kairos 1 @ berkeley - gracepoint fellowship church

Hi everyone!

Kairos 1 is ready to kick off the fall semester with our first Bible Study! We're just a couple of blocks from campus at 2440 Dana St. (cross-street is Dwight Way)

Starting off with dinner, some ice-breakers to "break the ice," then a Bible Study followed by games! We've had board game nights, fondu & fruit nights, bowling nights, basketball/sports nights, and many more!


Check out some of the cool pix from last semester's Bible Study meetings -



So don't be shy and come join us at 6:30pm this Friday, 9/5.


--SAN FRANCISCO Trip!--
And we have our first outing of the semester to San Francisco! Woohoo!
>Dim Sum
>Pier 39
>Lombard St.
>Golden Gate Bridge Tour
>and Deli sandwiches!...

>Sign Up Here




...more info will be announced this Friday at Bible Study.

Stay tuned! Look forward to seeing ya'll!

Welcome to Kairos 1! You might be wondering what w're all about... we're a group of students that meets weekly to study the Bible and just do life together. We also go on fun outings, play sports together, participate in community service opportunities, eat GOOD food, and just enjoy one another's company. We all come from different paths of life so wherever you're from, you're totally welcome here!

We usually meet on Fridays at a nice cozy house on Dana & Haste at 6:30pm. We start with a scrumptious dinner, a couple of ice breakers, then we embark on a discussion-based Bible study, where you can ask questions and share your thoughts. Afterward, we have cool activities (e.g., games, trips to SF, etc.), so we invite you to come and share life with us!

Now... let me tell you about "small groups". Small groups are mid-week meetings where you get together with other students in a smaller group setting (5-7 people) to talk about different issues on life, God, religion, meaning, etc. If you are a Christian seeking to grow within a discipleship setting OR if you just want to investigate a little bit about what Christianity is about OR if you are 'somewhere in between', we have the groups for you! Small group meeting times are about an hour a week. If you're interested in our small groups - check out the video and sign up here!

NEW STUDENT WELCOME NIGHT 2008!

With over 1,000 people flooding through the doors of Pauley Ballroom (at the corner of Bancroft and Telegraph) on Wednesday, 8/27 to attend New Student Welcome Night #1 - the night started off with music, a video with Josh Linville heading it off, a hilarious yet meaningful skit, and finished off with a talk by Pastor Ed Kang of Gracepoint Fellowship Church. Several hundred stayed for the wonderful Korean BBQ served afterwards as we all stuck around and got to know one another. Don't miss out on NSWN #2 going on TONIGHT, Friday 8/29 at 7pm at same place (Pauley Ballroom), different time.

Time: 6:30 PM on a slow, August evening. Location: Fremont Starbucks, alfresco. A pre-sunset, sun-bathed patio with a serendipitous number of unoccupied metal tables. Who: a colorful assortment of Cal alumni and students, drinking venti vanilla frappuccinos and grapefruit Izzes. WHAT: a neat arrangement of Engineering pamphlets, semester deadline-lists, and handy campus maps. A frequent glance towards the direction of the observing parking lot. A constant milling in-and-out of the Starbucks establishment, with just a hint of nervous anticipation…

On Thursday, August 15^th, Kairos 1—doubling as Alumni Association members and Cal ambassadors—headed down to Fremont to host a Cal Connect reception for 2008-2009 incoming freshmen. Days earlier we had sent out several hundred "fruity" invitations to freshmen living in the Alameda County region, appreciating such a pat opportunity to reach out to new students, and with high hopes for a fair turnout. As representatives for the California Alumni Association, our goal was to be personable, yet reliable sources of Cal information, willing and ready to tell the freshmen anything they wanted to know about UC Berkeley (our Kairos brochures lay ready and waiting in a nearby basket just in case).

