Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Gracepoint Berkeley Koinonia HG7

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

2009-02-05T09:49:00.001-08:00

Life itself has been so exciting that I haven't had time to update regularly. But alas, this weekend's events warrant a post!

Starting with tonight, we have the exciting opportunity to hear from Dr. Craig Hazen regarding pluralism, a most relevant topic especially on college campuses. It's a special opportunity to invite classmates and friends!

Saturday, there will be an Apologetics Training at Willard Middle School from 10am-4pm. Please sign up if you haven't done so already!

Lastly, but not at all leastly, this Sunday our very own Wynn will be getting baptized, along with several other brothers! Please come to prayer meeting at the new time (10am) and join us for our special Baptism and Worship service that now starts at 11:15am.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 2/05/2009 09:41:00 AM

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

2009-01-15T10:44:00.001-08:00

Welcome back!

FRIDAY NIGHT: We'll be having dinner & Bible study at my place. We'll start at 7pm, so rides from Berkeley will be at 6:30pm from Anna Head Parking Lot.

Most of you can come straight to my house from G-Live Tech & Arts Camp. Maybe we can walk!

SATURDAY: As you heard, the weather has been great...a little too great. So there's not much in the way of good snow. Therefore our Snow Day has turned into a Grass Day! We'll be having an all college BBQ/Sports day somewhere around here. So we can still throw things at each other and tackle one another. It'll just be on grass. :)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 1/15/2009 10:40:00 AM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] GFC's Key V...

2009-01-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

In case some of you were confused about my mention of our church's key verse for 2009 in my previous post, you can read part of Kelly Kang's New Year's greeting and reflection on 1 John 1:3-4.

1 John 1:3-4

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 1/05/2009 12:27:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] 2009 is in ...

2009-01-05T12:21:00.001-08:00

Only five days into the new year, but at Gracepoint, it feels like so much has happened already! We had a memorable New Year's Eve Watchnight Service where we heart testimonies from Austin, Taiwan, as well as the personal Deuteronomy 8 reflections from several brothers and sisters (our own Ray included). We were able to spend the last hours of 2008 reflecting on the year, and as we prayed and repented, we received the new year with a clean slate, full of hope and newness through God's grace!

January 1st, we kicked off the year with Mandoo Making Madness (만두 is Korean for dumpling) and Yut Nori (윳노리) with all the folks here from Koinonia, Kairos and the Austin team.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the year, and Pastor Ed gave a message based on our church's key verse for 2009 (1 John 1:3-4). 1 John 1 is like our key chapter for the year. I've committed to memorizing the chapter; anyone down (or up?) for the challenge with me? I encourage everyone to listen to the message via podcast, as it was the perfect message to start off the year.

We also started off our Advanced Course 101 camp, which people are finding...challenging...and exciting! :)

In the midst of the excitement of getting drilled and grilled on the course material, we also sent off our Cambodia Winter Mission Team - please remember to pray for them. Our very own Steven Chua and Wynn Susilo are on the trip.

That's it for the mini-recap of things happening around these parts.

I encourage everyone to start of the new year spiritually engaged. Try picking a key verse for 2009, or a key word you want to focus on, and write out your prayer request for upcoming retreats (class discipleship and church-wide). Read a good book. Call up an old friend. Call up a new friend!

See you guys soon!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 1/05/2009 12:03:00 PM

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

2008-12-31T14:51:00.001-08:00

Can you believe it's hours until 2009?! For those of you who are around, please join us for our annual tradition - our New Year's Eve Watchnight Service. It's always a wonderful time of sharing and hearing testimonies of God's faithfulness throughout this year, and a time to receive the new year from God prayerfully and full of hope. And of course, we have a countdown and then we say "Happy New Year's" and hug every single person, and then eat snacks together to ring in the new year.

And then for all of you locals, on New Year's Day we'll be having a combined Koinonia, Kairos, and Austin (yes, that means Baby Chloe, Sarah and Bryan Song will be there!) Mandoo Making, Mandoo Eating, and Game Playing night at 301 Holly Oak (where I live). Festivities will start at 4pm, so let one of the staff know if you need a ride!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 12/31/2008 02:44:00 PM

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

2008-12-16T10:04:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone, I know it's been awhile since I posted anything here, but I hope that everyone is hanging in there on your finals. Just a few more days!

