End of Year LifeGroup Outing!

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.

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

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.

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!

Snow Trip & Valentine's Day Wrap-up

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.

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!

TC practice!

Hola H.1ers

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

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

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

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

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

News This Week: Plus TC Preview

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

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


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


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


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

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

In other news:

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


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


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


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

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


Thanksgiving Celebration Practice 1 from kevan on Vimeo.

Gone: the questions

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

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

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


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

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

Election Week News

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

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


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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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

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

Koinonia Zip-Hoodie & Cordonices Park

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

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


Cordonices Park from kevan on Vimeo.

The News in These Parts

The news in these parts:

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

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


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

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

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

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


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


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


• Thanksgiving Celebration. Stay tuned. More info coming.


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


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

Girls up at LBL for H.1 Friday

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

Thought it was worth sharing. Looked awesome.

What's Up

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

H.1 Convalescent Home Visit

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

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


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


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


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

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

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

The Real Long Version of Announcements

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

Here we go:

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

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

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

The rest of the announcements:

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

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

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

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

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

Posers and This Week's News

Posing in the sunset
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

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

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

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

Welcome Back Dinner!

A summer Welcome Back dinner for everyone in the homegroup this Wednesday, 6/25. How exciting! We get to see our whole coed homegroup together...! Let me know if you're coming so we can prep food and arrange rides.

News in these parts

Here's what's happening this week:

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

SF Eats, Maxwell Field, GP Monthly setup

Hola.  Here's a picture of bald people for your enjoyment.  It has nothing to do with the nature of this post other than the fact that it happened this week.  These other things are happening this week.  Some of it might be of interest to you:

• Night Trip to San Francisco this Saturday evening, 3/8, for the seniors and freshmen.  We'll meet at Anna Head West at 4:30 pm, catch the sunset at the Battery, and then head into the city from there.  Bring $$ since we'll be swinging by Beard Papa's, In-n-Out, Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, Palace of Fine Arts and some other good eats.  Let your smallgroup leader know you're coming so you make sure you have a ride.
  
• Koinonia 1 in charge of setup for Gracepoint Monthly this Friday, 5:30 pm @ Willard.  We'll have food together in the courtyard after we're done.  But we need your help, so come on by.  If you can't make it, that's alright.  Just come by the start time, 7:30 pm.  Afterwards, we have Maxwell Field Night, so dress appropriately.
• Spring Break Yosemite Trip is 3/23-3/26.  Deadline to sign up is this Friday, 3/7.  You can sign up online.  There's tons of info for this, but at the risk of overburdening an already verbose post, I'll leave that info for later.  We'll dedicate a whole post to it.  If you can't wait, you can ask one of the staff.

That's it.  Props to Howard's computer for taking the awesome picture.  To all the other bald bros in our group: too bad you weren't here.

Friday lowdown & Pt. Reyes

This Friday, things are different:

• All the frosh from Koinonia 1 are heading to Pastor Manny and Sunny's place for dinner and bible study. Wenjie's in charge of rides, as usual.
• Sophomores at my place. Kevin H. in charge of rides.
• Seniors at Joe's place on Avondale, combining w/ the H.2 guys so you guys can be together.

Saturday, we're heading out to Point Reyes for a day trip. It's a beautiful piece of shoreline just north of San Francisco, w/ some hiking trails and an oyster farm where the brave ones among you can sample raw oysters (w/ a touch of horseradish), and the squeamish can look on with horror and fascination. After a brief hike, we'll throw around a football, kick around a soccer ball, and do barbecue. It'd be a nice chance to get away from the city and the Berkeley environs, and just hang out.

If you want to go, need to know (right away) so we can plan out rides and food. Even if you're NOT going, just take 20 seconds and fill out our online form.

For those of you who are just dying to know, Saturday's schedule will look something like this:

• 9am | breakfast and DT at the YWCA
• 10am | depart Berkeley from Anna Head West parking lot
• Get to Point Reyes, hike, do fun stuff, BBQ, play, eat, take bazillion pictures
• Oyster farm
• 4:30pm | Decide whether or not to go to the Lighthouse or head back home to Berkeley

If you need more details, you can always ask me or email Annie.