[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Junior Disc...

Since I'm leaving for Taiwan in about 8 hours, I haven't had a chance to write a super cool post about the Junior Discipleship Retreat that just happened (and that Sieun and I were able to attend along with the juniors!). But guess what? My friend Kevan, from Koinonia HG1 wrote a fantabulous post already, and since he was the official photographer, he included some snazzola pictures too. How convenient is that?! Very, I say! Read on, folks!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/29/2008 04:15:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Please pray...

Tonight after prayer meeting, our last Summer Mission Team of 2008 will be departing from Northloop. And I'm on this team! I'm really excited, as I haven't been on a mission trip outside of North America since 2002 (that's before some of you were born, right?)

Thirteen brothers and sisters from Gracepoint Berkeley will be participating in an English Camp as teachers and TAs. We'll be joining up with 30+ other Christian TAs and teachers from across the States to teach classes on Western Culture & Leadership, as well as build friendships with 200+ incoming freshmen to NTHU.

On Friday, 10 more helpers will join our Hsinchu team over in Taiwan. These helpers are basically the folks who are going to help make all of the team-building activities, three fellowship nights (basically like mini-NSWNs or Welcome Nights), and sports night (kind of like RSF night) happen! On top of that, they'll be instrumental in welcoming and developing friendships with all of the students as well! Whew, I think they'll be a little busy! Amongst the helpers is David Tung of Homegroup 6.

I've never been to Taiwan myself, and hearing about all the people's experiences from past Taiwan SMT's, especially this summer from Myra, Tracy, Steven, and others, I'm that much more excited to go there and to experience all that God is doing. I'm especially excited that we'll be able to attend Friday Night Plus and Sunday Worship Service over there (we'll be there for three Sundays actually).

I feel like I'll be gone for a really long time. Stay safe on the camping trip, have fun (take lots of pictures), and don't forget to pray for us!

I'll try to post pictures every now and then, but I think we'll be pretty busy. :)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/29/2008 03:54:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Camping Tri...

All right! Our first official camping trip as Homegroup R.E.D.! (In case this is a mystery to you, we've christened ourselves Homegroup R.E.D. because those are the initials for our home group leads, Ray, Emily and Dave).

We've settled on Lake Faucherie - a beautiful lake with an island in the middle. Also, we're going to have two groups: one that can leave on Thursday at 5 or 6, and another on Friday at 6. So we'll need to know if you can make it, and which day you can leave. You should have gotten an email from Ray on the news alias about all this information, but I know some of you folks just can't be bothered by email, so hopefully this'll catch you if the email didn't. (Or if you're not on the news alias, and would like to be, just ask one of the staff).

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/28/2008 12:01:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] How Would Y...

I recently submitted a question to Gracepoint Forum. It was from a really long email that my friend wrote to me, and there was so much stuff in there that I didn't really know where to begin in addressing my friend's issues.

Daniel posted the comment as a post: Religion - Based on Uncertainty?. I invite you to read the post there and offer your thoughts on how you would answer my friend!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/28/2008 10:59:00 AM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Tech Tip: RSS

This probably seems pretty random, but every so often, I wanted to throw up a tech tip. This post is about RSS!

I'm sure you've heard the term before. Maybe you've also heard people say, "RSS Feed" or "RSS Channel". And maybe you've always wondered what that orange satellite looking icon meant. So what does RSS stand for? Really Simple Syndication. Basically, it's a standard way for 'updates' to be published.

Now RSS can be used for a whole variety of things, but the one use that I want to focus on was for blogs (like this one!). The structure of blogs in general is that they are based on 'posts' - that is, discrete chunks of new content. It's not like a normal website that has its internal contents constantly changing.

But then two problems arise:

1) How do you know when content is updated? It gets annoying sometimes to constantly check a site to see if there's a new post. Or, you'll feel bad when everyone is talking about the latest Disgracepoint post, but you were studying really hard and had no idea there was even a new post up! Oh, the injustice!

2) What if you regularly check a bunch of blogs? There are a whole bunch just even at Gracepoint Fellowship Church that Emily features now and then (or look at the bottom of the right sidebar). Again, it becomes annoying to check these one by one.

RSS solves these problems by having a simple and standard way to aggregate these updates. Many sites nowadays have RSS feeds. In Safari, you can tell by the RSS box on the right side:

In Firefox, it'll look like the RSS icon on the right side (but blue):

In IE ... first thing you should do is get and use Firefox.

If you click on those icons you'll notice a very plain looking list of all the posts (Note: if you have a choice between RSS and Atom feeds, choose the Atom feed. It's just a newer format).