As one of the few current undergraduates representing CalConnect, I confess that as the time to meet the new freshmen drew nearer, I was plagued by an anxious dread of what I might experience during the encounter. Looks of rejection from freshman? Worse yet, an impossible-to-answer question? Besides, I asked myself, what would I know that freshmen would want to ask ME? (I'm no expert on the subtle implications of choosing IB or MCB, nor I am versed on the mysterious origins of Oskie…). As 7:00 approached, however, and our first freshman walked up to our expectant crew, my thoughts and feelings towards the freshman and to our "endeavor" began to change. Though it was somewhat awkward at first, me sitting there in my blue Cal shirt across from this really young and unfamiliar person, it soon became pretty comfortable and quite invigorating to truly connect with a future student at Cal. Offering them my 4-semester's worth of wisdom, I realized that it didn't really matter what I didn't know or what they might personally think of me—it was all about connecting with a fellow human being who was soon going to be exactly where I was, almost two years ago: an excited, anxious, and, (most probably) scared freshman at Cal. Though we were not supposed to directly promote Kairos, I think God used the opportunity to challenge me to venture out of my comfort zone just a little, and to practice loving others " more and more". Despite how much my selfish preconceptions caused me to resist the call to meet these freshmen, our DT passage on 1 Thessalonians 4 truly put things into perspective for me. True, I was secretly overwhelmed with Apostle Paul's plead to the Thessalonians to love their brothers, and the ramifications that might mean for me. After-the-fact, however, I can honestly say that I was privileged to have been at Cal Connect, knowing that it was only one act out of many which we should be willing to take on "in order to please God", and given to us "by the authority of the Lord Jesus".

Hi guys, this is a short slideshow for our Sierra trip. Enjoy!

Gracepoint Forum, started by Daniel Kim, is a place where we discuss SET materials and apologetics questions. Go check it out, there are many good questions posted regarding marriage, suffering, intelligent designs and other hot topics. Join the discussion, post your thoughts, or just start a new question to keep our mind spinning.

http://gracepointforum.blogspot.com

Another remarkable Kairos-ian post by our very own Bethany!

Kairos 1 & 3 went on a smashing trip to the Sierras this past Friday & Saturday. Greenness abounding, air revitalizing, birds chirping, trees scaling the scenery, mighty mountains ranging the skies, and a handful of us basking in all of God's nature... what more could we ask for?


[Sierra Lodge - pit stop]


[Yes, the first crew to finish tentmaking... sisters.]
As we worked on our tents and were putting stakes through the tent attachments to stabilize them into the ground, Bethany noted that high "stakes" were involved here. Yes, it was really "in tents."


[Campfire time @ Lake Spaulding campgrounds]

Someone: What do you do in the case that someone catches on fire?
Grace: Um, um, stop, drop, and drool.
Someone: Um... you mean, Stop, Drop, and Roll?
Someone else: You mean, if Tony's pants caught on fire?
Ernie: Liar, liar.
Yang: [wanting to bang his head against a tree]
Grace: Here, come sit on the logs around the campfire!
Ernie: And pull out the guitar so we could make some Log-A-Rhythm!

After settling in, we played a game called *Wink* in which there are 2 winkers and everyone else becomes the innocent bystanders. Those who are winked at die and lose. Man, it was a tough game for those who... didn't know how to wink but were the winkers. Ken, that's blinking... not winking. Wink, wink!

You must be thinking, Kairos 1 & 3 are... interesting... and YOU'RE RIGHT! Because before that... someone decided that we should all sing our national anthems. Chinese, Korean, American... too bad Richard Leung wasn't here... le Français! Then we have one particular brother, who will remain nameless (and whose first and last names rhyme), who confessed that he used to think our national anthem went something like this, "Jose, can you see..." Then he proceeded to say, "I mean, I know America is a mixing pot and all..." Eh...

After getting winked and anthemed out, Tony whipped out his guitar and we lit up the rest of the night with some tunes and praise songs finishing the session w/ a classic, Only You.


[Oh yeeeeuh.]
Devastatingly delish! Ramen, clam chowder, toasted rolls, marshmellows, smores.... mmmm... make happy stomachs. And happy stomachs make happy campers. =)


Saturday morning and Philippians 1,3. We spent some time in reflection before the day ahead of us. As we watched the still and quiet waters, we were drawn once again to God's magnificent creation. Afterward, here's Bethany getting ready to kayak and to rumble through the lake as we geared up for some splashin' adventures and a water race! (I'm so sore.)


