Gracepoint Live: Freshman Memories

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

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

In the News....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* Pictures from Winter Retreat are also online...

The News for December's first week

Jenny and I spent some time on Tuesday night just reading through the scrapbook, all the words you guys wrote, and we just thank God for how He's worked in each of you this past year. We look forward to how He'll continue to lead not only our homegroup, but all of Koinonia and our church in 2009. We're grateful to God for each one of you guys.

On to the news, starting with Friday (12/5):

• 6:00pm dinners by smallgroups. Listen for more info from your smallgroup leaders.


• "This Is Your Life" Bible study at 7:45pm, First Pres. It'll be our last Koinonia Bible study of the semester.


• The last RSF Night of the semester is after bible study. Come with a change of clothes and get ready to rumble and shake out all that Finals stress!

The other big news of the week is this Sunday's baptism. Several weeks ago, Tabby was baptized along with 6 other people. We gave God thanks for how He had worked in each of their lives and celebrated together afterwards by taking a ton of pictures. And this Sunday, after the 1:30pm Worship Service (at Willard Auditorium), we'll sit down to listen to the stories of 7 more people who are getting baptized, including our very own Hugo! Be sure to be there so we can celebrate together!

In other news:

• Heads up on our annual Winter Retreat! It's the spiritual highlight of our whole year. It'll be the first weekend after school starts (1/23-1/25) and you need to sign up online! There's early bird and late bird registration...
• Joyland Christmas Celebration is an awesome annual performance put on by the kids (and all the helping adults) at Gracepoint Fellowship Church.
The children from Joyland and Impact get on stage and tell the real story of Christmas! It's one of the highlights of our calendar. To put it into perspective: think of it as a kids' GLive! It'll be on Sunday, 12/14. But if you want to help as a stagehand, prop mover, acting coach, or anything else (AND you're prepared for finals), Joyland could always use more volunteers.
• If you want to help paint Sierra Barn, there's a workday next Saturday (12/13). You can sign up online and participate in the fun!
• Sophomore discipleship retreat is 1/13-1/15. Don't miss it. Sign up online.

That's all folks. Study hard... see you Friday!

Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Berkeley, Thanksgiving lunch

Thanksgiving Celebration is over, but the turkey is just beginning! For those of you sticking around during Thanksgiving (11/27) and still in Berkeley, we'll be having lunch together with everyone who's around from Gracepoint Fellowship Church. Berkeley? No! We'll be in Alameda, doing a potluck barbecue at Tilman Park. So there'll be lots of food and sports too so we can get started working off all that accumulated Thanksgiving high caloric intake!

If you can come (or want to come), post a comment so we can make sure you have a ride, and also so we can cook together to bring food to the potluck!

News and Thanksgiving Celebration!

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

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


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


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


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


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

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

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

In other news:

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

Thanksgiving Retreat & "More Than A Face"

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

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

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

Congratulations on your Baptism, Mike!

Mike
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

Mike got baptized this past Sunday during Gracepoint's worship service. We heard his story (as well as Albert's, Kim's, and Anne's) and rejoiced together over how his life has changed. What a happy day.

Also, guest appearances by Magnet Man and Bad Apple were made at the Open House following the service. The Open House was our annual "Come & See" sort of event, where each ministry group set up their booth, showing pictures and information so people could get familiar with all the different arms, legs, and wings of our community of faith.

Plenty of barbecue, plenty of sun, and even a Sierra Lodge booth where participants take the proffered hammer and try their skill at banging in nails with the least amount of hits. Bend a nail and you're disqualified. Check out the video: