Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley Koinonia H.1

Migrating to a New Site!

2009-05-22T00:39:00.001-07:00

We're migrating to a new site! We'll be combining with the rest of the Homegroups underneath the Koinonia (domain name) banner! Come catch us over here:

New Homegroup 1 Blog

See you over on the other side!

Balance Beam by Francis Chan

2009-05-15T18:25:00.001-07:00

Here's a 3-minute excerpt from a message by Francis Chan. Watching this, I was challenged again and committed to confront and push through my fears as I live out Christian life.

REDOing Gracepoint Live - Seniors

2009-05-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

As you study for finals, here's a couple of videos from the Seniors, who took a sentimental walk around the Berkeley campus remembering Gracepoint Live... even redoing the Intro video!

Here's their take on what Gracepoint Live would have looked like with and without different elements:

And here's their REDO of the Gracepoint Live intro video. I can't believe they did this!

Go Seniors! Finish strong, and we'll see you at your graduations!

Multiply Your Talents 2009

2009-05-08T01:13:00.001-07:00

It's time to Multiply Your Talents this summer! Every year we have a series of classes to develop people's talents and skills, from Photoshop to Photography to Music and Script Writing. They're also offering a couple GTS-type courses: Apologetics in Depth and Advanced Course 101. Class descriptions, prerequisites and more can be found on the MYT 2009 signup page.

Here's the video trailer. Watch it.

Gracepoint MYT Promo 2009 Video from john ko on Vimeo.

8 weeks, 11 classes, great training, and tons of fun! Fridays at 7pm starting on June 5, Gracepoint Fellowship Church will be offering these MYT classes in what has become an annual tradition.

End of Year LifeGroup Outing!

2009-05-05T11:14:00.001-07:00

2009-04-29_21.19.40
Originally uploaded by Justin Teng

LIFEGroup last week for H.1 & H.8 took the sophomore and junior brothers and sisters on a car ride 25 minutes away from Berkeley, campus, studying, books, and the looming shadow of upcoming finals. We all started our LIFEGroup on the car ride, talking about life and sharing from our week. Once we got to Lake Chabot, we hiked in about 20 minutes in the pitch black, each carrying a piece of firewood, checking the brush for lurking animals, and the lucky ones carrying marshmallows, skewers, and Evergood sausages.

While we were setting up the fire (Eddie brought a fire starter log!), Kevin D. busted out with the glow-in-the-dark frisbee and someone else magically produced neon glow bracelets and necklaces. There were our teams--necklaces vs. bracelets--and we played Ultimate Frisbee on the field. After eating bursting Evergoods with toasted buns and getting our fingers sticky with marshmallows and s'mores, we sang a couple songs, prayed for the sophomores and for the juniors, and then all committed together to love God and honor Him with all our hearts. It was fun being out in nature (I ran over a possum on the drive home) and being together... although next time, we'll need to make sure we set aside time to tell ghost stories... for more pictures, Justin's got a great set online.

Couple more things to note this week:

Mother's Day is this Sunday (5/10). Make sure to get something nice for your mother. At the very least pick up a card, write something meaningful, and drop it off in the mail. Guarantee you'll make her day!

LIFEGroup for the guys this week will be dinner at 7:30 PM at Chang Luong, Wednesday night (5/6). We'll get dinner together, talk, and pray.

Friday, there'll be dinner before GTS. And then GTS at 7:00 PM (as usual) at First Pres. Afterwards, all of Koinonia, freshmen through seniors, will gather together at the YWCA to have our informal farewell for the seniors as we start to close out the school year.

As long as we're rattling off announcements, here's a bunch:

Worldview Camp signups are open through May 15th. The Camp will feature guest speaker Sean McDowell, and run from 6/17-20, Wednesday to Saturday.
Signups for Impact's SummerFest have closed, but if you'd like to be a part of Joyland next year, Joyland Teacher applications are online.
Discipleship Retreats are coming up for this summer. If you're a junior or senior-to-be, have completed SK1, will be in town this summer, and want to invite discipleship into your life, sign up online for the discipleship retreats. As always, it's a time to recapture our vision, ignite our spiritual fervor, and spend time together with other class brothers and sisters of Gracepoint Fellowship Church.
Order your summer DT Journals by Wednesday (5/6) and you'll get the discounted price. Otherwise, pick them up at the book table starting this Sunday.
Gracepoint Berkeley's annual tradition, Multiply Your Talents, is just around the corner for this summer. Stay tuned for signups and the cool video.

Gracepoint Live: Freshman Memories

2009-05-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

Gracepoint Live, a biennial production of Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley, was completed exactly a month today. It feels like it happened a long time ago, like in another lifetime or something!

Anyway, the freshman class put together this thank you video for their frosh GLive staff. It's a little shocking at parts, but if you like that kind of stuff, this might be your cup of tea. At least it's a great way to start off the week.

Updates for Tonight - News Flash!

2009-05-01T10:24:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple quick updates about the news today:

We have dinner as an entire homegroup (both H.1 & H.8) at First Pres in the Mears Room, just down the hall from the gym. We'll start at 6:00 PM. Just bring yourself. Dinner will be waiting for you!

For your GTS tonight, go directly to your GTS class at 7:00 pm. We won't be meeting all together in the gym beforehand for a time of singing. Don't be sad. It's just for this week! The band will be back next week...

Tonight after GTS and Bible Study is over, we have sports night! Even if it rains, we're going to have sports night! So bring your gear. We'll either go to Maxwell Field (if there's no rain), or we'll head over to the RSF and join acts2fellowship!

See you guys tonight! Spread the word to your friends!

Dinner at Dwight: Trays of Meat

2009-04-29T16:01:00.001-07:00

The Dwight sophomores (plus Andy) invited us over for dinner last week. It was trays of meat, one after the other, grilled on a hot plate and served sizzling hot.

Daniel S. even made yukaejang, courtesy Mangchee, who blogs about how to cook Korean food. It was a touching (successful) attempt!

After all that food, it made having LIFEgroup together really difficult. That's why for the first 20 minutes of LIFEgroup that week, all we did was sing really fast songs. Anyway, just wanted to thank and give a shout out to the sophomore brothers!

The H.1 & H.8 "WAIT" Weekly

2009-04-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

Special LIFEgroup this week. Brothers and sisters going together to Lake Chabot, where we'll hike in carrying our firewood (and marshmallows), get a roaring fire going, sing some worship songs, pray for one another, and close out the semester thanking God together. We're meeting Wednesday (4/29) at 8:25 PM on the corner of Parker and Hillegass. It'll take up pretty much the whole night, so get your studying done! If you have questions, ask your smallgroup leader.

(Updated 4/28) Thursday night, 4/30, Kevan & Jenny will be at Cafe Med on Telegraph from 7:00 - 9:00 PM. If you come by, we'll buy you a cup of coffee, and you can ask your questions, receive prayer, or just talk and hang out. Please sign up online. Of course, if you just want to drop by, come on by: Bring your books, study, and sit around with us!

Worldview Camp 2009 signups are available online. There's more info about what to expect on a previous post. Also, found the Worldview 2008 pictures so you can take a look at what we did last year.

Last Friday, we had a blast. After GTS, everyone crammed into the First Pres Gym to watch the SICK music video the freshmen made for their freshman staff following the smashingly successful GLive.

