Exciting News: This summer our entire college department is going to go on a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain! On June 8th, we're going to get together with A2f and Kairos, head over to sunny Valencia, CA and dream EXTREME!!! (apology for blatant Glive reference).
No need to hype this up any more!
So here's the plan: We've gotten an AWESOME deal through Steve Suh (not yet finalized, around $18-22 for admission). Also we might get the private picnic area, complete with buffet lunch and costumed characters for some kind of entertainment. Anywho, we need you to say if you probably will be going, for more or less accurate headcount.
Date: June 8 (NorCal ppl can come too! We'll all drive down or something!) Cost: Awesome Signup even if you're not 100% sure: here.
This is the video we saw last Friday, at the Koinonia Year-End party!
Ok, now that you're all being sentimental, come out and cheer on our graduates at their graduation ceremonies! It's a once-in-a-lifetime event for them, let's join them at this very special occasion! Let's be the loudest group out there!
(Graduation schedules were passed out this past Sunday--if you didn't get one, I can send it to you, just email me at parkben@gmail)
Quick! If you have 6 oranges in one hand, and 2 watermelons in the other, what do you have? (Guesses welcome via comments)
That was just to give your brain a break from all the studying you've been doing! Anyways, study hard and finish the semester strong!
This week's schedule: - Fri Bible Study @ 1st Pres @ 8pm (it's pushed back for you who have 5-8pm finals) - Sat North Loop cleaning for THRIVE and RED-HD (ONLY if you're done w/ finals)
Announcements/Signups: - DT Journals - if you pre-ordered for the summer and will be leaving for home before 5/24, please let me know. - 30-hr Famine, Worldview Camp, Summer Discipleship Retreats, signups are here! - Graduations start tomorrow, so join us if you can (will write more later)!
World Vision, one of the largest Christian relief agencies in the world, has been running the 30-Hour Famine as a fundraiser for many years now. It's an opportunity for people like us to get just a very small taste of what it means to be hungry, and to raise awareness in our community. In my memory, 2009 will be the third time our church has participated in this event, and last year we raised over $100,000 to be the 2nd highest contributor in the nation!
Once you've signed on, you can pick up your packet at your respective bible studies on Friday night and start asking around for donations from your classmates, professors, co-workers, family or long lost relatives! (It's always easier to ask for donations upfront rather than going back to collect).
The actual fasting will be from Saturday, 6/27, 12am to Sunday, 6/28, 6am.
Also, we need your help to come up with fundraising ideas! Please reply to this post w/ ideas for what we could do, whether it's within our church or on the campus or in the community! Last year our group went to the St. Vincent de Paul and volunteered in the Dining Room, visited the "Step into Africa" exhibit, and sold baked goods and homemade jewelery-things at the Berkeley Bowl market. Unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of pictures but what we have are here.
Dates: Wed, June 17 (Breakfast) - Sat, June 20 (Lunch) Early Bird Deadline ($10 off normal cost of $60): This Fri, May 15. Signup!
Some topics planned for this WV Camp: The Case for Pro-life, Shattering the Myths of Evolution, The Case for a Creator, Playing the Atheist, What's the Big Deal with Pornography, Truth or Tragedy, Worldview in Movies, Virtual Life, Miracles
Hi all, I know we've been announcing this at various meetings, but I'd like to plug the 2009 Worldview Camp once again. We recently did devotions through Colossians 2, in which Apostle Paul reminds us to take care not to be taken captive through "hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." I'm afraid there's a lot of different philosophies out there that aren't dependent on Christ, and Christians need to know how to articulate the truth of their faith (both to ourselves and to others) in the face of the growing secularism in our world.
Furthermore, many of you have seen Mr. Sean McDowell in action--not only is he extremely knowledgable, he's also dynamic, engaging, and even cooler than me! So what a wonderful opportunity to come and be trained!
Congratulations to the class of 2009! This past Sunday, along with Mother's Day, we celebrated Senior Sunday. Six seniors gave testimony of how God helped them grow in their faith over the past four years, and it was a very impactful time.
