BTT (Bible Teacher's Training) @ Gracepoint Berkeley

I can't believe its been 3 weeks since I went up to Sierra Lodge for BTT. Time sure flies. It seemed like only last week when we were huddled together late at night as we waited to take off from Northloop. That was a fun drive, getting to know a lot of Abe's class, people like Jon and Allen who just recently got back from Taiwan, and Mark from SF. They are a fun class to hang out with. Each of them are very interesting characters... you'll know what I mean if you spend some time with them. This BTT trip was mostly made up of the younger staff, around 26 of us, so from our home group that included Sheri and myself.

Man our days were so packed, we spent our days preparing bible studies, working on different projects around the house, and of course having a lot of fun! You read that right, we were learning how to prepare bible studies, not just listening to bible studies. That was definitely very different. I've always been the receipient of a message, so to be on the other side and trying to give a bible study was a new feeling. After preparing 3 messages, I'm just much more appreciative of Pastor Ed Kang and Pastor Manny when they give the message on Sundays or during Friday bible study. They spend a lot of time working on the message and a lot is taken into consideration, which we only began to scratch the surface. We gave bible studies to each other, and Pastor Ed will critique us, helping us with our message and showing areas where we need to improve or areas that we did well. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the bible studies were actually. None of us spoke anything heretical, which is good. Who knows, maybe sometime in the near future, one of us will be giving a bible study in our homegroups, applying what we've learned ^_^

We also spent some of the time working on different things that needed done at the house, from building a landing underneath the deck so we can use it to store bins and coolers, building a spiral staircase up to the loft, putting up blinds, etc. I worked on the staircase, along with my other Mech E friend Richard Leung, and some of the other engineers. How many people does it take to put together a spiral staircase? Apparently it takes at least 4-5 Berkeley engineers. Haha. Next time you go up you can see the beautiful work that we did, just don't look too closely. There's something about using machine tools, and working with your hands that makes you feel really awake and alive. We cut wood, used nail guns, etc. It felt good. Maybe its just me... Anyways, we got a lot of work done around the house, everything just keeps getting nicer. I can't wait until we get to build the barn in the coming months, that should be a lot of fun.

And of course, being the Sierras, how can we not go out and enjoy the nature?! We spent some time at Lake Spalding, which is literally 5 minutes away from the house. Its super close, and we brought with us a bunch of kayaks and a paddle boat. Kayaking in the beautiful lake, enjoying the nature...wait, thats not exactly what we did. We actually spent most of the time splashing each other with our paddles and trying to flip people who were too dry over as they got close to shore. Needless to say we all got pretty wet. I don't think anyone got away dry...except maybe Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang, but we'll let them go this time around. Everyone else, from Isaiah and Stephan to the rest of us, we were all pretty drenched afterwards. We also tried out archery back at the house. Shooting a bow accurately is much harder than I thought. For some reason I expected it to be like Legalos or something...but it was definitely not like that. Although some of us at least hit the target, which is pretty good. On our last day, how can we not spend some time playing basketball and volleyball on the new court? We got some bball action going with a bunch of the guys, and then played volleyball when everyone else joined us. We got some good rallies going, and just seeing people do weird things is always fun.

I'm really thankful for the time up at Sierra Lodge, not only did I get to know the rest of the staff more, but I feel like I got to know Pastor Ed and Kelly a lot more. Sometimes we only see them on Sundays, giving a message or leading prayer time, but to just eat with them and learn from them around a table, is quite different and very special. I learned a lot, not only about how to give a bible study, but all that is involved, just the things that are taken into consideration. And being together, working on the house, having fun together, it was just awesome. I can't wait for the next time we get to go up, BTT 2.0! ^_^

Pictures from Gracepoint Austin!

Kevan Ho recently went to Austin for a business trip and got to spend some precious time with Pastor Manny, Sunny, and the others who just moved out there for our Gracepoint-Austin church plant. He took some really heart-warming pictures during his trip. It's so exciting to see what God's doing there—through these images you get to see the first Bible study, first prayer meeting, alot of firsts!

Seeing these made me miss them that much more, but encouraged me to pray hard for them as they strive to be a light to many UT Austin students. Let's pray, partnering with them in the Gospel, and expect great things from God over there!

Taiwan Team is Off!

If you didn't hear, our last mission team for the summer left last night for Taiwan. The team will be holding an English Camp at National Tsinghua Univ. According to Emily of Homegroup 7, who is part of the team, 13 brothers and sisters from Gracepoint Berkeley will be joining 30+ other TAs and teachers from across the States to teach classes on Western Culture & Leadership and build friendships with 200+ incoming freshmen. 10 more helpers will leave Friday to join our Gracepoint Hsinchu team to help out with tons of team-building activities, sports, and games during the camp.

Remember, our own Steve Choi is over there helping out with the camp. And no, for those of you wondering, he has not gained weight despite all the cheap, wonderful Taiwanese delicacies, unless Skype video makes you look smaller. Let's pray for our team!

