Gracepoint Fellowship Church Praise Band Q&A?

For those of you who don't know, our praise band at Gracepoint Fellowship Church also has a blog - and here's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get any questions about praise at GFC answered.  They've just opened a new Q&A thread over there, and people are commenting, submitting those burning questions about GFC praise that they never got a chance to ask!  Or if you personally don't have any questions, you can check out the questions and answers that people have already given.  Who wouldn't want to know why Ander only wears glasses on Sunday?  Or how much the praise team members practice during any given week?  Or when interpretive dance is going to get added to the praise repertoire?

News for this week (7/21-7/27)

Sorry everyone, but I wasn't able to get to the weekly announcements post too early this week, as I've been out here in Taiwan since last Friday. However, don't worry, we still have about half a week left.

We continue with Tech/Arts/Praise/Worship training this Thursday - it'll be at our NL building in Alameda, starting at 7 PM. Please try and arrange rides with other students coming from Berkeley. This will be the second to last week of training (although it's also the third week of training) - pretty soon, we're going to have a whole new group of experts in the world of sound, stage design, lighting, video editing, web design, and photoshop. I'm looking forward to seeing the fruits of your training.

This Friday we have our usual Summer IM's and DT combination - IM's start at Wood Middle School at 6:30 PM. Afterwards, we'll have dinner and DT sharing, location TBA. However, in addition to that, we'll also be doing something a little different this Friday. After DT sharing, we'll be having people sleeping over in Alameda in preparation for ...

... an outing to Bodega Bay on Saturday! We'll be going with Homegroup 8 and spending the whole day together for a time of hiking, sports, and ending with a beach bonfire and BBQ! Sign up here to let us know if you can make it, or ask one of the staff if you have any questions!

Finally, Gracepoint Fellowship Church Sunday service is at the same Gracepoint time, and the same Gracepoint location. Check the website for more details, or ask one of the staff.

Anyways, that's the news from Berkeley, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

Well, it's been a quiet week in my hometown ... (7/14-7/20)

It's that time again - the time for the weekly announcements.  Luckily, this week we're back to a normal level of busyness - which means that you'll only be very busy instead of extremely busy.  Let's first look at what we here at Homegroup 6 are doing this week.

On Tuesday, we once again have our usual Summer Evangelism Training and prayer meeting.  As always, we're starting at 7 PM, and the location is First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, and snacks will be provided starting from 6:30 PM in the courtyard in front of the church.  And if that wasn't exciting enough, I'm told that we're going to have a special guest attending - one of our intrepid missionaries from Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu.  Yes, if you haven't heard, Eugene and Cynthia Peng, the leaders of our church in Taiwan, are coming to visit as well as attend Bible Teacher Training up at the Sierra Lodge, so be sure to say "Hi!" to them when you see them this week.  UPDATE: Actually, SET for this week is going to be at St. Augustine's, not at First Pres.

This Thursday is the second day of our Tech/Arts/Praise/Worship training at our North Loop building in Alameda.  I hear there are plenty of students with cars in Berkeley who will be going, so please try and arrange rides on your own.

On Friday, we have our "usual" Summer Intramurals and DT sharing afterwards.  The sports are at Wood Middle School in Alameda with the dinner/DT sharing location TBA.

This weekend is the first of three class discipleship retreats - the sophomore discipleship retreat is happening this coming weekend - it will be at Sierra Lodge and led by Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly Kang.  Sorry, signups are already closed.  It'll be a great time of training: through sharing, Bible study, and working on the house.  Also, the basketball court up there was recently completed and we have a full set of kayaks and rafts up there for going on nearby Lake Spaulding - it's going to be great!  Don't get jealous juniors and seniors, your chance is coming soon enough.

Finally, on Sunday, we have Sunday service at Gracepoint Fellowship Church at our usual location, Willard Middle School.  Please check the website for more details.

So that's all the events happening with Homegroup 6.  In other Koinonia/Gracepoint Fellowship Church related news, our Honduras 2 mission team is leaving today, July 14th, at 9 PM from North Loop.  Our Honduras 1 mission team just returned this past Saturday.  These two mission trips are medical mission trips that we're taking through an organization called Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International. Please pray for all of our brothers and sisters who will be going.