Also, we had a great time of remembering the past 4 years on Saturday at the senior potluck, where they also showed this little masterpiece. Wow, how'd they do that?
Thanks to all the seniors for wonderful times together, and may God bless you wherever you find yourself in a few months, and may your fire for God not die! Congrats again!
And for the rest of us, let's go out and cheer them on at their graduations! I know its finals and all, but for those who can, let's take quick breaks and celebrate this important occasion with them!
The signups for Multiply Your Talents (MYT) are now up! For those who don't know, MYT is a set of classes/courses designed to teach you some skill. They're not like those summer programs put on by the local Parks & Recreations dept that your mom sent you to (trust me, I took a lot of those- Basic Kilning, Cartooning, Oil Painting, Intermmediate Tennis). More than anything, you can use these skills not just for personal fulfillment, which of course is a big part of it, but also to help/serve/love other people, to be trained up in way that allows you more avenues to worship God. So this year we have the following classes available:
Advanced Course 101 Apologetics In-Depth Audio Systems Filming Photography Beginning Photoshop Advanced Photoshop ProPresenter Script Writing Video Editing and 4 Music classes: Vocals, Int El. Guitar, Int. Ac. Guitar, Int. Bass
That's a lot of options! So after you've seen this trailer, go and sign up! Classes begin on June 5, and run on Fridays during the summer. More info on the signup page.
Ok, so it's not really the "Week of May 6," I just happened to post on May 6 for the week of May 3. Whatever. :)
- LifeGroups on Wed night: This will be our last week of LifeGroup for the semester!
Bros: 6-9pm (meet @ 6pm sharp @ Hillegass/Parker)
Sis: 9:30pm @ Hillegass
- Seniors: Song practice on Thurs night @ 9pm @ the Y. - GTS on Fri @ 7pm @ 1st Pres: Last week for GTS as well... Starting next week we'll have large group Bible studies again. - Last Pre-Finals Happy time together as Koinonia after GTS this Friday. - Senior Sunday is this Sunday!
PS: don't forget (not that any of you would have forgotten), it's Mother's Day this Sunday!
Some summer opportunities for those who are interested: - You can get more information and sign up for these at gracepointonline.org/signups.
Ok, so this blog was never retired. But in a way, if it's May, and the last post was "Happy New Year," you've been in retirement whether you intended to or not.
But given that summer's fast approaching and our home church schedule will be starting soon, I wanted to start putting announcements back up here so that we can all be on the same page, and allow this to be some kind of forum to connect as people will be in different places over the break.
That's it for now, but stay tuned for more to come!
Wow, has it really be over a month since the last post? My apologies-- with school out, I think the part of my brain that said "write to the blog, ben!" also went on holiday.
Anyways, Happy New Year, everybody! Wanted to share with you our church's key verse for the year, 1 John 1:3-4. A detailed explanation can be found on Kelly's blog. We had a wonderful time of practicing "coming into the light" at our New Years' Eve Watchnight service, through a time of reflection and prayer, and I hope that this year we can all be found walking in the light, in greater and deeper fellowship with God the father and his son Jesus Christ! It would be wonderful if you can listen to the podcast of it, once it's up. That way all of us can start the new year on the same page.
As you travel back, do give me or Helen a call. Chances are we're hanging out at home replacing lightbulbs, making beef stew and entertaining a constant stream of friends. We can hang out before school starts!
Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving break went well! Flashback to last week, Thanksgiving Celebration. For those of you who don't know, Thanksgiving Celebration is a time for our church to collectively reflect on and give thanks for all that God has done in the past year. This year’s TC was amazing-- epic, even. History was made. I’m talking about stuff like this video recently posted on the Dis-Gracepoint blog.
