Dinner before Bible study (ALL-KAIROS) @ 6:30pm @ Dana House. The staff will be providing a delicious, “encourage-you-for-finals” meal!!

After 4 long years, our seniors will be graduating next week! I wonder if they want to REDO these past 4 years? Maybe they should watch this video spoof:

Let’s all go out to their graduations to celebrate and yell for them as they walk across the stage!

• Wednesday, May 20 @ 2pm - Curtis Lee – Zellerbach Auditorium
• Thursday, May 21@ 9am – Cheng Chen - Molecular & Cell Biology
• Saturday, May 23 @ 8:30am – Ronald Tong – Industrial Engineering Operations Research (not Industrialized societies as earlier stated. Thanks Jessica of Kairos 1 for the catch!! Glad someone reads this blog carefully )

Also, if you want to say any farewell words, put it in the comments! And if the seniors have any words of wisdom, you can do likewise.

As we reminisce about the seniors, here’s a video they made for the staff to show their appreciation for Gracepoint Live 2009! It’s pretty funny and nostalgic:

Indeed, this is the end of an era for our seniors and all of us here at Kairos 2 and Gracepoint Fellowship Church wish all of our seniors the best!!

If you haven’t checked our blog in a while, there are 2 other fun stress relief posts: Check them out and let us know any awards you would like to give!

Only thing… bet some of the stressed out freshmen are wondering what happened to their time this semester. Well, at least here was time well spent!

Thanks freshmen for your show of gratitude!

Also, if you haven’t submitted your award nominations, please do so soon!

Finally, here are some pictures of our Kairos Year End Celebration and Graduation Sunday at Gracepoint!

Congratulations Gracepoint Seniors!!

Celebrating the completion of 4 fine years!!

You know we had a great time with this much food!!

"iPaper will revolutionize the way you think about computing"

Were the team titles this funny

Winning team celebrating their hard earned victory!

"What? Hawaii is a country!!"

End of the year Kairos slideshow

So to launch things off, we want to commemorate the completion of yet another year here at Kairos 2 by having a pseudo awards ceremony! What does this mean you ask? Well, I’m not really sure… But it’s something like this: 

Nacho Nacho Men

• Nomination for the most faithful blog commentor: Robert Kim (I think he would win this not just for Kairos, but for all of Gracepoint Berkeley!)
• Nomination for the most grammatical errors on the blog: Johnny Yang (this doesn’t have to apply just to our blog, he makes errors in almost  every email he sends me. haha!)
• Nomination for the most incredible nachos: Ryan Theimer and Richard Ma (that tray during our potluck could have fed all-kairos and then some)

Alright, I think you get the point! If you want to make some nominations just put them in the comments section. Be nice though After a week, we’ll compile the best and have an “unofficial” awards ceremony (on our blog that is).

In other news, here’s the slideshow that was shown during the Kairos year end celebration. Thanks Dora (of Kairos 3) and Ernie (of Kairos 1) for working on it!!

Why: We wanted to have a time to get to know some of you better as well as give you a chance to get to know us. Have any questions you’d like to ask us or things you’d like to discuss? Deep, important, pressing questions? Like… how did Amy and Andy meet? What were some of the big challenges we faced in college? How did Kairos start? What is the trinity? (ok that last one might be too tough, haha)

When: 12:30-2pm, Wednesday (5/6). Stop by any time during this period even if it’s in between classes!

Where: Chinquapin Room,  4th floor of the MLK building (Above Pauley Ballroom)

If you can please let us know if you can make it so we can get a rough estimate of food. But even if you don’t let us know, you can still swing by!

If you don’t know, then you better get in the know!! GLive is the biggest production our church puts on every 2 years; filled with hilarious skits, incredible dance moves, poignant dramas, special effects, an awesome video (that our own Abe Yang has been working on), memorable lines, and great fellowship! Basically, you don’t want to miss it!

Tickets (which are FREE), are going quickly so if you haven’t reserved your seat, and your friend’s seats, you need to do so asap!! 