Instructions for Safari users:

1) Bookmark the page after you click on the RSS button (and choose Atom if applicable).

2) Add the bookmark (cmd + d) to the Bookmarks Bar, or a folder within the Bookmarks Bar if you like organizing things that way. For example, I have a folder of blogs, and folder of news feeds that I regularly check.

3) Update preferences to your liking (cmd + ,). I would definitely recommend checking the "Highlight unread articles" checkbox. As you'll notice, the number of unread articles will appear next to the Bookmark, making this very convenient.

Instruction for Firefox users:

There are two ways to go with this. One is to use the default RSS reader in Firefox (called Live Bookmarks), or to use an add-on. I personally like the Sage add on, so we'll go with instructions for that.

1) Install Firefox 3 if you haven't already (optional).

2) Install Sage (choose the right version based on what version of Firefox you have).

3) Click on the blue satellite looking icon (choosing Atom if applicable), and add the bookmark to a folder that should already have been created called "Sage Feeds" (Note: it's in the bookmarks menu).

4) To see all your feeds, click on the nice green leafy Sage icon. And viola!

Conclusion: RSS is an easy way to aggregate all the feeds you want, tell you when things are updated, and have a simple unified format for everything. You can also experiment with other feed aggregators, but that's left as an exercise to the reader. If there's a feed aggregator that you particularly like, or even suggestions for future Tech Tips, leave a comment! And finally, to pratice, you should subscribe to this blog's RSS feed right now! I mean, right now!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/24/2008 02:51:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Not Mind Re...

...Or gross out completely!

Pastor Ed Kang is one of the best story tellers I know. My favorite genre of his stories are the immigrant stories. If you liked A $200 Beehive or An Immigrant Halloween, you'll probably like this one. It's particularly detailed and...juicy; it's the latest post on his blog and it's called A Story With Way Too Much Information.

This story is not for the faint of heart or stomach. Be warned that this story is Rated-G, either for gross or great. You decide!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/24/2008 02:51:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] More Stuff ...

For those of you who are interested, there is a site called Gracepoint Forum, whose subtitle explains it all: A forum where tough questions about the Christian faith can be discussed.

You can submit tough questions that you have, maybe ones that have arisen through discussing the Tim Keller SET material each week, or questions you've always had. Or now that SET is almost over, you can submit questions that people ask you when you take that "walk across the [room, field, lab, office, supermarket aisle, hall, street, dining common]".

Or maybe you don't have any questions, but you're interested in some of the answers. I liked this one called Our Amazing Designer in particular. I can't say I understand it completely, but it's pretty amazing!




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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/24/2008 02:33:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Mind Renewal

You can find the memory verses that all of your Koinonia staff are memorizing from each week's Devotion passage, and join us in the challenge!

What a great way to be "transformed by the renewing of your minds" (quick quick, where's that from?) and to think about whatever is true, right, noble, pure, and the like... (quick quick, where's that from?).

I was reading Pastor Jonathan's (of Waypoint) blog, and I really liked his most recent post, which is called, "Think About Whatever..." I recommend it for anyone who feels like there's so much on your mind - basically that means everyone!

Some more Good Reads for mind renewal:

I've been (re)reading Do Hard Things (which you can buy at our booktable on Sundays) and really really really recommend it for everyone who hasn't read it yet. Especially as we gear up for a new academic year, it'll inspire and challenge everyone - whether you're technically a teenager or not! You can also check out the Harris brothers' The Rebelution blog and get fired up!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/23/2008 03:48:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Sophomore D...

Wow, the discipleship retreats kicked off this weekend with the sophomores. I was lucky enough to be able to go, and it was really awesome. Lots of fun, food, inspiring messages, vision sharing, and even a Q & A with Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly. But rather than me telling you about it, pictures are worth a thousand words - so here we go!

Several things to look for:

• Ray's gangster expressions
• Daniel's posing tendencies with his hands (with one notable exception!)
• Pastor Ed's gangster look!

In the box is the new motor we bought to amp up a normal rowboat. It's quite heavy, and (almost) everyone is working hard to hold it up!

This is the picture that Pastor Ed graciously took with Tim even after Tim capsized his kayak. When asked why he would do such a thing to Pastor Ed, Tim replied, "He's human too!"

After the previous picture, Pastor Ed once again assumes his pastoral duties. He reportedly said, "I now baptize thee ... " - and, well, you see what happened next.

Much to learn, young padawan ...

Gracepoint Fellowship Church Praise - Unplugged. Well, not really, but it had a very nice, intimate feel. Interestingly, this is almost the same group from the Element Retreat band (Ray, Mike and me). Also, it was the debut of the djembe for percussion.