It started off with a message given by Pastor Ed, based on Psalm 73. He reminded us that God does not owe any of us a good life -- that bitterness and discontent really have no place in our lives, but only cloud our understanding of the mission God intended for us. Harboring bitterness and ingratitude in our hearts leaves us senseless and ignorant as we lose sight of the truth: that we're here because of God. Whether we're Christian or not, despite our wayward struggles and misplaced desires, God still wants to hold onto us like He held onto the psalmist in Psalm 73, so that we can ultimately connect with Him in a meaningful way.
After the message, as we watched re-cap of the year videos from all our different ministry groups, I couldn't help but be amazed by all of the ways God has blessed our church in the past year alone - from providing all the logistical needs for our church plant in Austin to each of the salvation decisions right here on the Berkeley campus. We can see that God has truly been at work in our midst when we count all the ways He has been faithful in multiplying our efforts and answering our prayers.
Needless to say, after watching all those videos, we were all in a celebratory mood and ready to revel in the ensuing awesomeness. Praxis started us off with a visual bang in their glowing stick-men costumes. Afterwards, we watched everything from Gracepoint renditions of Broadway classics, to grown men in Veggie Tales costumes, to modern-day interpretive Bible narratives, complete with a Pharaoh vs. Moses dance-off. We laughed, we cheered for our friends on stage, some of us got on stage ourselves, we probably all got goosebumps at some point. And after the last act, we joined HG4 (Dan and Hannah) and HG6 (Mike and Joanna) at Ben and Helen's house for full-blown Thanksgiving feast! We ate to our hearts content and then some, bonding with old and new friends alike over turkey, ham, and all the fixings. Words probably cannot do the performances or the food much justice. Hence, I leave you with some more pictures, courtesy of Robin from HG6:
Stay tuned for more holiday festivities coming soon to a homegroup near you!
What do you think about when you hear "turkey"? For me: Dry, overcooked, bland, there's-not-enough-gravy-to-make-this-moist-enough-for-me-to-want-to-eat-it white meat, and not-that-much-better dark meat.
Well, over at Dish-Gracepoint Tom and Tim are trying to change that viewpoint. If you plan to cook a turkey this year, perhaps for our TC or just for family, you might give this recipe a try. Even if you're not cooking a turkey, check it out: you've never see a recipe written like this (e.g.. "fattage")!
Last Thursday, Koinonia, Acts2Fellowship, and Kairos jointly hosted an event at First Presbyterian Church. In case you missed it, it's Gone (*rimshot*).
Gone, like yesterday is gone Like history is gone Just try and prove me wrong and Pretend like you're immortal.
It's no secret that time is limited; what's mysterious is how we often act contrary to that. To start talking about this, we got into groups to discuss these questions:
Is there was a season of your life that's gone now that you miss? What do you miss about that time?
If you had to live today over again, what would you do differently?
Five students shared their testimonies of how they used to spend their time, and I think we could all relate to certain parts of their stories about gaming addiction, the relentless pursuit of academic success, Hollywood obsession, and partying. While these stories all had disparate beginnings, they all closed with how each of their lives was changed by an encounter with Christ and his claims.
After that, Pastor Ed offered a challenge to live as if life is worth more than the time we fritter away. We're going to be learning more about this at the Friday Night Bible studies, so come check them out! Information on the location will be coming soon, but till then, check out these photos, courtesy Kevan Ho of HG1.
Today CNN posted an article on a 90-year old Billy Graham. If you don't know who he is, Billy Graham was the foremost Christian evangelist of the 20th century, and leaves behind an incredible legacy of zeal and passion for preaching the gospel to the world. He has preached to over 200 million live audiences in various settings, and many hundreds of millions more through media broadcasts. He was regarded with such high regard in the international community that he was allowed access to places usually not afforded to Westerners: behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, in South Africa denouncing apartheid, North Korea and China. Furthermore, he has been noted for keeping on the moral straight and narrow, refusing to fall to the temptations that many public figures succumb to. Even if we're not Christian, we can at least be challenged and impacted by the long-lasting faithfulness he's demonstrated through 90 years. Truly this is a life well lived.
