Koinonia Christian Campus Fellowship – UC Berkeley Club

As most people know, we had our church wide Winter Retreat 2010 only one week ago.  We’re so thankful for the 33 new brothers and sisters who committed their lives to Christ, as well as the opportunity for many of us to make other significant vows and oaths to God.  Since it was such an amazing time, why not take another look back down memory lane?

We heard soul-striking messages on the “almost guys” like Saul, Samson, the Rich Young Ruler, and Pilate. We even took time to write out what we would say to Saul and Samson in the midst of their troubles.  It was a wake-up call, as we were writing to the Samson and Saul in each of us.

We were also blessed by the many testimonies given by the directors/”elders” of our church, as they shared parts of their journey with God and how they came to develop a more personal relationship with Him.  It was also great to hear about the “Samson class” and the many “When I was in college, I…”

In addition to all the spiritual food, we had times of fellowship over some hotel-quality physical food too!

The Frosh Dudes

The Frosh Dudettes

The retreat was a time of serious reflection and uncontrollable laughter, but most importantly it was a time where our entire church came together as one body to grow closer to God.  Until next year!

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to those we haven’t seen in a while! Last week we had our annual churchwide winter retreat. It was a refreshing time of hearing testimonies and messages that really challenged us to fully commit our lives to God and geared us up for all that God has in store for us in 2010! It definitely helped us start this year with the right spiritual focus!

Shall we try to relive that time with some pictures?

Why are these guys laughing at Dan…?

Hm, these pictures don’t do the experience justice. But I hope that for those of us who were there, that we can keep the memories and commitments of this retreat in our hearts for the rest of the year, and for many more years to come! For those you who weren’t able to come…well, just come to the one next year!

If you guys missed out on winter retreat, boy, you really missed out! It was such a powerful time of testimonies, bonding, messages, and good spiritual and non-spiritual food!

Here are some pictures from the retreat!

I’m so excited for this new year and how we will continue to spur each other on to concretely apply all of our commitments made at the retreat.

Welcome back everyone!  We’ve missed all of you and can’t wait to see everybody again!  This past weekend many of us joined the rest of Gracepoint Berkeley on our annual Winter Retreat.  After classes, we drove down to Santa Cruz to Mount Hermon Retreat Center.

It was a packed weekend! Packed as in we packed the auditorium to its maximum capacity with our whole church.  It was awesome worshiping God all together as we heard timely messages, sang songs of praise, and listened to honest testimonies.  What a great chance to get away from the craziness of Berkeley and spend a weekend in beautiful nature to hear from God.

We studied different Old Testament and New Testament characters such as Saul, Samson, the Rich Young Ruler,  and Pilate, all of whom tragically missed God’s vision for their lives.  A study of these character challenged us to carefully examine our hearts for so we can embrace the grand vision that God has for each of us.

We also heard many testimonies detailing the amazing way that God has worked in people’s lives.  We saw how God dealt with different peopleregarding their struggles with ambition, insecurities, materialism, pride, and fears to shape them into people who can be a blessing to others.

We learned about faith through Abraham’s journey, and how faith means to trust in God and remain faithful through thick and thin.  On the last day, Pastor Ed gave a message about God’s vision for the church and each of our lives.  We then jotted down the world’s vision for our lives versus God’s  vision for us, and reflecting on what steps we can take now to move towards God’s much grander vision.  Towards the end of the retreat, several members of our very homegroup made significant decisions to follow Christ, praise God!

I was personally really blessed through this time, as it gave us a chance to recalibrate our hearts towards God and start the semester off on the right foot!  For those of you who weren’t able to make it, don’t miss it next year!

Christmas Party & Gift Exchange

Annual homegroup Christmas Party and Gift Exchange this Thursday night (Dec 10), at 8:00p at First Pres. We have the Mears Room (it’s where we do SK1). You go up the stairs and the entrance is on your left; you can see it in the Google street view.

