Life at Gracepoint

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” ~ John 15:12

Cpl. Nhan (“Young”) Huynh is a U.S. Marine who has been serving in Iraq since May of this year. Nhan was a junior student at SF State University who first started coming to Koinonia through the 2007 New Student Welcome Night. At the Good Friday’s Service this year, Nhan made a salvation decision. I asked him once why he decided to join the Marines and Nhan told me that it was a proud family tradition for him, and that it was a way for him to express his gratitude and give back to this country that he and his family have received so much from.

Nhan was deployed to Iraq in May for a one-year mission, as a truck driver in an area that has previously experienced heavy casualty, especially drivers. We held a BBQ farewell for him, and committed to pray for him, especially in light of the politically volatile region that he was going to. On the morning of his departure, Eddie, DY and I woke up really early and met him at the Marine Base in San Bruno. Nhan showed up in his desert fatigue uniform and his usual irrepressible grin in spite of the freezing cold. We had one last time of huddling and praying with him, taking pictures, and wishing him good luck before sending him on his way to Iraq.

He told us that the most cherished item on the battlefield is a letter from home, “like gold.” Since then, we have sent care packages of snacks, photos from recent events, and letters. (These go into a small box with pre-determined size.) We heard that there were others in his platoon that did not get any letters. So, for the month of November, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up – a time when our military men and women can be especially vulnerable to homesickness – we decided to mobilize all of SF Campus to write cards and letters not only to Nhan, but to other Marines in his Unit, to thank them for the brave and selfless thing that they are doing so heroically for our country.

It was a community-involved expression of love, as everyone from little kids, to fellow students of SFSU, to USF, to Praxis wrote personal cards for Nhan and his fellow Marines. Our Joyland children made a Thanksgiving card for Nhan with personal message of gratitude. We also included a tape recorder in the package with taped personal messages from many of us, so that Nhan can hear from the familiar voices back home. We included letters to his platoon, even though we did not know them. We had over 50 cards and letters, and there was so much snacks that we had one shopping bag full of leftover snacks which did not make it in the specified box. As I was trying to stuff as much into every nook and cranny of the package as I could, I felt so happy for Nhan that he is going to receive this many letters, cards and voice messages during a time of the year when he must be feeling extra lonely and homesick. I was also so proud of our church, that there is such an outpouring of love and care for this one young brother and his platoon, that I had to in the end turn snacks away, and the letters and cards were as thick as a Webster’s dictionary. It was a beautiful picture of love in action.

On November 24, I received the following email message from Nhan upon his receipt of our care package:

I have just received your package, and let me say that it is by far the most memorable package ever! It took me a good two hours to read all of the wonderful cards you guys wrote for me, and that was just the pile that was for me. The snacks and goodies will be distributed and shared among the platoon. The Asian snacks that Christine Chang (formerly Fong) put in the care package were perfect as well, reminded me a lot about home. God has blessed me with so many friends that care and keep my spirits high. I'm sorry I have not been able to call, my platoon has been bombarded with work. I'm not allowed to tell you for operation security purposes, but I'll tell you when its clear. We've been going on the road everyday, moving stuff around, getting back late, and doing it all over the next day. The tape you guys sent me was awesome too! Man, I can't believe you guys went through such effort for me, I feel overwhelmed. Despite all of the stress and long hours on the road, I truly feel that God is watching over my platoon because all around us, there are attacks, bombs, and other things that are out to harm us, yet we have made it this far without a single incident. Please pray for the marines and soldiers who have not been as fortunate as my platoon, for behind every attack that we get briefed about on a daily basis, there are American troops who had to endure them. Today, in the chowhall, there was a live concert put on by our very own marines and sailors, opening for the concert was a gunnery sergeant from Communications Platoon who jammed on his guitar, singing Christian songs of praise, the very same ones we sing in church on Sundays. It was nice to see live music. Thank you once again for the care package, I will be sure to post the cards y'all addressed to the platoon in the break room for the marines to see, and the Turkey artwork from the little kids was a definite keeper!

Nhan Huynh

Because of Nhan, the troops in Iraq became more real and personal to us. It was no longer a war we read about in the news only, but had a voice and a face. He may thank us, but we thank God for him for displaying the Christian love of laying down his life for others.

