Kairos Christian Fellowship (Gracepoint – Berkeley)

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well.  I know it’s finals time and everyone is extremely busy studying, so hang in there!  Winter break is just around the corner.  Crank in a few more hours of hard studying and you’ll be there in no time.

So…. now for a recap of last week’s Kairos bible study and Christmas gift exchange!

Last Friday, we had Bible study in our very own North Loop building.  It was a cozy time as North Loop is very well decorated around this time of year.  Rick Yi gave a stirring message on the parable of the soils.  Through the Bible study, Rick pointed out that soil represents the condition of our heart.  The good news at the end was that, no matter which soil we relate to at the moment, we can become more and more like the good soil that grows and multiples.  I was persoanlly very impacted by reflecting on the various soils and I hope all of you were too.

After the Bible study we were all pretty hungry and enjoyed some good old…. Christmas style tacos!! Well, it wasn’t really Christmas style but it was dang good and there were tons of desserts to boot.   Here’s a couple pictures of the eating portion of the night.

After eating, we had the portion of the night everyone was looking forward to… The Gift Exchange! We split up into teams by birthday month and started off with a Pictionary game to see who would get some special abilities.

After Pictionary we had an intense Jenga match to see which team would go first!

With the formalities decided we finally began the epic 2009 Kairos Winter Christmas Party Gift Exchange!!!!
As you can see, some people got great gifts….

While others got not so great gifts….

We also had some surprise performances!

Overall it was an awesome night so I hope everyone had as great a time as I did! That’s all for now. Study hard and good luck on finals everyone!

Remember Steven Choi’s yodeling and the missing sheep? The Kung Fu fighting and Alex Lee as a Panda? Pastor Will as a break-dancing Moses? And we definitely can’t forget about Calvin and Danny dancing to “Under Pressure!”Well, Thanksgiving Celebration came back this year with a bang!

Pastor Ed first gave a message on the transforming power of gratitude, from the perspective of the receiver. Then, there was the powerful presentation of various people’s Thanksgiving Dare sharings of how they were thankful for their salvation, people in their lives, the church, material blessings, and nature.

And then the celebration began.

Kairos stepped up and started off the night’s program with our “year-in-review”-themed performance! Many brothers and sisters of Kairos came together to make our whole performance possible. Abe created an amazing word art animation to introduce G-Live while Nelson and some others acted in the hilarious Truth Project parody video. More than 80 dancers on stage danced their heart out. But they couldn’t have done it without all the behind-the-scene choreographers and costume/prop makers. For the finale, we all danced to a rocking song performed by our own Kairos live band! Also, I want to give a special shout-out to the return of the Goons (Rick, Steve, and Josh) and also Andy acting as the alien of Men in Black. The crowd definitely loved them!]

The other ministries of Gracepoint also gave performances with absolutely no shame. Remember Jonah and the giant brown and white fish? “Nice, nice baby?” “Praise God” in an Indian accent and Bollywood dancing? Ribbon dancing? And the unforgettable Praxis’ rah rah spirit!

After all the shocks and laughter, Kairos enjoyed our very own Thanksgiving banquet, replete with homemade turkey and ham and all the necessary Thanksgiving sides. We decorated notecards that described three things from the past year for which we were thankful as well. In addition to the delicious dinner and fellowship that we had, I personally was very grateful for my small group as we live life together in our apartments, God’s challenges and humbling, and the opportunity to serve in ImpACT and on mission trips!

Here’s highlights from the night! stay in tune for more fun pictures to come!

The Goons…present, past and..even more past..

Glive recap

the freshman class..the freshman class..

kairos guitarists rocking out

This past Saturday Kairos had an awesome time in Monterey (about 2 hours south of Berkeley).  For those of you who weren’t there, you missed out!  But don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of trips like this!

We kicked off the day with an awesome lunch at In ‘n Out.  I don’t think you can ever get tired of this place.  Myself, I had the standard cheeseburger (whole grilled onions, extra lettuce/tomatoes), fries and a strawberry shake.  Yum!  As is usually the case with our church, we totally took over the place!

After filling up with burgers and fries, we all piled into our cars before we knew it we arrived in Monterey.  We split up into two groups, one group went biking while the other group played sports on the beach.  Biking along 17 Mile Drive was breathtakingly beautiful.  Even though we only were able to ride for a few miles, it was nonetheless still really pretty.

One of these days, I think a day trip is in order just to bike the entire 17 Mile Drive.  Who wants to come with?

Back at the beach, a confrontation was brewing.  Yes you guessed it, we had another round of Staff vs. Students in a game we’ll call Ultimate Frisbee+Football!  This is a game some of the Kairos guys first played back at Berkeley.  I must say, the football adds a new dimension to an already awesome sport.  It’s okay students, you have years to hone your skills and challenge your friendly ‘ol staff again!