This week, as most of you head out to your "home homes" for a few weeks, 46 (at last count) of us will be flying out to Taiwan for our Winter Mission Trip!!! We'll be meeting students on college campuses and inviting them to our Christmas Celebration. Please pray for our team, as there are many preparations left to be done. But please pray first and foremost that each of us going would experience the joy of our personal Christmases - how God became flesh to be with us and to save us from our sin. Pray that we'll get to share the true meaning of Christmas to many Taiwanese students.

From HG7 - Joe Hwang, Joy Tang, Tiffany Chan, and myself will be going. From Koinonia - Allen Chen, Steven Choi, Chris Cheng, Ruth Tang, Annie Chang, Elaine Kwan, and Angel Cheng will be going as well! Please pray for our entire team!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 12/16/2008 09:14:00 AM

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

2008-12-03T15:38:00.001-08:00

Bryan and Sarah are now the proud parents of Chloe Song, who was safely delivered last night! She weighed in at a healthy 8 lb. 9 oz. and is 20 inches long. I heard that Sarah (and Bryan) are doing well - happy and thankful but tired!

Let's continue to pray for Bryan, Sarah, little Chloe, and all of our brothers and sisters out at Gracepoint Austin!

* how cute is her tongue?

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 12/03/2008 03:33:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] A Few TC Hi...

2008-12-02T16:08:00.001-08:00

Wow, Thanksgiving Celebration was pretty awesome - many memorable acts. It was really nice just spending time together, being silly together, and having that incredible feast at Emily's place. Unfortunately, it's back to school and work for us all - but here are some video highlights from TC to jog your memory!

Vamos a la Gracepoint: Needs no introduction. Just read the disclaimer carefully.
Praxis TC Act: Shocking ... to say the least.
Homegroups 3, 4 and 6 TC Act: Based on the DT's this past year. Many highlights from this clip including: Mike in dreads, awesome transitions, and a very tasty scroll.

Enjoy!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 12/02/2008 03:59:00 PM

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

2008-11-29T00:15:00.002-08:00

Thanksgiving Day is over. As always, it seems to pass by too quickly! Turkeys to prepare, friends to meet, families to just hang out with. And in the rush of things, we easily forget the very name of the holiday we are celebrating.

Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. Have you given thanks for the blessings in your life? Make sure to take some time out of your busy schedule, and just create space to sit down, and just give thanks. I'd recommend jotting it down because it makes it that much more concrete. As Pastor Ed Kang talked about regarding things to be thankful for last bible study, Notice it, feel it, express it. Enumerate the things that you're thankful for. You'll be grateful you did!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/29/2008 12:07:00 AM

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

2008-11-29T00:15:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. Have you given thanks for the blessings in your life? Make sure to take some time out of your busy schedule, and just create space to sit down, and just give thanks. I I'd recommend jotting it down because it makes it that much more concrete. As Pastor Ed Kang talked about regarding things to be thankful for last bible study, Notice it, feel it, express it. Enumerate the things that you're thankful for. You'll be grateful you did!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/29/2008 12:07:00 AM

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

2008-11-26T11:49:00.001-08:00

As it is raining, which is great for our drought situation but not for our intended plans to have BBQ & Sports, we'll be cancelling our Thanksgiving day time plans. But don't cry, because everyone will be getting together at 6pm @ Northloop for a Thanksgiving Dinner Potluck instead!

Please remember to let David know if you'll be around and want to join in the Gratitude Revelry!

Everyone else, I wish you safe travel, and a wonderful time with family and loved ones. I hope you'll all be grateful and therefore helpful presences wherever you'll be. Remember the three G's for Gratitude - Gotta Notice It, Gotta Feel It, and Gotta Express It!

See you all in DECEMBER! (Can you believe it?!)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/26/2008 11:38:00 AM

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

2008-11-25T00:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

If you're not going home for Thanksgiving, have Thanksgiving come to you, or at least pretty close (Alameda).

