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

I love the Sierra Lodge. More specifically - I love building the Sierra Lodge. My knowledge of 'building things' before Gracepoint started this house consisted of assembling IKEA desks and installing drywall anchors. But through the many trips to the Lodge, I got to see so much of the process: foundation, walls, floor joists, roof trusses, electrical, plumbing - and countless other steps in between. I learned what blocking was and why it's important, what insulation is made of, how to rack and square a wall, top-plating, how to toenail, and the list goes on.

Honestly, I don't know why I enjoy it so much. Maybe it's because of the tools (the air-pressured jolt of a nail gun is a distinct joy). Or maybe it's being able to take innocuous pieces of lumber, cut and nail them together to form a wall which will then connect with other walls to form a house. Or maybe it's just the simplicity of it all, and I can temporarily forget about work and all the other stresses, and just concentrate on driving that 16d nail into the wood with a few satisfying strikes of a framing hammer.

But this past year, the work on the house mostly finished. It felt weird to come to the house and not really have anything to work on. My tools lay unused in my garage. Until, that is, a couple weeks ago: work commenced on the new Sierra 'Barn'! This past weekend, I was able to take a couple days off and join other brothers from Gracepoint and Waypoint to complete the walls. The walls came pre-fabricated, so we would just need to get all the walls installed before the end of the weekend so that the roofing could continue as planned (but harder than it sounds!).

But it's not just labor for the sake of labor. We're a big believer in working hard together towards a common goal - the Sierra Lodge has already been used so much by so many groups (JOYLand, Element retreats, discipleship retreats, bible teacher's training, Waypoint...). This new structure will only increase the capacity of our land in the Sierras, allowing even more people to enjoy God's nature and enjoy good, clean, Christian fellowship.

Never been there? Don't worry - there will be chances this semester and throughout the year. Want to share in the joy of helping construct this wonderful place (or just want to use some power tools)? Let me know. Have some favorite moments from the Lodge? Leave a comment.

Now some pictures!

The first wall!

Raising the walls ...

Now that's a tool belt!

The innocuous pieces of lumber ...

End of second day.

I can't count the number of Gatorades we drank.

Installing the floor joists.

Almost done with the floor joists!

Middle of the third day, installing floors ...

Beautiful, beautiful tools.

The last wall!

Left to right: Andrew Park (HG8), Matt Lee and Ben Kim (Element), and me!

The walls are done!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/27/2008 09:19:00 PM

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

The aroma of sizzling hamburgers and hot dogs wafting through the late September breeze as you and your friends run around on green grass trying to catch and throw projectiles of varying size - how awesome is that?!

Seriously, I know a lot of you are starting to feel the tightness in your chest as you got back your first midterm, but fear not. Some fresh air and fun ought to do the trick. This Saturday, the Freshmen and Seniors of Koinonia are invited to a relaxing yet exciting day of fun in the (hopefully) sun.

The BBQ & Sports Day will be from 10am-2pm so you can still make it back in time for the football game if you have tickets. (Go #84, Michael Calvin! Remember your 10th grade English teacher!)

Especially given that it's the first of its kind to ever happen (this year), I really don't think you'll want to miss out!

Sign up online if you'd like to go. And ask me if you have any questions!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/24/2008 02:40:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Photo Re-Ca...

This past Friday was momentous indeed.  After Koinonia Bible Study, 50 of us packed into Sable Pointe in Alameda.  Here's a look back at the evening through photos - provided by Benjamin!

Packed though it was, it was still cozy...maybe because we all knew each other's names (and majors) through some name games led by Game Master Ray.

Andy temporarily forgot Tiffany's name...I mean, Jennifer's name...I mean...

The first "punishment" was a group recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution...one word per person.  [no picture necessary]  The second "punishment" was to recreate the Iwo Jima flag picture.  You be the judge on how well they did.  Other than being backwards, I really think they did a good job capturing the emotions that must have filled those soldiers - especially Albert, don't you agree?

Then we introduced our new friends to a Gracepoint staple - King Kong Shower.  We sure had some interesting moves!

We had a couple of brave freshmen who made it to the championship round...

And one of them even prevailed to be one of the Final Four!  [Pictured below: Billy "Fry an Omelet" Tang, Christine "FOOOOOOB" Chen, Elijah "Butterfly" Lim, and Stuart "Headache" Wong.]

And to cap off the evening, we had warm cookies and cold milk!

It was a fun evening overall, and we look forward to many more memory making moments together!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/23/2008 03:00:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] S.O.S. - Ba...

Ok, so a couple weeks ago, I proposed a Blog Tagline Contest.  There have been numerous suggestions, but I implore all of you to read these suggestions and then submit your ow tagline...or else I'll have to choose a winner from one of these!

