Life at Gracepoint

I have always known that Eugene has a long commute from Hsinchu to Taipei everyday, but I didn't really know how bad this was until I had an internship in Taipei this past summer. I commuted with him on most days: we try to get out by 6:15 to take the bus to Taipei, then we would try to do DT together at a café. We always looked forward to the wonderful 1.5 hour nap on the bus to Taipei and the seats on these buses are actually really comfortable, so this is really not bad at all. Originally I thought we'd be able to have some wonderful fellowship on the bus ride…I mean, sometimes it is hard to find time to pause to talk to Eugene when things get busy. But we didn't really talk on the bus, except saying good night to each other the moment we found our seats, no words exchanged but wonderful fellowship nonetheless.

My internship was pretty easy; if I had to leave early or take time off, I just had to ask. Everyday, I got off at 5pm and caught the bus back to Hsinchu, but because of the bus route and traffic, I rode the MRT to Taipei Main Station to transfer to the bus to Hsinchu and stepped into our home slightly before 8. But for Eugene: only on a good day would he be able to get off at 5. He usually gets off at around 6 and gets home around 9 or later. I only did this for a few weeks during the summer but Eugene has been doing this for over one year now.

The most exciting part of this commute with Eugene was on Friday night. Friday Night Plus starts at 6:30 with dinner and Bible study starts at 7:30 so it was pretty obvious we can't make it back in time if we took the bus, but good thing there was the high speed rail, which took about 1.5-2 hours door to door including the MRT and taxi ride to and from the high speed rail station. I could get off work early very easily but Eugene would always be super tight with time. He would get off work, run to the MRT station, swim through the Friday night crowd at the MRT station. He knows exactly how long it takes to run from work to the MRT and how long the MRT takes to get to the main station and exactly what time the high speed rail takes off. He also knows to take the middle car on the MRT and stay close to the door so he can beat the crowd exiting one of the two small elevators and staircases. After that, we ran pretty hard to the exit and high speed rail transfer point. Most of the time, he gets on with one or two minutes to spare, but because he gets on so late, all the seats are taken. So we find a place to stand, and as I am trying to catch my breath, Eugene puts down his bag, takes out his Bible study outline and reviews it during the 40 minute ride. We'd always stand in car #9 because Eugene has figured out that it always ends up being closest to the stairs where we get off. After arriving in Hsinchu, we rush off again, beating the crowd to the stairs to catch the taxi to get to campus for Bible study.

I thought this was kind of fun and exciting for the first two weeks, but it soon began to be a little unbearable. At times, I would feel disoriented as I got to FNP and just wanted to disengage and complain: man! I can't concentrate. But before I could begin complaining, I would see Eugene getting up to the stage to teach Bible study: man! I have NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT, so that pretty much ended my whining. Because I did this with Eugene, I went through my internship okay, and was emotionally stable for the most part. I really have no idea how Eugene does it.

The most amazing thing is that I never sense that Eugene is overwhelmed with stress. I know he gets tired but he always has the spirit to joke around with us, hang out with us, and make fun of us. I never get from him the sense that the world is caving in. I remember I would get that from people sometimes: it's overs for me… It's overs man… this is overs, and I would soon feel stressed too. Eugene instead always has the spirit to spend time with us. Sometimes he would jokingly tell us: I am stressed because you guys refuse to take the cross and give Bible study and Sunday message. He'd always make the most of the opportunity to make fun of us: you know you can be the answer to your own prayer and concern for me by just stepping up to teach and preach. Of course, none of us have the courage to really step up, so he just laughs at us for a little. This is all done good-naturedly of course. I am sure he does feel tired and stressed but he never makes a big deal out of his stress. So very often, I'd say, if he is doing okay, then I should be doing okay, and honestly, this has really been the solution to many small stressful situations for me. I just learn from him, not to make a big deal out of the situation, keep up my spirits and just go through it. Most of the time, what I conceive to be stress is really not that big of a deal, so by just keeping up my spirits and going through it, I am just being true to reality.

Of course, Eugene is not a robot. He gets sick, tired, sleepy, and stressed at times. We know and see this because we live with him. But no matter how tired he is, or how many Bible studies or Sunday messages he has to give, how many times he has to do the crazy commute, he always has the spirit to hang out and just bring his lively spirit to our midst by making fun of and taunting us. We always have so much fun and laughter hanging out with him. And often we'd have so much fun together that we forget he has the burden of teaching Bible study and Sunday message every week. Sometimes we would hang out on Saturday night and realize: oh shoot! You have to give message the next day right, do you have enough time to prepare. He bobbles his head and laughs a little. This is my fearless leader.