HOW? Go to the GLIVE website to reserve yours. There are 3 showings; 11am, 3pm, and 7pm this Saturday, April 4.

BUT which one should you sign up for? Well, they’re all going to be great. But maybe you want to go when your friends are acting. The Kairos Freshmen and Juniors will be performing at 11am and 7pm, and the Sophomores will be at 3pm (their doing another stealth in-house showing, haha). And the Seniors will be in all the showings.

The freshmen on stage for their run through and lighting cues

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Friday 4/3,

Instead of the normal GTS courses, we will be having a combined bible study @ 7:00pm at Willard Junior High followed by our in-house showing (you know, the stealth one) to work out any remaining kinks we might have.

We’ll be starting at 6pm for all actors and behind the scenes people (like prop movers), have Bible study, then we’re on by 7:45p. If you’re in GLive, please don’t be late as we’re running a tight ship!

Update: Please come having eaten dinner already.

Ryan and Calvin (a2f) rehearsing for the junior drama!

Guess what role Lin is playing? Here's a hint: there's a dad, a mom, and a son in this picture

Faithful prop movers ready to move once their scene is up!

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Sunday 4/5,

We will have our normal service starting at 11:30am at Willard followed by a CHURCH-WIDE PICNIC to celebrate the conclusion of GLive! I heard through the grapevine that Tom Kim, the editor of Dish-Gracepoint, ordered over 600 lbs of meat! OH YEAH!!

Edison and Grace get tips on acting and probably dancing from Richard Tay (a2f staff)

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Preview what’s been going on in prep for Glive!

Obviously, this is a packed week! But the more packed it is, the more exciting it is! Hope to see everyone this weekend, and welcome back from Spring Break!

As 2009 is coming to a close, I wanted to remind everyone about the winter retreat. This is the highlight of the year and will allow all of us to start the year off on the same page and refocus on God’s word.

Please sign up and pay if they have not done so already. Reminder: the deadline for the early-bird discount is 12/31.

Signup Page:
http://www.gracepointonline.org/gp/signups/2009_winter_retreat

Payments Options:
1. Mail check to “GFC” to 2000 North Loop Road, Alameda, CA 94502. Postmarked by 12/31.
2. Paypal one of the staff and we can submit the check for you.

Last week we had our first ever Kairos Wide Maxwell Field Sports Night!! Amid questionable athletic ability, intermittent trash talking, large pilate balls, frisbees, goals, and great fellowship, we experienced the joys of coming together and having a fun night of friendly competition! Here are some of the pictures from that night… Oh, and did i mention that experience ruled the day over youthful zeal?

In preparation for the night, a lot of people helped to set up goals, cones, food, drinks, sound equipment and much more. Thanks everyone!

"I love sports nights!" We all know Abe had a great time even though his team fell just short in Braveheart!

Braveheart: "If you run, you will live!" Team Yellow's strategy was not one of courage or valor, instead we ran like little chickens... but then again, look which color was left standing

5 Kairos groups, 6 teams, 4 sports, 4 different kinds of balls (if you include frisbee as a ball) playing for gold! But it didn't really matter who won, since we all had a blast!

...and the goofy, funny group shot?

Kairos 2 Bible study is back on Friday night!! We will meet at 6:30pm for dinner and then watch “Everything is Spiritual,” an awesome DVD by Rob Bell that talks about the consistency between the Genesis creation story and science, life, and reality. 

Rob Bell DVD on Genesis 1 during Kairos 2 Bible Study this week!

Afterwards, we will have a sleepover at Andy’s house for the guys and Michelle and Tracy’s house for the girls. We will gather at my house for a time of studying and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream!! That’s right, you read this correctly, we will be studying since a bunch of us will be heading out for our Sierra Trip.

FINALLY, we will be leaving for our our Sierra Trip on Saturday morning and returning Sunday Morning! Our plan is to Kayak down the Truckee River, a smooth, safe, but exciting trek that includes small island stops, sandy beach fronts, and of course, some good water battles! We will also go hiking, flashlight trailblazing, star gazing, along with some archery, studying (that’s right!!), and great food! Somehow, we will squeeze all that in our trip so you won’t want to miss it!! Unlike previously stated, this will just be a Kairos 2 trip so it will be cozier.