  

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/23/2008 02:33:00 PM

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

For those of you who are new to Gracepoint and/or to Koinonia, this past summer was super packed, as we sent 185 people to 6 different countries on various summer mission trips.  From Homegroup R.E.D. alone, we had Chris Park, Jacob, Elisa, and Tim go to Cambodia; and Myra (former staff with R.E.D. now serving in Homegroup 6), Tracy, Steve Chua, and me (Emily) go to Taiwan.  

It'll be a great time of hearing testimonies from various college students from Acts2Fellowship, Kairos, and Koinonia sharing how they experienced God through their summer trips.  We'll also watch videos and slideshows, and have opportunities to learn more about missions opportunities for the upcoming year!  

It's going to be this Friday at 7pm @ 1st Presbyterian Church.  Be there or be...

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/23/2008 02:17:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Dorm Pick-U...

Since Gracepoint Berkeley's Sunday Worship Service will be starting at 1:30pm starting this week (good thing I reminded you, eh?), the dorm pick-ups will be from 1:00-1:15pm for the Unit 4 folks, and walk groups will be from 12:45-1:00pm for Units 1, 2, and 3.

Details about the whens and the wheres of dorm pick-ups and walk groups can be found on our Gracepoint website.

Also...today is Sarah's birthday! Some of us surprised her with a cake, and among other things a fake flower that looked so real it actually WAS real!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/18/2008 09:52:00 PM

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

This Friday after Koinonia Bible Study, which is at 7:00pm (note the time change) @ 155 Dwinelle (note the location change), we'll be having our first ever R.E.D. night o' games.

We'll be going to Sable Pointe, where Joe & Chris P. live, for a meet & greet. Actually, it'll be more like a meet, eat, compete and (hopefully) defeat...in some games, that is.

If you've been wondering, "Who exactly is a part of this Homegroup R.E.D. anyway?" this'll be the time and place to find out!

If you're wondering, "Is this game stuff going to be fun?" You must not yet know that the "R" in R.E.D. is the king of group games himself! Yes, you'll want to be there...or be...a bear. A care bear, that is.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/17/2008 01:11:00 PM

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

If you're interested in ordering one of the DT Journals for October & November, please read on!

You must pre-pay.  

     -If you have a paypal account, you can go ahead and pre-pay online

     -If you do not have paypal, you can pre-pay at the Sunday booktable starting this Sunday, 9/14.

More details can be found on the online order page as well.

The deadline for ordering is Wednesday, September 24.

The books will be available starting Sunday, September 28 (either @ the Sunday booktable or before Tuesday prayer meetings.)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/12/2008 04:30:00 PM

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

I was inspired by Pastor Jonathan's review of Chris Tomlin's new album, Hello Love to highlight an album that I've really enjoyed the past few months (it's gotta marinate on your playlist for a little while, know what I mean?): Roots by Shawn McDonald.

It's an album lyrically anchored on the Psalms, Proverbs and even the Beatitudes (reminiscent of Shane and Shane's awesome Psalms album released 2001). Still, it's stylized to fit the context of the track so it's not just 'bible with background music'. For example, "Roots", based on Psalm 1 and other Scriptures:

Oh, men like these
They are just like trees
Planted near streams of water
With roots that grow
Deep, deep into the ground

"Wash Me Clean" starts: "Awaken me from my sleep / And open up my weary eyes / Move me from my complacency / And bring my soul back to life ... In the fire that ignites my bones / It's in the water that brings life to my soul / It's in the blood that washes me clean". "Shadowlands" is a track based on Psalm 23; "Hallelujah" on the Beatitudes.

Musically, it has a very acoustic, bluesy-pop feel, and he mixes up the rhythms in pleasantly unexpected ways. The beats, strings and guitar are nicely layered, and even features a shaker here and there (Ray's favorite!). You'll find yourself bobbing your head to the grooves, and it's really fun to sing.

So preview the album if you like, and if you have it or bought it, leave a comment: love it, hate it, is on repeat on your playlist, etc.

And if you find it difficult to find new music or would love to have a friend know your musical tastes and recommend it to you, here's the next best thing: iTunes Genius! Based on your own music library, it'll auto-generate playlists for you and recommend stuff that you might like.

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/10/2008 04:32:00 PM

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

You aren't going to want to miss this Freshman year tradition! In addition to being a beautiful state park with a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay, it is the "Ellis Island of the West." For about 100 years starting in the mid-1800s, it was an Immigration Center for everyone coming into the US via the Pacific. Well, that's enough for the history lesson, as interesting as it all is.

