Campolo's "Seize the Day" message, as well as Bill Hybell's "5 Tests of Leadership". Together with Philippians 1 and the message on Isaiah 40, we were filled to bursting with a sense of calling for our lives to reveal the glory of the Lord as we fill the valleys and flatten the hills in our own hearts.

Singing How Great Thou Art at the Lake

There was a bunch of other stuff we did... organize the basement full of tools, clear the hillside of combustible material, string bows and shoot at our own archery range (2 sisters hit the bulls-eye... no brothers--although Daniel, infamous author of Dis-Gracepoint, hit a granite rock), race on kayaks, throw each other into the water, sing Les Mis, hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, eat good food, have a lot of brownies, use Sierra Lodge rental Nalgenes, miss the Boreal exit, get worked by mosquitos, have our own Sunday Worship Service with college student band, sing How Great Thou Art at the lake, sing all of Beauty and the Beast and The Sound of Music with Emily & HG7, and more. What a list of stuff! Can't do all of that at Berkeley, Gracepoint Juniors! Only at Sierra Lodge!

We had a great time. And, more seriously, I'm very thankful we had this opportunity to reflect on the trajectory of our lives, and how we want to grow as Christ-followers together in the upcoming year.

Thanks to all the juniors, Hannah (who took care of all the food), Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang (for all the messages, challenge, encouragement, and inspiration), Ben (for taking care of the whole trip, not to mention the rides), Daniel (for laughs), and all the other brothers and sisters of Davis Waypoint and Berkeley Gracepoint Fellowship Church who helped build Sierra Lodge so great times like this can happen!