New Student Welcome Night for the last 10 Years...

By now you guys have probably seen our awesome trailer for the New Student Welcome Night (NSWN). Every Fall, the NSWN is our biggest event and it's all hands on deck as all of Gracepoint mobilizes to make it happen! As our praise leader, James Kim, reminisced in his latest post on the Gracepoint Berkeley Worship blog about how this year's NSWN will be the 10th one for which he's led the traditionally rocking praise time, I also realized that 10 years ago, the NSWN of my sophomore year was the first time I played the drums for our church. That was at 2050 VLSB, a room that has become for so many of us a place of many indelible memories. It was the first time I'd ever used one of those electronic drumpad thingys you've seen around church, that just don't quite compare to the sound of a real live drum set.

It's been 10 years, 10 New Student Welcome Nights. We've moved on from VLSB; last year we packed Wheeler Auditorium and this year we'll pack Pauley Ballroom. But NSWN never gets old. Each is just as much the exciting adventure the last one was as we get to see how God uniquely works among a new group of eager, wide-eyed students, many who hear the Gospel for the first time at NSWN. Since I'm always on stage or sitting in the front of the room, over the years I've always had a great view of their varied reactions--awe, surprise, amusement, deep thought. I can't wait to see who finds their way to this year's event, can't wait to hear many new stories about how people were impacted by something in the program.

I bang the drums extra hard every NSWN. It's just the right thing to do. And I'll keep playing as long as my arms don’t fall off and I don’t go deaf, although after playing for this past Saturday’s awesome Centrifuge event held by our Element Youth Group, I think my hearing’s life-span got shortened by about 20 years, which means 20 fewer NSWN's I can play for, I guess.