Our Young Adult Department was greatly humbled and blessed by these two courageous soldiers of Christ who shared some incredible stories about their lives in the mission field. Their testimonies about working in the devastating condition of orphanages stretched our hearts, reminding us once again the kind of pain in the world from which we are so sheltered. Through our time of fellowship with Mike and Cindy, we were able to renew our sense of mission and increase our understanding of true sacrifice.

Chuck Colson: former chief counsel for President Nixon, founder of Prison Fellowship, award-winning author, and popular speaker. On January 5 at the UC Berkeley campus, we had the immense privilege of having this incredible man of God speak to our entire church.

"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5) In light of the messages that we have been learning on the true meaning of Christmas, CKG 3 and our Youth Department with gifts in hand visited children and mothers in the Angel Tree foundation in hopes of sharing the joy of Christmas and creating new friendships. As part of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries, Angel Tree finds sponsors for prisoners' children at Christmastime and throughout the year. For just a few hours, we were able to step out of the insulation of our own homes and into those of prisoners' wives and children.

Will Darth Vader relinquish the Star of Bethlehem and find out the true meaning of Christmas? Our Joyland Christmas Celebration has already become an annual tradition, and a highlight for our children and adults alike. This year, our Joytown pre-schoolers depicted the Nativity story, and the K-1st graders recited an impressive number of Bible verses connecting Old Testament prophecies to the birth of the Messiah, and also sang with gusto! The 5th-6th graders performed a Star Wars parody - it even had a light-saber fight scene. The 5th-6th grade girls sang "Welcome to Our World", and the older kids gave the K-1st kids a run for their money with their own Verse Recitation. We capped the night off with the 2nd-3rd graders' skit called The Adventure of the Rings, inspired by C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew. As the entire church came together, with the Youth helping out with props and stage management and the Young Adults coordinating costumes, building props, running lights, sound, and everything in between, it was truly a night of joy for everyone!

Pauley Ballroom on the campus of UC Berkeley was the site of this year's annual Thanksgiving Celebration, a tradition that proved once again to be an evening of great food and fun. How a full course Thanksgiving dinner for over 800 people was smoothly coordinated was a sight to behold, but only to be outdone by the evening's much anticipated entertainment. From the youth department’s satirical presentation of The History of the Teenager - 5000 B.C to Present, to the usual fair of rap and gratuitous dance routines, to S.F Chapel’s rendition of A Christmas Carol (think Dickens meets YanCanCook), it was a night to remember.

Our Thanksgiving Retreat also brought together members from our churches in Davis and San Francisco. Through applicable messages and personal testimonies, it was a time for us to come together and give glory to God for what He's done in our lives this year.