Koinonia Christian Campus Fellowship – UC Berkeley Club

This last weekend we were blessed by the amazing experience of the Gracepoint-wide Thanksgiving retreat. Old friends reunited and we saw a lot of new faces, too, as we came together as a whole church and welcomed brothers and sisters from Minnesota, Texas, Riverside, San Diego, Davis and even Pastor Andy and Amy from Hsinchu, Taiwan.

We made our way down to Kofman auditorium in Alameda and settled in for three awesome days of sharing, praise, and videos.

One of the most memorable moments of Friday night was a collective sharing of all those that accepted Christ in the last year. After a quartet of beautiful voices sang for us, each new Christian came forward and shared a line to represent their testimony, creating a very powerful and moving presentation.

One major theme from the retreat was learning about the history of our church, and to be thankful for all those that have gone before us and paved the way. We learned about the history of Gracepoint’s Sierra Lodge (and the persevering brothers who built it… multiple times…) and got updates from all the different ministry groups. A lot of the staff shared about their experiences working with their peers or about the generations of leadership coming together at the church plants.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving Retreat without the Gracepoint Orchestra, too! Their smashing performance was composed and directed by Gracepoint’s resident musical genius, Paul.

There were a lot of other surprises, too. For lunch, we enjoyed a visit from several taco trucks and Curry in a Hurry…

And enjoyed a Saturday night full of strange sights. That’s right. Strange sights. Any guesses what’s going on in these pictures?

The answer is: we played BEST OF THE BEST as classes, complete with a feature of Pastor Ed’s amazing abilities with a nunchucks. Among the categories, dude, were Best Song & Dance, Best Rap & HipHop Dance, Best Cheer, Best Thanksgiving Quilt, and Best One Word (or phrase) Skit. Oh my!

There were a lot of things to be thankful for in this past year all across our church. We had a great time paying tribute to them all, and look forward to another year of God’s work ahead of us.

The thanksgiving festivities aren’t over yet! Join us this Sunday for the Thanksgiving Celebration, for intense dancing and a delicious meal. Happy Thanksgiving!