Sierra Lodge Trip: 4/25 - 4/26

A few of us left for Sierra Lodge on Friday night and came back Saturday night. I can not say much about the drive over there because I knocked out the first minute we drove off. After settling in, unpacking and introducing everyone, we saw some hilarious Manny videos. Some of these videos are better left unseen (football Korean drama one)! Afterwards, we played games with a bunch of snacks (kimchi chigae, chips, chili) starting with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We split into teams of six and sad to say, my team was eliminated after getting the very first four questions wrong. We thought that a Blondie’s pizza slice was cheaper than a small Yogurt Park but we did not listen to the crucial piece of information that it was a Blondie’s “pepperoni” pizza slice which is actually $3.50! Then we had some harder and more serious questions such as naming all the devotions since January and message series since September. We then played a game of Subjective Bingo and this is when everything got interesting. Here are some highlights of what we saw:

• John Cai’s version of martial arts.
• Brandon Tsai’s break dancing that entailed moon-walking and Styrofoam.
• Mike Kim getting beat by one of the sisters eating a slice of bread in a minute.
• Nick Yoo’s version of Manny’s hammer dance.
• Derrick Chen’s amazing piano piece.
• John Cai juggling tangerines while speaking in his old man voice

The next morning, we had breakfast and started the day with the word of God. Manny gave the Bible study on Psalm 23 but before we did that, we split into our teams again and had to come up with a way to present Psalm 23 creatively. And of course, we shared among our groups. Some of these presentations were very meaningful and moving such as Ben Park’s group, some entailed acting like Brandon’s and Howard’s group and others just were ridiculous such as my group that included rapping, acting, imitating Wenjie, mocking Brandon and being flat out gross. If you are dieing to know what these actually looked like, Roy Lo got it all on video! Afterwards, of course, Manny gave his message on Psalm 23 going through each verse and focusing on the restlessness of our lives as a result of our fears and anxieties and having a personal Lord to guide us.

We then went on a short, leisurely hike in the nice sunny weather. Before we went on the hike, however, some of the freshman (Isaac and Nick) gave Manny a t-shirt that said “2 Young 2 Care.” Manny obviously was flattered by this gift because he ended up wearing it for the whole hike. We then went on the hike enjoying all the nature around us.

After talking trash about staying in the water the longest barefooted (like at Yosemite), Manny challenged all of us to do it with him. Having experienced this already, the people from our group were pretty confident that we could hold Manny off. We all took off our socks and jumped into the water, which happened to be warmer than the Yosemite water. Manny, however, could not take the pain any longer and jumped out within the first minute. Surprisingly, the sisters were holding on really well and even Sunny was able to stay in the water the whole time! Manny was shocked and amazed at this sight and in the end, he was left speechless. Then, we all headed towards the picnic area to eat our lunches. A bunch of the brothers gathered on this little island located between the creek to eat. To get across, you had to leap (not jump) across some slippery rocks. All of us made it across but Manny, wanting to join “the boys,” attempted this for himself. On the very first step, Manny slips immediately and falls straight into the creek. Manny rushed out soaked with his drenched sandwich in his hand and a look of shame on his face! After this unfortunate experience, Manny stayed on the other side and ate with the sisters in shame occasionally asking us “how are your lunches over there?!” This is when you truly know that Manny is beginning to join the realms of the elderly.

We then all spent some time together in the outdoors playing volleyball and throwing a frisbee and football. At this point, you would think that Manny took on enough embarrassment for one day. But, NO, he asks for more by challenging us to a football game. With Wenjie, Aaron, FX (new sophomore we met) and Roy on his team, Manny took on the position of quarterback which resulted in multiple interceptions. Our team consisting of John, Howard, Ben, Henry and Mike had no problem taking it down field with a no huddle and quick plays. Our team eventually won 21-7 and Manny again, was left speechless and in shame.

We went back to the house, cleaned up and headed back home. Before we got back to Berkeley, we stopped by In N’ Out to eat dinner. Overall, the trip was super fun and amazing!