Anyways, that's the news from Berkeley, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

What happened this week?! Stories from Homegroup 6, Koinonia, and Gracepoint Fellowship Church (7/7 - 7/13)

This past week felt like it's lasted forever, so let's take a short look at what happened.

Michael and Joanna finally came back from their long trip to Cambodia and Taiwan - they were only gone for two weeks, but it felt much longer than that.  Along with Azusa, they were in Cambodia serving at Life University as well as ministering to the surrounding villages. They did things like teaching classes at the University (which is actually a school for children through college - you can ask Azusa about her experience with the primary school kids). They actually took responsibility for running the whole school for an entire day in order to free up the regular Life University teachers for a teacher's retreat!  And our very own Michael Kang was actually a key member of this mission team, taking the responsibility of giving messages when the team leader, Lem, fell ill.  Truly devastating.

After their trip to Cambodia, Michael and Joanna continued their trip by visiting our friends serving at Koinonia Hsinchu. From what I've heard from the team over there in Taiwan, their visit was a welcome source of encouragement. Their visit coincided with the departure of Jon Chou of Homegroup 2 and Allen Chen of Homegroup 3.  Many students who were out of town came back in order to bid them farewell, which resulted in a record number of people at Sunday worship there over in Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu (unless, of course, you count the crowds at the inaugural service and the large trip to Taiwan that happened earlier this summer).  Here's a fun fact - did you know that starting with my class, there is at least one person per graduating class who is currently serving in Taiwan (through the class of 2002)?  Anyways, if you want some more fun facts about the staff of Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu, you can find that here.  Let's all make sure that we continue to remember our brothers and sisters in Taiwan in our prayers.

So far, we're at Tuesday - on this day, after Michael and Joanna (as well as Jon and Allen) returned, we had our weekly Summer Evangelism Training and prayer meeting.  Afterwards, we had a great practice in front of Haas Pavilion for the Austin Farewell - now that's not a normal sight.  I think the campus is used to seeing hip-hop dancing on Lower Sproul and in from of Haas Pavilion, but what about a crowd of college students singing and doing fake "line dancing" - we actually drew a few stares from people passing by.  Well, a bit more than a few, but there were only a few people.

On Wednesday, we had the Austin farewell - a night full of mixed emotions.  You can check out my previous post on the Austin farewell as well as the sendoff from the airport.

Then, on Thursday, we had our first Tech and Arts and Praise and Worship training of the summer.  This is first rate training from many of Gracepoint Fellowship Church's finest - including our very own Michael Kang who is teaching the web class.  Other classes that were offered include Photoshop, sound, stage and lighting, video editing, keyboard, voice, guitar, and drums.  It was a really fun time of learning together, and from what I could see people were getting first class instruction.

On Friday, we had our second week of Summer Intramurals - doesn't it feel like forever since we had the first week?  I don't know what happened with other people, but I have to say my ultimate frisbee team had a tough time - our first game was a heartbreaking 1-2 loss which we gave away in the final minutes, and we were severely outclassed in our second, a lot-0 loss.  However, despite losing it was A LOT of fun - a good chance to just go out and run around and get to know students and staff and young adults in other ministry groups.  And the night didn't end there - after dinner (which was complete with Steve Suh's special BBQ sauce that he received as a gift from Pastor Manny of Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Austin), we had a quick time of sharing from Luke 15.  But the night didn't end there - right after Bible study, some of us rushed off and some of us stayed at Steve and Suzanne's, but all for the same purpose - to prepare for the wedding of Jin Kim and Yumi Park, the leaders of Homegroup 8 which was happening the next day. For those of you who don't know, here at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, we typically celebrate weddings through a series of performances at the receptions - whether through heartfelt songs, silly dances, slideshows, or the famous Normal Versus videos.   For Yumi and Jin, our homegroup joined with Homegroup 8 and parts of Homegroup 7 to prepare a performance of the silly dance variety.

Finally, on Saturday, many of us attended Jin and Yumi's wedding.  Pastor Ed Kang brought the message on Psalm 127:1, and he gave both Jin and Yumi some advice for their future life together.  Then we went to the reception where many groups sacrificed their shyness and dignity in order to show how much they have been touched and loved by both Jin and Yumi.

And finally, we're at Sunday, and we're done (since it's still Sunday, but I'm sure something exciting is sure to happen before the day is over).  Phew!  It's hard to believe that we crammed all that into one week!  But watch out, next week is just around the corner!