Then Homegroups 1 & 8 went to Westminster House, where we took personality tests, and then laughed at each other because of how accurate some of the descriptions were. Ice cream sundaes, line charades, hot wings, and acting out movies, it was a nice way to decompress on a Friday night. Some more pictures below, which, as always, are online at Flickr.

Joyland Video Released: The Gospel Time

2009-04-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

This is so good I have to share it with you. It's the start of the new message series in Joyland: The Gospel Time. Joyland is the children's ministry of Berkeley's Gracepoint Fellowship Church. What're you're seeing below is the intro video. Each week, the intro video is followed by one of the vignettes from the sophomore GLive skit, performed LIVE and onstage for the kids. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled at the first week and can't wait for more.

And if you're interested in volunteering for Joyland, you can start by checking out the beautiful Joyland website. Note that signups are online now for assistant teachers. There's other Joyland volunteer opportunities as well. Go take a look, and enjoy the video:

Joyland - The Gospel Time Intro from Nelson Wong on Vimeo.

This is the intro video for our new message series: Gospel Time.

Fun Fever Friday, and other news

2009-04-22T00:38:00.001-07:00

The march to finals is on. Study hard! Here's the news for the week:

LIFEgroups on Wednesday night (4/22). Homegroups 1 & 8 sisters are meeting at 8:15 pm at 2515 Channing, next to Thai House. Homegroups 1 & 8 brothers are meeting at 8:30 pm at K.Ding's apartment. Let's hope it's not too hot. We'll be praying... for one another. And eating ice cream.

Thursday night is Home Time again at Kevan & Jenny's at Central. You're welcome to come over to eat dinner, hang out, and (if you're diligent enough to move to the next apartment for study hall) get some studying done.

Friday (4/24) is GTS, beginning at 7:00 pm at First Pres. Afterwards, Homegroup Wait (on the Lord... as in Homegroup ONE and EIGHT = WAIT) is hanging out at Westminster House. We're calling it Fun Fever since I had a fever earlier in the week... and also because it's so hot these days and it's going to be FUN. (Guys have setup... be at Dana House at 5:30 pm)

Homegroups 1, 2, 6, and 8 have NorthLoop cleaning this Saturday (4/25). We're meeting at 11 am at NL, and then grabbing lunch together afterwards and studying.

And don't forget to sign up for SummerFest and Worldview Camp. If you have no idea what these are, check out the previous blog post, which has good descriptions and info, plus links to the online signups.

Baptism Sunday
Originally uploaded by david y park

So that's just the news for the upcoming week. I haven't even started on the stuff that happened the last week or two... I guess I won't get into it. But let me at least celebrate the 22 people who were baptized this past Sunday at Gracepoint Berkeley (that's Gracepoint Fellowship Church, where many of us go on Sundays!). A lot of Koinonia people got baptized, among them was Kathy S. from Homegroup 8! Hooray! To relive the moment, there's a lot more pictures on David P.'s Flickr from a2f.

Juniors Host!

2009-04-21T22:55:00.001-07:00

Last Friday the Jr. Brothers hosted the homegroup freshmen and sophomores for a night of fellowship. Starting off with some heart-warming cheezy-sticks, the atmosphere quickly warmed up as Cranium became the chosen game. Early on the freshmen team was dusting the junior and sophomore teams. As any junior would attest, it was largely because of miserable rolling (Rolling a 1 four times in a row isn't easy-) and because of the sophomores' stanfordium luck. (Red data cards simply aren't suited to Berkeley students)

As it turns out, the Sophomores "won" the game. For punishment, they had to do a model walkoff. Due to sanitary reasons (we don't want any acid-refluxes) the video recording is not posted (Many would argue that the punishment was thrown back on the audience). Instead, here's a kosher video of our night: Enjoy!

Gracepoint Berkeley's Worldview Camp & SummerFest

2009-04-20T23:56:00.001-07:00

For you guys thinking about what to do with your summer, check out Worldview Camp, an annual tradition for college students to take a couple days to train and equip their minds with some of the most relevant current topics:

Abortion
Euthanasia
Intelligent Design, Evolution, Science and Faith
Sexual Ethics, and more...

Special Guest Speaker is Sean McDowell, son of famous Christian apologist, Josh McDowell. Sean joined us about a month ago and gave a riveting 15-minute presentation on having a reason to believe. I'm looking forward to him leading this year's Worldview Camp! Signups are online. If you've never gone to one, I encourage you to do this! We spend 4 years getting smart at Cal. Take a couple days and get smart about Christ and our culture.

This summer, we're putting on SummerFest for ImpACT (Impaction Asian Communities for Tomorrow), a non-profit organization aimed at academically and personally enriching underprivileged kids from Oakland elementary schools. SummerFest is going to be awesome, but we're going to need plenty of help from volunteers, everything from drivers to lunch prep to team leads to teachers, and much more. If you're interested, check out SummerFest Info and Signups page online.

If anyone in H.1 or H.8 have participated in either, comment away!

Easter Sunday and this week's News

2009-04-14T15:19:00.001-07:00

Good Friday and Easter Service are over. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the cornerstone of our Christian faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross. I hope it was a meaningful weekend for everyone, a chance to personally connect with the God who loves us. Afterwards, we had a great potluck with all of Koinonia, played sports, and enjoyed the sun. More pictures to come, but a couple are up on our Flickr site.

Some quick announcements:

LIFEgroups this Wednesday, 4/15. Check with your smallgroup leader for more info.

Home Time (that means dinner) at Kevan & Jenny's on Thursday night, 4/16. You're welcome to come over, eat, and hang out. If you need to study, bring your books. We'll lock you up in the apartment next door! If you need a ride, let me know (at kevanhoATgmailDOTcom).

GTS this Friday, 4/17, back at First Pres, beginning at 7:00 PM. If you have homework, make sure to do it!

Baptism Service this Sunday, 4/19, we have 23 people getting baptized at Gracepoint Berkeley's worship service. You're invited to come and hear their stories. We won't be able to hear all their stories, but we can celebrate all together. Worship Service starts at 11:30 am, following the 10:00 am prayer meeting. (Note: Koinonia is in the overflow for the month of April)

If you want a Summer DT Journal (spans all 3 months!), order them online. Order form will be closed May 6.

GLive Is Over...

2009-04-06T09:40:00.001-07:00

Gracepoint Live is really over... As we all decompress, breathe a collective sigh of relief, and wistfully recount all the fun, laughs, and hard work with our friends, it's time to start sharing pictures and stories.

But got a couple announcements:

Tues, 4/7, 7:00 pm at First Pres: Prayer Meeting. This is Passion Week, a time when Christians traditionally observe the last week of Jesus' life, reflecting on his Passion (from dictionary.com: a) the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper. b) the narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels) leading up to the cross and resurrection. Basically, it's an important week in the Christian calendar. If you have time, see you at the prayer meeting. It'll be a good time to think and prepare our hearts for the week

Good Friday begins at 7:30 pm (4/10), Kofman Auditorium at Alameda High Auditorium. If you need a map or directions or a ride, let one of the H.1 staff know.

Easter Sunday Service begins at 11:30 am (4/12), also at Kofman Auditorium! It'll be a festive day for us to celebrate the risen Christ!