News in these parts

Here's what's happening this week:

• For those of you going to Sierra Lodge, meet at Anna Head West parking lot w/ all your stuff at 6:30pm. If you need more info, give Ben P. a call.
• Those of you staying in Berkeley, we'll have Homegroup bible study in Berkeley at the Rowland Heights guys' apartment: 2519 Parker St. #102. We'll start with dinner at 6:30pm, and then study Psalm 23, and hang out afterwards.
• If you need a computer science internship this summer, let me know right away. One of the a2f staff just told me about it and I can refer you to him for more info.
• Sunday is baptism! Steve Choi & Brian Chang from our homegroup are getting baptized. It starts at 4pm, @ Willard Middle School.
• A reminder that the deadline for Joyland volunteer signups is quickly approaching. I believe Impact volunteer signups for the summer and next year have passed... but I suspect that if you earnestly apply, you won't be refused.

Even as I am fully known...

On Tuesday night, I found out a critical piece of information about our friend Kevin Ding: when you ask him a question, he'll often repeat it before answering. For instance,

Me: Hi Kevin, how was your day today?
Kevin: How was my day? Oh, it was good.

Aside from this being a bit quirky, it's quite normal and you won't notice this in normal conversation. Unless, of course, you actually don't want him to repeat what you asked. This past week we planned a quick celebration for Kevin Huang's birthday which involved Brian and myself buying a cake from Safeway, barging into the apartment with cake in hand, candles lit. Question was, were there candles and matches already there at the apartment? The phone conversation went a little something like this (bolstered with a few extra words for context and comic effect):

(ring ring)
Kevin: Hello, Brian?
Brian: Hi Kevin. Hey, do you know if we have candles and matches at home?
Kevin: Oh, do we have candles and matches at home? [pause] Oops.
Brian: Uh-Did you just say that with Kevin Huang standing next to you?
Kevin: Kevin Huang? Yeah. He's right here next to me. [pause] Anyway, yes, we do have them.
Brian: Ok, could you just put them out into the hallway?
Kevin: Put them in the hallway for you? Yeah, sure.

Haha, yes, this is just a bit exaggerated. But needless to say, Kevin Huang knew exactly what was going on outside in the hallway when he chose to open the door on us, and pretend not to see us scrambling to hide behind the hallway trash can. Happy Birthday, Kevin. :)

So do we still ask Kevin Ding questions? Of course! But if you don't want him to give it away, be sure to warn him before you begin.

The Funnies

There are days when I look at my computer in the movies folder and watch Pastor Manny dance on stage in his pink han-bok, MC-hammering across the stage at the '07 Thanksgiving Celebration. I watch it, and then I entertain the idea of putting it on our blog. Then I quickly dismiss that, thinking, "That's too much. I would feel too awful. That would be a disgrace."

Now, I needn't feel too awful anymore: I can have my cake and eat it too. Daniel's posted the long-awaited Manny hammer-dance video online so we can all re-live the moment. His blog, in general, is a tribute to humor at Gracepoint Berkeley. The disclaimer is a worthy, very funny prologue:

The views expressed in this site are those of the poster, and not necessarily those of Pastor Ed Kang, Kelly Kang, Gracepoint Fellowship Church, its leaders, members, or anyone in all of Christendom, for that matter.

iMixlist for Gracepoint Berkeley's SWS

Ever come to a Sunday service and wonder to yourself, "That song sounded real good. I wonder what the title is or who sings it..." But by the time that pastor guy finishes talking, you've been so addressed by biblical truths and your mind is aflutter with how God's Word is going to apply to your life that some ol' song is nothing more than a buzzing nuisance or faint recollection. You've forgotten you ever had that thought.

Well, no longer. The Gracepoint Berkeley Praise Band has an iMix:

You can check out their song selections from previous and upcoming music sets, and listen, preview, and even purchase on iTunes if you'd like. Or, if you want to listen free and don't mind searching for quality recordings, you can go to Songza.

K1 Sierra Lodge trip, 4/25-26

Koinonia 1 Sierra Lodge trip this weekend, Friday to Saturday (4/25-26). Sign up online so we know who can make it and can plan for the most important part... food.