I am sure among the leaders, among people who have gone before me, many have gone through similar or tougher situations and kept up their spirit and their faith. I want to emulate them and walk in their footsteps. In the mean time, I am just really thankful to be able to work side by side and see in detail and firsthand how this kind of emotional toughness and resilient faith is lived out. I think this is God's lesson for me as I am emotionally weak and wimpy, losing sleep over the slightest inconveniences.

I just got back from a week in beautiful Austin, Texas helping our sister church, Gracepoint Fellowship Church-Austin , prep for their Inaugural Service. About a dozen of us from Berkeley and SF went for the entire week leading up to the Inaugural Service. The week in Austin entailed passing out invitation flyers, meeting students at their dining halls, and doing the odds and ends of church operations – setup, take down, loading, unloading, cooking, cleaning, video, publications, lighting, keying keychains, all while swatting away those pesky Texas mosquitoes.

It was great to be with our Austin brothers and sisters for a week and I didn’t realize how much I had missed so many of them until I was with them again. We did morning prayer walks, DT with Pastor Manny, and fellowshipped together in the evenings over various work and dining tables every day.

And while the team from Berkeley was trying to be helpful, a realization that I couldn’t deny was the difficultly in setting up a church. It was hard just being there for one week but I can’t imagine the work and toil of all that we did that is done on a regular basis apart from us, week in and week out. In Berkeley, there’s always someone else or some other group that’s scheduled to do a certain task, or a subject matter expert that’s a resource for knowledge. But in Austin, everyone’s needed for loading, everyone’s needed in the kitchen, and everyone is a subject matter expert.

But this picture of the church is all worth it. On Inaugural Sunday, there were 30 plus students in attendance and they saw the concrete love and deep relationships that were displayed when all the 50 plus visitors from Berkeley, Waypoint Community Church, and Bridgeway Church of Silicon Valley joined the Austin team in their celebration. And that concrete love and richness in relationship isn’t something that can be faked. And that’s why the gift of the church is so beautiful - broken lives come together to fellowship and love each other so that the world may see that Christ is alive and real in our midst. So although I already miss my friends in Austin, some of whom were my former leaders and housemates when they were here in California, I’m so encouraged to see them pour out their lives day in and day out over the work involved in the new church in Texas. So it’s no excuse for me to slack off here or rely on someone else to be that subject matter expert while I know many are working hard in Austin, in hopes that those who come will find rest and Lord-willing, join the Austin team in their good labor.

At Gracepoint you often hear stories about hard workers behind the scenes who make things happen especially for big events like G-live, NSWN, or JCC. Among this group are our weekly ImpACT and Joyland drivers who may very likely be the epitome of what it means to give it all.

The rides component of the ImpACT and Joyland programs draw on drivers from many of our ministries — Berkeley and CSUEB College staff, Element, ISM, Korean Department, and Praxis — who are already serving in different capacities yet continue to make the time to serve by driving ImpACT and Joyland kids from Oakland to Willard and back to their homes. It truly takes the whole church to successfully coordinate and arrange rides for the many children who come to ImpACT and Joyland. Throughout the week, I speak with Sue Yi, Tony and Michelle Sun, and Ken Yi (from Korean Department) as we work together to find and finalize drivers for that coming Sunday.

Drivers are participating in a task that many will not see. They are relating to ImpACT children and continuing to stretch themselves even more as they continue to give their all. It’s obvious that ImpACT and Joyland drivers have pivotal roles in our program because they transport the kids to and from Willard, but more importantly, ImpACT and Joyland drivers have the advantage of connecting with and ministering to the kids in the 20 to 30 minute car rides. They are the first people to greet the kids as they come to ImpACT and Joyland and the last people to leave an impression as the kids return home.

There are Sundays when rides go smoothly, but the Sundays where there aren’t enough drivers have proven to be the most effective in faith building. It is during these Sundays that the body of Christ giving their all for a common purpose becomes strikingly apparent as drivers step up to take kids home. It is encouraging for me to experience the kind of positive attitude and willingness I see from drivers, especially those who are asked an hour before (or five minutes…and sometimes even on the spot), to drive for ImpACT and Joyland. Regardless of their tiredness or the busyness of their morning schedule and responsibilities, the drivers continue to be all there for their kids as they engage in meaningful conversations and just simply try to understand where the kids are coming from.

Having the opportunity to coordinate rides for ImpACT and Joyland has allowed me to see the various ways in which we, at Gracepoint, strive to give our all for God’s work and kingdom. My prayer is that the kids will come to understand the kind of heart and character exhibited by these drivers, and that they will one day also come to serve God in similar ways.

In the book of Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates were destroyed by fire. Filled with anguish over the city, Nehemiah rallied the people to overcome their fears and doubts and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 52 short days. The process included all the people, men and women, rich and poor, nobles and peasants, working side by side, building by day and defending the city by night, in order to complete the project. And this picture of unity, shared vision, and personal sacrifice for the honor of God has been the paradigm for which the church has been called to imitate throughout history.