If you need a Passion Week reader, a collection of excerpts and articles from fine Christian writers (John Stott, A.W. Tozer, Chuck Colson, Soren Kierkegaard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis, Karl Barth, Leo Tolstoy and more!), you can let one of the H.1 staff know if you still need one. These articles together with the Gospel Passion account narrative can help prepare your heart and mind to reflect on this very pivotal (central!) event. Recommended reading.

To wrap up this post, we can start reliving GLive (before the DVD comes out) because Conrad (a2f Gold) and Abe (Kairos 2) put up the GLive Intro video for our viewing enjoyment (and so you can show all your friends who didn't make it a little bit of what they missed):

Gracepoint Live 2009 Intro Video from Conrad Chu on Vimeo.

Shown April 4, 2009 at Willard Auditorium at Gracepoint Live (http://www.gracepointlive.org), to a packed crowd. This year's theme was "UNDO".

Gracepoint Fellowship Church (http://www.gracepointonline.org) is a church located 6 blocks from the UC Berkeley Campus. We have various ministries & small groups for working professionals, singles, couples, college students, youth and children. We have a diverse congregation and various opportunities to get involved both in church and in the Berkeley & Oakland community. Whether you are new to this whole Christianity business or looking to grow in your faith with a tight knit community come on by.

from Berkeley, Gracepoint Live!

2009-04-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

Live from Berkeley, Gracepoint Live! It's here and it begins tonight! This is it!

For all performers, we're meeting at Willard tonight (Friday) by 6 pm, and Saturday morning by 8 am. Please get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. After Saturday's final performance, we'll head out together and celebrate! And then Sunday after service, we'll celebrate some more with the rest of Gracepoint Fellowship Church: Praxis, ISM, everyone who chipped in and helped!

There's plenty of information about when guests of the performance should come, whether or not you have a ticket over at our Gracepoint Live website!

GLive Info for Guests

2009-04-01T09:43:00.001-07:00

With all the people who're coming this Saturday, here's some quick information. You can pass it on to your friends who are coming to the performance:

Reserve their seats @ gracepointlive.org
Print and bring their confirmation email
Come together with all the members of their party

When will the doors open?

30 minutes before showtime, doors open for those who have printed confirmations.
15 minutes before showtime, everyone in line will be allowed to enter on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you're driving, please park on Telegraph or in the neighborhoods west of Telegraph. Thank you and see you there!

Actors: we have a full runthrough tonight. Dinner at 6 at Willard.

GLive Practice: 4 more days and counting...

2009-03-31T12:57:00.001-07:00

These days, it's been non-stop GLive practice. All last week, while the rest of campus was away on Spring Break, Koinonia, acts2fellowship and Kairos were putting in practice time so we'd be stage ready. I think we're mostly there.

There's a runthrough on Wednesday night, and then our first showing is on Friday. That'll be in-house so we can iron out the transitions, audio, and video and all that tech stuff. And then it's one, two, three performances on Saturday! Yikes! The day is here.

I've been mostly helping out with the juniors (with some on-the-side contracting work for the sophomores!), but our fearless drama directors--Daniel and Sarah--have been bringing our production slowly along. Everyone's putting in long hours, showing up at practices faithfully, even lugging their books to cram in studying during the sporadic downtimes.

If you haven't signed up already, make sure to reserve your spot at Gracepoint Live, showtime's this Saturday, April 4th. Three showtimes: 11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm... don't miss out!

There's tons more pictures online if you want to see what's been going on and share in the memories!

Fenton's Destruction

2009-03-27T16:44:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, some of the juniors and frosh went to Fenton's Creamery and yes, they all tried The Fenton's Challenge: 3 pounds of ice cream in 15 minutes, plus toppings and bananas. Some people would find this gross. On the other hand, there are others who would admire the audacity and fortitude of going up against such odds.

All 7 who attempted the Fenton's Challenge that night finished. Among them was one brother who has completed (some would say, "dominated) the Fenton's Challenge previously at 11 minutes, and the second time, 6 minutes. So we no longer face the question, "Can he finish it?!" No. Now we can ask, "How long did it take him this time?"

That would be the correct question. The answer, however, might be disturbing for some. Watch at your own risk.

H.1 Fenton's Challenge from kevan on Vimeo.

Some of the guys went to Fenton's and did the challenge. All 7 of them, in fact. One guy, Mike, had completed the Challenge previously... twice. He's going for his third time. This is all just part of having fun, I guess. At least for the guys.

GLive Workday @ NorthLoop

2009-03-24T15:46:00.001-07:00

GLive is just a couple weeks away. Spring Break is the big push as all the different classes get ready. Everyday practice! Get professional, look good, deliver the lines, stand in the right place, never-ending, but terribly exciting to be working together.

Saturday, 3/21, was a workday at NorthLoop. Praxis and College, working on props, working on scripts, eating and talking, cardboard, foam core, spray paint, Photoshop, audio splicing. Nice.

Here's a snipped from field report, Eddie C.:

GLive Workday - Props from kevan on Vimeo.

Saturday, 3/21, was massive workday for GLive at NorthLoop. All sorts of people from Praxis to College converged on the warehouse and started to put different things together so they would be stage worthy and beautiful. Fun.

News for This Week: Thursday!

2009-03-19T08:52:00.001-07:00

This week we're moving our GTS and GLive practices to Thursday in anticipation of Spring Break!

The guys are meeting for LIFE group at Kevin D.'s apartment at 6 pm, Thursday night. The staff'll bring dinner so just bring yourselves and your DT, and then we'll head to GTS together after. Here are the meeting rooms for GTS:

Gospel Snapshots: First Pres Gym

Course 101: Mears Room (down the hall from the gym)

Course 101X: First Pres Sanctuary

Survival Kit 1: Tilden Room in the MLK building on campus

Church 101: Stephens room (MLK building on campus)

Junior girls are meeting for LIFE group at 5:45 pm at Jenny's office.

And here's another one of those GLive ads:

Undo Trailer: Parking Meter

2009-03-17T15:25:00.001-07:00

This made me laugh and was a good way to start the week.

Super Santa Cruz Saturday

2009-03-14T19:49:00.001-07:00

At long last, I uploaded our Santa Cruz pictures online. What a day that was. The junior guys across Koinonia and Kairos took time off from their busy schedules and decided to go on the mother of all one-day outings. The night before, we had GLive practice at NorthLoop, and decided to just stay the night in Alameda. First though, we packed the supplies, got the firewood, and then rewarded ourselves with late night In-N-Out. The next morning, we packed up our stuff, cooked up home made egg mcmuffins, and did our devotions together through Luke 11.

The day was packed:

Dangling 60 feet in the air, tramping through the ropes course, swinging from platform to platform, balancing on thin cables with nothing to hold onto except one another, conquering our acrophobia; fear can contribute to a real bonding experience.

Rock climbing on three climbing courses. We cheered each other on, egged each other on, encouraged one another, and experienced really sore forearms all together.

Ultimate frisbee on the field with the Koinonia sophomores who had also come. In a sophomores versus juniors face-off, the juniors lost: 2 games to 0 (10 points each game). But through that time, I realized Brian J. (jr) is a scoring machine, and John X. (so) is a defending monster.

