Kairos Christian Fellowship (Gracepoint – Berkeley)

Hey guys, we had an action-packed few days this past weekend. To end the Friday evening, our group began our 30 Hour Famine at the strike of 12am. The Following day we headed off to the San Francisco Food Bank where we helped package over 2,200 pounds of rice for the needy! We all felt so blessed to help out in such a concrete way, and we look forward to more service opportunities in the future. We also even got to see our fellow SF campus groups help out as well! We ended the afternoon by going to the UCSF campus to reflect on God’s word. Check out the rest of the photos here!

Sunday morning, we broke our fast together at Ellen’s place over jook and yogurt. We also help our home worship here. How do you guys like the new location? More pictures can be found here!

Please post your thoughts about the 30 Hour Famine AND, per John Lee’s prompt at the end of The Truth Project, please post any questions you may have regarding the topic of science and God.

The 30 Hour Famine was really an eye-opening one.  I was particulary blown away by how much God can use people who are really committed to serving Him. I really felt like I did nothing, but God worked in the lives of people I asked for money and they generously contributed.  What really struck me is that many of my old friends and coworkers really rallied around our cause when I asked them for money.  I think when you tell someone you’re a Christian and you are actively doing something with your church- like selling snowcones or holding bake sales and garage sales, they have no choice but to really consider what makes you the person that you are.  I found many of my old friends either contributed financially to the cause or at least supported my cause.  In many cases,  it gave me a venue to share how my Christian church was actively trying to raise money to stop poverty around the world.  Oftentimes, when I tell people how much we raised last year, they are blown away.  It’s amazing to be part of a church that is so passionate about serving God–wheather or not we notice somtimes–other people definitely do.  How many people get the opportunity to  bag over 4,500 lbs of rice for the hungry while raising awareness about poverty around the world? I am really in awe at the devotion of our church–I really feel it’s a testament to the gospel.

Looking back on the 30 Hour Famine, I’d say that I was touched more by the experience itself than anything else.  During that time, I found myself struggling so much even though it was only 30 hours.  It made me really consider how much hunger affects people around the world.  The experience made me recall my encounters with children in Thailand, Mexico, and Bangladesh.  I remember distinctly being extremely frustrated with the lackidasical demeanor of the students.  I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t listen or frequently drifted off.  The 30 hour famine really put my frustrating experiences into perspective.  As I bailed out rice to be bagged and weighed I found myself unable to focus and rather exhausted.  It wasn’t long before I dumped 6 lbs of rice on the floor because I wasn’t concentrating on what I was doing.  The experience really gave me a sense of  compassion and awe for the many starving children around the world and what they must go through.  It’s so easy just to think that hunger affects just once facet of a child’s life, but that’s a lie.  They can’t learn, they can’t study, they can’t work, and  I’m sure sometimes they can’t even sleep.  While my mistake only cost a couple pounds of rice, those starving children who work in factories often lose limbs because of it.  The experience made me extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to experience just a piece of what they go through–it really made me want to do more.

I’d say the other experience I found incredibly humbling was my opportunity to serve with Koinoinia’s Homegroup Twix at their 30 Hour Famine Garage Sale.  They raised over $800 dollars selling our junk at Dana house.  When the residents of Dana House were debriefing on their success, John Chung said something which really made me think.  He said, “We made over $800 just selling our junk.  I would just like to encourage you guys as we go through 30 hour famine to really consider how much God has given you and just to be frugal with it & just use it for His kingdom.”  The truth of what he was saying really struck me–if our junk is worth $800 how much more so is our stuff worth?  And if I have all this stuff, am I being frugal in how I spend my money or am I just assuming I need these things.  Every time I told people that one dollar could feed a child for a day it became a little bit more of a reality for me. It really made me see why our leaders are so frugal for themselves and generous towards others.  I hope that I become a man who is really frugal towards myself but generous towards others.

Luke 12:48 – “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Coming off the heels of the a2f blue/Kairos merger, senior graduations, and the creation of this new site — all in May — here’s what we did in June. Click on the pictures to read the articles.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi everyone, and welcome back to all those who just got back to Berkeley for Session C of summer school!  It’s good to have you guys around again and you came just in time for some fun and exciting events at Kairos!

The New

Thursday 6/25: BBQ Dinner at Amy & Andy’s @ 7pm

To welcome everyone back for the summer — and to hang out with Amy & Andy before they go away on their trip — we will be going to their place for some BBQ! Nelson Wong will be making his debut as the head chef!

Rides will be provided, pls let ABE know (1) if you can make it out and (2) if you can help set up/prep/bbq (must be at Andy/Amy’s by 6pm).

Editor’s note: Brothers, if you’ve been with us long enough, you’ll know to bring your sports gear with you.

Saturday 6/27: 30-Hour famine!

The long awaited day is finally here. We will kick off our 30 hour fast on Friday midnight and fast until Sunday morning, 6am.  In order to keep us busy on Saturday and so that we wont be dreaming about food all day long, we will volunteer to package food at the SF Food bank from 12:30-4pm.  Afterwards, we will have some more small fundraising and other events so that we can fellowship together during our fast!  Please be sure to dress in layers for the SF Food bank as you may be placed in the walk in freezers to package food.  Rides will be provided, please let MICHELLE know if you can make it!

The Same (but just as important)

Friday 6/26: MYT & Bible Study

Hope you guys have all been learning a lot during your MYT classes; we should have a talent show to show off all the new skills we learned As usual, we will meet at dinner at 5:45pm, location TBD.  MYT will start at 7pm at 1st pres, Bible Study at 8:40pm.

Sunday 6/28: Home Worship Service

As usual, we will meet at Rick & Sue’s for home worship service at 12:30pm.  Pls let one of the staff know if you are interested in coming.

That’s it!  Hope you guys have a great week and be sure to keep up with your fundraising efforts– 5 more days!

As many of you heard (and watched the trailer), we at Gracepoint Fellowship Church are participating in the 30 Hour Famine this year. The official day (er, 30-hour period) that we’re participating is on Sat, 6/27 @ 12am to 6/28 6am. However, before that day, you and I will be thinking of creative ways to raise money to help feed and care for children worldwide. During this process, we will gain more insight into what it feels like to experience hunger. Children all over the world are under-nourished — they go through days (and weeks and months) on end without food; we will do the same for a mere 30 hours.

Getting Started

Sign up on the Gracepoint website (or on one of the signup sheets). This allows us to keep track of how many participants are from our church.

Get a packet. It contains more info about this event, as well as a packet to place your donations. This is also useful because it gives you the group account number that’s needed for you to…

Create a donation page on the official website. This will allow you to collect funds online. Enter in your group account number (see above) here. After that, enter your information, and you’re good to go!

Get sponsors. Apart from receiving donations online, find creative ways to collect money. Check out the official Gracepoint famine site to get ideas. 

Be inspired. Be active. Be hungry.