I'll post a pic of the team later.

How well do you know Gracepoint Berkeley's Pastor?

If you guys don't know Pastor Ed that well, he had quite a colorful--and often difficult--childhood. His latest story on his blog, A Story with Way Too Much Information, is a window into the kind of thin edge between hardship and hilarity that many of his experiences rode on. Check it out, and check back regularly if you want to see the kinds of things that have shaped who Pastor Ed is today.

On a related note pertaining to the creatures featured in his story, I know all about the dangers of them running along the ceiling. My apartment in Japan was home to many a roach (though nowhere near as bad) and it was always exciting to see certain unnamed brothers from our Gracepoint church cower in fear at the sight of one. Once, some people were gathered for Bible study, when a hapless roach lost its footing on the ceiling and fell--right on top of the speaker's head. I'm sure roach and person were equally startled.

Oh and after you're done laughing and squirming at Pastor Ed's story, you'll want a change of pace, so how about something refreshing and cleansing? Check out Kelly Kang's blog. She shares meaningful insights from her devotions and her years of ministry at Gracepoint Fellowship Church.

Forum @ Gracepoint Fellowship Church

Daniel Kim, our resident apologetics expert, has a new site called Gracepoint Forum. It's a place where he'll post apologetics resources as well as a place anyone can ask difficult questions about Christianity. For those of you who were in SET, there's also some very useful notes and additional points pertaining to "The Reason for God."

Monterey Trip

Here's some pictures of our action-packed day in Monterey last Saturday!

DISH-Gracepoint!

If you guys don't know Tom Kim, he's a staff member in acts2fellowship1, but he's also the Chef de Cuisine in many respects when it comes to preparing food for our various gatherings.

Well, he's launched a new food blog: Dish-Gracepoint. Lotsa recipes and instructions on how to prepare cheap yet tasty food for large groups, Gracepoint-style! Plus inside tips on weekly meat specials (Tom knows meat price trends like day traders know the stock market). Thanks Tom for this helpful site! Mmm...today's special is banana bread....

A Gracepoint Classic - Normal Versus

Ok, we're gonna make a sacrifice here. As your homegroup leaders, Hannah and I have made the difficult decision...to show you this video so you can get to know us better. These "Normal Vs." videos have become a staple of wedding and farewell programs at Gracepoint Berkeley. We're lucky to have friends who know us so well. :) Enjoy!

30-Hour Famine 6/28-29

This year Gracepoint Berkeley had the wonderful chance to participate in World Vision's 30-Hour Famine so we could experience a bit of the hunger that's an everyday reality for much of the world and raise money to help fight this problem. In the end, we raised almost $107,000! I'm thankful that people were so zealous and creative in their fundraising efforts, but I think we all realized at the end of this that given how much we have, it was the least we could do to help those mired in hunger and poverty.

We started the day of the fast by driving down to Fremont to see an AIDS in Africa exhibit. Each of us was given an iPod to listen to 1 of 4 stories of an African child as we walked in the child's shoes for a first-person experience of fear, starvation, or being orphaned after seeing one family member after another fall to AIDS. It was a deeply moving experience and I went away praying for those kids, praying for my heart to keep being broken, just like God's heart is.

After that, we teamed with Jin and Yumi's homegroup to serve food at Clinton Village, a convalescent home in Oakland. I was just happy to be all together and do what we could to bring some joy to that place. I thank God for this whole experience. Let's be grateful for all we have and continue looking for ways we can serve those who are needy around us! And hope to see more of us do the Famine next year!

Gracepoint Fellowship Church's iMix

Ever hear a great new song at Gracepoint Berkeley, vow to remember the name of the song or lyrics, only to forget everything afterwards because you're deep in thought mulling over Pastor Ed Kang's message? Don't worry, check out the Gracepoint iMix! With songs from old and upcoming praise sets, so you can stop trying to scribble that song name on your Sunday program. You can subscribe via RSS too. And while you're at it, check out the new Gracepoint Fellowship Church Worship blog.

Steve's in Taiwan

Don't know if y'all know, but Steve Choi is also part of our new group. That's him 3rd from the left in the picture. Steve's in Taiwan, having stayed there after the mission trip. He'll be helping out with our English camp in August, but he's been keeping busy teaching English, doing language exchange, scouting new trip locales for Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Hsinchu, playing in the band and just helping out with whatever needs to be done at church. Let's keep him in our prayers!

Hello World!

Woohoo! I finally got around to getting this site up. I am quite excited about our group and the kinds of memories we'll build together. It's nice to have this summer to get to know each other more before the zaniness of the Fall hits!

Last Friday was just our second homegroup meeting, but we had a great time. Chef Wenjie cooked up a Chinese storm! After we feasted with mirth and gladness, we shared insights from Isaiah 1, then were treated to Wenjie and Sheri as freshmen in Christian Festival. Didn't that inspire you all for the next G-Live?