With the sun about to set, we moved to Carmel Beach and had a bonfire!  We also fired up those nifty on-the-go grills and had hot links, pineapple sausages, vegetable packs and banana boats galore!

This past Saturday was more special than most as many of us had the privilege of attending Richard and Jeanne Tay’s wedding. It was truly a joyous occasion, with videos and song-and-dance routines to show many people’s appreciation toward the couple. It was also a time of remember how God faithfully works in people’s lives, and surely Richard and Jeanne are living testimonies to God’s faithfulness.

I was touched listening to all the personal sharings of how Richard and Jeanne have been a huge part of so many people’s lives. And though videos like the “Normal Versus” videos are humorous (remember the last scene? if not watch it below!), they also clearly show the close and covenantal relationships they have developed with the people God has placed in their lives.

This was the second wedding I personally attended at Gracepoint and it again reminded me of the precious community that we have, with ample opportunities to love and serve others.

Congratulations again to Richard and Jeanne!

Warning: Do not read this post on an empty stomach.

Last Tuesday night, October 20th, the sophomore sisters had a fun-filled baking night at Dana House. Working at a huge table strewn with measuring cups, mixing bowls, and various ingredients, from phyllo dough to rice vinegar, we made fruit tarts, red velvet cupcakes, and pumpkin mochi from scratch. While we all had different levels of baking experience, it was entertaining to just figure out the recipes together (for the red velvet cupcakes, we had to convert ounces into cups…ummm…) and see how they turned out in the end.

After all the desserts were baked and decorated, we all sat around the Korean tea table to eat them! While they were all amazingly delicious, we were able to award each of them with its own separate title:

1) Tastiest: Pumpkin Mochi. The pumpkin mochi was perfect: warm, crispy around the edges, and soft and gooey on the inside. Most of us admitted to having three or four, though there were still enough left over to bring home “to our roommates”.

2) Prettiest: Fruit Tarts. After filling phyllo dough with a rich blend of cream cheese, whipped cream, and vanilla, we adorned them with berries, drizzled the top with melted chocolate, and sprinkled powdered sugar on as a finishing touch. Though they were easy to make, the finished products seriously looked as if they had come from a professional caterer or five-star restaurant.

3) Bloodiest?: Red Velvet Cupcakes. These cocoa-flavored cupcakes were very…red. Though we could spread cream cheese frosting on top, the whiteness could still not subdue their vivid color. Nevertheless, they were quite scrumptious (their appearance, not their taste, reflected this award).

Overall, it was really refreshing to just take a break from midterm-studying and our own stressful schedules and just spend a few hours talking, building our relationships with one another, and creating beautiful things together. We were also encouraged to bring our friends and roommates, so it was fun meeting some new people as well. What better way to bond than through measurement conversions and delicious food? Can’t wait till our next baking night!

Face off

So last friday night, October 16th, 2009, Kairos and A2F came together for another memorable RSF Night. The arenas of competition included handball, musical basketball, and the never-before-seen capture the frisbee and tennis ball.

Juniors were clearly seen as the favorites to win yet another sports event, and they indeed prove to be in solid form. But the finale of the night, the ULTIMATE brave-heart, in which all classes clashed at once, that snatched victory from the juniors’ grasp. As the juniors were dominating the last event as well, all of a sudden in the middle of the game, 10 additional staff jumped into the battle to aid the freshmen, who actually outnumbered all other classes at the beginning. Experienced staff hunted down the easily visible yellow shirted juniors and took them out one by one.

But in the end, it was neither the juniors nor the freshmen who came out on top. Grey shirted sophomores strategically remained noiseless, avoiding any kind of confrontation throughout the game, and ended up with the most survivors. So the sophomores took the 1st place, followed by the juniors and the freshmen. But no matter who the victor was, I think all of us had a good time of bonding, not just with those we know, but also with new faces from different ministry. Class pride aside, I always feel blessed to have the opportunity to share such an experience as the RSF Night with so many brothers and sisters. But definitely, I doubt there will be another upset in the next sports night.

Freshmen - size of an army

(Temporarily) Victorious Sophomores

Mighty juniors

Senior power

Last Friday, Kairos had its long-awaited Photo Scavenger Hunt all over the UC Berkeley Campus! After a Bible study from Daniel Kim about the parables of the lost and found in Luke 15, we broke up into ten teams and branched out across campus to find different distinctive spots and features of Berkeley. Afterward, we shared all of our videos and pictures, and here are some exceptional ones (in various ways).

Team 9

Fiscal power at Haas

Fiscal power redefined

Some desperate campus squirrels

The best shot of the campanile (it's harder than it looks)

Team 7 rocking out

A tribute to Cal football

Reflections at the pool

Team 8

Team 5

Videos of the Night

Team 8’s The Play in slo-mo!!!

Team 10’s famous historical moment (see if you can identify it =D):

Team 3’s protest on Sproul Plaza (this is Berkeley after all)

Team 5’s Shakespeare in Unit 1