Beach football. Tackle. 'Nuff said.

Barbeque on the Santa Cruz SeaBright Beach with the setting sun as our backdrop, cans of clam chowder and hearty potato soup our dinner, marshmallows, s'mores, and good laughter.

Time of singing songs around the campfire, remembering that God's the one who's placed people in our lives to shape us, mold us, love us, and with whom we can run this spiritual journey. Time of praying for one another, committing to God and to each other, and experiencing a fresh sense of fellowship as brothers.

And then it was time to go home. Chime in if you had a good time.

NEWS for this week--

2009-03-13T12:25:00.001-07:00

GTS as usual is at 7 pm tonight at First Pres.

But beforehand, come join us! We're heading to Nations, home of famous southern burgers (and salads, if that's your thing) and wondrous banana creme pie! We're meeting at Anna Head West at 5:15 pm to grab some food at Nations, and will be back to First Pres so we don't miss our GTS classes.

As usual, GLive practices afterwards. Be prepared!

In other news this past week:

Super Santa Cruz Saturday was action-packed: ropes course 60 feet above the ground, zip line, rock wall climbing, ultimate frisbee juniors vs. sophomores, football on the beach, a bonfire, talk about guy bonding! Pictures (and video) coming soon!

Saturday's Redwood Hike: the girls went on a nice stroll (AKA Hike!) through the redwoods last Saturday, lunching out in nature w/ the squirrels, trees, and fresh air.

Sophomore LIFE group extravaganza. Pictures also forthcoming

Thursday night Fentons. Some of the guys went--one of them ate the Fentons Challenge in 3 minutes. Yes, we have it on video, and you'll see it soon!

www.gracepointlive.org -check it out and get excited

See you guys tonight!

Gracepoint Live website is Live

2009-03-11T16:06:00.001-07:00

Gracepoint Live is coming up fast. Less than a month away. The GLive website is live (no pun intended). There's a neat video online too, which I've embedded below:

This Week's DT: Romans 13

2009-03-09T08:26:00.001-07:00

Romans 13 is our Scripture Reflection for this week. Here are the questions:

MON Romans 13:1-4
• What is the state of my relationship with those who have authority in my life?
• What place does fear have in the way I relate with those in authority?
• What can I do to be free of fear of those in authority?

TUE Romans 13:7-8
• What vision of human relationships is pictured here?
• What hinders this vision from becoming reality in my life?

WED Romans 13:7-8
• Who are the people I interact with? What do I owe each of them?
• Who are the people I may not interact with, but towards whom I owe a duty of some sort?
• How would a person’s relationships change if he went from the attitude of “people owe me” versus “I owe people”?
• Which of these two attitudes typically characterize me? How can I specifically begin to give people in my life what I owe them?

THU Romans 13:8-10
• Reflect on the truth that love is the fulfillment of the law. Why is this so amazing? How does this change the way I view people in my life?
• Reflect on the truth that all of the commandments are summed up in the command to love my neighbor, and the truth that, when I sin, I am doing “harm to [my] neighbor.” How does this motivate me to become a person of greater love and greater obedience to God’s commandments?
• What does it mean to love your neighbor “as yourself?”

FRI Romans 13:11-12
• What characterizes the “present time”?
• Why is it important to”[understand] the present time?”
• What is it that causes me to slumber?
• What are the things I’m called to do as “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.”

SAT Romans 13:11-13
• What does it mean that “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed?”
• What does it mean to put on the “armor of light?”
• What is the relationship between “[putting] aside the deeds of darkness” and “[putting] on the armor of light?”
• What are the deeds of darkness I need to “put aside?”

SUN Romans 13:14
• What “desires of the sinful nature” dominate my thoughts?
• What practical step is being urged in the words “do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature?” How can I specifically carry out this advice regarding my thought life?
• What does it mean to “clothe [myself] with the Lord Jesus Christ,” and how can I specifically carry out this exhortation in my life?

GLive Practice: Juniors

2009-03-08T14:41:00.001-07:00

On Friday, the juniors went to North Loop and embarked on a brave new world: taking on the GLive skit on our own as just Koinonia. A2F and Kairos paired up to tackle the skit on their own too. It was a lot of fun reading lines, acting, seeing the yoga people do their thing.

Any juniors want to chime in here how it went?

Yanking Wisdom Teeth

2009-03-06T07:11:00.001-08:00

The night before...
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

Justin's getting his wisdom teeth pulled. All four of them. One sitting. It's happening today. When we heard, of course, we were bummed out. It means he'd probably be too anesthesized to do much of anything on Saturday when we're all heading out to Super Santa Cruz Saturday. Anyway, we went over the night before to encourage him with taffy candy, some Charleston Chew, just to let him know how we were thinking of him. Got to use those teeth before he goes into the doctor's office, after all! (We also took him some SuperFood for the days ahead!)

It's all part of life in H.1. If you're getting your wisdom teeth pulled, just let us know. We can come over and encourage you too.

And this just in: heard the H.1 girls are "Taking a Hike" on Saturday morning. Check in with Jenny with more info. Sounds like a joint effort with the H.2 girls for fun in the outdoors in a healthy, environmental-friendly, and green sort of way!

See you tonight at GTS and GLive practice! Don't forget to do your homework.

News for this Week!

2009-03-05T14:31:00.001-08:00

Here we are again, for another rundown of this week's news:

Thursday night, apparently, has been labeled fun night. The soph guys are going to Fenton's (will Eddie attempt the Fenton's Challenge again?), and the girls are doing their own thing, incorporating studying with tea-sampling and pastry-testing.

Another thing happening on Thursday night: Ultimate Frisbee for the freshmen. It's an optional thing for those who are bored Thursday (or sick of studying!) nights and want to unwind with their friends. I believe the juniors are hosting. 8-9 pm @ North Field (near Hearst Gym & the Bancroft tennis courts). It'll be an ongoing weekly thing.

Friday night: GTS Courses at 7 pm, as usual, at First Pres. And then GLive practices. Did you know GLive is happening in exactly a month? April 4th. Some of the things I've heard:

Eddie C.: he's the lazy pirate.

The Juniors are splitting in two and each taking a crack at the intense junior script.

This Saturday is awesome day for the junior guys across Koinonia: we're heading to Super Santa Cruz Saturday to hit the ropes course, climb the rock wall, play football on the beach, and put together a roaring bonfire for our hot links and clam chowder, and then sing our hearts out on the beach beneath the night sky.

Don't forget, this Saturday is Daylight Savings. It's Spring Forward, meaning we lose an hour of sleep, so you have to advance your clocks forward!

Journal: Last week

2009-03-04T07:36:00.001-08:00

This past week was cool. At least for me it was, but also as I observe all the things that were happening around Berkeley. On Wednesday night, the guys had LIFE group where we had a chance to share what we've been getting out of our devotionals, pray for one another as we confessed our needs, and just had a chance to bond and recharge in the middle of the week. LIFE group, in case you don't know, consists of Listen, Intercede, Fellowship, and Engage. The girls also met together on Wednesday night.

Thursday, Jenny and I, Daniel and Sarah (from a2f Gold) hung out at the YWCA for three hours, sitting through audition after audition of junior guys and girls who were giving it all for GLive. And speaking of GLive, after GTS on Friday, the juniors and seniors went to NorthLoop, where we got a 20-minute acting do's and don'ts from Daniel, and then broke up into practices. Though the junior skit is secret, little parts are leaking out here and there. Well, I have to leak out this yoga girls scene... which was strange (but fun), to say the least!

