Gracepoint Fellowship Cool News... and Bad Apples

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

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!

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's the summer news

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.
  
  
  
• 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

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!

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

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...

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

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!

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

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

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?

Worldview Camp 2008

Worldview Camp

A couple weeks ago, a whole bunch of us headed over to CSU Monterey to participate in the second annual Gracepoint Worldview Camp. While we lived in dorms and ate DC food, we were studying very earnestly and listening to some good lectures--some from our very own Gracepoint Berkeley people, and others from the very distinguished Dr. John Bloom, holder of multiple PhDs in Physics and Near Eastern Archaeology. Irene, Jenny, Emily and I attended. It was an opportunity to study how Christian truths and principles apply to areas of our everyday life: abortion, eugenics, sexual ethics, the study of science, cosmology, authenticity and veracity of the biblical account, and more. The sheer amount of stuff was dizzying.

Worldview Camp

The days were packed with lectures, discussions with one another, (decent) food from the DC, games and sports at night, and even a bonfire on the beach on the last night. Add to this that we got a chance to hang out with Koinonia Davis who sent about 50 people, and it was a pretty great, community-building, intellectually-stimulating experience. Come next year!

Big Splash @ the Memorial Day Picnic

Big Splash

Early in the summer, all the college groups from Koinonia to Kairos, and the rest of Gracepoint Berkeley and SF's Praxis got together at Paradise Park in Marin County. It was a beautiful day... near the end of the event, Pastor Manny who was so exultant at his team's victory during the organized sports time, was at the receiving end of a massive conspiracy. This (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) was the result. Let me just say, it was "exultant" for the many others who were watching.

Our Summer Travelers

We have a whole bunch of folks away from Berkeley this summer... some people even across international waters! Some of them have blogs where you can read their stunning (mostly about food) adventures. Please pray for our brothers who are away... and give them a holler over Skype if you have a chance. Jenny and I (and Abigail) had a chance to talk w/ John C. a couple days ago. It was really wonderful seeing both him and Jasper as they sat in an internet cafe over in Shanghai.

• John C. is in Shanghai, participating in the PESI program. Jasper is there too (did you know Jasper's a part of A2F3?)
• Daniel S. was in Beijing for PESI, and then helped out at an orphanage. He should be back in the States soon, but will be leaving for GLDI very soon.
• Steve C. is in Taiwan. He was there w/ Taiwan team 1, is staying there for Chinese school at Tsinghua University, and then participating as a teacher in the English Camp starting in mid-July. He and a bunch of people from Koinonia, acts2fellowship, Kairos, and Gracepoint Berkeley are teaching English to incoming Tsinghua and Chiao-Tung University freshmen for 2 weeks. (did ya'll know that Steve's in H.4 w/ Daniel and Hannah?)
• Jay K. is in Korea now, but Jay's heading to China to study abroad for a whole year. By the time he gets back, he'll be fluent in Chinese and a senior! Please keep him in your prayers, and let him know once in a while over Skype that we miss him over here!
• Khanh is heading tot he Netherlands soon! She'll be there until the end of summer... just in time for the Euro 2008!

Alright, that's all for now. Keep these brothers and sisters in your prayer, and on your Skype account!

30-Hour Famine: the Grand Total!

Our homegroup raised $1787! That's really great! On Saturday, we got together in the morning to make activity bags for bed-bound children at Oakland Children's Hospital. Afterwards, we did our DT, hung out, went for a walk to the beach where we had a standing long jump contest. Irene and Mike Ho won... and then we went to the WorldVision Experience exhibit, where we walked in the shoes of an African child dealing with the consequences of AIDS and hunger.

Sunday morning, we got up early in the morning and had a bowl of UNICEF-recipe corn meal, which is served to children around the world. Then we had breakfast burritos, and the look of joy on some people's face (ahem, John K.), looked like they were going to pass out from the tingling sensations on their tongue and in their stomachs. As a church, Gracepoint Berkeley raised $72,063.65!