[Kayak-ers / BBQ chicken!]


[Guys have an interesting way of trying to look cool.
Keyword: "trying"; FYI: they're just running and throwing rocks into the lake, in case you're wondering.]


[Here's Kevin Huang blowing down a tree. Timber!!!!! ]

Then a good 1-hour hike into the woods on the Feeley-Carr trail. Ran into some hikers, shoulder-biting mosquitoes (they're insects that only feed off of your shoulders, weird...), some more hikers, moss, ducks, fishermen... and horses. Then we decided that it would be time for... beef noodle soup! The students couldn't believe it's at a gas station stop. But yes, that topped it off. All in all, our trip was a smashing hit - with great outdoor activities coupled with great food (thanks Grace for the BBQ chicken - it was great!), good fellowship, and a whole load of high-caliber jokes (aka Kairos 1 & 3's infamous puns). Kevin Huang even joined in at the end and told our caravan he was "pun-alized."

Hi everybody. Hope you all had an awesome weekend. I sure had a blast buried in books and lecture notes. Ernie I would like to see some pictures from the camping trip please. Thanks. Anyways, I picked up a copy of the DailyCal today. And I accidentally stumbled upon an article worth reading. Here's the link:

http://www.dailycal.org/article/102152/the_constant_feeding_of_an_insatiable_hunger

DailyCal is not just about tree sitters and sudoku, it's actually read-worthy........ sometimes.

Oh, and props to Yang for Kairos Blog's new look. I dig it a lot.

Dish-Gracepoint

No, I did not spell it wrong, I am talking about DISH-Gracepoint. This is a blog that has been started by Tom Kim. If you have been coming to Gracepoint for a while, you probably have heard of his name, and his amazing mastery at meat cooking. Now, behold, he is about to reveal all his secret on his new blog site: Dish-Gracepoint. He will update on a weekly basis his new recipes, special cooking tools, and of course, special deal of the week (on meat items). So, you can be either an experienced cook looking for meat hook-ups, or an amature trying to practice serving your roommates by providing delicious meals, check out Dish-Gracepoint.

Posted by Kevin Tan:

July 4th. Independence Day. Where do I begin? We did so many things and had so much fun that, at the end of the day, it didn't seem possible that it had been just one day. We began with a winding drive up Mount Diablo, and spent much of the drive trying to solve ridiculous math riddles that, in combination with the curving road, made our heads hurt.

Regardless, once we disembarked, we were primed and ready to take on a grueling and challenging hike that would remind us of the importance of persistence, determination, and discipline. However, after three minutes of hiking, the trail leveled out. We'd driven up so far that there was no trail for us to hike!


We didn't give up, though, and found a menacing rock that all of us but Grace (who guarded our lunch!) scaled. Afterwards, we ate a lunch of sandwiches and eggs with a pinch of salt, but Tony and Yang indicated that this was nothing compared to the barbeque we were going to have later that night. I knew that I wasn't the only one excited when I heard that.


The menace.

A quick drive down to Alameda led us to our next activity, biking. Having not ridden a bike in almost four years, I was hesitant about getting on. However, I found out that it really is true that you don't forget how to ride a bike once you've learned how to, although Eugene found out that the hard part is learning how to. The coastline of Alameda was an incredible sight as we biked through, and we arrived at a grassy field next to the coastline. A game of Ultimate Frisball (Using a Football!) that pitted the experienced staff versus the energetic students ensued as the waves and birds provided the background setting. It was a very fun game that highlighted the importance of teamwork; the staff kept abusing the Ken-Tony longball and good passing and catching from everyone, but the students took advantage of a lightning fast blitzkrieg that all but tied up the score at 4 to 4. At this point we were famished, so we took a few pictures, packed up, and headed home.

Take note of Kevin and James and their lovely pose.

Back at Yang's new place, the kitchen bustled with students and staff alike washing vegetables, peeling corn, and making beef patties. Some of the guys set up the grill outside, while others who had nothing to do played with some very realistic Nerf Guns! The patties and hotdogs hit the grill, and the incredible aroma had us all very hungry but very happy. Before long, everyone was seated with a home-made hamburger, Yang's specialty salad, Dora's scalloped potatoes, grilled corn on the cob with a special honey sauce, and huge hot dogs. Yang's specially ground beef was spectacular, with a nod to the secret ingredient that made it all come together: bacon!. It was one of the best meals that I ever had for July 4th, and many people agreed. After we finished cleaning up, everyone took a popsicle and headed out for the finale: fireworks.