For those of you who will be here this Thanksgiving weekend, join us for a great time of fellowship and feasting in a cozier setting. Bond with others from different homegroups, college and Praxis groups!

Thursday @ 11:30am - Potluck Lunch & Sports at Tillman Park in Alameda. Sign up!

Afterwards - Thanksgiving dinner @ Steve & Suzanne's house.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM

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

2008-11-20T11:54:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving at our church is rolling around again, and at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, that means Thanksgiving Celebration! It's this Sunday, starting at 1:30pm at Kofman Auditorium in Alameda, so you'll need a ride there (just ask one of the stafff). We'll start with the normal Sunday worship service, then go into the songs, dances, skits, and all around hilarity that each of the ministry groups have been working hard on. You won't want to miss it!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/20/2008 11:43:00 AM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Fast, Not-n...

2008-11-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, we've all had turkey for Thanksgiving. And yes, you've probably had some turkey that was dry and flavorless and redeemably only with a copious amount of gravy. And this Thanksgiving, if you're cooking a turkey, you're probably scared that yours might come out that way too.

But fear not! My good friends and housemates, Tim So and Tom Kim (staff inters of acts2fellowship) have posted a great recipe for making "FAST, not-nasty turkey". They did a trial run for our house dinner a couple days back, and I can attest that it was pretty awesome. Enjoy!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/20/2008 10:33:00 AM

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

2008-11-10T06:33:00.001-08:00

This week's DT text is 1 Peter 1. If you purchased a DT Journal for Oct-Nov, there is an error in this week's DT text. You will notice (hopefully) that the text pasted into the journal is actually 2 Timothy 4.

Not to worry - the DT Reflection Questions (which I highly recommend) and DT Commentary (also highly recommend) correctly reference 1 Peter 1.

Spread the word to your friends who might be thinking, "Wow, Peter & Paul said the exact same thing?! Crazy!!!"

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/10/2008 06:27:00 AM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] 1st EVER HG...

2008-11-06T23:20:00.001-08:00

Join us for our first practice for the Thanksgiving Celebration you guys have been hearing so much about. This year our Koinonia Thanksgiving Celebration will be Friday, 11/21, and our church-wide Thanksgiving Celebration will be the following Sunday, 11/23. It will be a memory-making time where our church gets together to celebrate God's faithfulness throughout this past year. We have a special Thanksgiving Worship Service, which is followed by a Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings, as well as a feast of song & dance!

On Friday (tomorrow), we'll be meeting at 6pm @ Anna Head West Parking Lot (on Channing, between Telegraph and Bowditch). We'll head over to In-N'-Out for a quick dinner, and then go to Sable Pointe for some singing, dancing, stomping, and so forth! Join us, even if you're thinking, "I hate dancing. I can't sing..." None of us can either - that's the fun of it!

Let any of the HG R.E.D. staff know if you have any questions.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/06/2008 11:12:00 PM

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

2008-11-06T14:21:00.001-08:00

Ever been crabbing before? It's really an interesting experience. The main premise of crabbing is that crabs are really dumb. We have nets with some bait (we used squid), they climb in, grab on to something, and just don't let go. To see, after a seemingly interminable 10 minutes of waiting, crabs in your nets as you pull them up, is exhilarating. We went with Homegroups 6 and 8, and there's a nice post about it here.

Vincent, Cha and I formed one team, and in about 6 or 7 rounds, we got 10 or 11 crabs (half of which we had to throw back because they were too small). Next time you go, remember: the key is waiting for the full 10 minutes!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/06/2008 11:33:00 AM

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

2008-11-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

For this week only, you can pre-order your new Koinonia Sweatshirt, this time a "zippie" (a zip up hoodie).

Here's what the front design looks like:

Don't miss out, because the LAST DAY to order is THIS FRIDAY!

And then, they'll be...gone...like yesterday...like summer break...like Al Pacino's cash...

Yes. Order!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 11/03/2008 10:16:00 AM

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

2008-10-31T10:32:00.001-07:00

Some good news! We gain an hour this weekend.

