30-Hour Famine Starts at Gracepoint Fellowship Church!!!

Last weekend Homegroups 4 and 7 at Gracepoint Koinonia kicked off their 30-hour Famine fund-raising efforts with a worknight at the Y on Friday night, where we made posterboards, designed Father’s Day cards, and researched statistics on poverty and hunger. The next day we split up into three groups to raise awareness and donations for the issue of world hunger.

One group set up shop outside of Berkeley Bowl and sold homemade pies and other baked goods, as well as handmade Father’s Day cards. Many of us were impressed by Sean’s delicate card-making skills, and evidently so were the people who bought them! It was comforting to know that even if Sean’s job search takes longer than expected, he’ll always have a backup plan.

Steve fulfilled a long-held dream of his by joining Sheri, Vivan, and Tim to form a string quartet on the corner of Telegraph and Durant. As we played for people walking by, many seemed surprised to see a classical performance on Telegraph Ave. of all places. We attracted quite a crowd whenever we played Pachabell’s Canon, and we even met a few Christians (including a missionary from YWAM) who prayed for us and encouraged us to keep up the good work.

The third group went around door-to-door to ask for donations. In all we raised just over $300. Not bad for an hour and a half of solicitations! Please continue to think of ways to raise money and connect your own heart with the issue of world hunger!

Gracepoint Fellowship Church's "X2" Fellowship

Here's a couple videos from Gracepoint Koinonia's Magic Mountain Trip. A bunch of us from Berkeley drove down last weekend to meet our SoCal friends for a fun time at the park. The videos were taken while riding X2, the park's most exciting ride. We sure had some great "X2 fellowship" that day!

Koinonia Had a Blast at Magic Mountain

Wow, what a fun time we had at Magic Mountain!! With great weather, death-defying thrills, water rides, Superman capes, all-you-can-eat brisket, funnel cake, hilarious waiting-in-line games, Tweetie and Sylvester, and just the multiplicative joy of being all together, it was a day to remember! What was your favorite ride or part of the day?

Free Ticket Giveaway for Your "Magic" Gracepoint Moment

Just wanted to direct your attention to the Koinonia Berkeley site, where we're giving away 2 free tickets to Magic Mountain as our entire college group prepares to descend upon that place this Monday!

Just leave a comment on the main page, telling us your Most Memorable Moment at Gracepoint or Koinonia Berkeley from this past year. A heart-wearming conversation? An inspiring message? A sober realization? A Life Group or Small Group time or get-away? Or a special moment with some good friends? Whatever it is, we wanna hear about it. Then from all the comments, we'll randomly draw 2 for the tickets and announce the winners this Saturday at 2pm. So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment now!

We've Moved!

In case you haven't heard, all the homegroups at Koinonia Berkeley have merged their blogs into the main Koinonia site. Please visit the Homegroup 4 and 7 page for updates and news this summer (there's a ton still going on)! And be sure to leave comments as you peruse the Koinonia site, so we can get feedback. Or just let us know what you're up to, if you're away from Berkeley this summer. Thanks!

Gracepoint Fellowship Church @ Magic Mountain!

We're kicking off the summer with a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Monday 6/8 for the entire college department!

We're lined up to get an incredible group rate ($18.50/person) and maybe our own private all-you-can-eat lunch with cartoon characters leading games for us! Tweety says: That's incwedible!

So please sign up by Friday, 5/22 even if you're not sure you can go. We just need an estimate. If you're up here, let's caravan down to SoCal together!

Intentional Summer Break

Hey everyone, here's a great article from Boundless (a good Christian webzine and blog) called Intentional Summer Break, with great tips about how to stay spiritually sharp during the long, lazy days of summer. Let's be challenged to approach this summer with faith and spiritual intentionality rather than wasting it by sleeping, bored loitering, or worse!

Good luck on your finals everyone.