As we waited for fireworks, we played Word Volleyball, another ridiculously fun Korean game. And although we weren't able to see any fireworks up close, we were able to watch multiple displays all over the Bay, capping off an amazing day. I personally was very happy for the opportunity to share a part of my life with a few new people I hadn't met before, as well as strengthen the bonds that I'd had with those that I did know. All in all, I truly felt, and still do feel, that our July 4th was a window into the fellowship and celebration that God desires all of his children to enjoy, a window into heaven, if you will. Praise the Lord for his guidance over our lives, and for the opportunity to develop and strengthen new and existing bonds with our brothers and sisters. As I told a friend later, "If you didn't have fun today, there's got to be something wrong with you!".

Our Honduras Mission Team just returned this past weekend. Different from Taiwan or Cambodia, this is purely a medical mission trip, that our mission team travelled to Honduras to care for sick. Also, our very own Hung Yen is on this trip as well. Thank you for your prayers, they have returned safely. One of the sisters from SF Chapel have compile a video slideshow of all the things that has happened in Honduras.

Hello everyone,

Here is what's happening tomorrow at Kairos 1.

We will have Intermurals at Wood Middle School as usual, 6:30 - 8pm. Then dinner and Bible study at my place. Afterwards, we will have Eugene & Cynthia join us for a time of some fellowship at Planet Crepes (a frozen yogurt place nearby)!!

For Bible Study, we will cover Isaiah 40. Many of you have been doing Daily Devotions through this chapter, so please be ready to share your insights and realizations :) Also, we will be having a memory verse contest every week from now on. We will cover last weeks and I am going to give you this weeks. Please start now if you can :)

Memory Verses

I can't believe I haven't got the chance to post about this yet. We are approaching the third week of Summer Intramural, possibly one of the most exciting events this summer. Want to know how exciting it is? Just look at this highlight reel...

Hi!

I hope everyone's enjoying the great summer sun so far! For us Bay Area folks, it looks like we're back to the normal 68-70 degree day-weather. Hope you so-cal folks are survivin'!

I just came back this Tuesday from the Sierras after a one night stay at the Sierra Lodge for something called Bible Teacher's Training (BTT). There at our Sierra Lodge, Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly Kang helped shape some of the younger staff into the beginnings of Bible teachers. I had a blast as we arrived Sunday night and rose early the next day to start our very first session of Bible training. We were given a prompt and about 30 minutes to prepare a 5-minute talk. After that, we would embed the text from the Bible to substantiate our message. As we received constructive feedback from Pastor Ed, some of us were also blessed by each other's messages. Man! Who knew Yang's talk on monkeys could be so meaningful! When you see him around, ask him about that one. We also got to go to Spaulding Lake where we canoe-ed for about two hours. Rockin' fun!

My first message was on Luke 10 - the story of the Good Samaritan.

Waking up on the wrong side of bed, not having time to do DT, leaving the door late without that cup of coffee. Suddenly, time is all the more precious. You hold onto it tightly like Smeagol and his ring. It is my precious. Thereby, anyone or anything that causes that hiccup in your schedule becomes an obstacle or something you just want to jettison out of your way. How does each one of the characters in this story react when they see this badly beaten man, robbed and deserted on the side of the road? The priest and the Levite both pass by on the other side without a second look or a second thought. Perhaps they were thinking inside - today's a bad day for me, on any other day, maybe I would try to... or I have a whole load of stuff to do today, how could I possibly right now, right here? Or perhaps they were genuinely kind-hearted, but couldn't quite let go of some sort of agenda. I want to help but...