I can't wait to get some fresh forest air, introduce everyone to our sierra lodge, and go kayaking down the Truckee River!!

For packing lists, costs, and other details, please check back on the comments as we will finalize everything tonight. See you all tomorrow.

Still need to signup? Well, since we changed the plans late, signups will be open until 11am Friday Morning.

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“In the book of Nehemiah (from the Bible that is), the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates were destroyed by fire. Filled with anguish over the city, Nehemiah rallied the people to overcome their fears and doubts and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 52 short days. The process included all the people, men and women, rich and poor, nobles and peasants, working side by side, building by day and defending the city by night, in order to complete the project. And this picture of unity, shared vision, and personal sacrifice for the honor of God has been the paradigm for which the church has been called to imitate throughout history.

Day 1: We're carrying the walls into place on the first floor

And while I would never claim to know exactly how the people felt when they accomplished this tremendous task, I think God gives us hints of such things when we come together as a church to work toward a single goal that requires self denial. I have felt this way when involved with reaching out to the Berkeley campus, I have tasted this through our ImpACT program, and I have experienced this through compassion ministries. But recently, I felt this way in an unlikely place while engaged in an unlikely task: the building of our Sierra “Barn” walls!

All the tools were laid out on 7 tables and throughout the floor!!

While we completed the construction of our Sierra lodge last year, which has hosted numerous retreats, ministry outings, fellowship times, and bible teacher training sessions, the need to build another structure that could hold 150-200 people for a retreat was clear. After much prep work had been put in by Pastor Jonathan, of our Waypoint Church in Davis, Pastor Ed, and others, the call went out for some brothers to strap on utility work belts, wield hammers, load nail guns, and handle power tools.

After a few emails detailing the work, all the full-time staff at our church, some of the unemployed brothers, and guys who sacrificed vacation days at work, droved 3 hours to our beautiful land in the Sierras to build what we coined the “Barn”. Not to be outdone by the brothers, an army of sisters, headed by Kelly and the full-time sister staff, went to the house to prepare meals for us and develop small group materials for our entire church!! Everyone worked 10-12 hour days, starting with DT in the morning, breaking for a delicious home-cooked lunch, and ending after dark with dinner.

Day 2: Finishing up the first floor by lifting in place a 800lb wood beam with our Grad-all fork lift.

Day 3: Our final full-sized wall!! What a sense of accomplishment and joy!!

After each day, all the guys were a bit more tanned, a lot more sore, and a whole lot more joyful as we saw the walls going up and the floor being laid. At the end of 4 full days of work and some additional help from our praxis department, we had the entire frame of the large house erected and ready for the roofers to come in. But more than a sense of accomplishment, we experienced bonding between everyone who worked tirelessly and gave it there all with the vision that this house would one day be a place of joy, laughter, some crying, and important decisions for many people at our church.

As we hope to complete the barn by December, I’m thankful to have been part of the crew that could raise the walls on this barn. We will all have memories of how this house was built many times faster, and with a bit fewer mistakes, than our last house. It is so true that when the church comes together and people are willing to sacrifice for the sake of a shared vision, we can do great things!”

Day 4: How much gatorade is consumed after 1 day of work? Just look at the trashcan.

First Lesson: When forming teams for Jenga, you never want to have just the freshmen on one team. The result of doing so?

Freshmen doing 10 pushups after losing the first game of Jenga

Second Lesson: The upperclassman and staff should never underestimate the shakiness of their hands in their old age!

JENGA!! All the trash-talking from the upperclassmen and staff couldn't save them!

Third Lesson: You should always respect your elders.

Mercy: Letting the losing team substitute jumping jacks for pushup!

Forth Lesson: Know when the time is right to switch sides.

At just the right time, I switched teams and joined the freshmen. It just so happened that they won that game too... coincidence?

Bonus Shot:

The freshmen team very confident of victory