For those of you sticking around Berkeley, don't worry. You won't be forgotten. We'll do something too... but more info later.

Brandon’s First Moving Violation

So if you guys don’t know already, before the Friday Bible Study on April 18^th, Brandon received a ticket for a traffic violation. This is the story:

Before Bible Study on April 18^th, Brandon and I were deciding on our mode of transportation. Having not skateboarded in over a week, I passionately desired to ride my longboard down to First Pres. Brandon, however, preferred the alternative labor-inducing mode of walking and was firmly against us skateboarding. After much fervor debate, I came out victorious and convinced Brandon to skateboard down. Not having ridden his skateboard for over a month, Brandon was in for an adventure.

When you don’t skateboard for over a month, I guess you get really anxious to do it again because without any hesitation, Brandon starts zooming down the hill as if he owned this territory. Unable to catch up to his pace, I leisurely went down behind him. When we reached the intersection of Channing and Bowditch (where Crossroads is),

View Larger Map
we saw an accumulation of cars lined up at the stop signs. Being as anxious and crazy as he was, Brandon decides to pass the intersection without stopping. However, Brandon didn’t realize that he cut off the car turning into his lane forcing the car to make a quick stop. Another thing that Brandon finally came to the realization to was that the car that he caught off was a cop car. Without any hesitation, the cop pulled Brandon over with his flashing lights and megaphone saying “SKATEBOARDER, STOP!” After observing this, I didn’t have the slightest bit of courage to skateboard down anymore and hid behind an apartment complex watching what was going on. I eventually walked down the sidewalk and passed them but the cop ended up talking to Brandon for about 15 minutes. The cop told Brandon that he ran the stop sign and also, that he was supposed to be skateboarding on the sidewalks when they were available. Another factor to take into account is the fact that Brandon cut the cop off which probably didn’t go to well with him.

In the end, we were late for Bible Study and Brandon received his first ticket ever of an amount that we are still not sure of. The cop never had to deal with such an issue that he didn’t know how much the violation cost. He told Brandon to call the police department to figure out how much his ticket is going to be. Now, Brandon is determined to NEVER longboard again and plans to sell his skateboard soon. So, if you guys are looking into buying a used longboard that is in good condition still, you know who to contact! This story is a fair warning to all skateboarders out there to never cut off police cars even when you are late to Bible Study because a cop will pull you over and you’ll be late anyway.

Combined Bible Study, College

Hey, no homegroup Friday today. We're combining for bible study w/ all the groups from Koinonia, acts2fellowship, and Kairos at 7 pm, First Pres.

Heard last night's cookie-fest at the YWCA was full of barbaric young men jostling and grabbing and pushing to get the fresh cookies, forgetting all rules of civility, much less love (1 Corinthians 13!)... but, pretty much, it was fun.

1 Cor 13 Devotion from Kelly Kang, Gracepoint

This week's devotion is from 1 Corinthians 13. Here's devotional sharing from Kelly Kang, pastor's wife at Gracepoint Fellowship in Berkeley, whom many of you know. Thought it'd really help us all.

How is God speaking to me today?

• Rather than wanting to increase in love, people want to go for more showy options:
• Speaking in the tongues of men and angels
• Gift of prophecy and fathom all mysteries and all knowledge
• Have faith that can move mountains (rather than faith to continue to love someone difficult)
• Giving all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames (but without love)

But this passage is very clear that only thing that matters is LOVE. How much am I being patient with people? How much am I refusing to give up on loving someone? How much am I holding back my anger? How much am I extending kindness to someone who is unable to return my acts of kidness? How much am I trusting and hoping? How much am I protecting as love covers multitude of sins?

How can I increase in love?

