Koinonia @ Austin - Bible Study & Christian Fellowship at UT Austin » Life At Koinonia

Houston On-The-Road Bible study and outing!

maurice — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

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

2010 Gracepoint Austin Worldview Camp!

maurice — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:00:39 +0000

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!

2nd Year Anniversary arriving in Austin (with Video)

John — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:06:16 +0000

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!

Bump, Set, Spike

davidlee — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:14:44 +0000

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.

Summer of Servanthood

davidlee — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:37:01 +0000

Fourth of July Potluck + Fireworks

maurice — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:44:22 +0000

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!

Trip to Fredericksburg

davidlee — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:32:54 +0000

from Janie:

On Monday, Gracepoint Austin visited Fredericksburg in the historic Texas Hill Country! Who knew a tiny little German town could be filled with so much history… and peaches! We visited the National Museum of the Pacific War. In short, it was a World War II museum. Surprisingly, this seemingly small museum is HUGE on the inside and jam-packed full of amazing artifacts from the actual war such as actual airplane bombers, tanks, submarines, and even the very uniforms from generals! The museum was so extensive that we could only see about one-third of the museum! Nevertheless, the museum was a great memorial to veterans of WWII and to all veterans worldwide. We decided to take a lunch break at Auslander, a very German restaurant, and ate our fill of delicious sandwiches, wursts, and potato pancakes. Our last stop before going home was to a retro ice cream parlor famous for its homemade ice creams. Everyone loved the Peach Amaretto, but what else would you expect from a town where both sides of the highway are nothing but peach farms?

from Eugene:

So this past Monday, some of us went on a trip to Fredericksburg, Texas in light of the Fourth of July. It’s only about an hour north of Austin, so the trip was quick and we saw quite a few interesting things on the way, from herds of grazing longhorns (hook ‘em!), to those popular Fredericksburg peach stands, to even a flock of camels (no… seriously, we did). Once we arrived, we toured through the National Museum of the Pacific War, which was pretty neat. We saw through the history of the United States’ involvement in the Pacific theater of WWII, including video footage of fighting and veterans’ accounts, uniforms and weapons on display, interactive maps of battle routes, and fighter planes. It was also pretty fun seeing how excited Nico was to learn about everything, pressing every interactive button and marveling at every display. We also got to tour and see replicas of (and a few authentic) war vehicles, including tanks and carriers. Afterwards, we enjoyed walking down Main Street and seeing all the tiny shops selling trinkets (and jam!), though the sun was beating down on us pretty hard. We ducked into a nice, air-conditioned restaurant to have some authentic German food for dinner (mm, Reuben sandwiches). Then Margie treated us to homemade ice cream for dessert. You could definitely taste the difference between homemade and store bought. We also found out why those Fredericksburg peaches are so popular; the best flavors were Amaretto Peaches & Pecans and Strawberries Peaches & Pecans. Yum! All in all, it was a fun trip, short and sweet!

Trip to Fredericksburg from davidlee on Vimeo.

Summer of Servanthood

davidlee — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:11:23 +0000

written by Lillian

Summer’s usually a time when waking up early means anytime before noon, and somehow life slows down to about 5 mph. But here in Austin, we’re challenging ourselves to really make the most of every opportunity by finding ways to be servants. We’re calling it Summer of Servanthood, and it has been a packed, fulfilling few weeks so far! Every Friday, we’ve been gathering together to eat some great home-cooked dinners, get our creative hats on to work on a variety of things including publications (flyers, brochures, splashes, etc), revamping the Koinonia website, storyboarding the New Student Welcome Night video skit, archiving all our videos, and brainstorming lessons for our JOYland ministry. We then end the night with some exciting volleyball IMs with clinics led by Kelly! In addition to these worknights, we’ve been serving the Austin community through Habitat for Humanity and visiting our local nursing home to share God’s love and the hope of the gospel. So much has happened already, and it’ll definitely be a summer of fond memories and no regrets!

King-Kong Shower Champion?

maurice — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:34:21 +0000

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”!

Dallas On the Road Bible Study

Henry — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:58:42 +0000

We continued the tradition begun in 2009, of taking the TFN Bible Study ‘On-The-Road’ – this past weekend, to Dallas Texas! Friday night we had a giant Speed Scrabble ice-breaker, TFN Bible study, and a fun round of Mad Gabs. Then the next day, Dallas being the home of the Rangers Stadium, 6th Floor JFK Museum, and HMart (among other cultural icons), we visited each of those places with our Dallas friends and had a good time catching up. We were sad to depart but will see everyone soon again in August. ‘Til our next OTR TFN in July – Houston, TX, here we come!

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Click here to see more pictures from the event.