It’s the 6th week of school, and you’ve taken four tests already and have three lab reports and a paper due in a week! When will the madness end!? Not until December, unfortunately! =D But never fear, this friday, Koinonia Halftime is here! Come take a break from hittin’ the books and mailing out resumes, and enjoy some friendly (like, uh, no tackling) football, FREE bbq, and a special TFN message from a guest speaker – Pastor Ed Kang from our Gracepoint Berkeley church! It will definitely be a do-not-miss event =)

Location: South Mall Lawn (for sports+BBQ) & Mezes Auditorium (for TFN)
Date: Friday, October 9, 2009
Time: 6:00pm

And check out our viral video!
Flickr Video

A little over a year ago, 15 Californians who for the most part had never set foot in Texas before, arrived at beautiful UT Austin to plant a new church – and thus, Gracepoint Austin was born. Over this past year we’ve had so many things to thank God for – provision of jobs and housing, the new students and friends we made, the salvations we got to witness and take part in, and so much more. So please join us at our First Anniversary service this Sunday (check below for time and location), followed by a special dinner and reception, as we thank and praise God together!

Location: Baptist Student Center, 2204 San Antonio St. (between 22nd and 23rd)
Date: Sunday, October 11, 2009
Time: 2:00pm

At our fellowship we play this little game called “King-Kong Shower.” It’s a rhythm-based, 4-beat game, where each person has a verbal callsign and motion. If you get called but you don’t react, or if you call a person who’s already out, you get knocked from the ring.

Last weekend we had the class of ’09 bros from Berkeley visit, and so we had a massive round of King-Kong Shower. There were many potential lines of battle – Texas v/s California, young versus old, bros versus sisters…

But in the end, Texas handily ousted the California bros (maybe they were a little rusty since it’s been a year since they graduated), and it came down to four contestants, battling for title of “King-Kong Shower Champion”: two staff (Del and Dom), and two students (Andrew and Sam Song).

The final round video is below. It was a hotly contested result. Reactions varied wildly, with one side claiming the win, the other side crying ‘foul!’. You be the judge: did David really blow away two opponents with one fell swoop? or were Sam and Andrew in the clear, victims of a premature victory celebration? Post a comment with your take on these crucial final seconds of bout of “King-Kong Shower”!

On July 4th we had a festive potluck at the 605 after Sunday Service, and many people showcased their cooking talents – pad thai, teriyaki skewers, and raspberry brie salad were just a few of the scrumptious goodies made! Then we closed off the night with fireworks watching at the Dell Diamond, and watching the movie ‘Glory,’ which was a fitting end to a day celebrating America’s beginnings over 2 centuries ago. Happy July 4th, everyone!

Gracepoint Austin’s first ever Worldview Camp! An intensive training camp covering apologetics. philosophy, religion, science, and worldviews, from a Christian perspective, it was begun at our parent church Gracepoint Berkeley several years ago. This year, brother Daniel Kim (who studied at Biola U. and Golden Gate Baptist Seminary) flew out from Berkeley and taught 6 sessions in all, covering the topics above as well as Q&A times. It was an intellectually stimulating time, as we were challenged with some of the ‘tough questions’ about Christianity as well as their answers, and definitely challenged us to keep pursuing truth and continuing to learn. It was also great to see some of our students who came down for WVC, and fellowship together (especially with the ‘Password’ game, and trying to see who could bowl a turkey!). We’re really glad we could have the WVC this year and look forward to the next one!

Our second year of “On-The-Road” Bible studies took us back to the great city (4th largest in the US of A!) of Houston this past weekend! In addition to getting to meet up with our Koinonia friends in the H-town area, we got to play “The Game of All Games,” had a TFN Bible study together, visited Battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Monument, toured NASA and got to see the Saturn V rocket up close and personal, and was treated at the end of the trip to a wonderful home-made Chinese feast, courtesy of Jenny and Linda’s parents and hosted at Houston Chinese Church! It was very generous of them to cook for all of us (no mean feat!) and we enjoyed a great time of fellowship. Thank you to Jenny/Linda’s parents and hope to visit HCC again!

Look forward to seeing all you Houston folks back in Austin in a few weeks!

*Btw, some students wanted to express their thanks to P. Manny and Daryl for the trip…they thank Sunny as well, but just weren’t able to find something that rhymed with Sunny! =D

After 4 grueling weeks of practicing and improving our serving, bumping, setting and spiking volleyball skills, we had our tourney end this past Friday with a grand tournament! Since we had only four teams, all got to participate in the semi-finals =) In the first match the Juniors-only team barely beat out the Jr/Sr team, and in the second match the Grad team (regular season champs) knocked out the Sophomore team. Then in the consolation finals, the Sophomores miraculously pulled off the upset and defeated the Jr/Sr team to end up the consolation champions. Then in the championship game, the Juniors took the lead during the middle of the game and after clutch digs, quick sets, and powerful hits, managed to hold off the Grad team to win the first Koinonia volleyball IM tourney championship. It was a great time for everyone. Way to go!

Commentary on the various games of the night are welcome below!

Back by popular demand, the second part of the Houston On-The-Road Bible study rap. Included is a brief description of the day’s events, as well as some embedded puns. (Btw, the track is by Christian group “Out-of-Eden.”)