Koinonia Christian Campus Fellowship – UC Berkeley Club

The past West Coast College Winter Retreat at Mt. Hermon was definitely a memorable time of messages, testimonies, praise, games, bonding, and AWEsome food.  Pastor Ed gave really stirring messages on topics like our heart’s approach to the word of God, spiritual warfare, purity and dating, knowing ourselves, the “Good Samaritan”, and living out the faith.

Thanks Pastor Ed and Kelly for leading us in the retreat!

We also heard numerous uplifting, powerful testimonies from church members and how they struggled with boundaries and experienced God’s redemption and love.

And let’s not forget about the AWEsome, gooooooood food.

During free times, we played sports, went on the ropes course, and went on hikes around the beautiful Mt. Hermon sceneries.  We also played group games wherein we had to form our own clubs and perform numerous tasks together in order to get our club to win against other clubs.  Afterwards, we played a cotton ball relay game that has never been played before.

Some of the great sceneries in Mt. Hermon.

We concluded by singing in a circle and afterwards creating a tunnel to send off our church plants: San Diego and Riverside.

Overall, the retreat really reawakened and challenged us to see the spiritual battle that we are engaged in as well as appreciate the boundaries God has placed in our lives.  A constant theme in the retreat was Psalm 16:6: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Finally, praise the Lord for the many salvation decisions and recommitments!

We’re starting a NEW message series this Sunday (6/6). Please come and also invite your friends!

What an amazing weekend! You know now why Good Friday/Easter weekend is one of the highlights of the year for Gracepoint and Christians around the world.If you missed out, here’s a recap:

On Friday, we hopped in cars and drove over to Alameda’s Koffman Auditorium. This Good Friday’s theme was giving our burdens to Jesus. This was visually displayed by the mound of luggage that was piled on the stage leading up to the foot of the cross.

We were able to reflect on the burdens in our life that are piling up on us. The key verse for Good Friday was Matthew 11:28 when Jesus says:  “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” What wonderful news! It was a powerful moment to see the luggage full of our burdens, guilt and sins set at the foot of the cross.

Our Easter Sunday service was filled with a stage full of flowers which painted a picture of the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. After a moving skit and message by Pastor Ed, we were able to reflect on the names we call ourselves, and then the name that Jesus calls us. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that God no longer sees me as the sinner I am, but instead as His child. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We ended the service with a mega performance of the song “Hallelujah Chorus” performed by our very own (almost professional) orchestra and choir. Even if you have zero musical background (like myself) you could not help but have chills throughout the entire performance. I know everyone was thrilled when Pastor Ed said “That was just too good to only do once” and we were able to hear it again!

After the Easter service we celebrated by eating lunch together at the Central apartments where we feasted on yummy Vietnamese sandwiches. After lunch,  a group of us headed over to the Oakridge Care Center to visit the residents from our Valentine’s Day of Compassion.  They were so happy to see young smiling faces again. You could see that we had made their day just being there. Although we didn’t plan a program, we were able to sing a few songs with them: “The Milk Song”, and our all-time favorite “Your Love is Deep”. There is a line in this song that goes:

“Who can separate us? Who can separate us from your love? Nothing can separate us. Nothing can separate us from your love.”

Even though we’ve sung these words a million times, with the fresh perspective of the cross and Easter, I was amazed at the truth of these words. Nothing can separate me or the elderly residents from the love of God. The cross truly is an open invitation for everyone, no matter where you are in your  journey of life.

All three fellowships met together at First Pres Church this past Friday for the 4th installment of “Why Am I…?” Gracepoint Berkeley’s pastor, Ed Kang, gave the message for all three fellowships–Koinonia, acts2fellowship, and Kairos Fellowship.

We dealt with the topic of envy and covered the story of Cain in Genesis 4. One of the topics we talked about was from verse 7, that sin is a malevolent force, crouching, trying to master us (and often succeeding). One of the illustrations Pastor Ed Kang used was from Pastor Joshua Harris, about the beanbag, and small steps we take towards evil… and before long, it’s got us. Found it on the web and embedded it below. Give it a look. It’s really great.

After you watch it, let us know what you thought, or what from the bible study or the video stuck out to you!