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.

Billy Graham's 90th Birthday

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

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

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

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

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

Gracepoint Live: Step troupe

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

Sierra Lodge Trip: 4/25 - 4/26

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Funnies

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

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

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

Brandon’s First Moving Violation

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

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

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

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

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

Special Guest on Tuesday: Dr. Thom Wolf

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

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

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

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

Dr. William Lane Craig and Tough Questions

For those of you who don't know him, Dr. William Lane Craig is one of the voices at the leading edge of defending and articulating the Christian faith in our culture's public square. He speaks at college campuses, debates professors and other thinkers, and trains students, future academics, and Christians around the country.

There's a lot of good information on his website, and a section that answers a lot of neat questions (at a much more scholarly level than yours truly):

• Why does God in the Old Testament seem different than the God of the New Testament?
• Time, Relativity theory, and how it affects our understanding of divine time, and God's relationship (knowledge) of time and future events.
• Do we really have objective moral values, and can we appeal to this when we argue for the existence of God?

Frankly, some of the stuff might be just plain nerdy. He's a scholar, academic, and heavily involved in philosophy of time, historicity of Christ's resurrection, and cosmology. But if this is your thing, or you think it'll help and you're interested, wanted to let you know about him and his website. Another site that has a lot of good info is Stand to Reason--and our church has a good relationship w/ Greg Koukl, its founder and president.

I bring up Dr. Craig because he's someone our church has a relationship with. He trains us (came a couple years ago and gave two lectures on UC Berkeley, hosted by us, "The Existence of God" and "Evidence for the Resurrection"), and we not only support him in prayer (b/c, boy it's tough doing some of those debates on the different circuits of which he's a part) but we also support him financially every month. As such, he sends up updates from time to time about how he's doing and what he's been up to, as well as prayer requests. If you're interested at all in these updates and newsletters, let me know and I can forward them on to you.