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!

Taiwan Mission Team

Hi guys, as you know, 47 of our brothers and sisters are in Taiwan now to share the meaning of Christmas with the Taiwanese students. Last Sunday, they helped to celebrate the first anniversary of Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu! Here's an update about it from Steve and Eunice of a2f blue, who are leading the team:

Ni Hao Ma!
Yesterday we celebrated the 1st Anniversary of our GFC-Hsinchu church. Eugene gave a message on Jesus feeding the 5000, and through Kan's and Cynthia's testimonies we were able to marvel at how God had multiplied the "5 loaves and 2 fish" that our Hsinchu team had offered to God along with the rest of our church. We all had a chance to remember how our church had come a long way from all the funny and not so funny attempts at reaching out to people, including having the first bible study at Mr. Donut and out of tune electric guitar solos during praise. Attached is a picture of our Hsinchu Church. We were thankful that many of the students came to the anniversary service. We had the very first 'invitation time' at our Hsinchu church and several of our brothers and sisters rededicated...Later that night our WMT got together with the Hsinchu team to have some time for team bonding and for people to get to know each other. We ended the time thinking about our various connections with one another, even though we're from different ministries within our church. Kevin Tan (Kairos jr) shared how meeting Eugene and Cynthia during Cal Day helped him decide to come to Cal, Greg Davis shared how he was thankful that Eugene, who was so Taiwanese, reached out to a Caucasian guy like him and led him to Christ. We were reminded of the close community we share at our church and what we want to invite the Taiwanese students to experience as well.

Reminder: Sign-ups

There's alot going on this winter so please remember to sign up for the following ASAP:

Winter Retreat 2009. Fri-Sun, 1/23-1/25 (first weekend after school starts). This is the spiritual highlight of our whole year so please do sign up now and get the early bird discount.

G-Live Tech & Arts Camp. Mon-Fri, 1/12-1/16. This is an incredible opportunity to get trained in video work, Photoshop, scriptwriting, and much more by the best at our church, in preparation for this spring's Gracepoint Live, our huge multimedia and theatrical production! Don't worry, helping out does not preclude you from acting on stage.

Sophomore Discipleship Retreat. Tues-Thurs, 1/13-1/15. For Christian sophs. Don't miss this rare chance to be trained by Pastor Ed & Kelly @ Sierra Lodge and get to know your peers better.

This Week: Christmas Events and More!

This Friday (12/12) will be an all-college Bible Study at 7pm at First Pres. Church (on Dana & Channing). I know you're stressed with finals, but please don't miss this as it's one of our last Bible studies of the year.

After Bible study, we'll head to Dana House with Mike & Joanna's homegroup for our annual Xmas Party & Gift Exchange! If you've never done a gift exchange with us, you're in for a treat. They're full of intrigue, hilarity, wacky switcheroos, and memorable performances. :)

So please bring a wrapped gift valued at $5-$10 on Friday. Please bring something that you'd want to receive yourself! (read: no single rolls of toilet paper--yes someone brought that one year!). If you don't have time or can't think of a gift, just get a gift card from Peet's or some local restaurant.

Please join us to end our semester memorably as we eat, remember all that happened, and see each other before everyone goes home.

Also, Joyland Christmas Celebration (aka JCC) is this Sunday (12/14), 4pm @ Willard Middle School.

Joyland is Gracepoint's children's group. JCC is an awesome performance put on by kids (pre-school to 6th grade)—their own Gracepoint Live with singing, dancing, and amazing feats of verse memorization as they celebrate the real meaning of Xmas.

JCC is an all-out community effort as it takes our whole church to write scripts, manage and coach the kids in acting, sew costumes, make and move props, do fancy lighting and sound, give rides, cook food, and much more. There's nothing like it. Come and share this ultra-memorable time for not just the kids, but for all of us as well!

Some other news to note:

• Please remember that this Sunday's worship service will start at 1pm to accomodate JCC.
• Sign up now for our annual annual Winter Retreat to get the early bird discount. It'll be the first weekend after school starts (1/23-1/25).
  
  The winter retreat is the spiritual highlight of our whole year so I don't want any of you to miss out! They are always refreshing times of bonding with each other and hearing powerful messages and testimonies from students and staff alike as we prepare ourselves spiritually for the new year.
• If you want to help paint Sierra Barn, there's a workday this Saturday (12/13). You can sign up online.
• The sophomore discipleship retreat is 1/13-1/15. Sign up online.

That's it for now. Good luck on all your finals! You may see us sometime this week for a little surprise to encourage you in your studies. :)

Thanksgiving Celebration at Gracepoint Fellowship Church: Read Your Bible!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Just in case you were tempted to forget about our performance last week, here it is so you can relive it once again. I'm so thankful that many of you got to participate in this memorable Thanksgiving Celebration and experience the rich community we have here at Gracepoint.

And here's some more videos from different performances:

Praxis: Scary Green Guys
Element: Planet Earth Teens, the Musical
a2f Gold: Under Pressure!