An awesome group shot of all the sophomores at the discipleship retreat on the front deck and steps of the Sierra Lodge.

Sophomore sisters in Koinonia by the lake.

Sophomore brothers in Koinonia.

Note the exception?

Another group shot by the lake.

Home group RED brothers trying to look tough ... (except Vincent)

Sophomores' reaction when they saw this picture: "Awwww..."

Staff picture - the prompt for the picture of course was to be 'ganster'. Pastor Ed remarked that he didn't really know how, so Ray helped him out with an accessory.

The hike was pristine, but wow, this is beautiful! Fried rice, Kung Fu Panda style.

Enough said.

Tim shared some of his thoughts about the retreat in an email:

I think one of the best parts of the retreat was the atmosphere. It was eye opening and thought provoking while still being fun and relaxed. Some people expected another winter retreat with all day messages, while others expected a snow trip kind of retreat. It was actually a healthy mix of both. Looking back on it, it feels like we spent a week up there, which is why I can't believe it was only about 2 days.

People always tell me that Sophomore year is the most difficult/challenging year due to new living situations, insecurities, and spiritual growth. But from the experiences at the retreat (ex. vision sharing, Q and A with Pastor Ed and Kelly, talking during meals/hike), I got to see that each one of us is as insecure, irrational, and clueless about the future as the next peer. Now I feel that we can all just be honest with ourselves and make the most of this year. That barrier of being casual acquaintances with most of my peers outside of my homegroup was broken this past weekend. One thing I learned was that, in order to really get to know my peers, I need to take initiative and go beyond the casual interactions of games and sports and dig deep in sharing how I see God working in my life and what He's been telling me. It's is so true that friends can go for months, and sometimes even years, without getting past the "fun and games" part of life.

It was great getting to know Pastor Ed and Kelly. Contrary to what I expected, they're actually very fun to be around. There is that aspect of them being as old as my parents and them being the leader of my leader's leader's leader, but I think it's healthy. Seeing them talk about their visions for us and our future, watching them live their daily lives, and learning the word of God through them gave me a new conviction on how I want to live my life.

This past weekend really made me appreciate all the peers God blessed me with and the Sierra Lodge. Life at Sierra Lodge is just different. You eat together, work together, learn together, have fun together, and praise God together. It's worry free. It's you, your brothers and sisters, and God.

Feel free to comment - especially the sophomores who went on the trip!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/22/2008 04:41:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Upcoming Fi...

Hi everyone,

Just want to give you a heads up that Homegroup RED is planning an overnight camping trip to the Sierras! 

When: Friday - Saturday, August 1 - 2nd

Where: (possibly) Lake Bowman and/or Lake Faucherie (has waterfall and island!)

The trip will involve camping in tents, bonfire/banana boats/singing time, hiking and canoeing out to an isla

nd in the middle of the lake, and many memory making moments!

Check out a couple of the pictures from Kairos 2's trip there!

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Posted By Ray to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/22/2008 02:14:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Order your ...

Have you found the DT journals helpful this summer? We're going to continue making these available for the rest of 2008.

If you want to order a DT journal (there are two options: one with just the commentary and questions, and one with lines to write as well) you need to pre-order & pre-pay on the signup page.

The deadline is WEDNESDAY!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/21/2008 04:38:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Some Good R...

I know that you can see in the "blogs we read!" section [to the right -->] that Kelly Kang has been updating her blog, but just in case you don't look there, I wanted to point you guys to her blog once more.

I've been blessed reading her short reflections that are often based on the devotion texts for the weeks. I especially liked Glory of God v. Glory of Men based on Isaiah 40:3-5, and God is Never Cynical based on Isaiah 1:18.

I thought about how there is so much out there on the web that is just time-wastage, but to fill our minds with "good reads" is good for our souls. So, I encourage you to read her posts, and leave comments too! But be sure to do your own devotions as well; don't just do DT by reading her blog!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/21/2008 04:15:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Two New Web...

Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Austin, TX's website is up and running if you want to take a look!

Also, announcing...Dish-Gracepoint Fellowship - whaaat?! If you know our friend Tom (Joe & Chris P. peer who serves as staff in a2f1 ), you know that he's serious about his food. He'll share recipes and his cooking tips - how to cook fast, cheap, and tasty...and for lot of people! He's posted on good deals on meat, how to care for your iron skillet, and so on.

This is going to be a great site for everyone who's looking for tips on how to cook for a small (or large) group dinner. Check it out!






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Posted By kimkim to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/17/2008 03:06:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Pray for th...

A little history lesson for y'all...