I was particularly moved by a quote in the CNN article:
I have discovered that just because we grow weaker physically as we age, it doesn't mean that we must grow weaker spiritually... In fact, we ought to be growing stronger spiritually, because our eyes ought to be on eternity and Heaven -- on the things that really matter.
I pray that we could all strive for this kind of clarity about our lives, that we may set our eyes "on eternity and Heaven--on the things that really matter." Reminds me of our church's key verse for this year, and the text that surrounds it (Philippians 3:8, 13, 14):
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ... Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
parkben at
12:30 PM
on Thursday, November 6, 2008.
On Saturday, a number of HG3ers set out for SF with three activities in mind: dim sum, Pier 39, and Ghirardelli Square.
Dim Sum We started out with dim sum at Yet Wah. Don't be fooled by the restaurant's radioactive taro-colored exterior -- the food here is pretty good. We ate all the must-have items, like har gow, steamed radish cake, and well, the love-it-or-leave-it chicken feet! Pictured below is Dennis, right before his first taste. (This picture has real caption potential. What's yours?)
Pier 39 Though it was wet, our spirits weren't dampened. We headed into a hat store (lame joke count now: 2), and took our turns trying on different funky caps. After that, we went to a candy store so full of candy, the air smelled of it. Mmm, hyperglycemia ...
Ghirardelli Square The last sweet stop was the beloved Ghirardelli Square. Still full from dim sum, no one dared to order the famed $30 Earthquake (the Earthquake is an ice cream dish the size of a small city-state). But we had sundaes, which hit the spot. I personally opted for the gourmet cupcake at Kara's Cupcakes, but that experience merits a post of its own, so I'll just end it here ...
Paulina at
1:16 PM
on Wednesday, November 5, 2008.
A long time ago, this event was simply called "Singing Contest," with a couple of folks coming on stage to sing one nice song and one song with silly dancing. Then something happened, and Thanksgiving Celebration was born. Over the years we've seen a lot of, ahem, different acts, some of which have been duly showcased on Disgracepoint. You might recognize some people in here, here, here, and here.
Annually, this event is held the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We have a special Thanksgiving Service, then have the Celebration, then split up to have a full-on Thanksgiving meal, complete all the way from the turkey to the mint leaves on the cranberry sauce.
This year our homegroup is joining forces with HG4 (Dan & Hannah) and HG6 (Mike & Joanna) to have, as I like to think of it, the most awesomist skit. Think DT. Think the heartbreak of a lost sheep. Think the intensity of a prophet of God. (No, I can't give you all the details here, in case one of the other groups might be reading this!) But come and participate with us (of course, everyone is to Thanksgiving service even if you're not participating), here are the details:
Fri, 11/7 | Practice @ the YWCA @ 5:30pm Fri, 11/14 | Practice @ TBA after Koinonia Bible Study Fri, 11/21 | Koinonia Thanksgiving Celebration presentations after Bible Study Sun, 11/23 | Thanksgiving Service @ Kaufman Auditorium, Alameda @ 1:30pm | Thanksgiving Celebration (Best of the Best - 1 from Koinonia) | Thanksgiving Dinner
New Koinonia zip-up hoodies will be ready in a month, but you've got to pre-order them. Don't know if the price is available yet but imagine it will be around $20-25. Will update when I find out.
You see those green rain clouds on the weather map? It doesn't matter! This Saturday, we're going to go see San Francisco in the rain. But we'll be driving, of course.
The potential plan:
Meet at Underhill parking lot @ 10AM. [If off-limits due to game day parking, we'll relocate nearby. call Ben @ 510-846-1279 that day]
Dim Sum in SF Chinatown
[insert some SF destination here - Lombard, Legion of Honor, Twin Peaks... will play it by ear]
Pier 39 [potential for: clam chowder in a bread bowl, viewing the sea lions, hat store, Ghiradelli's ice cream]
Come home @ 4pm.
Wanna come? Need you to sign up for organizational sanity. Do wear some warm clothes and bring an umbrella.