We're so thankful for the opportunity to participte in 30-hour famine. We got to experience just a little bit of the hunger which is so prevalent throughout our world, help raise money for a worthy cause, expand our own sense of vision, and be a little more grateful for the abundant blessings we have.

World Hunger Update: Somalia

The worst-hit countries are in Africa. Stories like this remind me of the scene from Hotel Rwanda where the reporter says: "When people see this, they'll say 'Oh my gosh that's terrible,' and then they'll go on eating their dinners." Christians respond differently, and as in the words spoken to William Wilberforce by William Pitt: "Surely the principles and practice of Christianity lead not to meditation only, but to action." May this weekend's 30 Hour Famine open up our eyes, our hearts, and our hands to those in need.

Somalia humanitarian crisis worsening
June 27, 2008
By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Somalis face mass starvation, with snipers, bombers and kidnappers increasingly targeting aid workers and civilians in the war-torn African nation, aid organization Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday. The group, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, has withdrawn international staff amid the humanitarian crisis because of violence from an Islamist-led insurgency against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies. Violence against civilians has come from all sides, MSF said in a teleconference with reporters in New York. Internal refugees are crammed into unsanitary shelters while prices for rice and corn have tripled since the start of 2008. "Every time we think that it can't get much worse, it does. ... We feel we have reached a new low," said Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of MSF in the United States. "Aid workers are increasingly targeted in Somalia, kidnapped, killed," he said. The Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization estimates 2,136 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the civilian death toll to 8,636 since the insurgency began in early 2007 -- the latest in a cycle of conflict since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. The United Nations says 1 million Somalis -- one-ninth of the population -- are living as internal refugees, and MSF said malnutrition has exceeded emergency rates for a year. "People sell everything they have to buy extra food. Then they drop out the expensive food items that are usually the most nutritious. Finally they start to ration what they do have. And finally they are in the very difficult situation of having to decide which members of the family are expendable," said Greg Elder, the deputy operations manager in Somalia. One MSF nutrition program in Mogadishu is flooded with 3,000 children with an additional 500 arriving every week. "In that center over half of patients are women and children wounded by blasts or gunshot wounds," Elder said. Benoit Leduc, MSF's operations manager in Somalia, said the killing and kidnapping of aid workers have been chilling. "Each time we go in a car we fear we will be caught in a cross fire," Leduc said. "We fear to be hit by a roadside bomb. We fear to be kidnapped. So this is the frustration. We are not able to respond adequately to the needs."

World Hunger Update: India

Sadly, it's been surprisingly easy to locate stories of starvation and malnutrition around the world. The suffering is overwhelming, but in Jesus there is hope. Verse 1 of Psalm 32 reads: "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven." Around the world, groups like World Vision and Compassion International are not only providing food, but they are also providing the gospel. That is true blessing.



Malnutrition getting worse in India
By Damian Grammaticas
BBC News, June 10, 2008

Madhya Pradesh - Lying on a bed is a tiny malnourished child. Her limbs wasted, her stomach bloated, her hair thinning and falling out. Her name is Roshni. She stares, wide-eyed, blankly at the ceiling. Roshni is six months old. She should weigh 4.5kg. But when she is placed on a set of scales they settle at just 2.9kg. Roshni is suffering from severe acute malnutrition, defined by the World Health Organisation as weighing less than 60% of the ideal median weight for her height. There are 40 beds in this centre. On every one is a similar child. All are acutely malnourished. Wailing, painful, plaintive cries fill the air. This is the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in the town of Shivpuri. You might think we are somewhere in Africa. But this is the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh - modern India, a land of booming growth. "The situation in our village is very bad," says Roshni's mother, Kapuri. "Sometimes we get work, sometimes we don't. Together with our children we are dying from hunger. What can we poor people do? Nothing." There are around 10 million children in the state. A decade ago 55% were malnourished. Two years ago the government's own National Family Health Survey put the figure for Madhya Pradesh at around 60%. So why is it going up? "It's basically inadequate access to food, poor feeding practices, poor childcare practices," says Dr Agarwal. In Madhya Pradesh the situation is compounded by two significant factors. For four years in a row the rains have failed, so food crops have failed too. And now global food prices have risen, stretching many families beyond breaking point.

