Pastor Ed's Poll?

Hey all, did you check out Pastor Ed Kang's poll that he's taking on his blog? Check it out before it closes.  BTW, I had my share of cockroach stories, too!  I'll share them at our next mtg =). 

http://edkang.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/gracepoint-fellowship-church-pol

NSWN 1 and 2

It's almost here! I can't believe it but we're almost at the beginning of another year. Smell that? It's freshmen - almost- in the air.  What was your guys' favorite part of NSWN when you first came? Comment below!

 To get you guys pumped check out the new trailer here: http://www.newstudentwelcomenight.com/.  

Spread the word and let your friends know - especially if you've got friends coming this fall!

Our Faucherie Camping Trip

This past weekend our homegroup and Kevan/Jenny's homegroup went to one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever been to.  There were many times I looked out at the mountains and the lake and I was left speechless.  It reminded me of one of my favorite songs - "Nothing to Say" by Andrew Peterson - in which he sings of how floored he is by all of God's creation that it leaves him speechless and absolutely lifts his spirit up.  There are few things I love more than being outdoors and in Creation.  Taking a line from the song, "The mountains sing your glory hallelujah, the canyons echo sweet amazing grace, my spirit sails...and I've got nothing to say."  

Along with being outdoors, I love being with my friends and our homegroup.  And this weekend I got to do both!  Hanging with Kevan/Jenny's homegroup was wonderful as we shared stories - scary, funny and very personal - and as we played, got each other wet, hiked, played in the water and ate BBQ dinners and late night snacks.  I hope next time you can all join us!  Here are some pics of our trip from kevan's flickr site:

Faucherie Pics

and here's a slideshow:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Dinner @ Eldwin's

Last night a few of us were over at Sam and Eldwin's place.  and we (Chris, Jeff and I) were treated to a royal seafood feast. Eldwin, who's one of the juniors in homegroup5 has been living in an apartment off campus and has been really honing his cooking skills. I'm sure he has been learning from Chef Ko's cooking program!  This is just a prime example of how you can take cooking to the next level and sharing this joy with others.  Thanks for opening up your home and giving us such a great meal. I can't wait to have many more meals with many more people this year! 

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Flickr Link

Have you ever wondered how you could get one of these awesome hg pictures on the right hand side of this blog? here's your chance!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnko

you can get full-res pics of our events here. and if you want, there are some pics of maddy there too. i'll try to update those for you guys.

Camping Trip this Weekend!

UPDATED: Here's a pic of Lake Faucherie, where we're going!

It's Just a Little Bit...

Did you know that I have my own Food Network Show?  Ha, just kidding.  Actually, I really wish i did =).  Well, in that spirit, I made this video last week as an example for one of my messages at the FTS Retreat.  The example was to support the idea:  Even just a little bit of something that does not belong is WRONG.  This most clearly relates to how even a little bit of sin, which does not belong, damages and harms us. I hope you learn from this funny example and yet important spiritual lesson!

Dish-gracepoint - Food at Gracepoint Fellowship Church

One of the many skills and talents that you MUST acquire is learning to cook for more than just yourself.  It's an important skill to learn so that you can learn to love and care for others.  So many people learn to cook for at least their roommates and a few new students.  And that's wonderful but at times you NEED to cook for at least 30!  Ellen's great at doing this and no less talented is my dear brother in Christ, Tom Kim.  In fact, he's so passionate about cooking for 30 and making it cheap that he created this website:

http://dishgracepoint.blogspot.com

You can find recipes along with special deals of the week.  I hope to eat from one of your apartments one day soon!

Back from the FTS Retreat

I'm back!  and what a roller coaster ride it has been!  First off, I just wanted to thank you for your prayers and I wanted to thank and praise God for the 3 salvation decisions!  3 of the FTS kids made very clear and sincere decisions; what a sweet sight to see.  Giving 6 messages over the 4 days was quite challenging but I got to really experience the church as people were helping in all sorts of ways - from helping me with examples and giving me feedback about my messages, helping me with props, and even giving me tech support (as my hard drive crashed during the retreat) and to all the prayers I received.  I was so thankful for all the support.  I'll tell you more about the retreat this Friday during our homegroup time. See you!

Leaving for our FTS Retreat

Hi everyone,

i'm heading out for our annual FTS Retreat where I'll be speaking!  I can't believe it but I'm very thankful for the chance to go and share the gospel message with these precious kids.  Please pray for me to clearly and effectively and lovingly share this precious message.  Please also pray for the children's hearts to be open.  

I won't be there tonight at our weekly Homegroup time but please have fun without me!!! I really insist.  

Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Summer IMs

Jammy Yang, our head coordinator for Gracepoint's Summer IMs, has asked me to post a link for you to check out the weekly schedule, stats and HIGHLIGHTs from each week's IMs.  Highlights - hey, how come I'm missing?  

http://gracepointfellowshipchurch-intramural.blogspot.com

Honduras 1 Team Video

Gordon Lai from Gracepoint SF Chapel has posted a vide from their Honduras 1 trip.  Check it out here: 

http://gracepoint-sf-hg2.blogspot.com

This is a mission trip that our church took with BMDMI (Baptist Medical Dental Mission International).  Our Honduras 2 team is there now!  Please continue to pray for them.  

