Super Santa Cruz Saturday

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.

Journal: Last week

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!

The Snow Trip You Should Have Been At

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.

In the News....

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...

News and Thanksgiving Celebration!

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

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


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


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


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


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

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

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

In other news:

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

Thanksgiving Retreat & "More Than A Face"

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

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

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

Gone: the music video

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

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

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

Koinonia - Why I Love the Olympics

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

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

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