World Hunger Update: Cambodia

It is shocking to find that in a country of about 13.9 million people, 4.6 million live under $1 a day. Because of this, many children in Cambodia will be trafficked or used for forced labor. 15-year-old student Roeun Ra, said his parents used to make him work by scavenging through garbage: "Many of my friends cannot go to school because their parents ask them to work for money," the boy said. Cambodian Children March Against Child Labour, ABC News, June 12, 2008.




Food inflation hits Cambodia's poor, threatens hunger, Feb 25, 2008
CHRANG CHAMRES, Cambodia (AFP) — On the long, gently sloping bank of Cambodia's Tonle river, Doem Lao chops half a dozen large fish heads in the early morning for the one meal that her family will eat that day. It is the 45-year-old farmer's fourth unseasonably cold dawn in this quiet neighbourhood on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where her extended family has set up camp with others from their village in the southern province of Takeo. Like tens of thousands of rural Cambodians, they have joined the annual migration to the river to buy enough fish to make a year's worth of prahoc, a pungent fermented paste that is the only source of protein for many in the country's impoverished rural regions. But the rice they brought from home has nearly run out and the fish have yet to appear in the large nets strung across the river in front of their camp. The crude bamboo and metal mesh processing stalls on the riverbank are silent -- and February is the last month of the fishing season. A sudden drop-off in the numbers of prahoc fish has seen their price more than triple this year, up to as high as 50 US cents a kilogramme from around 12 cents, putting this most basic of Cambodian commodities out of reach for many.

For poor Cambodians, this means that in addition to losing their traditional staples like prahoc, they are not able to supplement their already meagre diets with other foods, particularly meat. "Everything now is so expensive," said a village woman, Bhum Sap, rattling off the current prices of chicken, pork and beef, which can cost as much as five dollars a kilogramme, a fortune for Cambodia's estimated 4.6 million people struggling to live on less than one dollar a day. For as many as 2.6 million people living in extreme poverty, the situation has been worsening over the last several years, which have been marked by poor harvests brought on by natural disasters such as flood or drought. "Too many Cambodians still suffer from hunger and malnutrition for some or most of the time," the World Food Programme (WFP) said on its website.

World Hunger update: Haiti

In light of 30-Hour Famine this week, I wanted to post a series of articles that capture the global food crisis. Over 100 million are being driven deeper into poverty by the "silent tsunami" of rising food prices. Haiti is one country experiencing such tragedy. As heart-wrenching as the story is, I am reminded that just a little bit of money can go a long way. Remember to keep seeking pledges!

“Haiti’s poorest reduced to eating dirt,” News.com.au, January 29, 2008.

Extreme poverty is forcing Haiti's poorest people to eat dirt. Mud cookies - made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening - have become popular among Haitians desperate to stave off hunger, the Associated Press reports. The cookies - which are occasionally used by pregnant women and children as an antacid and source of calcium - have become a regular meal. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and one of the most disadvantaged in the world. Seventy-six per cent of the population lives on less than $2.25 a day, and 55 per cent live on less than $1.13 a day. Chronic malnutrition is widespread and diarrhea - an easily-preventable disease - kills one in five children under the age of five. Haitian doctors have warned that relying on the mud cookies will lead to malnutrition. “Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it,” said Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti’s health ministry. The mud cookies sell for around five cents each, compared to 60 cents for two cups of rice.

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.

First Homegroup Activity: 30-hour famine... the plan

Our first activity as a homegroup will be to join the rest of our church in the fight against world hunger. to observe the world food shortage, and the hunger crisis in so many countries, we're going to participate in World Vision's 30-Hour Famine. We fast for 30 hours, beginning Friday midnight to Sunday morning... and to raise money, we ask friends and coworkers to pledge money and donate to our cause. It's a great way to reach out to friends and coworkers, get them involved in some small way, or connect w/ them at a different level than we're used to.