On Thursday, some of us went miniature golfing. That's when I found out Andy C. is the Tiger Woods of mini-golf. He carried my team and we gave a whoopin' to Eddie and David. But in the end, we bought them frozen yogurt anyway as consolation.

The other thing that happened Thursday night was a crazy meat-eating fest at Dana House for all the Koinonia Freshman guys. Apparently, someone cooked up a big pot of meat, and all the guys just sat around eating, talking, and laughing. Most people had just finished their midterms, so it was an opportunity to decompress and just connect with one another again.

Saturday, we all went UCSF studying. The library here was very serene, overlooking the SF Financial District, Downtown, Golden Gate Park, and Golden Gate Bridge. Very conducive to studying. We took off in the morning, had a very light lunch (of Chinese barbecue pork buns), and had a scrumptious dinner to reward ourselves for time well-spent hitting the books. As you can see, the guys were knocking out faster than can say "knock-out", and the girls, to their credit, were fully awake and engaged. There's plenty more pictures of people who were knocked out on our flickr site.

And last week, we started with a birthday celebration for Steve and Suzanne, our Koinonia directors (did you know they have office hours you can signup for online?). It was a short, but meaningful time to recount what kind of role they've played in all our lives here at Koinonia as we shared some of their idiosyncrasies, habits, and stories.

In addition to the GTS classes--Gospels, Church 101, SK1, and SK2--plus our week's scripture reflection through Luke 10, God has really been alive speaking to us and in the midst of our fellowship and daily lives together!

Weekly Devotion in Luke 11

2009-03-02T10:28:00.001-08:00

Since our servers have only recently come back up, wanted to post the questions for you guys. It's all part of our Devotions, which we do daily: going to God's Word and asking ourselves, "What can I learn about myself? What can I learn about God? How is He speaking to me today?" We meditate on one passage (usually a chapter) for the entire week, focusing on different parts of the chapter each day. Our Scripture Devotion is Luke 11 this week.

The questions are really useful to help us start thinking about the text. Here they are:

Monday, March 2
Luke 11:1-4
• How does addressing God as “father” change my view about prayer and how I relate to God?
• What is implied in praying for the honor due to God’s name and His kingdom before other prayer topics (cf. Matthew 6:33)?
• How often do I pray for forgiveness for my sins?
• What is the relationship between confessing my sins and being able to forgive others?
• Write a personal version of the Lord’s Prayer with the following specific points:
- In what way do I want to see God’s name being hallowed and where do I want God’s kingdom to come to?
- What is the daily bread that I need to ask God for?
- What specific sins do I need to ask God to forgive today?
- Who are the people I need to forgive?
- What temptation do I need to be delivered from?

Tuesday, March 3
Luke 11:1-11
• What does Jesus’ instruction to pray for “[God's] will [to] be done on earth as it is in heaven” imply about what is happening on the earth?
• What can I learn about the importance of prayer and my role in advancing God’s will?
• What is the main point of the parable of the friend seeking bread at midnight and what lesson does it teach about prayer?
• Are there some situations in my life where I am refusing to come to God in prayer? What does this reveal about my view of God?
• How should v.9 be understood in the context of vv.10-13? What would cause a person to desire the Holy Spirit as the gift that they ask from God?

Wednesday, March 4
Luke 11:14-20
• What is revealed about the people who questioned Jesus’ authority after witnessing this miracle?
• Notice that the Pharisees could not possibly have known that Jesus drove out demons by Beelzebub. What, then, explains the authoritative and knowing tone of their pronouncement regarding the true source of Jesus’ power?
• In what ways am I, or have I been, like the Pharisees?
• In what ways has “the kingdom of God [...] come upon [me]“? What has been my response to this?

Thursday, March 5
Luke 11:14-26
• What does the empty house symbolize?
• What constitutes a house being swept clean and put in order?
• How does this passage clearly show the reality of two kingdoms in this world (the stronger man vs. the strong man)?
• What warning does this passage give to those who “clean up their lives” but do not allow God to fully occupy?
• How much do I see being occupied with God’s presence and His work as protection over my life?
• How much am I relying on the stronger man Jesus to “overpower” the strong man sin in me?

Friday, March 6
Luke 11:27-32
• Why does Jesus consider a person blessed “who hear[s] the word of God and obey[s]?”
• Why is Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ demand for a miraculous sign so harsh?
• How is the Son of Man for “three days and three nights [being] in the heart of the earth” enough sign for us to respond to God?
• What is Jesus saying about the efficacy of “miraculous signs” to change the attitude of someone already prejudiced against submitting to Christ?

Saturday, March 7
Luke 11:33-36
• What may be the reason why Jesus talks about lighting a lamp and placing it on an unconcealed place right after reminding the crowd that the men of Nineveh repented after Jonah’s preaching (v. 32)? In this context, what does the light from the lamp symbolize? Since being filled with darkness or light is dependent on our eyes (v.34), what determines the good or bad condition of our eyesight (perception)?
• What lessons can I learn regarding the power of the eyes (i.e., what I see / focus on)?
• What have my “eyes” been full of? What has that done to my heart?

Sunday, March 8
Luke 11:37-53
• Why were the Pharisees consumed with their outward religious activities but negligent of their inner self?
• Why was this so disturbing to Jesus?
• Why was Jesus particularly harsh with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law?
• Reflect on the six woes. Which one am I guilty of?
• What are the inconsistencies in my life that I have not been acknowledging?
• What are things that God cares about that I am ignoring?

Midterm Week news

2009-02-24T17:47:00.001-08:00

Wondering what's happening in these parts other than midterms? Let me tell you:

Some people are still recovering from the past weekend's snow trip. We got plenty of pictures from the trip and even a snazzy video too. You can check out our extended coverage of the snow trip and get filled in.

There's GTS this Friday, as usual: Gospels, Course 101 and 101x, Survival Kit 1, and more. We'll meet all together at First Pres., 7pm, in the Gym, and then split into our classes from there. For those of you in Church 101 and SK1, make sure you do your homework!

After GTS, there's GLive practice! Not that much longer before we're on stage. We're scheduled for 3 performances on Saturday, 4/4. Anyway, time to get serious. Ongoing GLive signups are online.. It'll help the different skit directors plan for roles and make sure you have a speaking part, get on stage, and don't get missed.

These days, everyone's stressed. To combat all that stress, we're going studying this Saturday, 2/28. We're heading to another college campus, utilizing their marvelous library, and grab a delicious dinner (to reward ourselves) at the end of the day before coming back to Berkeley. If you want to get some studying done, then this Saturday's the time to do it. Join us. Let your smallgroup leader know.

The Snow Trip You Should Have Been At

2009-02-23T13:24:00.001-08:00

We met Saturday morning and headed up to the Sierras. A brief stop at McDonald's for breakfast and before we knew it, we were in a winter wonderland of fresh snow. It was fantastic. We played 3-way capture the flag, pitting the Koinonia upperclassmen vs. All Berkeley freshmen vs. USF/SFSU. We poured red Kool-aid on the ground to mark boundaries, and then people started blowing through enemy lines trying to capture flags while avoiding would-be tacklers.