Usually at this time of the year, people are thinking about what gifts to buy for each other for Christmas. However, Koinonia members (as well as USF Koinonia and SF Praxis members) were given the opportunity focus outside of ourselves. On November 19th, about 25 SFSU Koinonia members were gathered at Arballo House to go shopping for the cause of Operation Christmas Child, which is a ministry that gives Christmas gifts presented in a wrapped “shoebox” to needy children around the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

At 7pm, we were off to Target where many of us roamed up and down the aisles for useful items for our kids, such as toothbrushes, gloves, HotWheels and new outfits. After shopping, we gathered together back at Arballo House not only to wrap our shoeboxes, but also to show-off to one another the goodies we were able to find for our kids! The living room in Arballo House was filled with joy and laughter as we decorated our shoeboxes and neatly arranged the toys in the boxes. Many of us were able to write cards and draw pictures for the kids to enjoy.

Looking back, this was a memory-making moment where we were able to see first of all, how blessed we are to live in the US, where we have all of our physical needs met. Instead of spending money on ourselves, we were able to spend money for a cause outside of ourselves, that would not only brighten up the faces of little boys and girls, but more importantly, give them an opportunity to hear about Jesus’ love for them. There was a lot of joy in knowing that we were making an impact in this world with the simple act of giving unto others, while doing it together.

My family came to the United States in 1993. I still remember vividly how my parents vowed that our family would never worship any gods or idols after we immigrated to the United States. They made that vow because their worship of gods and idols in China had disappointed them, for their gods brought them neither wealth nor happiness. My parents told my sister and me that we would start our lives anew, and, this time, by relying on our own strength and effort.

Following my parents’ new life philosophy, I worked hard in high school and got into UC Berkeley with full scholarship. Though I did well in school in my freshmen year, I was experiencing intense loneliness due to the breakup with my ex-girlfriend. I started to fall into depression. Though I put up a cheery face before others, I was dying inside and I didn’t know what to do. The lonely feelings drove me to think about how I was living and what I was living for. Right around this time, God orchestrated a chance meeting with a Christian at the Unit 3 DC. There, I began my journey of seeking God. I joined the college group, which used to be called ABSK. I took Course 101, but, at the end of it, I couldn’t make a decision to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior because of my parents. I was afraid that they would be angry with me for disobeying them. Also, I still had doubts that God could love me more than my parents. After all, my parents were the ones who gave me birth and really sacrificed a lot for me.

However, God had mercy on me. He opened my eye to see that my parents’ love for me was very limited in the summer after my sophomore year. I got my first B in my sophomore year. When I told my dad about this, he was very upset at me and said that if I didn’t do well in school that he and the whole family would be looked down by my aunts. Though I had heard of such remark before, I was particularly struck with the feeling that I was only a puppet on a string to them. That incident allowed me to see clearly for the first time the limitedness of my parents’ love for me. That opened my heart to seek God’s love. Soon after that, I recognized more clearly my sinfulness and my need for a Savior in Jesus Christ. So, I made my decision to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior the summer after my sophomore year.

The first scary task after becoming a Christian was to break the news of my decision to my parents. However, it was clear to me that I had to tell them about this decision because it was a very important decision. I didn’t think that I could truly live as a Christian until I told them about it. God had mercy on me. My parents received the news without much disapproval.

After receiving the Gospel, I wanted people around me to hear this Good News as well, especially my parents. However, I was filled with doubts and cynicisms about sharing the Gospel with them, given my age, me being their son, and the language barrier. When I brought up these doubts to my leaders, they encouraged me to pray and live out God’s love before them. I am really grateful for my leaders because they took up my concerns and prayed for them as well. Their prayers and support really encouraged me. I cried out to God in prayers. In my prayers, God showed me that I could show His love to my dad through meeting with him for lunch regularly on Saturdays. At that time, Saturday was my major sleep catch-up day. I would go back to my parents’ apartment in SF and take a really long nap. God, in His wisdom, showed me that I could use my time better. It was over these lunch meetings that my dad and I got to talk about politics, education, my life, his life and eventually religion and church. After about 6 months of meetings like this, I sensed that my dad’s heart toward Christianity was softening up.

One time, my leader gave me an apologetic book called “Science and Faith” written in Chinese for my dad to read. On my mom’s 45th birthday, I gave my mom a Bible as her birthday gift. I wasn’t sure how she would receive it, but, amazingly, my mom told me that she had wanted to read the Bible. After that, my dad actually started to read the Bible on his own. He would ask questions about the Bible and about Jesus’ teachings during our Saturday meetings. Not long after that, I asked them if they would like to attend church. After some struggles, they agreed to go. This was a huge step forward in their spiritual journey. After attending church regularly for two months, they called me one day and told me that they made a decision to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. They said they wanted to turn back to the one true God after sinning against Him by worshipping idols for so many years. I couldn’t believe it. My jaws dropped. That was one of the happiest and the most unbelievable moments in my life.