Remember to set your clock BACK an hour before you go to sleep on Saturday night. Or else you'll show up a whole hour early for church. :)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/31/2008 10:26:00 AM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Don't Miss ...

2008-10-27T22:50:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, 11/6, Koinonia, acts2fellowship, and Kairos will be joining forces to sponsor a special event entitled GONE. It will be a night of live music, personal stories/testimonies, and a thought-provoking and relevant talk. And yes, there shall be some food involved! Join us, and spread the word and invite your friends, because well, if you miss it...it'll be...yep, you guessed it. GONE!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/27/2008 10:45:00 PM

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

2008-10-27T22:45:00.001-07:00

Join us for a special prayer meeting, where we'll get to hear from the Woods, who are missionaries with BMDMI, a medical and dental mission organization with which some of our church members went on summer missions to Honduras. I encourage everyone to come and hear their challenging and inspiring testimonies.

This will be preceded by a time of small group sharing and prayer @ 6:30pm.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/27/2008 10:41:00 PM

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

2008-10-24T11:27:00.001-07:00

I don't post that much on our HG blog (I guess I should more), but I thought I'd post a prayer request and just give you some info on what's going on with me.
If you didn't know, I've had tendinitis (a form of RSI - repetitive stress injury) in my arms for over a year now I think, and it hasn't been getting any better. The pain is starting to increase a bit, and I really need to take seriously this situation and try and recover as soon as possible. I think it was originally caused by the amount of typing that I had to do at work combined with bad posture/ergonomics...
In any case, I will be trying to rest my arms for the next 3 weeks from using the computer, any typing, any lifting, or anything else that might strain or aggravate my arms, and hopefully that will give my arms some time to recover. Please pray for a quick recovery and that my arms would in fact be healed, and that I would be diligent about not using them or straining them, as you can imagine, it's very difficult for me to not be able to help people out by moving things, lifting things, cleaning things, or playing sports, etc. = )
So, if you see me around and I'm doing something with my arms that I probably shouldn't, please feel free to gently remind me!
And I hope all of you can be careful with how much time you spend on the computer, how much typing you do and if you are, that you are using good posture and have good ergonomics!

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Posted By ddub0111 to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/24/2008 11:19:00 AM

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

2008-10-08T13:46:00.001-07:00

I was really blessed by reading Ashley's Life @ Gracepoint post about the about the Impact of Impact Drivers, entitled "Giving It All, One Ride at a Time." Life @ Gracepoint is a compilation of different stories our church members share. I encourage you to check out some of the other posts. You really get a window into life at our church, especially as the stories are grouped according to our 7 Core Values.

I also wanted to let some of you who might be new to Koinonia and Gracepoint that both Pastor Ed Kang and his wife, Kelly Kang have blogs. Pastor Ed's latest post is called "Sense of Place", and he reflects on the value of life-on-life community, especially in the midst of an increasingly online world.

Kelly's latest post, based on last week's Devotions in Titus 1, is called, "Truth Leads to Godliness" I was challenged once again to embrace the truth and engage in honest confession on a daily basis.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/08/2008 01:30:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Pre- & Post...

2008-10-03T10:36:00.001-07:00

I know that there's a lot going on, and it might get confusing, so I will post our Pre- & Post- Bible Study plans for the month of October soon and very soon!

For now, I've got the plans for TONIGHT, 10.03:

Pre-Bible Study
Guys: 5:45pm - meeting @ Anna Head Parking Lot for rides to small group dinner
Girls: 6:30pm - Freshmen @ the YWCA & Juniors @ Ester's apartment for small group BYOF dinner.

Bible Study
7:45pm @ 1st Presbyterian Church

Post-Bible Study
Bowling w/ HG5 (John & Ellen's) & HG2 (Joe & Annie's)

Bring $10. Bowling ball and shoes will be provided, but socks will not so bring your own!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 10/03/2008 10:18:00 AM

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

2008-09-27T21:48:00.001-07:00

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 & ...

2008-09-24T14:51:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-23T15:42:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

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 ...