Then we went up the sled run, bringing up inner tubes and our swashbuckling adventure spirit, then plummeting down the slopes. The sled run was lined with friends and staff holding out snowballs and other cold wondrous gifts for the trip down. There's a lot more pictures online at our Flickr site as usual, and John from H.5 uploaded another set of pictures online too.

And because you want to see it again, here's the video that was made after our awesome day in the snow. Make sure you're there next time!

Snow Trip 2009 from kevan on Vimeo.

All college freshmen and Koinonia upperclassmen went up to Sierra Lodge to see some snow. While there, we ran into the students from SFSU and USF, and we quickly got to know each other pretty well, throwing each other into the snow and playing capture the flag. Between the snow fights, the sled runs, and the good food, we had a great time. We were a little sore, but it was awesome.

DT Questions for this week: Luke 10

2009-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Since our servers have been down (for Gracepoint Fellowship Church), our access to this week's Devotion questions have also been down. Never fear, however, here they are (courtesy Pastor Jonathan's weblog):

Monday, February 23
Luke 10:1-8
• Why does Jesus send the disciples ahead of him? (Cf. Luke 3:4-6)
• Jesus saw this world as a harvest field. Some people view the world as a place to make one’s mark; others, as a place full of dangers and threats; others, as simply the context for their personal agendas. What is my view of the world? Contrast this to how Jesus views this world.
• How does this challenge my view of what I should be doing with my life?

Tuesday, February 24
Luke 10:1-8
• Why does Jesus tell them to ask God to send out workers into his harvest field?
• What does Jesus’ statement, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves”, say about the nature of kingdom work?
• What is ironic about Jesus telling them to not take anything right after telling them that he is sending them out like lambs among wolves?
• What should be the attitude of the disciples about basic necessities of life?
• How were the disciples going to be provided for?

Wednesday, February 25
Luke 10:9-16
• Why were the disciples told to treat those who do not welcome them so harshly?
• What is the relationship between the miracles performed in these cities (Korazin, Bethsaida) and their responsibility on the day of judgment? What warning does this have for me?
• What does it mean when he says “the kingdom of God is near”? Am I living my life in view of this fact?
• How does v.16 elevate my responsibility as a Christian? Do I understand my role in the lives of unbelievers?

Thursday, February 26
Luke 10:17-21
• Contrast the source of joy described in v.17 and in v.20. What lesson is there here about the key to having lasting joy?
• What are “these things” that are hidden from the wise and learned?
• Contrast the attitudes of the “wise and learned” to that of the “little children.” In what ways am I like the “wise and learned?”
• How is blessing defined in this passage? Do I see that I possess the greatest blessing in life?

Friday, February 27
Luke 10:30-37
• What underlying attitude of the heart is behind the response of the priest and the Levite when they saw the half-dead man?
• What rationalizations might they have given for their avoidance?
• What is significant about the fact that it was the Samaritan and not the priest or the Levite who ended up helping this man in need?
• According to this parable, what is Jesus’ answer to the question “Who is my neighbor”?

Saturday, February 28
Luke 10:30-37
• List what the robbers did to the man and analogize it to what sin does to people.
• List what the Samaritan man did for the dying man and analogize it to what Jesus does for people.
• In what ways was Jesus like this Good Samaritan for me?
• In what ways is the “inn” a fitting picture of the church?

Sunday, March 1
Luke 10:38-40
• How might have Martha felt about herself and about Mary as she was busy with “all the preparations”?
• What is the irony of Martha’s question to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care?”
• Would she have felt this way towards Jesus if Mary were not in the scene?
• When do I have this kind of Martha-like mentality?

Luke 10:41
• What does Martha’s bitterness reveal about her priorities?
• What can we learn about the difference between Martha’s and Jesus’ evaluation of Mary’s priorities?
• What is the “one thing” Jesus is referring to?
• What are the “many things” in my life that distract me from focusing on my relationship with God?

Snow Trips, GTS, and GLive practice!

2009-02-19T20:51:00.001-08:00

Here's the news for this week:

Snow trip this Saturday! For the freshmen, it's an All-Freshmen Snow Trip to Sierra Lodge across all of Koinonia, Kairos, and a2f. Sign up online. You'll be out all day, from 8 am to 8 pm.

The upperclassmen, not to be outdone, are going on a snow trip of our own. It'll just be Koinonia, sophomores through seniors, and we'll hit the slopes at Soda Springs, home of killer sled runs and lots of fresh snow to give your friend a mid-semester present. Sign up online so we can figure out rides and food.

Our GTS (Gracepoint Training School) starts tomorrow, Friday (2/20) at 7 pm, First Pres. We'll be all together across the different fellowship groups for announcements and a time of music and praise. Then we'll split up into the different classes: Course 101, SK1, Church 101, the Gospels, and more. If you haven't signed up, don't worry: just come and we'll figure it out when you get there. But if you're taking Course 101 (or 101x), you have homework due tomorrow!

Oh, and before GTS, H.1 and H.8 will eat dinner together at Chang Luong at 5:30 pm. If you can make it, come join us.

After GTS, there's GLive practice! Oh my gosh, only 6 weeks to go! Anyway, we'll be introducing the different skits tomorrow, and start practice... can you believe it? There's been scores of people working on the scripts, and I know of a group of brothers who drove down from our Davis Waypoint Church to be here all week to help write GLive scripts. One difference this year is we're asking you if you'd like to participate, please sign up online for GLive. It'll help the different skit directors plan for roles and make sure you have a speaking part and get on stage.

That's pretty much it for now... and here's a video from this past weekend's Valentine's Day of Compassion visit to Hilton House, Oakland. Thought it'd be nice to see for those of you who missed it. If any of you who went with us want to comment on your experience, please do!

H.1 Valentine's Day of Compassion 2009 from kevan on Vimeo.

It's a Gracepoint tradition that on Valentine's Day, we buck the societal trend that celebrates Love with flowers, roses, and romance. We believe love is a lot more than that, and so our homegroup joined with many others to spread out across the Bay Area to spend Valentine's Day with those who could use our company, love, and presence to be with them on this day.

Snow Trip & Valentine's Day Wrap-up

2009-02-18T01:15:00.001-08:00

Upcoming Saturday (2/21), it's AWESOME day. Yes, it's a different sort of name, I know, but just wanted to share that with you. Why is it Awesome day? It's because we're having an all-Freshman Snow Trip! Romp around in the snow, get your friends, practice your aim and see how fast (and accurate) you can throw a snowball at moving targets (AKA other freshmen). Plus the sledding and snowman building. It's Awesome day. Sign up online now! And you can start prepping by doing your work and setting aside all day Saturday, from early morning to late at night, and getting your snow gear in order. The freshmen will head up to the Sierras where it's been snowing all week and have the first (of many) fun bonding times as a class. Don't forget to sign up to reserve a spot in a car and some food!

The rest of us (meaning the sophomores and juniors) are headed for a day trip to Stinson Beach, where we'll barbecue, walk along the coastline, frisbee, football, and enjoy some time away from Berkeley. Sign up online for our Stinson Beach trip so we can plan for food and rides.