And then on Saturday--the day we're actually fasting from food--we'll spend part of the day together in meaningful service to our community. We're going to be assembling activity bags for some of the bed-bound kids of Oakland Children's Hospital. We'll be doing this together w/ one of the Praxis groups, so it'll be a nice time not only hanging out w/ our own (new) group, but also w/ some of the Praxis peoples. Afterwards, we thought an educational component a/b our world situation would be a powerful experience, so we're going to WorldVision Experience: AIDS in Africa down in Fremont.

Even if you're away for the summer, you can participate with us!

Some of you might be thinking:

• It's too late for me to get involved!
• How do I raise money? That's so hard.
• Go hungry for 30 hours?!

It's not too late to get involved! You can start raising money now! And you'll always have at least one donor--yourself!

Here are some ideas we were thinking about to raise money:

• Jenny and I talked to Trader Joe's and Safeway, hoping to get permission to able in front of their stores. They said no, but said they would possibly give donations: snacks, water bottles, etc. This doesn't mean our pantry gets fuller... but it meshes nicely with something else we were thinking of. We were thinking of tabling on campus on Sproul during the days. Hand out flyers, let people on campus know about the hunger crisis, let them know what we're doing about it, and see if they want to get involved. We could ask for donations, and give away the Safeway and Trader Joe's goodies as an appreciation gift for their sponsorship. Anyone interested in this? Anyone want to take the lead on this?
• Go thru personal belongings (clothes, CDs, music, gadgets, etc.) and take out the stuff you don't need. Go sell extra stuff at a local exchange store, and take the proceeds and give it to 30-hour famine
• for those of you working: companies will often offer gift matching programs. Ask if your company will match employee donations.
• bake cookies and sell each for $1
• you think of some!

Alrighty, let's go raise some money and "Be Hungry"

NorthLoop bible study & Worldview

Worldview Camp 2008 is happening right now, and Dr. John Bloom is speaking to the attendees even as I write this. I'm heading down to Monterey this afternoon, and will be giving my talk tomorrow. Please pray for me! I'll be gone until Saturday, and will return w/ the rest of the Worldview folks.

As for this Friday, dinner will be served at NorthLoop at 6:30 pm, and then all college department bible study will happen after that.

John C. left for China this past week. Daniel S. finished his PESI program at Tsinghua, and is in Tianjin now, serving an orphanage w/ some of the other PESI program students. The Rowland Heights juniors finished their Taiwan trip, and I think people are starting to trickle back in time for Session C.

I went to Sierra Lodge last week for SLT (Servant Leadership Training) retreat w/ Pastor Ed and Kelly. It was a really special time, and I'll post some pictures in a little bit. We had Sunday Service together, and then went to the Truckee River on the last day, where we got on rafts and boats and had a water brawl.

SET and GTS

All these acronyms! SET [Summer Evangelism Training] starts tonight. Here's an email from Jeannie:

I hope you’re excited about our Summer Evangelism Training, to start tonight!
Just a heads up on the schedule and a reminder that you need to have read the first chapter of Keller’s book “The Reason for God”

· 6:30-6:55pm: Snacks (for NL only)
· 7-7:05pm: Welcome and orientation (for tonight only) – please pick up a syllabus as you enter
· 7:05-7:40pm: Drill groups (this is the “head” portion, to go over keller’s reasoning to make sure that we understand and can articulate his arguments)
· 7:40-8:20pm: Message portion (this is the “heart” portion of the night)
· 8:20-8:40pm: During the “hands” portion, we will be meeting by ministry groups to share and pray together
· 8:40pm: Prayer Meeting


College will be meeting at St. Augustine’s for this week only and thereafter at 1st Pres.
And post-College will be meeting at North Loop.
Please also be sure to bring the $10 registration fee and give it to your drill group leader. This fee goes towards facility rentals and snacks.

Additionally, if you want to sign up for GTS [Gracepoint Training School] summer classes, sign up online. I'd encourage you to take Survival Kit 1 or Church 101.

Questions? Let me know.

Good Bye to some people... and Welcome to others!

Summer and the changing of seasons sometimes brings w/ it other changes.