The Samaritan, however, stops... takes a glance at the man, sees someone hurting. So he gives up his time, and what more his oil and wine (considered precious in that day), his donkey, his money for an inn for that man to rest. He doesn't just help this man up, he steps out of any kind of comfort zone, does all this without having been asked. This is exactly how God picks us up - He gives us His time, His heart, and ultimately His Son. God asks us to exemplify that character in our daily lives whether it be to that classmate or co-worker who looked down, or that roommate who needed someone to talk to. But what about that final exam I have tomorrow? Should I?

How are we like the priest or the Levite? Steering clear of any precarious situation. Or has any one of us been like that beaten and broken man who was left to die or fend for himself when someone took that initiative to pick you up from the side of the road? What are some things that are hindering us from going all out and loving the people in our lives? Or recognizing that brokenness in us and personalizing the examples we've seen in our lives so that we may be like that Samaritan? What are some ways we're holding back and passing up on the opportunities to share in God's vision? I think if we can pick up something from the story of the Good Samaritan, we can really focus on others, and our hearts would grow for the hurting and the lost around us.


-Ernie

Sunday Worship Mixlist

As some of you may know, there has been incidents of over 800 fires throughout northern california. It has even threatened our Sierra Lodge. But thankfully, SL was not damaged. Here is some sharing from Kelly Kang (Pastor Ed's wife, for someone of you who do not know) regarding the fire.

http://acts2fellowship.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/sharing-from-kelly-kang/

The following is what I (James) have experienced from participating in the 30 Hour Famine:

Fasting has never been my thing. In fact, I have never fasted before, and the last thing I would plan to do is to give up food for any purpose. Food is simply too important to me. I understood the tragedy of the 15,000 children dying because of hunger everyday. I prayed for God to help them. But I agreed to do the 30 Hour Famine with Kairos brothers and sisters with the attitude that fasting would not help the starving children in any way. On Friday night before our fasting was to begin, I stuffed myself at dinner to the point that I couldn't possibly eat anymore, thinking to myself that this should at least last me a while. The next morning I woke up with my stomach growling. "Oh no," were the first two words that came out of my mouth that morning. We got to North Loop at around 10 am, and we spent some time doing saturation reflection on Psalm 32 before we started working on various projects at North Loop. Tai was helping out with the Compassion Wall, which contains photos of the Compassion children that our church sponsors. I got to help Jammy Yang build a door for the storage in the back. Tony, Robert Kim from Kairos 2, and some other brothers were building a step for the stage. I was able to help them out with that too towards the end when they were near finishing with the project. We ended our hard work at about 4:30 pm. Time flew by fast, and if it hadn't been for those work, I probably wouldn't be able to continue with the fast.

After we left North Loop, as Kairos, we went together to see the exhibit called Step Into Africa, where we were able to personally experience what a child's life is like living in Africa. We learned that HIV-AIDS has taken so many precious lives in that continent. Many kids grow up in children-headed households as a result of their parents killed by AIDS. Many of them live without shelter and without food. Reflecting back on the environment that we live in, we are very privileged compared to them. Same as people created in God's image, we don't deserve anything that we own as much as they do. I complain about the sudden change in weather, when it gets too cold I'm not happy, when it gets too hot I get lazy, failing to realize that some of these children in Africa sleep through storms with nothing but a thin sheet of straw mat and a few layers of banana leaves. The Step Into Africa experience definitely gave me a new perspective on life.

We spent the rest of the night at Andy's place. Some of us played Bang, some played Settlers, some tried to study, and some people, including our very own Yang, helped with preparing food that we will be eating to break our fast on Sunday morning. They really sacrificed because while they were cooking the food they couldn't taste any of it, they were that committed to carrying on with the fast. Brother slept over at Ken Chu's apt and the sisters spent the night at Andy and Amy's place.

We woke up at around 6:15 Sunday morning. As I was brushing my teeth, I kept thinking about the delicious breakfast that Yang and the sisters have prepared for us. I thought to myself that I had never been up this early and still very happy about it. Just then a voice spoke to me and told me that while my fasting hours can be counted, many children wake up from who-knows-how-long without food, and there is still uncertainty in whether or not they will be eating anything before the sun goes down that day. It hit me hard. The joy of anticipation for a delicious breakfast quickly vanished. A short glimpse of famine had only been 30 hours for me, but for others it can mean days, weeks, it's part of their life, and it dictates whether or not they will live to see another day. I was right. Fasting for 30 hours didn't do much to help the starving children in Africa, but instead it helped me understand how fortunate I am, and how I should be grateful for everything that I have, and that everything is given to me by my Father in Heaven, who is always providing for me.