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Join us tonight for a special prayer meeting, where we'll hear from John and Tina Woods, who are missionaries to Honduras with BMDMI, a medical and dental mission organization through which some of our church members went on missions this past summer. Come and be challenged and inspired by their testimonies.
We are actually starting earlier to also have a time of small group prayer at 6:30pm. Please tell your friends who may not know!
If you are a Christian (and even if you're not), I encourage you to subscribe to Breakpoint or something like it, to learn to look at the world through the eyes of God.
UPDATE 11/4: Here are the volunteers (parentheses indicates how many more we ideally would have) Thanks!
Rides - Brian (1 sister?) Reporter - Paulina (1) Webmaster - Will, Brian Photographer - Sunny, Tiffany Chef - Yanhui (1 or 2 more?) Gamesmaster - (anyone?) Birthday Czar - Tiffany
To keep things at our Homegroup running, we're starting HG3 Committees! Here are the different roles
Rides Czar - Given all that we do together every week, we've gotta be a mobile, and that means rides! From hanging out in Alameda to after Bible Study bowling, from retreats to sierra lodge trips, the crucial task of getting people from here to there is no trivial one. So, we need people to be in charge of coordinating rides
Reporter - Was there something thought provoking about Friday Bible Study? Amazed at how Ben achieved his lifetime high score in bowling? Are there interesting developments about life on campus or life in our Homegroup? Post it! We need a regular blogger to share news and recent happenings on our blog.
Webmaster - For those techies who enjoy web work, we need people to help with the technical side of our blog, to develop and maintain it.
Photographer - All of the priceless times that we share and memories that we build together need to be captured somehow. Whether it be through pictures or video, we need somebody to both be in charge of taking these pictures and videos and also managing them, uploading them, etc. Enjoy taking pictures and videos or editing them, or wanna learn? this one's for you!
Chef - this job is crucial! What's fellowship without food? We need people to be in charge of food for get-togethers. This includes deciding everything from what we're going to eat, to shopping or appointing people to do the shopping, to finally cooking it.
Gamesmaster - When we get together we often do icebreakers, games, and different activities. It really makes a big difference when these are well planned and thought out! We need people to take the lead in brainstorming for activities and games, planning them, and leading those times.
Birthday Czar - We don't want to forget any birthdays! And we've got alot of them in our homegroup...that's why we need someone to know when birthdays are coming up and give the rest of us a heads up, as well as help plan how we'll celebrate it.
We need your help, so sign up! And don't worry, you won't be by yourself. One of the staff will guide and train you.
So a long long time ago in a land far far away (I was about 10 and visiting China) my dad took me and some of my cousins to this one park. There they had a goat carriage ride for kids, where a trained goat would pull a small carriage (about the size of those bike carriages that adults pull kids around with in the US) around a loop. We all thought that this would be a blast, so we got in line for the ride. Well it so happens that there were two goats that were on a rotation, and the goat on break was hanging out by a grassy patch tied to a pole getting fed all sorts of grass and plants by eager, good-natured kids. As I observe this fascinating scene, I noticed that the goat seemed to be chomping away at anything and everything the kids gave it, whether it be grass, leaves, or flowers. "What a dumb goat!" I thought to myself, "it doesn't even know what it's eating!" So, in order to punish this goat for its foolishness I decided I would try to feed it something it would most definitely not appreciate--dirt. Smiling to myself as I pulled up a patch of grass by the roots with a good chunk of dark brown soil attached to the end, I approached the goat with a sinister confidence, sure of the fact that I was about to make it look like a fool in front of all of its new friends. I extended my arm to feed it the roots with the clump of dirt. But as it came around to mine, the totally unexpected happened. It took a split second, examined what I was giving it, then it looked deep into my eyes as if to say "Who do you think you are, kid??" It then proceeded to charge me directly and rammed me in the chest...needeless to say, I survived that wild and dangerous encounter and it taught me two things:
1. goats are not as dumb as they look 2. it's never a good idea to ruin somebody's meal for fun
A few years ago, a few of us were sitting around a living room at Grand Central, trying to brainstorm for a funny, yet informative act for our friend Kenny's (a2f gold) wedding reception. Fast forward to today, and we've seen the genre of "Normal Vs." videos present at almost every wedding, even at the ordination service last year! Well, here's part of the "Normal vs." shown at me and Helen's wedding. (Isn't it ironic that it was first done for Kenny, but now it seems Kenny's in practically every other Normal vs out there).