In other news, this past weekend was really great. We had a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day together as a group with the rest of our church. We decided to break the cultural norm of the Hallmark'd over-commercialized roses, teddy bears, and chocolates holiday. That's not love! Love is God's love, and we sought to express it by going to convalescent homes and shelters throughout the Bay Area on this day when "Love" is celebrated. Love isn't mere romance, it's more than that.

So homegroup 1 went to Hilton House in downtown Oakland and spent time with the 16 residents there. While there, we sang a couple songs for them (Amazing Love, Your Love is Deep, and Zephaniah 3:17). Eddie gave a message sharing what God's love is really about, and even used a couple glasses of water and red food coloring to bring his point home. We finished out our time by singing some more, and working on a gift we had prepared for each of the residents: a picture frame with the words from Zephaniah 3:17,

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

It was stirring for all of us to be there, and I think most of us would agree that we received more than we gave. It was a chance to hear their stories, spend time with them, and give them the dignity of being God's sons and daughters. There's plenty of pictures online, so make sure you check it out on the Flickr site.

After we left Hilton House, we went to Oakland Chinatown, ate some yummy dimsum, and then went to a plaza to grab boba and other sweets and pastries. Later in the evening, the girls had their Valentine's party, and the guys ate some In-N-Out and then made a ruckus at the local gym playing volleyball and basketball.

In the News....

2009-02-05T12:06:00.001-08:00

It's the third week already! Here's a couple highlights of things that are happening!

* Dr. Craig Hazen, Professor of Comparative Religions and Apologetics from Biola, is joining us this Friday, 2/6 @ 7pm, 155 Dwinelle to discuss Christianity in a World of Religions.

* There's also an all day training session on Saturday w/ Dr. Hazen. If you're interested, you can sign up online. Cost is $10, and it'll go 10am to 4pm @ Willard Middle School Auditorium.

* This semester, there'll be Friday night Courses in lieu of big group bible study, including Course 101, Survival Kit 1, Church 101, the Gospels, and more. Sign up online by 2/8. There's also plenty of information about what classes are offered, a description of each, and a list of prerequisites and requirements. Take a look.

* GLive practices are going to start soon! Watch out.

* Gracepoint's Sunday Service schedule has changed! We start Prayer Meeting at 10:00am, and Worship Service starts at 11:15am. Dorm pickups are only available for Foothill, Stern, and Bowles from 9:20-9:40am. There'll be lunch after service each week.

* Allen's posted some good info about our Valentine's Day of Compassion activity, which is coming up soon. Check it out and sign up!

* Pictures from Winter Retreat are also online...

Valentine's Day of Compassion

2009-02-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

A wonderful annual tradition started a few years ago when our sisters decided that they would no longer conform to the pattern of this world by buying in to the romantic views perpetuated by Valentine's Day. Instead, they turned an ordinarily lonely day into a Day of Compassion by visiting homeless shelters and convalescent homes throughout the Bay Area, spreading God's love and sharing His compassion with others in need.

This year on Valentine's day (Sat., Feb. 14), we're planning to visit the Center for Elders Independence in downtown Oakland in the morning/early afternoon, and here's a chance for you to get involved! We hope to do similar things as we've done in the past, such as singing, giving a short message, doing arts and crafts, and simply spending time talking to the elderly. You never know what kind of impact young college students can have in the lives of those who may be ignored or forgotten on this day.

Here's a video of what it looked like a few years ago, and here is some sharing from people who have participated in the past.

Please sign up to let us know if you would like to participate in this year's Valentine's Day of Compassion!

This weekend's plans

2009-01-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

For this Friday, we're going to be having a Bible study combined with H2 (Joe and Annie's homegroup). We'll provide rides at 6pm from Anna Head West and start with a scrumptious dinner too. Contact Eddie for rides and more info.

Also, there's been a change of plans for this Saturday: because the weather has been very warm, snow has been melting and conditions are not good for sledding. So for this Saturday, we're going to have a college wide BBQ and sports with everyone from Koinonia, Kairos, and A2F! Again, we'll provide rides from Berkeley -- meet at Anna Head West at 10:15am. See you there!

Let Allen know if you have any questions!

News in the New Year!

2009-01-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

happy new year! tomorrow (Friday, 1/2/2009), we're not having our regular bible study. instead, all of koinonia (those who are around) are getting together at Emily's house in Alameda, and we'll have dinner all together. after dinner, we'll talk about and share based on this past week's DT in Revelations 22. and then we'll play!

we'll start dinner at 6:30pm. if you need a ride, let your smallgroup leaders know (or me).

and for the rest of you still at home, hope your new year's was very safe, happy, and fun. those of us in town all got together and made dumplings, and then cooked them every which way that we could: frying, deep frying, boiling, steaming, you name it, we did it. and then when we were all dumpling'ed out, we played a traditional Korean game (yoot-nori), which involved a lot of stick throwing and yelling until we got hoarse.

in other news, the Cambodia Winter Mission Team is leaving in just a couple days, so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers: Kevin D, Michael K, Hannah P, Irene K, and Tabitha A. we can't wait to hear their stories and testimonies upon their return!

Six Flags!

2009-01-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's been an exhilarating last few days to close the door on 2008 and kick off 2009! On December 29, some of us (Kevin Ding, David Yang, Brandon Cho, Brian Cho, Robert Kim of Kairos, and myself) ventured out to Valencia, CA to go crazy on roller coasters. Needless to say, it was pretty awesome.

Granted, roller coasters can be pretty scary, but I take it like a man, and when I scream, it's a man-scream that goes like "muuuu-awwwhhh." You can tell from the pictures just how much fun we were having. Kevin Ding was having a little too much fun posing for the camera. As for everyone else, I'm not sure what they're doing.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying their time on vacation and being productive. Don't keep clicking on Bearfacts for grades, it's not the way to spend winter break. Neither is just eating and sleeping, though that sounds really good right now. Read a good book and spend some quality time with family. We'll see everyone soon! Happy New Year!

The News for December's first week

2008-12-04T00:16:00.001-08:00

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.

children from Joyland

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

2008-11-26T08:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-25T00:43:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T16:56:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-11-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-14T11:44:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T20:26:00.001-08:00

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"

2008-11-11T13:29:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-10T22:19:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T00:38:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T18:07:00.001-08:00

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

2008-10-31T11:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-30T01:07:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-29T15:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-25T20:36:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-16T16:21:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-14T02:05:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-30T12:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-17T22:23:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T17:03:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-29T10:50:00.001-07:00

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!!

2008-08-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-15T11:46:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T17:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

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!

Gracepoint Live: Step troupe

2008-07-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

This seemed like a long time ago, but remember this? Kevin D. in the front row!!

Here's the summer news

2008-07-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, here's the news:

DT Groups are changing up so they're student-run, student-led throughout Koinonia. How exciting. Sign up by emailing Grace Lin and she'll plug you into a group.
We're going on a camping trip to the Sierras, 8/1-8/3. It'll just be our homegroup... Sign up below.

Loading...
Junior discipleship retreat this weekend. Get ready, and rides will be sent out soon.
The rest of us will go on w/ our Friday intramurals, and then maybe we'll do something different for dinner and DT bible study. Maybe we'll go out now that we've gotten rid of those juniors.
Suggestions for what you want to do is welcome. Things like kayaking, campfire, hide and seek at midnight outdoors. Just throw it into the comments.