Well, it's been a quiet week in my hometown ... (7/7-7/13)

Just wanted to remind everyone of what's going on this week:

On Tuesday, once again we're going to continue with SET at First Presbyterian Church at 7:00 PM, and once again snacks are provided starting at 6:30 PM.  Also tonight, we're going to have a practice for the Austin team farewell right after prayer meeting - it will be around 10 PM.  The location is in front of Haas Pavillion.

On Wednesday, we have our farewell for the Austin Team - among those going in this first group are six staff from Koinonia: Pastor Manny and Sunny Kim, Henry and Margaret Chen, and Bryan and Sarah Song.  The farewell is going to be at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, but we're going to begin the night with an all-Koinonia picture on Sproul steps at 5:45 PM.  Be sure to be there!

This Friday, we're going start up our Summer IMs again, with dinner and DT sharing afterwards.

Finally, on Sunday we have Sunday Worship Service at the same time and location.  Check the Gracepoint website if you need more information.

On a different note, Azusa returned with the Cambodia Mission Team this past Saturday, and Michael and Joanna are returning today after their visit to our friends in Hsinchu, Taiwan.  Be sure to welcome them back when you see them!

Anyways, that's the news from Berkeley, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

Fourth of July Point Reyes Trip

Alright, it's time to give some more information on our Fourth of July outing.  We're going to lovely Point Reyes for a day of of sports, food, sun, and fun! Actually, I've never been there myself, but from what I've heard it's beautiful there. Anyways, right now the plan is to leave Berkeley around 2 PM, and we should be back around 10:30 PM, so be sure to study in the morning so that you can join us in the afternoon. If you're interested in coming, please let one of the staff know so that we can arrange rides.

UPDATE: Here are the details.  Please be at the Anna Head West parking lot (right across the street from Crossroads) at 2 PM for pickups - you should bring a warm jacket/sweater (it's going to get cold at night!), a water bottle, and some money for the trip.

Well, it's been a quiet week in my hometown ... (6/30-7/6)

Just wanted to remind everyone of what's going on this week:

On Tuesday, we're going to continue with SET (Summer Evangelism Training) where we're currently going through The Reason For God, a book by Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and watching some video clips from Just Walk Across the Room, a resource created by Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Community Church. After SET, we'll have our regular college/ISM prayer meeting. SET starts at 7:00 PM, but we'll have healthy snacks (well, maybe the fruit snacks are not so healthy) starting at 6:30 PM.

On Friday, we would usually have our Summer Intramurals, but since this Friday is the Fourth of July, we're going to instead take advantage of our day off and go somewhere! UPDATE: We're going to go with Homegroup 7 and Homegroup 8 to Point Reyes for a day of sports, fireworks, and hopefully a bonfire to end the night!

Sunday service is at the usual time and place: 1:00 PM at Willard Middle School. If you need more information, you can find it on the Gracepoint Fellowship Church website.

Finally, just wanted to let everyone know that Michael, Joanna, and Azusa are still in Cambodia right now for the second week of their mission trip. Please continue to pray for their work there, and also for their health since a number of people have fallen sick in Cambodia this year. Azusa will be back this Saturday, and Michael and Joanna will return next Tuesday after their visit to our friends in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Anyways, that's the news from Berkeley, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. *

* Disclaimer: This post has been influenced by The News from Lake Woebegon, a segment of A Prairie Home Companion, a program by American Public Media. Actually, the last statement was pretty much taken exactly from the program, except I replaced Lake Woebegon with Berkeley. Just in case you thought I had gone blind.

Launch of the new Homegroup 6 Blog!

Well, here's the inaugural post of the Homegroup 6 blog - as many of you may have heard, the structure for Koinonia is going to be somewhat different this year - gone are the days of KGroups (K1 and K2) and Clusters.  Instead, we're splitting Koinonia into 8 smaller, coed Homegroups.  We here at Homegroup 6 are going to be led by Michael and Joanna Kang, with Azusa, Steven, and I (David) rounding out the rest of the staff.  Anyways, before I sign off, I wanted to leave you guys with a picture that hopefully gives some of you a better idea of what some of the staff in our group are like.

I'm looking forward to this coming year.