The inspiration for this semester's Berkeley Good Eats was an event the group formerly known as K1H1 did last year, called "Tour de Berkeley." Koinonia actually tried it again during Welcome Week but we soon found that the name was somewhat of a misnomer. People thought it was, well, a tour of Berkeley campus. So a grand total of 2 (yes, two: dos, два, dwa, اثنين, 二, dalawa, hai) folks showed up. They had a great time nonetheless, but we decided to change the name around a little (I personally liked, "Berkeley's Gastronomical Extravaganza" but got voted down). We wanted to run through a series of restaurants, play some frisbee, get some dessert, then have a get-to-know time back at Unit 2. Well, as time would have it, we ended up just going to the restaurants, going straight to dessert, and then going home. What does that say about us? Dunno.
But we made up for it by going bowling on Friday night. Some folks hadn't gone bowling since kindergarten. Basically, never without bumpers. :) Well people did amazingly well. Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was the company that put people at ease. But we had a great time. Here are some photos. Which one is your favorite team pose?
Team 1 :: Team 2 :: Team 3
Team 4 :: Team 5
parkben at
12:08 PM
on Thursday, October 16, 2008.
[Ben is sitting at home, and an unknown number flashes on caller id as his phone rings]
Ben: Hello? Female voice: Hi, I'm going to come over now. To pick up the plant and the plant food. Ben: Uh, who's this? Female voice:[curtly] It's Suzanne. Ben: Oh ok. [Suzanne Hyun? I’ve never talked to her in my life. She’s exhibiting a level of familiarity that’s kind of strange...] Suzanne: Is the plant and plant food in the living room? I'm supposed to be picking it up for tomorrow's A2F Bible Study. Ben: I see a plant, but I don't see plant food. [What in the world is she talking about?] Suzanne: Hey, are you sick? You sound kind of... different. Ben:[light bulb] No, not sick. Wait.. who are you supposed to be calling? Suzanne: What? Hello? Is this Azusa?
This past Saturday, a group of us got together for some good eats at Jenny's home.
My favorite part was the kitchen entropy: diced scallions were flying above cutting boards, mushrooms swooshed their way around a hot skillet, tears streaked across the face of a certain person (whose name will not be mentioned on this public blog but can be divulged if you ask in person) who could not even stand the vapor of sliced onions she herself did not cut.
Then, about an hour in, all chaos tended towards order as our French meal made its steady way towards completion. Eyes widened and mouths went agape as before us was -- brace yourself! -- salade lyonnaise, ratatouille, mushroom-shallot quiche, pasta (thanks to the senior sisters!), and a sweet baguette accompanied with brie.
I know. We wish you had been there, too.
Actually, my favorite moments were doing personality tests around the dinner table. I had no idea you could glean some really funny things from animal associations, blocks, flowers, and horses.
Maybe that takes a close second to the post-meal banter with strawberry and banana crepes with nutella and lemon-infused fresh cream. Or maybe the King Kong Shower lightning rounds was the best part. I'm not sure. It was all pretty good.
If you salivated while reading any part of this post, I am pleased to tell you that there will be another cooking night in the near future, most likely involving Thai cuisine (!). If you've got any suggestions or comments (on Thai food or otherwise), feel free to field them in the comments section.