DT Journals: want one? Last chance

2008-07-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

hi - as announced last week, we are making dt journals (with and without lines for writing) for August/September as well. We will only order for those who sign up and prepay.

The deadline is Wednesday. You can sign up online!

In Austin... it's hot here!

2008-07-18T09:47:00.001-07:00

The Austin Team

I've been in Austin the last couple days and will return to Berkeley tomorrow night. It's been an exciting several days here (aside from the business trip part!). The first night, I went with the brothers here to play basketball at UT's Gregory Gym. We didn't do so bad, mostly because Bryan S. was playing on my team... while there, we met some UT Austin sophomores and juniors, some of whom are avid Boston Celtics fans. Pastor Manny loved it and they got along famously. The next evening, everyone went to the DCs.I went to a DC called Kinsolving Dining Center, attached to a coed dorm of the same name. I sat down with two incoming freshmen and a junior--undeclared, engineering, and CS. It felt like I was back on the Berkeley campus! We've been meeting a lot of people--some UT students and others who are international or just visiting for the summer. The reception has been really warm and it's thrilling to meet UT students and learn about their university, and share my experiences from Berkeley!

In the evenings, I've been together with the team helping with the websites (UT Koinonia and Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Austin), writing copy for the brochures, and even practicing on the praise band for the first ever UT Koinonia bible study, which is tonight! Life here is hot, but it's wonderful being together with the team. We do DT and prayer in the morning, just like in Berkeley. We even had Prayer Band on Thursday morning, praying for the Hsinchu church as well as the Austin needs. And after bible study tonight, we'll be having shaved ice and go play games. Tomorrow (Saturday), I think we're taking a trip to San Antonio!! Wow!

Pray for the first ever UT Koinonia bible study tonight!

Announcements for H.1 in Berkeley:

Summer IMs as usual at 6:30 PM @ Wood Middle School. Mike H. is in charge of rides if you need one.
Afterwards, heading over to Steve & Suzanne's for dinner and DT sharing with some of the other Koinonia homegroups!
Sophomores are off to Sierra Lodge for their discipleship retreat! Simon, don't get dunked or thrown off your kayak (ahem)!

See you guys soon!

Gracepoint Joyland Archives: Ken is a horse

2008-07-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's finally been posted: Ken's wonderful stint as a horse at Joyland. I'm so happy it's there. You can watch the "horse" video online, or you can go to our official Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Berkeley, Joyland website and cruise around.

I can't tell you the joy this brings me. I can't wait until Hugo, Simon, or John is put up there on stage. What animals do you think they can be? Tiger? Giraffe? Squirrel? Jumping fish?

Austin Team's really gone...

2008-07-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's for real. They've left Berkeley and arrived in Austin, and they're there to stay. We had a tearful, joyful farewell last night, and then a sendoff from the airport early this morning. Please keep them in your prayers and thoughts. Leaving Gracepoint Berkeley to start up Gracepoint Austin, while exciting, is full of sorrow because of the parting. But it's all for the sake of the gospel, which we all agree, must go to the ends of the earth.

Here's a picture they took when they arrived at Austin airport.

Gracepoint Fellowship Church: 30-hour Famine cornmeal porridge

2008-07-08T16:09:00.001-07:00

UNICEF Corn Porridge

We broke our fast w/ cornmeal porridge. Here's the ingredients so you can make it at home:

3 cups cornmeal (one container of the Quaker 24oz is about 4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk powder
4 cups of beans (eg, kidney, pinto, garbanzo. I mixed 4 cans of these, drained.)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil

Farewell for our Gracepoint Berkeley-Austin Team!

2008-07-08T12:42:00.001-07:00

The day is finally here... our Austin team is leaving Berkeley, about to start a new Gracepoint Fellowship Church over in hot Texas, near the UT Austin campus. They'll have their own pastor--not our Pastor Ed Kang or Kelly Kang--but the team will be led by our very own Pastor Manny and Sunny. They're leaving early Thursday morning. But, of course, there's a farewell for them this Wednesday with videos, songs, and words of farewell that'll make you laugh and make you cry. Here's the heads up on all the stuff:

SET & Prayer Meeting, same time, same place: 7 PM @ First Pres., tonight.
Farewell song practice after prayer meeting... outside in front of Haas Pavilion, on the Berkeley campus!
Last Koinonia picture w/ the Austin team, Wed., 7/9, 5:45 pm on the Sproul steps.
Austin Farewell, Wed. night beginning at 6:15 pm at First Pres. If you come at 6 pm, you can get some boba.
and last for this week, Intramurals @ 6:30 pm, Fri., 7/11, @ Wood Middle School. Mike H. in charge of rides so give him a holler.

Gracepoint Joyland Archives: Gangsters

2008-07-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, so I was looking through our Gracepoint Berkeley website and stumbled across the Joyland site. I had forgotten that a couple weeks ago, Jenny had given the big group message to the Joyland kids on "Peer Pressure."

As part of her talk, Jenny got some of the juniors (ahem, Justin, Mike, and Brandon) to dress up like poser Gangsters. It was pretty funny. If these pictures aren't enough and you want to see the actual video, you can watch the video online.

There's always chances to plug in at Gracepoint, whether you want to help out with the video or web teams, or act in skits (think Gracepoint Live, coming in 2009), and I know a bunch of people are helping out with Impact and Joyland. Kind of cool to see our homegroup stretching out into different parts of our world, Koinonia group, and church to serve others.

Taiwan to Berkeley, Gracepoint Fellowship Church

2008-07-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

Caroline, as you know, is in Taiwan w/ our Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Hsinchu, until the end of July. She took some pictures and I just wanted to share them with you guys, and also a note that she sent:

June photos are finally up! It was one PACKED month. At the beginning of the month, we were still with the Gracepoint Berkeley Taiwan team and going to Tainan with them. The rest of the month I was saying farewell to my NCTU Chinese classmates, taking my Chinese finals and proficiency test, and cheering on the NTHU/NCTU students with care packages for their finals! June was also the month where we witnessed our first Taiwanese friend become Christian!! It was almost unbelievable that this was happening so soon, but PTL! I am sure many of your prayers had to do with her decision to accept Christ... We also experienced our first NCTU and NTHU graduations. The graduations here are so different from the ones in America. Definitely more quiet and solemn. Not so hyped up. Actually, we had many students whose parents didn't come to see their graduation. Those students were very happy that we were there to cheer them on and act as their "family". One more thing we did for the first time was going to the theaters! We finally got the chance to go watch Prince Caspian together after FNP. Everyone loved it, but I must say - the book is MUCH better. By the end of the month, our Taiwan team exploded to 19 people as we welcome our new team members + Joy from Davis. God is good!!

thank you once again for your continual prayers!! I have less than one month left (*sighs*)...I plan to use this time to "go all out" with my Chinese and with God's Kingdom work!! I will see you SOON!

Let's keep praying for Caroline and the whole team plus their friends in Taiwan!

Caroline's moving back at the end of July from Taiwan to Berkeley, Gracepoint to another Gracepoint! We're looking forward to her return, and can't wait until our H.1 "fellowship" in Berkeley is completed with our last staff member... plus, did you know Caroline's quite the basketball player?