N-S-W-N. Stands for New Student Welcome Night! It happens at the beginning of every Fall semester, every year – an exciting way to gear up for the new semester, let new students know about our group, and give people a chance to pause and think a bit about the deeper things of life. And, of course, enjoy free BBQ! As well as an uproarious live skit, cool video (starring our very own Austin students!) – and a message from the gospel of Luke. We were so thankful for the incredible turnout. Words can’t quite fully capture the many ways in which the night’s program made us feel personally addressed, burst out into uncontrollable laughter, or think about our lives and how it should be lived out. We look forward to getting to know all the new faces that came last night!
Oh, and if you missed out, don’t worry – we are going to do it all over again at our New Student Welcome Night #2, next Thursday! See you there!
Some pics of the event! (More photos at the gallery: 2010 NSWN#1):
Our first TFN before the fall begins, followed by our first event kicking off the Welcome Week festivities – Capitol Games! Glow-in-the-dark bracelets + lightup frisbees + awesome Capitol backdrop = lots of fun.
We got to make some new friends, had a blast playing capture-the-flag, and capped it off with some ice-cold watermelon. Awesome!
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.”)
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!
Our very own Brian got married last Saturday and this is the video from Austin that was played at the reception. We’re so happy for him and can’t wait to welcome our newest member, Joyce! (#4)
We took bible study on the road to Houston where we met up with our students for an exciting weekend of eating good food, playing games, bible study, and trips to the San Jacinto museum and NASA. “Houston, we DON’T have a problem!”
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
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!
On July 10, 2010 we celebrated the second anniversary of our church plant team’s arrival in Austin. As we gathered in the morning at the steps of the Texas Union to lift up the UT campus in prayer, each of us also recounted the ways God worked to lead our church to Austin back on July 10, 2008, and for the ways He has worked throughout.
The [brief] history of us eventually choosing to go to Austin as the location of a domestic church plant was initiated a year prior by our senior pastor Ed Kang and his wife Kelly (Gracepoint Berkeley), and the senior leadership team. After much research and separate visits by Pastor Jonathan and Susanna (Gracepoint Davis), and Pastor Manny and Sunny, the campus of UT Austin (which resembled UC Berkeley) eventually became the location we would actively pray about and commit to starting our next church.
After some emotional send-offs for the church plant team the night before (July 9, 2008), our initial team of 9 people arrived in Austin, along with others who came to encourage us and help us settle in. We were reminded of all of God’s provisions that made everything possible, from the ideal housing for Pastor Manny’s and John’s family living in a duplex just 5 minutes away from campus, jobs and school admissions for our team members, and the perfect meeting locations for Bible Study adjacent to the dorms and a church building just one block away from the Union. Not only that, we also had much support through prayers, resources, and encouragement through phone calls, emails and texts from our church members back at home, reminding us that we are not here alone.
Fast forward two years later (some mentioned it was like 10 years already) and we find ourselves so thankful having seen our church community grow in size and faith in God through many salvation decisions and spiritual growth, and seeing excitement towards our vision to see “an Acts 2 church in every college town.” We all marveled at God’s goodness, not only inviting us to co-labor with Him in Austin, but also sharing in the partnership in gospel with many back at home (Gracepoint Berkeley and Davis), at Gracepoint Hsinchu, and now our new church plants in Minneapolis, Riverside and San Diego. It was fitting as we ended our prayer time also remembering our brothers and sisters at the new church plants, and have so much excitement for all they will experience in their first year.
Praise God for His faithfulness!
Before you view the video below, it would be great if you could first comment on one of your most memorable moments, or something you are very grateful to God from anything these past 2 years, just as a small way for all of us to be encouraged. Thanks!
Not many moons ago the undergrad bros took on the mighty grad students for a game of indoor volleyball at the 605. What is indoor volleyball? It’s a game with a 4 beat rhythm (see King Kong shower post) and each person assigned a designated number per team. The sequence of events must be uttered in the order of serve, bump, set, spike, and block, with each of those actions followed by a number. In this video, the undergrad bros had just taken down the tough undergrad sisters and felt confident going into their championship match with the older, wiser veterans. Take a look at what transpired.
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