• “patient” -> by not reacting to some angering and frustrating situation, by pausing
• “kind” -> by not being shy, awkward or lazy about expressing some kind words and deeds.
• “does not envy” -> by sharing good things about others, by celebrating other’s strengths, accomplishments
• “does not boast” -> by confessing some ugly or vulnerable things about myself
• “is not proud” -> by regularly acknowledging that all I have comes from the LORD, by self-examination and confession
• “not rude”-> by being proactive about being kind
• “not self-seeking” -> considering others more important than myself, considering other people’s time, energy, feelings, money more important than mine
• “not easily angered” -> by becoming more merciful as I reflect on that fact I am a sinner and so are everyone else, by being slow to speak
• “it keeps no record of wrongs” -> by remembering the good things
• “does not delight in evil BUT rejoice with the truth” -> don’t pass around negative information about others but pass around good things that are true;
• “always protects” -> always opt for the way to protecting people even if it means paying some kind of cost on my part
• “always trusts” - > have faith in God rather than in people. Look to God for comfort and security
• “always hopes” -> acknowledge God’s sovereignty and my own weakness and limitation, and always look to how God may work out current hopeless situation
• “always perseveres” -> Think about the saints throughout the world who are persevering for the LORD

Zachary's as post-midterm celebration

After their midterm, Eddie, Kevin D., Kyle and I took Andy and Saoji (w/ their floormate Harry) over to Solano in North Berkeley. We went to Zachary's, and man, was it good. Probably because we got the food at 9 PM so just about anything at all would've tasted like a culinary delight.

Saoji and Harry want to play basketball one of these days. Any takers?

Study Break This Week 4/17/08

Hey guys, i know many of you are studying for midterms or finishing midterms this week...so I thought maybe you'd appreciate this upcoming study break. Drop by for a few minutes or as long as you want for some constantly fresh baking cookies (i'm bringing some toaster ovens and slowly churning them out) and milk and of course to catch up with the rest of our homegroup. And as always, feel free to bring your buddies along.

When: Thursday, 9:30pm-10:30pm
Where: Chapel Room at YWCA at 2600 Bancroft Way (bancroft and bowditch....give me a call at 415-271-3800 when you get to the front door and I'll let you in).
What: I just told you!
How: however you want
Who: Your homegroup buddies

Cream Puffs

Last week, some of the frosh went out w/ Jenny, Abigail, and I to SF. Ate some cream puffs, good Korean food, and even stopped by Treasure Island to check out the stellar view.

Over dinner, we talked about:

• Memorable moments from the past year
• Gracepoint Monthly last week & Perry's very moving testimony
• Dating and the godly way to relate to girls & sisters
• Whether or not we're a "conservative" church
• Hugo's first fight
• the bully in Simon's life
• Ways we wanted to grow in the upcoming year
• Course 101x, seekers, midweek
• the value of clean bathrooms
• God's sovereignty and salvation plan in tension with human free will (thanks to David's very challenging question the week before)

Special Guest on Tuesday: Dr. Thom Wolf

Normally, we have college prayer meeting on Tuesdays. But this week, Tues., 4/15, Dr. Thom Wolf will be joining us!

Pastor Ed Kang and some of our church's other leaders first met Dr. Thom at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, and inspired by his spiritual leadership and deep Christian character, continued to invite him to our church to speak. Over the years, Dr. Thom has visited us on numerous occasions, even speaking at Berkland Baptist Church's 20th Anniversary (the funny name comes from "Berkeley/Oakland"!), and charging us that "The Gospel which has come to you, must now go through you to others." It was very challenging, and even as Gracepoint Fellowship, it continues to inspire so many.

Dr. Thom is currently serving as a missionary in India w/ his wife, Linda, and will be joining us for a very special Tuesday night. In many ways, their zeal and fierce God-centeredness reminds me very much of Pastor Ed and Kelly. For those of you who remember Dr. Thom, he's come about 2-3 times in the last year and a half, and each time it's been a real treat.

7 PM @ First Pres., Tuesday, see you there.

Hungry? Feed Yourself.

The early crew this past Friday was in charge of dinner: burritos & carnitas. We finished in about 20 minutes and decided to go to the park next door and throw around a football. What ensued was a bunch of guys throwing around the pigskin, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Some guys ran barefoot in the grass, and others--mindful of the frequent visits by neighborhood dogs--decided to stay w/ a shoes-on policy.