On a lighter note, in the morning when the sisters were about to heat up the breakfast that they prepared the night before, Grace instructed: "Let's set the stove on fire." Good thing we didn't follow her advice. We were able to enjoy some gourmet chicken noodle soup and Chinese porridge with shredded pork (or fish) and thousand-year-old eggs. Also if you haven't had a chance to watch WALL-E yet, it's a really great movie. It touches on the lies and vice of consumerism, which is kind of related to the whole 30 Hour Famine thing.

Yes, yes... it's finally here.

Our one month fast for June 2008! As mentioned earlier, a few of us each shared our 1 month commitment last Friday that would help us be both mentally and physically disciplined. This includes a wide range of commitments from videogaming to sweets to.... PUNS! By doing this together and keeping each other accountable, we can make the most of this one month and acknowledge that we are indeed not governed by these things. (I don't know about the puns one though, I'd have to say it's usually pretty edifying ;) )

Also, as I post this, I want to ask that you guys keep me in your prayers as I will be heading off to Cambodia in less than one week and serving at Life University for 2 weeks with a wonderful team of about 30 members led by Tony Sun. This is a view of Angkor Wat from 2007, one of the main tourist attractions in Cambodia. It was once a very powerful temple, but is now in ruins and open to the public for touring.

As I have been to this country once before, please pray for a continued life-changing experience that will jolt and challenge me as I return 2 weeks later. Let's also remember to keep Hung in our prayers as he heads off to Honduras in about a month. Kairos 1, continue ROCKing! ooh yeah!


Here's our team! Cambodia 1 Mission Team 2008!

One night as we were preparing dinner for Bible Study... we were waiting for the students to arrive at 6:30pm.

6:27pm... no one shows up
6:30pm... still... no one...

6:35pm... hm... where is everybody?

6:40pm... "We've prepared a feast... how come no one's here yet?" - Yang

"Ok, let's go out and gather the hungry and..." - Grace

"and... vandalize." - Yang

"E-HEM! You mean... evangelize?" - Ernie

"Oh my..." - Tony

BreakPoint

School's out. Well... some of us are waiting for Session C to start.



I must say we had a wonderful semester and ended it with a fabulous trip to Monterey. With all the things learned, we want to look forward to a great summer w/ another fun-filled Kairos trip coming up.

Yesterday night was a wonderful night in which the students who are still here in Berkeley hosted the staff to a wonderful potluck dinner. From Liz and Bethany's vegetarian lasagne to Kevin Tan's 'cinnamon delight,' we experienced cuisine at all levels (James' Chinese Chicken to Hung and Eugene' good ol' American porkchops). Not to also overlook Casper's green bean desert, the student's exceeded all expectations especially over one staff's earlier comment, "Will the food be edible??"

Then we had a nice time of praise and worship, acknowledging all the blessings we've received from God this past year. It was a very, very moving and nice time. Full Kairos One band will be formed soon enough!

We ended the night with each of us sharing a 1 month commitment (just 1 month) of a particular 'fast' that would instill greater discipline and help us steward our time this summer. From sweet tooth 'addiction' to videogaming, we acknowledged things that can be removed from our lives, that would be of great benefit to us, in an effort to replace such activity with more edifying things.

• GSI = Gracepoint Summer Institute
  Dates: Friday 6/6, 7pm @ First Pres., Berkeley
  Saturday 6/7, 10am @ North Loop, Alameda
  Description: A look into OT Survey and Narrative Reading Strategy
  
  
  
  
• SET = Summer Evangelism Training
  Dates: Tuesdays 6/10 - 6/29, 8:30pm
  Description: An 8-week evangelism training course equipping you w/ apologetics knowledge, conversational & relational skills!
  
  
  

• College Worldview Camp
  Speaker: Dr. John Bloom
  Dates: Wed - Sat 6/18 - 6/21
  Place: Monterey