Team-building!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Here's a slideshow from last week's fun time of team-building with saltines and a special glue like dip!  We also made crab rangoon pot stickers.  Making food is always the best activity because you get to eat it too!  Can you guess what each of the groups made?  Some of the answers are: tower, angel, wall-e, maze...can you guess which is which? 

Visiting From Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu

In case you've never met them, let me introduce you to Eugene and Cynthia Peng.  They are two very precious and dear friends of mine who are serving and leading our church in Hsinchu, Taiwan.  They've been there almost a year now!  How time flies by.  Last night, we got to hear from them about how life and ministry is happening there.  I used to live with Eugene for a couple of years while we were doing college ministry together and one lesson I learned from him is self-denial.  He really made his body his slave for the sake of the gospel.   I'm really challenged by this couple who are just a year younger than me but who have forged ahead out into a foreign land for the sake of the gospel. They will be here this Sunday with us so please say hi, introduce yourself and get to know them!  and please continue to pray for Gracepoint - Hsinchu!

Ultimate Pizza

We're going to have some ultimate pizza!!!  Join us WEDNESDAY - JULY 16 - @ 6pm at the field next to VLSB for some Ultimate Frisbee and Pizza.  We'll be there at 6pm, play some frisbee, eat some pizza and hang out.  Bring your friends for a fun time!  You can contact josh if you want some more info or ask me. 

Double Portion

"It's so hard to say goodbye."  This pop song I grew up listening to in the 80's echoed my sentiments this past week as we sent off our Austin team.  It can only be easy to say goodbye if you don't know the person or you don't have a shared history.  But I've had a shared history.  I've known Pastor Manny and Sunny for 14 years.  Actually I've known Sunny longer as she's my cousin.  But we've bonded more closely than as just physical family members. We've grown closer as coworkers and partners in serving God and His church.  From my freshman year, they've helped me mature and grow up and actually begin to care about others.  They helped me to turn my selfish heart into a heart of service by the example of their own lives.  

I could write pages and pages of all the ways they have affected me.  Not just them but the other team members as well.  I know I miss them and will miss them but what I've thought about most recently is that I want to fill the gap that each of them is going to leave behind.  From Sunny's warm smile to Pastor Manny's personal and loving care for a person whether through trash talking or a contagious spirit to Bryan's faithfulness or Henry's beastly exuberance and the others, I want to live out a double portion of their lives here. I think that's the best way I can honor their sacrifice of going to Austin.  I pray I can live out my faith here that much more passionately!

Gracepoint Fellowship Church's 30 hour famine

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to let you know about another blog we created to share stories from the 30 hour famine. Please submit your stories! Here's the link: http://30hourfamine-gfc.blogspot.com/

Also, just wanted to let you know that we as a church raised over $106,000! Praise the Lord. I'm so thankful to be part of this and glad that many of you were able to participate as well.

Kelly Kang's Sharing

Hi everyone,

here's a sharing from Kelly Kang from Gracepoint Berkeley.  She and Pastor Ed Kang have been up at the Sierra Lodge hosting different groups during the week and weekends - staff, SLT, Bible teachers, and various ministry groups.  This is her reflection on the recent fires in California. 

I'm linking her sharing here: http://acts2fellowship.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/sharing-from-kelly-kang

wearing different shoes

"Would you like to donate a $1 to help fight world hunger?  A dollar feeds a child for a whole day".  I repeated these words outside a Safeway in Alameda for a few hours last Saturday to finish off a day of stepping into the shoes of another person.  Along with over 400 other members of Gracepoint Berkeley and from 17 people from our homegroup we fasted for 30 hours.  We fasted to feel just a little bit of hunger that others in our world feel daily.  And if you know me, you know how much I do love food.  I think the experience that hit me the most though was the AIDS exhibit by World Vision.  We trekked down to Fremont after our Clinton Village visit and got to actually listen along to the story of 1 of 4 children in Africa who face the reality of AIDS, poverty, physical danger and being orphaned.  Walking through the exhibit was like walking in their actual home and seeing what they faced; it was sobering to say the least. At the minimum I cannot complain about anything....anything.  I have so much.   Some said you're doing such a good thing or you're a saint to do that but going through the experience I felt like a sinner ever more.  I thank God for the opportunity to go through this kind of experience and I'm so glad our whole church could as well.  As a church, Gracepoint Fellowship in Berkeley, raised over $76000.  I give all the praise to the Lord and thank all the generous people who donated and for those who participated in this very meaningful effort.  I hope we can continue to live out the lessons we learned and participate with even more vigor next year!

GSI - Gracepoint Summer Institute

Join us this Friday and Saturday for our Annual GSI.  Dr. Jon Choi will be teaching on the topics of Old Testament Survey and Narrative Reading Strategy.