Ever wondered how they make that scrumptious ratatouille you saw in the Pixar Movie? Love to try new foods? Or just getting tired of Crossroads and late-night ramen? Give your culinary skills and taste buds a boost at La Fete Francaise! The sisters of our homegroup will be learning how to cook delicious French food, and then maybe watching the "little chef" on Ratatouille while we sample our gourmet creations. Here's the scoop:
What: La Fete Francaise - cooking & eating French food When: this Saturday, 6pm Where: Jenny's house in Alameda
If you'd like to come, shoot me an email and let me know! Jenny Yen jenny.yen@gpmail.org
This Thursday, there will be a talk at Wheeler Auditorium given by two Christian apologists, Michael Ramsden and Os Guinness. This is open to the public, and the topics addressed will be: "Is Faith Delusional?" and "The Journey: A Thinker's Quest for Meaning." Here's a look at the flyer:
The bios provided on the back of the flyer read:
Michael Ramsden has been the European Director of RZIM Zacharias Trust since its foundation in 1997. He grew up in the Middle East, returning to the UK to work investing money for the Lord Chancellor's Department and to study. While at Sheffield University doing research in Law and Economics, he taught Moral Philosophy and lectured for the International Seminar on Jurisprudence and Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Michael is a passionate evangelist and apologist for RZIM Zacharias Trust, and is also Lecturer in Christian Apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, where his main involvement is with the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Michael travels widely speaking in universities, churches and at conferences.
Dr. Os Guinness is a writer and speaker living in Northern Virginia. He was born in China but educated in England where he did undergraduate studies at the University of London and postgraduate studies at University of Oxford, where he graduated with a D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College. Os directed the first seven Trinity Forum seminar curricula and was a regular Moderator at Forums in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
He was a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and then a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 1986-1989 he was the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation. He is the co-founder of the Trinity Forum and served as Senior Fellow and Vice Chairman of the Board from its inception in 1991 until 2004. He has written or edited more than twenty books and has a passion to bridge the chasm between academic knowledge and popular knowledge, especially as they concern matters of public policy.
The event is at 7pm, but doors open at 6:30. From what we've seen w/ guest speakers in the past, probably a good thing to get there a little early. There is also a promise of live Q&A with the speakers following the event. Sponsored by the Central Pacific District of the C&MA and UiC.
So this past Friday we went to Creations, a Chinese dessert house in SF. What did you think? Is this a place you'd like to go agin this week? Or is this pretty much forever off the list of things to do after a Bible Study on Friday night? These responses and everything in between, please comment below and let us know.
I know that many of you already know this about me, but I often use it as my "one interesting thing" during group introductions. In 2nd grade, I took a test, something similar to the one on the right, which determined that I was red-green color blind. What did that mean to me in 2nd grade? Very little... But ask me what it meant to me in 11th grade...
In 11th grade I had a pair of khakis that I wore to school almost every other day. Well, it got a dark stain that wouldn't come out. To make a long (and kind of boring) story short: Mom dyes it black, next wash makes dye bleed out and become splotchy, mom bleaches and somehow stain is now gone. Mom gives to me to wear again.
What I didn't know was that the dye's base was a red primer, which the bleach did not actually get out. So I go to school the next day with on a pretty shade of peachish-pink (probably with my olive green polo to match) and attributed the laughter and snickers to how awesome it was that black dye took out a dark stain! So excited was I that wore it again the next day! If I had kept a journal back then, it might have looked something like this that second day...
9AM. Today the laughter seems more uproarious than ever before. I didn't know I could bring so much joy to people. Almost feel popular. I have a good set of friends. 10AM. I hate my friends. Except Leila: "Um, Ben, do you know that your pants are *snicker* pink? You didn't? Oh, we thought you knew!" Thanks Leila. Kind of. 11AM. So embarrassed. I think my face is the same color as my pants. But how do I know? Where can I borrow some pants?! 12PM. So embarrassed. Maybe I can spill some KoolAid on myself. It'd be a better excuse. 1PM. So embarrassed. I didn't realize bourgeoisie was in red in the text, meaning I needed to define it for my history exam. I think my school is discriminatory. 2PM. So embarrassed. Can't believe I was assigned the word rosado in Spanish class. 3PM. Almost done with school. I wonder what color my car really is. So embarrassed.