2008-09-23T14:27:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-18T21:59:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-17T13:26:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-12T17:30:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-10T16:48:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-08T13:08:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-08T12:51:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-04T11:40:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-02T15:18:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

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

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

2008-08-29T10:56:00.001-07:00

Tonight is not only the long-awaited New Student Welcome Night 2 but it is the first ever Homegroup RED alfresco dinner! Actually, it's the first dinner with everyone back from summer break, so it's kind of momentous in its own right.

Here's the plan:
Meet @ 5:30pm @ Durant Square and people can get whatever food they've a hankering for.
Then we'll walk over to the lawn in front of Sproul Hall and dine. Then we can go to NSWN2 together.

Invite all your friends!

Be there or be...a chair.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/29/2008 10:50:00 AM

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

2008-08-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

I'm starting my 9th (non-consecutive) year at Cal, and call me a nerd, but I still get excited at the beginning of every semester when I get new classes, notebooks, pens, classmates, books, and professors! I love that feeling of wonder...What will I learn? Will I find my academic passion?

This semester is no different. I'm especially excited because I'm taking Chinese 1A! During my time in Taiwan, I encouraged my students to practice their English and not fear making mistakes by demonstrating my own limited and fumbling Chinese. I've always loved languages, but have had this mental block towards learning Chinese. But this summer in Taiwan, I was able to get over it, and I was determined to sign up for Chinese 1A.

So, on Wednesday morning, with a spring in my step I walked into 247 Dwinelle, ready to bust out some "zao!" I walked in and forgot that 9am classes with undergrads can sometimes feel like a zombie movie. Not everyone's a morning person, I remembered. I found a seat and then heard, "Emily!"

I turned to find John Ng, proud HG Red sophomore. Surprise! I was so happy to see him, but I realized from his perspective, he must have been filled with some combination of shock and confusion (and somewhere deep down, some joy too!). I put myself in his shoes and thought that it would have been strange, slightly surreal even, if I popped into a class sophomore year only to find that Pastor Manny was in my class (though I think the age gap is greater (only slightly...ahem ahem!) between John and myself).

Nevertheless, I'm still excited to learn Chinese, and now, I'll be learning it with John (and a couple of other folks from Koinonia and Kairos)! At least I'll be motivated to go to class every day knowing that John will know when I miss, and vice versa!

I love school!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/28/2008 11:00:00 AM

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

2008-08-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

In just a few hours, our long-awaited, long-standing tradition New Student Welcome Night will commence! The preparations began weeks ago, and finally the day is here. Though technically sponsored by the three college fellowships Koinonia, Acts2Fellowship, and Kairos, it's really an effort of the entire church in action. We have hundreds of Gracepoint volunteers from San Francisco, our Berkeley Praxis, and Element grilling meat, packing bentos, moving chairs, setting up fancy lights, sound and audio-visual setup, and so much more. It takes each person to make the music, hilarity ("The Skit"), the (free) food, the welcoming energy and atmosphere, and otherwise memory-making moments a reality!

I remember my freshman year NSWN. I had a pretty rough summer after high school, so I hadn't done much laughing, but that night, I almost hurt myself laughing so much! I remembered thinking that the skit was so funny and yet...not thaaaat exaggerated. I'm not kidding when I say that coming to NSWN was a turning point in my life. Whoa, really? Yes, really. Finding a church and taking my Christian identity seriously was not on my list of things to do. In fact, I was kind of ready to take a break from it all and just forget about God. I was pretty disillusioned with religion. But meeting (young) people who were taking God seriously really made me pause and think about what role God had been playing in my life during all the years of going to church. I'm not saying that after NSWN my life was transformed - that process is still happening! But I definitely wonder what my college years would have been like had I not crossed paths with Jeannie Lee on my first day on the Berkeley campus, come to New Sudent Welcome Night, and eventually come to our college group and our church!

Anyway, my stroll down Memory Lane is done, and I've returned to 2008! It's been great fun meeting new friends and getting back in touch with old ones. I'm excited for the coming year, and hope that many people can consider the message of tonight - that college is an exciting, precious, unique time in your life...one that can really set the direction for the rest of your life, so maybe this God and Christianity stuff is worth checking out!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/27/2008 12:32:00 PM

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

2008-08-26T16:55:00.001-07:00

Hello - in case you haven't noticed, the main Koinonia site has been revamped. All the Welcome Week activities are there as well!