And while I would never claim to know exactly how the people felt when they accomplished this tremendous task, I think God gives us hints of such things when we come together as a church to work toward a single goal that requires self denial. I have felt this way when involved with reaching out to the Berkeley campus, I have tasted this through our Impact program, and I have experienced this through compassion ministries. But recently, I felt this way in an unlikely place while engaged in an unlikely task: the building of our Sierra "Barn" walls!

While we completed the construction of our Sierra lodge last year, which has hosted numerous retreats, ministry outings, fellowship times, and bible teacher training sessions, the need to build another structure that could hold 150-200 people for a retreat was clear. After much prep work had been put in by Pastor Jonathan, of our Waypoint Church in Davis, Pastor Ed, and others, the call went out for some brothers to strap on utility work belts, wield hammers, load nail guns, and handle power tools. After a few emails detailing the work, all the full-time staff at our church, some of the unemployed brothers, and guys who sacrificed vacation days at work, droved 3 hours to our beautiful land in the Sierras to build what we coined the "Barn". Not to be outdone by the brothers, an army of sisters, headed by Kelly and the full-time sister staff, went to the house to prepare meals for us and develop small group materials for our entire church!! Everyone worked 10-12 hour days, starting with DT in the morning, breaking for a delicious home-cooked lunch, and ending after dark with dinner. After each day, all the guys were a bit more tanned, a lot more sore, and a whole lot more joyful as we saw the walls going up and the floor being laid. At the end of 4 full days of work and some additional help from our praxis department, we had the entire frame of the large house erected and ready for the roofers to come in. But more than a sense of accomplishment, we experienced bonding between everyone who worked tirelessly and gave it there all with the vision that this house would one day be a place of joy, laughter, some crying, and important decisions for many people at our church.

As we hope to complete the barn by December, I'm thankful to have been part of the crew that could raise the walls on this barn. We will all have memories of how this house was built many times faster, and with a bit fewer mistakes, than our last house. It is so true that when the church comes together and people are willing to sacrifice for the sake of a shared vision, we can do great things!

I had the privilege this past year of serving with a group of faithful brothers and sisters in the Sunday church bulletin team. For this past year, the bulletin team consisted of members from various ministries from our church: Hubert and Jae from the International Student Ministry, Frances from the Praxis ministry, and me and occasionally my wife Carmen from the College ministry. Even though we are from different departments of this church and each had our own load of ministry and other responsibilities, we experienced a special "joy" and bond working as a team this past year, as we have been learning to be stretched by God in various ways on a weekly basis.

It is kind of a misnomer to call us the "bulletin team," because we are not responsible for the design of the Sunday bulletins. Rather, the bulletin team merely receives the design from the Publication Czar (aka Carmen Hsu) who produces the images (with her team of talented graphic designers: Mary and Ernie). The bulletin team just prints the bulletins. Sounds easy, right?

Here are our simple tasks: After the bulletin team receives the approved images, we format the images on an Adobe Illustrator template and then update the Sunday service information for that week. When all the information and images are updated and ready to go, we press the "Print" button on the keyboard, and then -- begin praying that for the next two hours or so, the printing will go smoothly and the printers will not jam.

Because of the frequent jamming of the printers, as well as other assorted issues related with printing, such as ink smears, breakdown of the computer network, etc., the printing takes about two to three plus hours or more per one side of the bulletin. Often we need to experiment with different printers and different paper feeds on the printer in order to avoid jamming and other printer issues.

Due to the various complications described above, I often find myself printing the church bulletins late on Friday night at North Loop. These times actually turn into a sweet time of meeting other people at North Loop who are still hard at work at the wee hours of the night. I bumped into Pastor Ed more than a couple of times on a Friday night in the wee hours, seeing him preparing for a retreat or wedding message for the next day. Once I was able to fellowship with my good friend Andy, who was still up preparing for the Impact Spring Fest he was in charge of the next morning. On that particular night, Andy actually took out a screwdriver and helped me fix the Canon printer, even though he was incredibly busy (Thanks Andy!). There were other times in which I was able to witness members of the video team staying up producing videos, and brother peer groups staying up to prepare wedding reception acts for one of their peers, trying to figure out silly dance moves with their eyes barely open. When I saw that there are many people around me giving it their all to serve God, and love people, it dawned upon me that I am really blessed to have many around me who set good examples for me in giving their all to God, and that I, too, should learn to give it my all in this seemingly mundane task of printing bulletin programs.

Again, I am so thankful to be a part of Gracepoint Fellowship Church that has faithful members giving it their all....even on a Friday night. Thank you! Bulletin Team--we had a great year!!