I sent a long email already, but did want to officially welcome Jenny, Caroline O., Mike Ho, and John Cai (who's no stranger) to our H.1 staff! Jenny's junior girls will be joining our homegroup too! How exciting!

BUT... we have to say goodbye to Ben who will join Helen to lead H.3. Some of the junior guys will go with him. And Wenjie and Steve Choi will join Daniel and Hannah's group, H.4. And the other new grads will join Praxis.

Don't be sad! Be glad!

GSI Tonight & Tomorrow

Gracepoint Summer Institute w/ Dr. Jon Choi starts at 7 pm tonight, First Pres. in Berkeley. Tomorrow's session begins at 9:30 am at NorthLoop, and lunch is provided.

Take your brains off the summer shelf and brush off the dust and bring them tonight. See you guys soon!

Summer Courses & Intramurals: signups

Hey summer peoples, more administrative stuff for you:

• Gracepoint Training School's got some summer courses available if you'd like to participate. There's Course 101, Survival Kit 1, Church 101. Descriptions and sign up available online.
  
• Summer Intramurals are here. Soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee. It'll be fun. Sundays, after service, at Willard Middle School. Bake in the sun, get a tan, pick up some skills, and have fun too.
• Prayer Meeting this week at NorthLoop, Tuesday, 6/3, 7 PM.
  
• Gracepoint Summer Institute with a smart guy, Dr. Jon Choi, at First Pres this Friday. He'll be surveying the Old Testament on Friday night. On Saturday, he'll talk about Narrative Reading Strategy. For the Saturday session, you'll need to sign up online so you can get lunch.
  
• I talked about Summer Multiply Your Talents before. Sign up online, watch the video and laugh. You can make videos like this too.

Hope summer's treating you well. In other news, the Grand Central guys have moved in. The Taiwan team has moved to Tainan, where they'll be performing GospelFest. John Kwon has come back into town, and John Cai too. We learned how to make Seco de Pollo the other night. Watch out world.

Bible Study tonight & Prayer Requests

All college bible study @ NorthLoop tonight, 7 pm. If you get to NorthLoop by 6, Koinonia 1 guys and girls will be eating dinner together. Let me know if you need a ride and can't find one on your own. Afterwards, we'll do something fun.

Here's a couple prayer requests to keep in mind:

• Daniel S. and Will Wu (a2f) are in China with the PESI program. Pray for their safety, and that they'll reach out to the Chinese students they meet.
• upcoming exams: Stephan's DET and Justin T.'s MCAT.
• Taiwan Team: Kevin, Kevin, and Brian are on the 2-week trip, going to different universities. They'll be heading down to Tainan for a week and putting on a Gospelfest presentation. New grad Steve C. is also there (for the whole summer!) and going to take a Chinese class.

Things to sign up for if you haven't already:

• Summer Evangelism Training happening every Tues. night for 8 weeks. Brilliant book by Tim Keller, Reason for God, and one way to equip ourselves in a culture and society where talking about God credibly is denigrated and intimidating. Sign up for SET online.
• 30-Hour Famine is something our church is participating to raise money for the recent world food shortage. Sign up for 30-hour famine online.
• Interested in multiplying your talents and getting Photoshop, Audio, Video trained? There's more, of course, but take a look at the descriptions and sign up if you're interested.
  

Info This Week

All-college bible study this Friday @ First Pres., 8 pm. Afterwards, we're going to watch Prince Caspian in the theaters for those who aren't too stressed and just want to decompress from all the finals studying.

Freshmen: one last dinner of the semester, if you're free, at my place. Jenny wanted to invite you guys over. More details coming.

Prayer Request: Myanmar & China

Please keep the relief efforts in Myanmar and China in your prayers. As the suffering is great, and much relief and help are needed, please keep all the victims, the bereaved families and children, the effort of the relief workers, and the governments in your prayers.

If you'd like more information on the Myanmar cyclone or the Szechuan earthquake in China, CNN and other news agencies have plenty of information.

Please specifically pray that the Myanmar military junta government would open its country's doors to external relief agencies and nations who are waiting to get into the country and help at the ground level. The Myanmar military junta has been resistant to foreign aid.