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/26/2008 04:53:00 PM

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

2008-08-23T14:36:00.001-07:00

Praise the Lord that there was just so much that happened at Gracepoint Fellowship Church this summer that an evening of Gracepoint Monthly simply would not suffice!

So, we'll be having a Gracepoint Monthly Extended on Saturday, August 30th, from 9am-6pm @ GGBTS! (If you haven't signed up yet, you can click on the above link.) A day filled with testimonies, videos, and updates on how we've experienced God through mission trips, special events, new ministries, and more? You wouldn't want to miss it, so sign up today!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/23/2008 02:28:00 PM

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

2008-08-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

A wee bit sad that summer's over? Never fear, Welcome Week is here! As thousands of new students arrive on the Berkeley Campus, Koinonia @ Berkeley is hosting lots of different activities. These are great events you can invite your new friends to and introduce them to Koinonia. You can also come and meet new friends here. Of course, the highlights are the TWO New Student Welcome Nights (Wed & Fri) co-sponsored by Koinonia, Acts2Fellowship (both Blue & Gold) and Kairos! Check out any or all of these events!

Got questions? Other than the question everyone is asking - "Uh...what's 'kakigori'?"*
Feel free to ask q's via comment and there shall be a response.

*Kakigori: Japanese word for the dessert commonly known as "shaved ice."

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/23/2008 02:09:00 PM

[Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.]] Emily's Par...

2008-08-23T13:49:00.001-07:00

I don't know how many of you faithful readers remember, but I lost two state quarters a while back, and had joyfully posted about finding a Wyoming quarter. I ended the post on a hopeful search for a long-lost Idaho quarter. Though few and far between, I am happy to report that today, the 23rd of August, 2008, I found an Idaho quarter in my pocket! I'm all caught up and thus, the modern day parable of the lost coin comes to an end.

Again, I know that finding one of these quarters does not even compare to the joy of the woman who lost her silver coin, a tenth of her livelihood, but I definitely identify (on a small scale) with the joy of finding something that was lost.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/23/2008 01:41:00 PM

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

2008-08-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

While I was in Taiwan, I learned three new (to me) songs from our Gracepoint Hsinchu praise team, and I wanted to share one of them with you. I have four songs currently on repeat, one of which is "God With Us," which I forgot I loved so much that I posted about it too!

The song for today is "Here In My Life" which is on Hillsong's "Saviour King" album. It reminds me of how amazing salvation is, and that God indeed rescued me - where would I be without Him? It fills me with gratitude and brings me back to the proper position of total trust and dependence on Him.

Our dear friend Esther started the song off, so I think of her every time I hear it, which is a good way to remember to pray for my friends over there in Taiwan! The song has a similar feel, both musically and thematically, as "Where the Love Lasts Forever," which is also on that album. What with "You Are My Strength" (one of the other three favorite new-to-me songs I just learned - Pastor Jonathan from Waypoint loved this song long before I even knew of it!), "Saviour King" and "Hosanna" all being on the album as well, this one is a pretty good album overall!

Anyway, here are the lyrics:

(The lines are broken kind of funny because they follow the phrasing in the song. Just in case those kinds of things bother you.)

I have never walked on water
Felt the waves beneath my feet but
At your Word Lord, I'll receive Your
Faith to walk on oceans deep

And I remember how You found me
In that very same place
All my failing surely would've drowned me
But You made a way

You are my freedom
Jesus you're the reason
I'm kneeling again at Your throne
Where would I be without You
Here in my life, here in my life?

You have said that all the heavens
Sing for joy at one who finds
The way to freedom, truth of Jesus
Bought from death into His life

And I remember how You saw me
Through the eyes of Your grace
And though the cost was Your beloved for me
Still you made a way!

You are my freedom
Jesus you're the reason
I'm kneeling again at Your throne
Where would I be without You
Here in my life, here in my life?