Since then, their lives began to change. They had in their hearts joy, peace and gratitude to God for their salvation. But God continued to help them grow. One of the biggest tests of faith for my parents was my decision to go to China for short-term mission in 2003. When I told my parents that I wanted to go to China for short-term mission, my parents strongly disapproved of my plan. My parents suffered through Cultural Revolution. Since they had tasted the government’s persecution first-hand, they were very concerned about my safety. In view of their disapproval, I struggled over my decision to go to China. God convicted me that I should go because He will take care of my parents and He would provide for us. Finally, at the Eve of 2002, I received blessings from my parents to go. This struggle really refined my family’s faith in God.

And since then, God continued to use my parents to glorify His holy name. God gave my dad such hunger for his Word. When he first became Christian, he devoted himself to the reading of the Bible. He finished reading through the entire Bible once in less than one year’s time. And he started to become active in the publication department in his old church. Later, the pastor of the church discovered that he was a good writer, so he was asked to write for his church’s monthly newsletter. As his thirst for the Word of God continued to grow and per the encouragement from his pastor in his new church, he decided to go to seminary. He studied very diligently on nights and weekends while he performed well at work during the day. With the expanded knowledge about God, God used him in a larger capacity by having him teach Sunday School. After graduating from seminary in October last year, I heard from my mom that the pastor had asked my dad to preach at their Sunday Worship Service. I was like “What? My dad, a preacher man?” I was in disbelief.

Well, as much as I was in disbelief when I heard it the first time, it actually happened 3 weeks ago. God provided the opportunity. My dad’s church, Chinese Independent Baptist Church in Oakland, started a mandarin congregation about 5 weeks ago. In this new ministry, they needed someone who could speak fluent mandarin. Given that my dad had been teaching Sunday school and could speak Mandarin fluently, he was given the opportunity to preach. So, three Sundays ago, my dad stood behind the pulpit for the first time. Karen and I were there to witness God’s faithfulness in his life as we listened to the message. It was a very overwhelming experience for me because I had seen God’s faithful leading in my dad’s life every step of the way, from when my dad said “let’s rely on ourselves” to now that he passionately proclaimed: “we need to let the spirit of God live in us so that we could be the salt of the earth, light to the world, and the city on a hill that cannot be hidden.”

He preached on Matthew 5:13-16, challenging his congregation to live out their Christian faith and to reach out to the lost souls around them. In his message, he shared a personal story about how he encouraged his Caucasian coworker to go back to church after having stop going to church for 30 years. What happened was that, one day, he noticed that his coworker looked very down. When he asked her what happened, she told him that her son was arrested in her apartment after overdosing on drugs. She felt like she had lost her son, and she couldn’t do anything about it. My dad said to her: Didn’t you say that you are a Christian? Christians are never without hope because we could always ask God in prayers. She replied that she didn’t think that God would answer her prayers because she had not gone to church for 30 years. My dad told her that God would accept us and hear our prayers as long as we wanted to turn back to Him. So, my dad took her outside of the office and prayed together during the lunch time. She prayed for her son, and she also prayed that she would turn back to God by going to church. The following Monday, her face was beaming when she met my dad in the office. She told my dad that she went to church last Sunday, and God had answered that prayer. My dad said: “That’s great. Now, let’s continue to pray for your son.” So, they prayed. To keep the long story short. Her son eventually started going to church and became a Christian. The story was amazing enough, but knowing that my dad had been trying to live out his faith, his own message in his work place really challenged me.

After the service, when I went up to green my dad, I realized that my dad’s voice was shot from teaching Sunday school and preaching the service message back-to-back. Though it was hard labor, his face was beaming with joy—it was the joy of serving the Lord. Over dinner that night, I shared how proud I was to hear dad blowing out his voice by preaching God’s word at the service. After hearing that, my mom became concerned about my dad’s health. She told him to maybe preach less or lighten up ministry load since he was working full time. My dad became silent. Oh, how I understand that silence. That’s the silence that I would give to my parents when they told me to not run around too much or take on too much. Seeing my dad’s awkward silence, I chuckled in my heart. And then, I broke the silence by saying “You know. When we serve God, we don’t use our own strength. We use God’s strength. So, I think dad will be okay.” My dad could not agree more and said: “That’s right. It’s God’s strength.”

In closing, though this story is about my dad, this is really God’s story. And I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use my dad and the church that he serves in to advance God’s kingdom in his generation.

