One of the things I cherish about Gracepoint Berkeley’s New Student Welcome Night every year is that it really doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. Each person matters, each person’s presence counts and what each of us does has rippling effects for years to come. Here’s a picture of our rock star turned food server that I think captures so much of what we value, connecting with God regardless of what role we play, being joyful to sing or serve food. And rendering all that we do unto God; whether big or small, whether it’s stacking the plates before we trash them, picking up and thawing 1400 pounds of meat, wrapping up 2000 utensil packets (done by our Joyland kids), being the unseen chicken or the cricket voice in the kung fu scene of the skit, being the guy who puts up the podium, or the guy who gets blamed for the video not playing on time, or the skit team that goes on the road to the USF welcome night; knowing that God sees all we do. Here is some sharing from some of our members:
Jenn: I was particularly thankful to be a part of the events this past week. As a college student, I remember walking through the Berkeley campus, feeling so lost and lonely, anxious and insecure. I lived in a sorority house full of girls but felt so out place and disconnected. It wasn’t until sophomore year that I came to this church and heard (and understood) the gospel. Without the labor of love that was poured out through our church & campus fellowship back then to put on events such as these, and without our church’s zeal to take ownership over my life, love me, and explain gospel truths to me, my life’s trajectory would never have been redirected to the purpose of Christ. I’m so thankful that 9 years later, I’m here now on the other side of this ministry, and working to bring people across the threshold of death to Life. I think God works in amazing ways. I pray that God would use all our acts of service this past week, from the big and the small, the visible to the hidden, to progress his work of salvation this year on the Berkeley campus.
Irene: I’m thankful that I got to be on the Praxis side of NSWN this year; that I can be in this supplementary role and add to other peoples’ ministries. Just seeing the amount of coordination, preparation, and care that goes into everything, and people being flexible and welcoming and accommodating and faithful to their individual tasks so that these new students can come and experience wholesome fellowship and so that the college staff can be freed up to reach out to these students. I never appreciated the work that went into this whole production. I’m thankful for the brief prayer time on Thursday before NSWN2 to remember how God has graciously invited me to God’s banquet and to do my part to invite people into God’s banquet. I’m thankful that so many new students came to the welcome nights in the various campuses and got to hear the gospel message and challenged to think about life.
Betty: I am thankful for the opportunity to help out with the college outreach events. This year more than the previous years I had a deeper appreciation for what God had entrusted our church with. I can’t believe this is what we do every single year. Reading the Gracepoint story re: previous NSWN’s reminded me that this is the event through which I came. Previously I used to be intimidated by Cal college students. I hated being on that campus while I was a student. But having gone on the Taiwan Winter Mission trip this past winter and getting older, I realized, people are all the same and they need the gospel. And having those thoughts in the back of my mind made me feel content and glad helping out with whatever I have been assigned to. I am thankful for the pep talks at NSWN especially creating that welcoming presence. I take it for granted that I’ve been part of this community that people who are new can feel very lost in the crowd. I remembered that one of the things that drew me for my first NSWN was how friendly everyone was. And I actually remember quite a bit…exactly where I sat in 2050 VLSB, how I strolled in late and was given a seat, how I was whisked away to Le Cheval for the junior class game time, how I just had a lot of fun and people were talking to me non-stop. My engagement at the NSWN matters and could play into one person’s first impression and decision to seek out Christianity and change the course of his or her life.
Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Luke 14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Luke 17:10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”
I’m so thankful we can be in this all together! Here are more pictures for you to enjoy.
thank you so much to everyone who helped out in ways seen and unseen to make the NSWNs possible! every year i am so thankful to experience the church as one body, where each member does its part, big or small, for the same gospel purpose! one person asked me, “who are all these helpers?” and when i told them they were all members of our church, they were so amazed that so many people were working so hard to put on this event all to welcome them to cal…
Thank you PRAXIS, IGSM & SF Ministries for coming to help us with our NSWNs!! I was surprised when I saw James serving out food after that smashing rock-like concert. I didn’t expect to see him as one of the servers but after the surprise wore off and bragged to the students that they were being served by the guy who just led the singing time, I realized that this is such a picture of the church in action. We’re all trying to build God’s kingdom together and even if it takes holding a guitar on one hand and a pair of tongs with galbee sticking out of it on the other, we’re all building these walls together. I felt so free to just be with the students knowing that there was a sea of yellow shirts all around me to relieve us and help us make this time a welcoming and memorable time for the students. Not to mention I also felt so popular greeting everyone in yellow shirts by name and one of the students asked me how I knew all these people and it was natural for me to say that I’ve known some of them for 12 years cuz we’ve gone to the same church (since I was a freshman). That might have been a bit of a shocker for them in a society where the longest you know someone is at most 5 years. Thank you all for making these nights happen!
I still vividly remember my freshmen year NSWN. I was in the fourth row of Wheeler and was just blown away by everything–the praise, the skits, the videos. I thought the people up on stage were just the coolest people ever–especially James. So I was kind of star-struck when he went out with us to get gelato. There he was, just having a conversation with me! Afterwards, we walked past Barrows and after saying goodbye, hopped in a minivan. That whole night, and especially my interaction with James, really showed me that I had stumbled on to something really special.