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002045.cfm

Gracepoint Live is still alive

The first is a video the seniors made for their staff, spinning off the now-famous Gracepoint Live: Undo Intro Video. The second is one made by the frosh to their staff too. The frosh not only made this video out of their gratitude, it seems they were trying to create a new genre: Virus Video. Which is video that's so gross it'll make you sick. Watch at your own risk.

End of the Year @ Gracepoint Berkeley and Koinonia

It's the last day of school today. Everything's coming to a close, so we've had end-of-the-year gatherings galore as of late. We had a wonderful time last Friday getting together as all-Koinoina. Seniors shared what they learned from their 4 years, underclassman shared how the seniors touched their lives, and post-grads shared life wisdom with the soon-to-be-working (hopefully) grads. The running theme of their advice: build relationships and depend on others! The night was a picture of the close-knit community we have, as we're striving to love each other deeply. Here's the year-end video we showed. Praise God for everything He did this year!



Our GTS (Gracepoint Training School) classes also ended last Friday. I was in the SK1 class, and we got to reflect about the ways we grew in faith and boldness and the ways God addressed many of our struggles through the different lessons each week. Here's a picture from our class (thanks to Dave Park for these pics!)

In case you can't tell, that spells "SK1." Also, this past Sunday was the annual Senior Sunday at Gracepoint Fellowship Church. We got to hear moving testimonies from 6 seniors about the way God led them to our church, the struggles they persevered through, and the clear decisions they have made out of faith in God as they step into the exciting yet scary post-grad abyss!

We're so proud of them and are thankful to have been able to love them and receive love from them. Congratulations seniors!


You can find more pictures from Senior Sunday here and here.

Visit to Glen Brook Terrace

Last Sunday, a cozy group of us accompanied Gracepoint Berkeley's Elderly Care ministry (ECM) to visit Glen Brook Terrace. ECM goes to Glen Brook twice/month to hold a worship service for the residents. This is where Grandma Jaqi, the oldest member of Gracepoint, lives. She's been at our church since the very beginning and is known by all as a faithful prayer warrior.

We practiced at Dana House the night before some special songs with accompaniment by piano, violin, flute, guitar, and shaker! Then we learned how to worship with our whole body to the song "I Will Worship You." During the service, we taught the residents the motions, much to their delight. One lady said she hadn't moved like that in a long time. The residents were so attentive as Steve Choi gave a message (his first-ever) about the Samaritan Woman, about God's love and living water given to us to quench our deepest yearnings.

It was a wonderful time to share with the elderly, who were so appreciative of our presence. We're going back in July, so please join us if you couldn't this time! More pictures are available here.

Summer Schedule and Gracepoint MYT Trailer

This summer on Tuesdays we will have prayer meetings at 1st Pres Church. On Fridays, we'll have Gracepoint Fellowship Church's unique "Multiply Your Talents" courses also at 1st Pres, followed by combined Bible studies. Sign up for MYT and learn filming, Photoshop, or some other skill to help out with church-related projects in the Fall! Watch the cool trailer below, then pick a class.



Also, please remember to order a summer DT journal. Deadline for pre-orders is Wed, May 6. Pre-ordered journals will be available for pickup/purchase Sundays, May 10-June 21.

Gracepoint Worldview Camp

In a culture saturated by widely divergent philosophies, Gracepoint Berkeley's Worldview Camp focuses on challenging students to understand their faith as a total worldview and how it applies to the modern predicament. The four days are filled with tough questions, discussions, biblical answers, comparative worldview analysis, apologetics, and fellowship!
Sign up by May 15!

Bye GLive...

GLive feels like so long ago, no? We're so thankful for the 1900+ guests who got to hear/experience the Gospel through skits and songs and through our collective hard work. We've been hearing so many stories of people who could really relate to the skits and who feel compelled to think more deeply about what they are doing with their lives.

Here's the intro video from the night, to give those of you who didn't come a taste of what you missed! I'm sure we'll have GLive viewing parties once the DVD is produced.


GLIVE 2009 Intro - Gracepoint Fellowship Church from Conrad Chu on Vimeo.