I’m so thankful for my parents’ visit a few weekends ago and for what God did in their hearts. This was the first time my parents visited for any extended period of time, minus my graduation from college. My hope for their short stay was for them to see my life, what I do, and what our church is like. So on Saturday, after eating dinner together with my leaders and peers, I showed them my house and then we walked over to Steve & Suzanne’s, which is only five minutes away. When they realized that I was going to knock on their door unannounced, my parents backed off and wanted to go back, not wanting to bother them. But I encouraged them to come in, telling them that people drop by their place all the time unannounced.

Upon entering their home, they were welcomed and given cups of tea and a warm welcome. Pretty soon, some of the senior class from Koinonia started to trickle into their house for a senior discipleship time. Seeing how the seniors played with the kids, my mother remarked how lucky their kids were to be raised with so many uncles and aunties to care for them. As we left their home, my parents expressed their surprise at how open their homes were to so many people.

The last stop we made before the hotel was our very own church building, North Loop. Though my parents were very tired from a long day of sightseeing, their eyes popped wide open the moment we entered the building. It was 10:30 pm, and North Loop was still bustling with people. The SF group were folding Sunday service programs together, laughing and enjoying one another’s company; the praise band was in the warehouse practicing for Element’s upcoming Centrifuge; the audio-video guys were working in the A/V room. Every room was occupied and full of life, and my mother’s exact words were, “I can feel this church is so . . . alive!” My parents were absolutely amazed, and they wished their camera had not broken so that they could take pictures of what they were witnessing and show their church members at home.

What was it that impacted my parents so much? It was people opening up their homes, sharing life together, and enjoying genuine relationships as they served God together. I saw in a new way the power that Christian community has to attract people and to eloquently demonstrate God’s active presence. Jesus’ words sprung to life: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

This summer, we held the first annual Sophomore Discipleship Retreat at Sierra Lodge, led by Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang. It's only been a year since we first met these sophomores as wide-eyed frosh, and many of them didn't really know each other very well either. The first night we played some games, including a rousing competition of King Kong Shower -- and I must mention that the girls handily triumphed over the guys. Over the next couple of days, we had times of sharing stories about ourselves, hearing inspiring messages together, doing some work around Sierra Lodge, hearing Pastor Ed and Kelly’s sharing and advice about different topics, playing at the lake, kayaking, and hiking. One night, we watched a video of Tony Campolo’s Carpe Diem message, and I was so stirred once again by the truth he spoke and his passion. I was inspired once again not to sell out to the small dreams of materialistic comfort, and to live out with passion our God-given visions. I was so thankful that the sophomores got to have this time to set the tone before their soph year, when everything gets tougher – personal relationships, spiritual life, school.

After the video, Pastor Ed and Kelly asked the students to write down what they would like to do in their lives for God with a group of like-minded friends. As the students were writing, I thought about my own visions I’ve had for my life. In many ways, I realize, I am living out the dreams I’ve had for my life. I usually don’t think about my life in this way, and am generally more focused on things that I lack. But sitting there with the students, it was easy to think back to how I felt at their age and it gave me a different perspective on my life. I was reminded how it was so daring for me to even think that I and my friends could live the way our leaders lived, that I could indeed forgo the standard dreams of securing a comfortable life for myself, that I could pour my life out to impact other college students at that most exciting time of their lives, when they are just waking up to what the gospel means and how it could be lived out, just as I experienced. I was so thankful that there I was trying to impact these students in the same way that they impacted me, 14 years ago. Though I haven’t done anything grand in my life, I just felt joy to think that my God-given visions had come true in this way. Even the fact that we are foster parents right now, I was reminded that this is way beyond what I ever imagined for myself, until I saw some of my leaders become foster parents, and our church carried the burden together.

As the students were writing out their visions, some of the younger staff and I were talking about their own visions. I was so thankful for how God has transformed their lives. They were reminders to me of God’s faithfulness throughout the years of our ministry. Here they are, having caught on to the heart of our ministry, committed themselves to God, having grown through many struggles -- and who knows how God will use them in the years to come. I was reminded of God’s faithfulness in the lives of those people, and was excited afresh to think there is that same potential in the sophomores for their lives to be transformed by the gospel. Afterwards the sophomores took turns sharing their visions of what they would want to do for God in their lives. I felt that this was a marker of something changing in their midst. As Kelly Kang shared, one of their goals for this retreat was for the students to get to know one other on a deeper level. She said that you can play games together for four years and not really know one other, but she wanted them to have the opportunity to develop their visions, and to find like-minded friends with whom they could dream dreams for God together. I think it will long be remembered as one of those memorable times of their undergrad lives. I was reminded of what a wonder it is that I am here in the midst of this kind of ministry, and felt so thankful to be able to be a part of it.