Let The Games Begin!!

Hey guys, summer intramurals for Gracepoint Fellowship Church is starting up this week and we’re playing 4 different sports: Volleyball, Soccer, Basketball and Ultimate Frisbee!! This will be throughout the summer on Friday nights from 6:30-8pm in Alameda and will include our entire church so it is sure to be a lot of fun. Afterwards, we’ll head back to Andy and Amy’s house for dinner, DT sharing, and some good ol’ fellowship.

If you haven’t signed up, don’t worry, you can fill out the signup sheets and get plugged into a team Friday night. Alright, see you guys there!

For rules, teams, matchup schedules, and records, check out our Summer IM’s website!

What’s Up and Coming (6/18 – 6/22)

Hey everyone, it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve updated you guys as to what’s going on. Either that or summer’s been going super-slow (and no, this has nothing to do with age). For those of you following playoffs, I’m personally shocked as to what happened in Game 6 yesterday. But anyways, I digress:

• For those who are around (and not at Worldview), we’ll be having Combined Bible Study this Friday at 6:30 @ Northloop. We’ll begin with dinner and afterwards we’ll play some games there.
• We’ll be having our regular Sunday Worship Service at 1pm. However, it’s not all that “regular” because Andy will be giving the message! It was almost exactly a year ago since he was last at the pulpit. Please pray for him as he prepares, and if you’re here, we can cheer him on! You know what they say about a mist in the pulpit… (but I’m sure that won’t happen to Andy).

In other news…

Worldview Camp began today; they’ll be done on Saturday. Cam 1 and Thailand SMT teams will also be coming back this Saturday. Cam 2 will be leaving the following Monday. Session C is right around the corner…

We had a staff dinner a few months ago, and this is what I got in my fortune cookie. I don’t normally keep my “fortunes”, but this was too funny.

Keep yourself busy over the summer!!

Hey if you’re back in Berkeley, there’s plenty of stuff happening here! You can train your mind, engage your heart, actively participate with your hands or simply play some IM sports!

Here’s some of the stuff being offered this summer through Kairos Fellowship and Gracepoint Fellowship Church. I hope you’ll get involved!

Gracepoint Training School (GTS)
Sunday’s June 22-Aug 10 (8 Weeks)
10:30am-12:30pm @ Willard Junior High, Berkeley
Course Offerings: Christian Foundations (C101 & C101x), Survival Kit 1 (SK1), and Church 101: “What is the church?”

Summer Intramural Sports (IM’s)
Friday’s June 27-Aug 8 (8 weeks)
6:30-8pm in Alameda followed by dinner and hanging out!!
Sports offered: Basketball, Soccer, and Ultimate Frisbee for all levels

Summer Evangelism Training (SET)
Tuesday’s June 10 – July 29
7-9pm @ First Pres. Church, Berkeley
We kicked off training this Saturday, but it isn’t too late to join. Email Andy Tung if you’re still interested. Each week is a stand along unit so you can come when you’re around!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 Hour Famine
June 28, 12am – June 30, 6am (30 Hours, obviously)
If you still want to join us, please email Andy Tung. For more info regarding this program, check out this post.
 

On a Mission and Kissing Dating Goodbye

I’ve been sitting around the house like a bum doing nothing except for reading, but I did just finish I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.  I’ve found quite a few valuable bits to keep in mind as we live our lives for God.  It reminds us that we need to feed our character and discipline ourselves in all aspects of our lives, of how we spend our time and money and also of how we act towards our authorities, parents, etc.  I’ve found this as a useful reminder that I need to live my life in humility and to consider others better than myself (Phil 2:3).  Even though everything seems to be going well in my life, I need to remember that there are so many sinful desires, thoughts, and even actions that I commit every day, and that I need to repent and take action to change, bit by bit.  What I ultimately got out of Harris’ book is that in our time of singleness, we need to focus on growing what we are blessed with (our talents) and grow to be sacrificial and Christlike.  This books serves as a great reminder as to how we should live our lives, and doesn’t only focus on “dating” or rather, not dating, but really encourages and shows us how to direction our lives towards spiritual purity.  I’m reminded that we should be worshipping God- loving and honoring Him- with every aspect of our lives, and it starts by forming pure relationships with each other.