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/22/2008 03:44:00 PM

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

2008-08-20T17:56:00.001-07:00

Another poll for you all - this time from the Gracepoint Berkeley Worship Band. You can vote on your favorite song(s). I already did, and so did Chris...that's all I saw from RED, but go ahead and put your votes in - maybe we'll sing your favorites more often! Yeah!

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/20/2008 05:48:00 PM

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

2008-08-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

Since while I was gone, there weren't that many updates to our beloved RED blog, I wanted to make sure you all get caught up on some polling opportunities! Be sure to vote on Pastor Ed Kang's poll before the poll closes! You can vote on the types of posts you'd like to see.

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/20/2008 05:43:00 PM

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

2008-08-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

I came back from Taiwan on Sunday night, and though I was only gone for a little less than three weeks, it seems like it's been a lot longer!

It was a wonderful time of meeting many new students from NTHU and spending time with Cynthia, Eugene, and the other members of our Gracepoint Hsinchu team. There were many memorable moments, and Josh and I served as the song and dance comedy duo to encourage our team whenever necessary. (Some people also found my Chinese pretty comical, though I'm determined to learn Chinese!)

Anyway, a lot has happened back home in Gracepoint Berkeley, as things are in full swing for the arrival of all the new students in less than 3 days!!! There is so much to do, whether with publications, skits, music, finding a prop, putting stamps on a postcard, organizing Welcome Week activities, etc. I'm pretty jet lagged but am excited to get involved with whatever needs to be done. I hope that we all can experience firsthand the church in action during this time!

(And I'll be updating our blog more regularly, since I've returned!)

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Posted By emmeline to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/20/2008 05:07:00 PM

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

2008-08-10T09:55:00.001-07:00

Praise God for Homegroup RED's first (and hopefully not last) camping trip! It was a special few days spent in God's creation and fellowshipping together.

Some of the highlights of the trip were singing songs around the campfire Friday night over Evergood sausages and banana boats; rafting at the beautiful Faucherie Lake (with the water fights, verse recitation at the upper falls, and people dunking their leaders); Chris Park imitating Sieun during a random "guess who" game; playing King-Kong Shower (and the unforgettable "Separate!" move by Candice and Avy); the Kai-Bai-Bo Royalty Tournament (we have pictures of people bowing down to each other); and that one breathtaking hour of stargazing on top of the rock next to our campsite.

With shooting stars galore and the Milky Way hanging overhead, I was overwhelmed with the reality of how great God is, how small we are, and how amazing it is that He still loves us and is so mindful of us.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful time of bonding we had, the fact that no one got hurt, and the chance to soak in God's beauty and greatness.

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Posted By Ray to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/10/2008 09:33:00 AM

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

2008-08-08T00:47:00.001-07:00

Hey - the NSWN site is up at: www.newstudentwelcomenight.com

Check it out! Tell your friends about it!

Here's the trailer to get you excited....

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/08/2008 12:44:00 AM

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

2008-08-05T17:22:00.001-07:00

Stephen Suh, the director of Koinonia Berkeley ran the marathon this past weekend. Yes, you read that right, the marathon. The 26.2 mile long marathon. The marathon that most people (including me) cannot even begin to imagine running.

He started in February by running a half mile every day for a couple weeks. That's it. And every week after that, he upped it a little bit more. He withstood all the doubters, and kept at it for months, and ended up with a great time, 4 hours and 37 minutes (about 10 min/mile). Our good friend John at Homegroup 8 was there supporting him, and he wrote about it here.

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Posted By Joe Hwang to Gracepoint Fellowship Church :: Koinonia Berkeley HG 7 [R.E.D.] at 8/05/2008 05:15:00 PM

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

2008-07-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-29T16:07:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-28T12:19:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-24T15:40:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-24T14:59:00.001-07:00

...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 ...

2008-07-24T14:41:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-23T16:03:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-22T14:27:00.001-07:00

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 ...

2008-07-21T17:00:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-21T16:26:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-17T15:23:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-17T12:27:00.001-07:00

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 ...

2008-07-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

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 ...

2008-07-15T14:17:00.001-07:00

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