The day, which is SATURDAY, 9/27 by the way, includes a ferry ride to San Francisco (you go under the Bay Bridge - ooh!), an easy and beautiful hike with breathtaking, stunning, spectacular, marvelous (you get the point) views of the Bay, and finish with a BBQ lunch and games/sports with all with your friends. Doesn't that sound pretty swell, cool, amazing, awesome, sick, happening, rad, gnarly?

If you don't believe me about the whole string of adjectives, check out some of these pictures from last year's trip!

View from the top of Angel Island. I just like this picture because of the trees, but there are plenty of tree-less vistas too, don't worry!


How many of your sophomore friends can you find in this picture? You don't want to be the only one missing from the Angel Island trips from this year, do you? :)

I realize this picture has a lot of shadow and all of that, but I like it because it shows that Daniel So is consistent in his picture poses. Even from his first big Koinonia outing, he was all there with the "V"!

Man, Wynn is too-cool-for-school with his transition shades! I like this picture especially because our friend Bryan (who's serving in our Gracepoint Austin Church) is in the picture.



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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/10/2008 02:49:00 PM

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

Our blog's current tagline is: The life and times told through pictures, stories, news, and more...

I'm the first person to acknowledge this is fairly generic and none too catchy. What used to be there is the text currently in the "About Us" section of the top side bar. That text isn't catchy either, but at least it's descriptive!

So, regret it though I might, I want to try something and open it up to the six readers (give or take six) of this blog to suggest your own tagline for this site. You can submit your suggestion via comment. The winner will not only get his/her text in the tagline of our blog, but an as-yet-to-be-disclosed prize. May the best tagliner win!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/07/2008 03:27:00 PM

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

Tomorrow's prayer meeting will begin at 6:30pm because we'll be having Gracepoint Monthly at 8pm. You're all invited to join us for a time of prayer, reflection, and praise!

For those of you who don't know, Gracepoint Monthly is a time where we hear different testimonies and stories of how God has been working throughout all the different ministries at Gracepoint Fellowship Church! It's a great time of celebrating God's goodness and faithfulness together!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/08/2008 12:46:00 PM

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

First, the Good Reads:
Both Pastor Ed & Kelly Kang, who lead the ministry here at Gracepoint Fellowship Church have posted to their blogs this week. I don't know about you, but I get really blessed reading their sharings. I hope that you guys are also able to get to know different aspects of their personalities and character through reading their different insights and sometimes hilarious stories!

Pastor Ed posted about this week's devotions passage "2 Timothy 2" and Kelly's most recent post is called "Rich in Good Deeds", which you might recognize (hopefully) from last week's devotions in 1 Timothy 6. She reflects on our entire church coming together to make all three New Student Welcome Nights possible (Two here and the first ever in Austin, Texas!) Man, and there are more NSWN's happening yet! Feel free to read these and other posts at their respective blogs.

Friday Plans:
We'll be having dinner alfresco again! We'll meet at 6:30pm on the VLSB lawn for a BYOF picnic before Bible Study. I think people will probably congregate near Durant Square at about 6:15ish to pick up various eats. You can always bring a to go box from Crossroads, or from home!

For those of you who can't join us for dinner, Bible study starts at 7:30pm.


What was that song again?
Have you ever wondered who sings the song you heard at NSWN or at church? Just a reminder that you can always check out our Gracepoint iTunes iMix. You can find it through your own iTunes, or you can always see the latest songs on the sidebar to the right -->

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/04/2008 11:16:00 AM

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

O, New Student Welcome Nights 1 & 2, we hardly knew ye...

They were great fun, but now the real fun begins. Hopefully, your schedule is settled, and you're excited to hit the books, hit the gym, and hit the...well, that's probably all the hitting you should do!

For those of you who've heard about "Small Groups", or for those of you who haven't, you're invited to our Koinonia Small Group Kick-Off & BBQ! We'll have a BBQ dinner, a time of getting to know other people, and an introduction to what Small Groups are all about.

Oooh, BBQ? I mean, small groups? Where do I go? When do I go? It's going to be on Wednesday @ 6pm, and it'll be at a place called Dana House. It's called that because it's...a house, and it's...on Dana Street. 2440 Dana Street to be exact.

Ask a friend, or ask me, if you have any question. Just post a comment, and I'll get back to you!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/02/2008 10:39:00 AM

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

Some of you have been asking if the Element (Gracepoint Fellowship Church's Youth Department) videos from 44 Days of Vision and Centrifuge are online somewhere. Alas, they are! You can watch the trailer for 44 Days of Vision, or various trailers and intro video for Centrifuge and the Element music-video version of "Gone."

Hearing about all the ways the youth were able to experience seeing others with compassion through their summer of service, it really made me want to do our own 44 Days of Vision, or some equivalent...at least 4 Days or something? What do you say?

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 9/01/2008 10:59:00 AM