The seniors joined us this Friday, which was really nice. Together, we all watched New Hope's Wayne Cordeiro's Divine Mentor message on the importance of the bible to give us God's wisdom for our lives. I think a lot of it will remember it for his very poignant line: "Hungry? Feed Yourself."

Afterwards, we went to North Loop to participate in the Impact runthru. About 9-11 guys from our homegroup are serving as either instructors, teachers, team leads, photographers, and even a sound guy (really, just a sound boy, if you ask me). We got to participate as stand-in 2nd graders. It was pretty cool.

Tug of War, caught on video

This is for the seniors, who turned to me right after they won and asked, "Did you get that on video?" This is real documentary footage from the brothers' RSF night after Gracepoint Monthly.

Joyland Open House

An email from our Joyland Director, Michelle Sun:

For those of you who are interested in serving in Joyland, you are invited to the Open House this Sunday(4/13) at 1:45pm in the Willard gym.

We are currently going through a series called "Bourne Again" where Chris Bourne(a brand new Christian) discovers how to live a Christian life each week. The service will last about 40 min and you can come and observe our service in the back. Only catch is that everyone who is in the gym has to be fully participating in the praise moves :)

Please join us if you would like to check out our Joyland ministry and possibly serve in some capacity during the next term which begins end of June this summer.

All Sports All the Time

As usual, the first Friday of the month was Gracepoint Monthly. We met in Berkeley at First Pres., Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang sat in the front, interspersing the entire night with words of wisdom and their thoughts, had good music (this time w/ real drums!), and listened to some really moving testimonies from Ray, Aileen, and Perry. Thank God for how He works in our lives and in our faith community.

Afterwards, all the guys went to the RSF. From Praxis all the way to Element, we had our first ever Bros Sports Night. It was awesome. Although shooting hoops was one of the events, it was really Tug-of-War that took center stage that night. Out of three ropes, two were completely incinerated because of the sheer brute force. You don't have to be a physics major to know the rope got the big hurt. Anyway, I was as surprised as everyone else that the seniors and first-year grads took first prize. As huge as the freshmen were, maybe they were too young and too passionless to really contend for the grand prize. We had free time for an hour, playing basketball, volleyball, and even indoor soccer.

On Saturday, sophomores from Koinonia 1 & 2, and acts2fellowship 1 & 2 pulled themselves away from studying to go catch, hit, and field on the baseball diamond. When I asked for a show of hands for first-timers, very few people raised their hands. But, as Ben memorably added the group of those for whom "it might as well be the first time," about 80% of the 25 raised their hands. So Bryan, baseball junior Olympian, ran drills and taught us how to field grounders, snag pop flies, and what it ought to look like to whip the ball around the bases. The ensuing softball game was much more productive as a consequence, and it was cool just to be there with sophs from other groups and fellowships, as well as hanging out with their smallgroup leaders. 30 lbs of sirloin skewers over a barbecue plus hot chili was our dinner. Afterwards, all of us headed over to Ben's place for dessert, and we sat around, talked about sophomore year, sang some songs, and shared about the things that encourage us and strengthen us during our moments of weakness. Definitely something we have to do again.

An all sports type of weekend. Very good.

ImpACT Springfest Workday 2!

Impact is going really well and so far, the work days have been super fun and efficient. We usually start the night with dinner which has been pretty good even though we had SALAD yesterday! I was surprised myself. I think it was heavily sister influenced.

We started the night by all meeting in the multi-purpose room. Some areas still needed volunteers so we finalized where everyone would be working. The Rowland Heights Boys wanted to volunteer me to be in the skit so that they could see me dress up in a super hero costume but luckily, they were out of the room when they asked for volunteers. I volunteered as a helper so I was open for any position but now I'm helping Jasper with Photography! I'm still really new to the whole photography stuff but I've been learning a lot from Jasper and Mike Zhang. Justin Woo was kind enough to let me borrow his SLR for all of Springfest! Go JWoo!