Way back when, we decided to split Joyland (K-3rd) and the 4th-6th graders (kind of like in elementary school too), so that we could better address the different needs of the older students. I was one of the 4th grade teachers back then...and Isaiah was in my class! (Makes me feel pretty...uh...blessed, yeah that's it!)

Anyway, we were trying to think of a hip new name for this 4th-6th grade ministry. But all the names we thought of somehow ended up being car names, SUV names to be more precise - Explorers, Discovery, Pathfinders, Trail Blazers, Navigators, Tundra (just kidding about that one).

So, folks, that's the story of how the name FTS came to be. It stands for... Fourth Through Sixth. No joke.

Anyway, Joyland is back to being K-6th, but one of the annual highlights of the youngters' years (in addition to Joyland Christmas Celebration) is the FTS Retreat. Many memories have been made throughout the years. Many students have made decisions to give their lives to Christ at these retreats. I was able to go to a couple of them myself, and pray with a couple of kids who wanted to make Jesus the Lord of their lives.

One year, I led praise and while singing "I Have a Maker" and looking out at all the kids' faces, thinking about how precious each is to God, I started to cry. Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing. I remember one of the younger boys stopped singing altogether and was just staring at me. I had to try to explain to the kids why I was crying...and of course, all the teachers throughout the room were trying really hard not to crack up laughing. Anyway...the memories!

This year, my friend John (of Homegroup 5) is going to be the speaker! Please pray for him, for creativity, energy, and for God to give him the clearest way to convey the amazing message of God's love and divine design for each of their lives. Also pray for safety, as they'll all be going on hikes and driving a long way with a bunch of kiddos.

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Posted By kimkim to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/17/2008 12:09:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Gracepoint ...

Gracepoint Fellowship Church's Summer Intramural Sports are underway! Click here to see highlights from the first two weeks of play.

Remember, we'll be playing this Friday @ 6:30pm. Afterwards, we'll have dinner and DT sharing @ the Suhs' house. Ray and some guys will be cooking dinner - ooh!

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Posted By kimkim to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Berkeley Koinonia HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 7/16/2008 12:07:00 PM

[Koinonia @ Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] :: Gracepoint Fellowship Church] July 4th ...

On July 4th, Koinonia's Homegroup 6 (Michael & Joanna's), Homegroup 7 (us) and Homegroup 8 (Jin & Yumi's) went to Pacifica to play sports and then to Ocean Beach for a bonfire. We played ultimate frisbee, football, and volleyball. Some gals helped Jonny and Kristen make a sand castle/volcano/thing, and what's a trip to the beach without...King Kong Shower? (Pretty much any time people are sitting or standing in a circle...)

Then we went over to Ocean Beach (thanks again to Ray, David T., and John C. for going early to secure a spot and get the fire started for us). We had fahncy grilled veggies, variety of sausages, a birthday 'surprise' for Francisca. We capped off the evening with songs around the bonfire. We sang oldies and newies, and even attracted passersby who asked for lyrics and sang along with us. Then we cleaned up as quickly as possible and ran to our cars before the tow trucks came. It was like an action movie getting out of that parking lot!

Here are some pictures from the day:

The group picture. Look at Albert!

The Three Amigos

The girls in one last goofy picture with Sarah

Volleyball.

John telling his teammate, "You're awesome!"

Wilson, our volleyball.

Ultimate Frisbee.

Kristen, looking out into the ocean, pondering life...asking the "big questions"... "Where's Mommy?"

You didn't get the email? We were all supposed to wear our Koinonia sweatshirts!

Daniel, Bryan, Changrui, Chris. Awww.

And by popular demand, here are the lyrics to the "oldie but a goodie" we sang at our July 4th bonfire @ Ocean Beach. You and your friends can have endless joy and laughter as you sing this round:

And they said, "Hey Lord,
What's the greatest commandment of all
You know the one we all hang on the wall
The most important you can never recall"

And the Lord said,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart
And all your soul and all your mind
And love all mankind as you would love
Yourself and…

Love - the Lord your God
With all your heart – and all your soul
And mind, and love all mankind

We've got Christian lives to live
We've got Jesus' love to give
We've got nothing to hide
Because in love we all abide

Milk, drink that milk
Read the Word, and grow stronger
Mr. Postman sent me, ya ya ya
A new copy of the NIV, ya ya ya
I need the Bible to grow stronger
I can't wait any longer

Shoobee doowop, shoobee doowop, ya ya ya
Shoobee doowop, shoobee doowop, ya ya ya
Shoobee doowop, shoobee doowop, ya ya ya
Shoobee doowop, yai yai yai yai

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Posted By emmeline to Koinonia @ Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] :: Gracepoint Fellowship Church at 7/15/2008 01:34:00 PM