Anyway, you just need to bring a wrapped $5-10 gift. We’ll put that in the gift pile, and then mix it all around, and then compete with one another for gifts. Since Thursday is WinterFest, we won’t have dinner-type food, but we’ll have finger food, fruit, and snacks. In the past, there were chocolate fountains and things like that. I don’t think we’ll have that this year… but the Christmas Party is a fun, meaningful way to end the year together as a homegroup. Definitely have to be there. Plus, we have a little surprise at the end!

Friday (Dec 11), we have combined Incom-Parable Wisdom bible study: Koinonia, acts2fellowship, Kairos, and Praxis all together. We’ll be at First Pres beginning at 7:00p. Afterwards, we’re studying.

Baptism and changed lives

This past Sunday, Gracepoint Berkeley baptized 23 people! We got to hear stories from 7 people, stirring many of us and reminding us of our own salvation stories. No matter where we are on our spiritual journeys, it’d be difficult to NOT be able to relate to some aspect of the stories we heard.

Thank God for Will S. (SO) and Hannah P. and Patti S. (SRs) baptisms! Anyone want to join me in congratulating our friends?!

If you missed out, or if you just want to experience it again, or hear from some of the other 16 people who didn’t get to read their testimonies, there are people’s spiritual journeys posted online.

Koinonia Ice Skating

Then we did ice skating last Friday night. We had the whole rink to ourselves. There were newbies (who groped frantically for the wall at the beginning of the night) as well as pros, who took off from the starting block and were tormenting their less skilled peers. There were even a bunch of rascals (ahem, the soph guys) who were picking up ice shavings, packing them, and using them as projectile weapons and back-of-the-shirt stuffing material. I was assaulted by a group of these hoodlums and am waiting for firmer ground to exact vengeance.

We stopped the skating round and round in circles in the middle of the night and got into teams. We made shapes and different team competitions, culminating in a relay race around the rink for the 5 best skaters per team. Plenty of cheering, no spills, and a deft display of different people’s finesse on the ice.

Things to Sign Up for… and other News!

J-Term (or January Term) is an opportunity to get productive during your Winter Break! Expand your mind, equip your hands, and fellowship with your buds and LIFEGroup everyday. You can sign up online for J-Term and find out more info too.

Angel Tree Christmas Party is this Saturday. Our homegroup is sponsoring 6 kids. Many of us have already gone Christmas gift shopping for them (and some are lined up to go this week), but we’re really looking forward to meeting them this Saturday at 4:00p @ Willard Middle School. Angel Tree is a ministry of Prison Fellowship, reaching out to children of inmates and their families.

After the Angel Tree Christmas Party, we have our annual Joyland Christmas Celebration, a kid-sized GLive sort of production for Christmas. If you’re not too stressed with finals, come check it out. It’s entertaining, cute, and fun. Willard Middle School, 6:00p, this Saturday.

Koinonia Snow Trip Saturday, Jan 16. Bring up your snow gear when you come back from winter break.

Galatians and John DT Journals are coming this Sunday. If you’d like one, then swing by the book table and pick them up! Cost will be $5-10.

College Winter Retreat dates are in: Friday (1/22) to Sunday (1/24)! Just wanted to give you a heads up. Sign ups will come soon.

Whew, that was a lot. You’ve read this far? You should be studying! Study hard and see you guys soon.

Pictures, thanks to Justin K. and Irene K.

Hey everyone, winter break is a long time, so let’s make the most of it. Come back a little early for January Term 2010 and train your mind, get some new skills, and enjoy great fellowship!

Date/Time: 1/11-1/15, 9am-4pm
Cost: $30 (includes breakfast and lunch everyday. it’s a deal!)
Sign-up now (Deadline: 12/31)

Also, the College Winter Retreat will be Friday 1/22 to Sunday 1/24 (the first weekend after school starts). We’ll get away to some refreshing nature and spend extended time hearing messages and testimonies to prepare for the new year, along with having great bonding and fellowship! This is the year’s most important retreat for our college department, so don’t miss it!

Sign up for the retreat!