Guess Who?

As part of our last Koinonia 1 gathering of the semester, we played the "Guess Who?" game. Try to figure out which of the staff or seniors the following babies are. Just wanted to post... and I'll put up pictures and stuff a little later.

| View |

Summer Position: Berkeley Academics

From Suzanne--Do you want a part time summer job at $20/hr? Do you want some actual classroom teaching experience to see if you like it? Do you want Fridays off?

Berkeley Academics will be having our annual summer camp in Alameda and we are hiring teachers/tutors!

Qualifications:

• Prior experience working with children (1st-8th)
• Proficiency in your subject area
• Displays a willing and eager attitude

Dates:

• Session 1: 6/23 – 7/3 (M-TH)
• Session 2: 7/7-7/17 (M-TH)
• Session 3: 7/21 – 7/31

Subjects; (grades K-8th)

• Math (9-10:30am)
• Critical Reading (10:30-12pm)
• Essay Writing (9-12pm)
• Word Power (1-2:30)

If you are interested please email me (suzanneDOTsuhATgpmailDOTorg) and we’ll provide more information. For college students, if you don’t want to teach and just want classroom volunteer experience, please let me know as well. Visit our Berkeley Academics website.

All Moved In!

We're all moved into our new place at Central! Though things are slightly in disarray, the disorder is strictly relegated to the closet. Anyway, you guys are welcome to come over whenever, especially with finals around the corner. If you need a place to study, eat, hang out, watch the fish, or just want to get away from Berkeley, our door's open to you. For those of you who need a formal invitation: Open House next Wed., May 7. Let me know you're coming so I make sure there's enough food.

2005 Central Ave., J. All that stuff you see in the truck is hidden away, so don't worry.

1 castle, 1 birthday, 6 guys in a compact...

That title probably got your attention! Anyways, how does all three of those fit together? Well, yesterday some of us (frosh & myself) went over to Bowles, the castle on the hill for Hugo's birthday, and for the frosh it was their very first time setting foot in Bowles, or anywhere near there for that matter. I picked up Justin, Simon, David, and John from their individual places, while Daniel Song decided to run there from the RSF. Ah, you see the trouble with the numbers already, but I get ahead of myself. We had one of David's friends at Bowles sign us in, because it was going to be a surprise! Hopefully.. I gave Hugo a call beforehand to make sure he was in his room...sneaky eh? Actually I'm not sure what I would've done if he said he was out..., luckily it didn't have to come to that as he was home.

So once we got in, we proceeded with our plan. Here we are putting the candles onto the cake, by twos so it'll burn brighter of course. Also note the light in the corner. You ask why only there? Well let me tell you that we decided to use our trusty flashlights, to be more ninja-like..., little did we know that the light switch was right in front of us. Of course the SM pointed this out to us after we finished...but we knew what we were doing...

While this transpired, Wynn from Koinonia 2 joined us, he lives 2 floors below Hugo. Together with our entire team we managed to get to Hugo's room, bust in, only to find he's not in the main room but in his bedroom. It was kind of unclimatic, but we still surprised him enough. We sang him Happy Birthday and proceeded to the main event...you thought the singing was the whole point? Nah, it's all about the eating fellowship!













Here is Hugo making the first cut, and us chilling in his bedroom with our pieces. It was only Hugo & his roommate Sean, so we had no trouble fitting in. And of course we have to do something to birthday boy!




And now that brings us to the last part of the title. Well you remember how we all got there right? Yea, Justin, Simon, David, John, and me...m...that's 5, and I believe that's how much my car can fit, being a compact and all. But now there is Daniel, which makes 6. So of course we just have to squeeze a little bit, not a problem. But then you have Daniel in the back with 3 other guys... That's just trouble being begged for. Daniel gets rocked as usual, its like the commonality of all stories it seems. Here are some pictures of that. Everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves...except Daniel. And Simon...he's underneath there somewhere...

That concludes our little trip to the castle, to celebrate a birthday, and somehow cram 6 guys in a compact on our way back... "And this little Daniel went wee wee wee all the way home..."