Bible Study + In-house GLive showing tonight

I've been helping out with the sophomore GLive skit. Here they are poised (or posed?) and ready for their roles for our in-house showing tonight!! Remember that all actors need to be at Willard tonight by 6pm sharp. Then we have Bible study at 7pm, followed by our first real performance. See you tonight!!

Pictures from GLive practices

Thanks to David Park from a2fblue, here are some pictures from GLive practices to give you a feel for what we've been doing. We practiced intensely over spring break, which allowed us to have equally intense fun and bonding!


Counting down the days until Saturday!! Reserve your ticket if you haven't!
http://acts2fellowshipblue.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/wanna-undo/
http://acts2fellowshipblue.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/are-you-excited-for-g-live/
http://acts2fellowshipblue.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/sophomore-g-live-practice-photo-dump/

GLive site and videos are up

Hi everyone, the GLive website is up! Watch the trailer and download the viral videos and pass them on to your friends!

We're putting on 3 performances on Saturday April 4: 11am, 3pm, and 7pm. Please tell all your friends to reserve their seats soon, and to show up EARLY on the day of the performance!

Luke 11: Being a Good Friend

In this week's DT, there's an interesting story about a man who goes on a late-night mission to bother a friend for food so he can care for another friend who has come to stay. Kelly and Pastor Jonathan (from our sister church, Waypoint) both shared their insights from Luke 11:5-10 pertaining to how we can be a community that shares each other's burdens and genuinely cares for one another.

Please read them! Let's be challenged to humbly rely on each other and share our burdens together.

• Kelly's post
• Pastor Jonathan's post

The Snow Trip You Missed!

Yup, that's right, this is the snow trip you wish you had been on! Be sure not to miss the next one!

Freshmen Snow Trip! (this Saturday 2/21)

This Saturday: All the freshmen from Koinonia, a2f, and Kairos are headed to our own beautiful Sierra Lodge for a fun day in the snow! We'll be neck deep in fresh snow, throwing snowballs, sledding, dunking your friends, having snowman contests, whatever you want. It'll be a blast, and the first of many fun, freshman bonding times as a class, so sign up!

Don't forget that you need snow gear. If you don't have any, just remember: don't wear jeans, and get some plastic bags to keep your feet dry. If you have any questions, contact Roy at roy.lo@gpmail.org. The cost will be about $5-$10.

Please sign up for the trip so we can arrange rides and food. Thanks!

Some Announcements 2/5/09

• Just a reminder, our special event with Dr. Craig Hazen is this Friday (2/6) at 7pm at 155 Dwinelle. His topic is Christianity in a World of Religions.


• Dr. Hazen is holding some special training sessions to educate us on world religions this Saturday at Willard (10am-4pm, with lunch) so please sign up for this rare chance to get equipped.


• Reminder about the new Sunday schedule: 10am is prayer meeting, and worship service starts at 11:15am. There will also be lunch after service each week. This Sunday 7 people are also getting baptized! Please come hear their testimonies and celebrate with them.
  


• Our college courses start next Friday (2/13). These will take the place of our Bible studies this semester. You can get more info and sign up here.


• The Valentine's Day of Compassion is coming up on Sat (2/14)! Please email Daniel if you're interested in participating.
  

Pics from Winter Retreat 2009

Praise God for all the great work He did through our winter retreat! Here are some pictures (thanks to Kevan of hg1).

Koinonia frosh showing spirit

Koinonia sophs with more muted spirit

Koinonia students who made salvation/lordship decisions!

All of Koinoina - one big happy family!

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish you all a happy new year! Hannah and I are in Korea now, visiting family, and we're headed to Taiwan next week. In Berkeley we had a wonderful New Year's Eve service where Pastor Ed gave a message on our church's key verse for 2009:

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.

He followed it up last Sunday with another message on 1 John 1. Both messages can be found on the Gracepoint podcast page. Please listen to these while you're at home so we can all start the new year on the same page! Also, please read Kelly's blog post about why we chose these verses. I hope we can all experience deeper fellowship with God and one another in 2009!