What did I learn from this? Well, one thing is that when Helen buys me a shirt, I ask her what color it is. But also, I think it made me a bigger person. One that could laugh at himself (besides, there are plenty more stories, I just don't remember them all.. and don't ask me about my shoulders), be a little less concerned about my image and be freer. "Hi, my name is Ben Park. Something interesting about me is that I'm color-blind." So if there are any of you who feel a little too uptight, or your friends keep telling you not to take yourself so seriously, and you'd like to learn to just be yourself, shoot me an email. I have a pair of pants you might want to try on.
(a disclaimer for those who get in my car on a regular basis - I'm only partially color blind, which means I can see stop signs, stop signals, and brake lights just fine. No, really, I do.)
After a week of many different activities, I thought I'd recap in pictures...
We'll start with the trailer for our Mission Night on Friday.
Afterwards we hiked up to the Big C! First time there for almost half of us. Now we can call ourselves Cal fans.
While we were waiting in the parking lot for everyone to arrive... I think I'll call this one "Pau-Lena".
I'm still working on my photography skills. So I'm only including this photo to show you something far less than what you might have seen had you come up with us.
Go Bears! (that yellow swath below us is the lower part of the "C")
Don't know why we take pictures like these...
On Saturday there was a big picnic for the Freshmen and Seniors. (Photos courtesy John Ko)
They played some normal sports...
And then some not-so-normal sports...
On Sunday we had a baptism service for the 3 Koinonia Kims (and a2f's Anne Songdej). Followed by an Open House, where each ministry group had a booth, Sierra Lodge had a nail-hammering contest, there was a lot of great food! (Photos courtesy Kevan Ho)
Albert, Kim, and Mike as they declare that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior!
Congratulations!
Apple Man and Magnet Man (H1's John and Nick) make a cameo appearance at the Gracepoint Open House. (Don't feel sorry for them. I think they're really loving it).
parkben at
10:28 AM
on Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
For those of you who might be new around here, our fellowship has been offering an 8-week course on Christianity called "Course 101." This semester we're actually going to be offering it on Wednesday nights, 7-8:30pm. If you are interested, some more information can be found here, and sign up here.
parkben at
6:25 PM
on Wednesday, September 24, 2008.
Do you enjoy hot food off of a sizzling grill? How about sports out in the open field? Or meeting new faces and getting to know new friends? Then don't miss the Freshman Picnic this Saturday 9/27!! (this is replacing the Angel Island trip) The reality is that school is now in full gear as midterms have already started. But take a study break already (your brain will be grateful!) and enjoy a beautiful Saturday in the park. This will be an awesome opportunity to not only consume some delicious food, but also to meet and bond with fellow freshman who are also going through the same academic storm. It's also a chance to meet and talk to some seniors who are more than willing to impart some wisdom that they have accumulated in their day.
We'll be meeting at Anna Head West parking lot @10am for rides up to the park. It will end by early afternoon before the Cal game so you guys can go back and watch the game or study.
Where: Anna Head West Parking Lot (the parking lot across from Crossroads) When: Saturday, 9/27 @10am Bring: sunblock, a light jacket, comfortable shoes, clothes you can play sports in Sign Up Here! (you don't have to sign up if you already signed up for the Angel Island trip)
We are one of 8 homegroups in Koinonia, a Christian fellowship on the UC Berkeley campus. Many of us call Gracepoint Fellowship Church our home as well.
What are we like? Hm. Take your average group of friends, knead in lots of fun and shared memories, and fire it up with truths from God's word, and out comes something rich and meaningful--a flavor of how our lives were meant to be lived from the Creator's perspective.
A little too abstract? Why not come and see for yourself? A list of our activities are above! Or you can reach us at talk2hg3@googlegroups.
Exciting News: This summer our entire college department is going to go on a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain! On June 8th, we're going to get together with A2f and Kairos, head over to sunny Valencia, CA and dream EXTREME!!! (apology for blatant Glive reference).
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