Besides taking a lot of photos of people working, I helped with decorations also. The multi-purpose room was filled with projectors against every wall, drilling machines and people working on life size posters of super heroes and banners. Everyone was super busy drawing, painting, cutting, gluing, and anything that arts and crafts would entail. If you thought that was a lot, there were more people in the couch area where they were planning lessons for various classes (Chemistry, Bridge Building, Physics, etc.) and numerous other groups planning out games, registration and other logistics. The skit team worked upstairs where they were super loud and could be heard from the multi-purpose room. From what I heard, the skit should be awesome! The other smaller classrooms were busy with people decorating and getting everything set. The computer room had people rushing around to get all the logistics down and printing out any material needed.

Through it all, Andy Tung was able to keep his composure and he's been doing a great job coordinating everything! By the end of the day, I learned how to use an SLR camera, Brian Jue became an expert bridge builder, Justin Teng and Kevin Ding were covered in sawdust from all the wood drilling, and all of us helped out with decorations at some point. We gathered together at the end for some good prayer time with each other and called it a night. It was awesome to see everyone coming to work together amidst the busy midterm schedule this coming week. I found it amazing that all of us were able to sacrifice our times and energy for this event so that we may share God's love with children in our community. Overall, I enjoyed the whole time being there with everyone in fellowship and working as a team to put together an awesome event! Springfest is going to be AMAZING!

a note from Taiwan

From Allen in Taiwan!

It was good to hear from you. Can't believe there are only 4 months left. For sure, I will play as much basketball and soccer and football as I can. Instead of going to Alishan (due to weather) this week, we went out with students for lunch on Wednesday, hit some balls at a batting cage, tested who could throw the fastest (I topped out at 101 km/hr), played full court basketball, played 6-on-6 football in the mud (for some it was the first time playing), came home and showered, ate hot pot together, watched some One Life clips from our class's performance (History of Christianity), and then watched Ratatoiulle. Definitely, there's still a lot of work left to do before we leave, with mission trips, Course 101, FNP's (Eugene wants to think of a topic for me to give a presentation), etc., and I know before we know it we'll be heading back.

Anyway, say hi to everyone for me. Hang in there for the rest of the semester. Anyone want anything from Taiwan?

Let's keep praying for Gracepoint Hsinchu.

ImpACT-Springfest Workday 1

The night started with a feast at North Loop (mandarin orange salad, rice, and very delicious chicken...sorry I had to mention food =D). After dinner, all 140 of us (more or less) from all the college ministries to Praxis to SF State attended an introductory meeting in the multipurpose room, where we learned about the origins of ImpACT(started in 1996!!) and some of the goals of ImpACT (to IMPACT children from diverse and less fortunate backgrounds and in the case of this year's second graders, to help them transition into Joyland after Springfest). We also played an icebreaker game where we had to fill out a bingo sheet by asking fellow volunteers some childhood experiences (i.e. what was your favorite book as a kid?). Whoever filled out their sheet the fastest was to be declared the winner and I remember John K. (frosh) being the first to raise his hand in acknowledgment of this title, but for some reason he was disqualified!

After going through most of the logistics, we split up into our respective teams and focused on our particular assignments. As an assistant team lead and with the responsibility of leading around 7-10 very hyper kids, I was told to read this really neat book called "Dare to Discipline", which was a very informative (and hilarious) expository on how to discipline children in a fair but just manner. Though at first I thought this book might be more useful to Mr. Ho, I was actually, really blessed by how the book expounded upon how God's loving yet stern relationship with us really matches with the kind of healthy relationships that develop between children and their parents through respect and love for one another. Needless to say, I didn't do much else the rest of the night, but many others were busy preparing for Springfest such as planning for the 9 different classes that the kids will participate in (from physics to arts and crafts), designing banners/decorations, games, songs, and even a short message (conducted by Josh Wang). All in all, the night was brimming with excitement and fellowship amongst all the volunteers to the very end, and I can't wait till Springfest begins...because its gonna be awesome!!! =D