Core Values Archive

  • A Picture of Perseverence

    A Picture of Perseverence

    Submitted by Ulia…This past Sunday, we celebrated Grandma Bessie’s 101st birthday!  Despite her age and her weak body, she is amazingly cheerful and thankful, and she thanks God for sustaining her these many years. When I first began visiting Crown Bay at the beginning of summer,...

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  • Driven by Love

    Driven by Love

    Submitted by Shufei…Yesterday (6/29), Amanda and Baby Rebekah were discharged from Alta Bates Hospital. Allen and Amanda’s parents were so excited that everyone was going home. Sara Hong and I drove our respective vans to give everybody a ride home as well as transport all...

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  • God at Work

    God at Work

    Submitted by Christina…This week at Life Lutheran Church, we had our second service with 8 youth students attending.  Most of the youth were returnees from last week, but we were also happy to see three new faces.  We started off our time together with an icebreaker....

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  • God will roll away the stone

    God will roll away the stone

    Submitted by May… Being able to go help the MN team settle in, I was able to get a front row seat of how God was actively answering prayers even before the team arrival date on June 8, 2010. It was especially timely and appropriate...

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  • Inheritance in the saints

    Inheritance in the saints

    Submitted by Sue… This past week we sent off Joohye at the airport to go to Texas for her T cell transplant treatment, and I was really amazed at how not only has God really been watching over her, but he gave us the opportunity...

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  • A Chance to Serve

    A Chance to Serve

    Submitted by Khanh…On the warm, first Sunday morning of June, Azusa, Tiffany, Victoria and I arrived at Vietnamese Ministries for our first youth service in downtown Oakland. The sisters and I went into the building that was apparently home to churches of varied ethnicities. We...

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  • Peace in All Things

    Peace in All Things

    Submitted by Grace… My sister and I spent about the past 6 weeks in Korea taking care of my mom fighting last stage of lung cancer. Through my time in Korea with my parents, I think God has taught me some lessons about what it...

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  • The Joy of Servanthood

    The Joy of Servanthood

    Submitted by Daniel… I am blessed by my mom’s servant-like attitude, and it gives me a window into the sheer joy of servanthood. For a few years now, she has been wanting to serve the handicapped or autistic children, spending her free time taking classes...

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  • A Youthful Presence

    A Youthful Presence

    Submitted by Jane…This past Sunday, Interhigh Fellowship sent out the first team to conduct a youth worship service at a small Korean church in Hayward. Esther Kang, Kevin Jeung, Sam Hudnet, and I were excited to be a part of this historic move. Without a...

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  • Small Steps leading to Big Blessings

    Small Steps leading to Big Blessings

    Submitted by Sijii… When I look back on the past four years of my life, three major life-transforming decisions come to mind.  The first was committing myself to my small group, second committing myself to God and third, committing myself to God’s work. The first...

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  • God’s Bigger Picture

    God’s Bigger Picture

    Submitted by Janet… Now that I’m ending an important chapter of my life and reflecting on the past 4 years, I can see how God has changed my life and has directed me to a better path. I first came into Berkeley excited for my...

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  • Why So Much Love?

    Why So Much Love?

    Submitted by Mike… Coming into Berkeley, I expected to learn and experience a lot of new things. Attending one of the top educational institutions in the world, I learned a lot (or at least, I think I learned a lot). And having spent my time...

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  • A New Sense of Community

    A New Sense of Community

    Submitted by Francisca… These past few days I meditated on what’s the most drastic way my life has changed because of God and it would be becoming part of His community.  Coming into college I was very withdrawn from the world, I was so used...

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  • Church Plant Commissioning Service – Gracepoint Riverside, San Diego, Minneapolis

    Church Plant Commissioning Service – Gracepoint Riverside, San Diego, Minneapolis

    This past week’s commissioning service held at Gracepoint Berkeley for our 48 church plant team members went by so quickly, I wanted to recap a bit so that we can all be blessed again through all that we experienced together. I wanted to encourage everyone...

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  • No-brainer choice

    No-brainer choice

    Submitted by Bob… I cannot remember a time where I did not want, nor would not accept, Jesus Christ to be my savior. Thanks to the persistence of my grandmother, a devout Christian, I grew up in the church and learned everything and did everything...

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  • The secret to contentment

    The secret to contentment

    Submitted by Hui… I was born in China to a non-religious family with very loving parents. One of my earliest memories from childhood is this four-letter saying from my dad: “????”, which means that having a successful career is the most important thing in life....

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  • Nothing too big to give up

    Nothing too big to give up

    Submitted by Andrew… I grew up in a Christian household and have been attending church for as long as I could remember. From the time I was 3 we had people outside of the family living at our house for years at a time. Despite...

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  • Worthy is the Lamb

    Worthy is the Lamb

    I was so blessed this past weekend, starting from the Good Friday Service until the end of the Easter Service on Sunday. Here’s the orchestra / choir performance of Worthy is the Lamb, since 150 of you didn’t get to see yourselves. We’ll have a...

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  • Misinformed –> Informed

    Misinformed –> Informed

    Submitted by Samantha… I was born in Guangzhou, China as the only child to loving, atheist parents. My elementary and middle schools denounced superstition and celebrated naturalism, patriotism and communism. Therefore, I developed a firm impression that only illiterate fools could be superstitious enough to...

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  • A God who redeems

    A God who redeems

    Submitted by Diana… Looking back on my high school days, I shudder when I think of some of the decisions I made. While for me it was a time of adjustment and trial, having just emigrated from Mexico, I also remember those days with a...

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  • Angel Tree moments

    Angel Tree moments

    Submitted by Lin… Our small group sponsored a five year old boy, named X. When I went to the Angel Tree Christmas party, it turned out that his stepdad came. His stepdad was the one who was in prison and who wanted to make sure...

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  • True living water

    True living water

    Submitted by Suzanne… This past Tuesday we had our first historical prayer walk on the UCSD campus!  As we were all gathered around and praying for this campus I thought it was pretty amazing that so many of us from different ministries in our churches...

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  • The most wonderful thing

    The most wonderful thing

    Submitted by Olivia…  (Olivia is in the middle of the front row, with the yellow wrapped flowers) I was born in a very traditional family in Taiwan, and was very accustomed to burning incense to thank Buddha and ancestors for blessing us with peace and...

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  • Treasure in Heaven

    Treasure in Heaven

    Submitted by Joanna… I was born into a middle-class family. Although both of my parents worked and we had a steady income, my parents fought over money almost every day. At that time, I thought money was the only solution for my family problems. Actually,...

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  • Switched values

    Switched values

    Submitted by Dino… I went to church a few times while in elementary and junior high school; however, I wasn’t very familiar with the God that everybody knew or talked about. I did not know nor understand how a Christian ought to behave or the...

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