As some of you know, I’m going on a Taiwan mission trip with my home church OCCCA, and if some people could make the commitment to pray for me (around 2x/week before the trip and daily during the trip) that’d be AWESOME!  If you can contact me, I can put you on a list and update you on the happenings…

Well, I hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

3 P’s: Past, Present, and Puture

Update (6/5): Photos have been added.

I’ve noticed that our blog posts have gotten much lengthier, so here’s an attempt in making this a Compact Edition.  Unfortunately, at the time of this post, I do not have Amy’s camera, thus photos will be uploaded later.

The Future

We won’t be having our regular Bible Study this week. In its stead, we will be having our Gracepoint Summer Institute (GSI). It costs only $10, and the guest speaker, Dr. Jon Choi, will do an Old Testament survey and talk about narrative reading strategies. Here is the schedule:

• Friday, 6/6, 7:30pm @ 1st Presbyterian Church
• Saturday, 6/7, 9:30am – 1pm @ 2000 North Loop Rd. 

So please sign up ASAP!

The Present

Today is Robert Kim’s 20th birthday! It is also today that both Robert and Andy share the same decade together. Andy jettisons off to the next decade tomorrow! (You can say that today’s a once-in-a-decade event.)

The Past

The brothers who are still up here in Berkeley celebrated both Andy and Robert’s birthday yesterday, right before prayer meeting. After prayer meeting, Cheng took off to study for his MCATs (he’ll be taking them on Friday the 13th of this month), and some of us — along with Kairos 1 — went over to Andy and Amy’s. We wanted to send Ryan and Robert off as they’ll be embarking on separate mission trips real soon, and what better way to have a send-off party than to start grilling at 11pm?

Brothers celebrating Andy and Robert’s birthdays before prayer meeting

We’re not tired. We’re just trying to look hard. (Trying too hard, perhaps.)

A feast at midnight. You can’t see the food because of Andy’s head (and Yang’s arm), but trust me — it was a feast.

 

Well, it’s been a quiet week in my hometown

Hi everyone, I hope summer’s treating you well. It sure has been quiet without all of you here, but alas, we’ve been managing by. Here’s a little snapshot of what’s been happening in Kairos and Gracepoint at Berkeley (with the most recent event first):

Memorial Day Picnic (5/26)

Chanhee, Liz (Kairos 1), Jessica, and Ernie (Kairos 1)

All of Gracepoint (or those who were here) gathered for a fun in the sun at Paradise Park in Tiburon (north of SF). Actually, the sun came out only towards the end, but that didn’t prevent us from having fun. From volleyball, football, soccer, ultimate frisbee to organized games, there were more than enough games to keep us busy. 

I mustn’t forget to mention that there was plenty of food, too. If you’ve experienced our potluck towards the end of last semester, this was the mother of all potlucks. The meat shortage didn’t deter people for coming up with creative alternatives (see left)!

One of the highlights from this picnic was the obligatory drenching of a director — who somehow always turns out to be Pastor Manny. Andy Tung orchestrated this event, and as you can see below, P. Manny very much wanted to show his appreciation for Andy’s thoughtful action:

A devastating picture is worth a thousand devastating words

As the unknown photographer (who took a lot of great shots, might I add) continued snapping away, P. Manny turned his vengeance attention towards him:

“Oh my! What are you doing with that camera? Give that to me!”

All in all, it was a ton of fun in the… cold!

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.*

* This blog post has been heavily influenced by Prairie Home Companion’s News from Lake Wobegon. The ending remark is taken verbatim, with the replacement of “Berkeley” for “Lake Wobegon.” Just FYI, in case you think that summer has caused this author to suddenly become conceited (and/or blind).