Announcements

Here are the announcements~!!!

LSFG San Jose
There will be no small groups on December 23rd and 30th since it's Christmas or New Year's week.

Sunday, January 4th, 2010
Church service will not be held at Crowne Plaza. Instead, we will be visiting another church. Stay tuned for an email with details.

February 2010- LSCC Snow trip
For those interesting in hitting the slopes LSCC will have it's annual snow/boarding/skiing trip in February of 2010. Contact Justin Chien if interested. It's a good time to get away from it all, fellowship with brothers and sisters, and show your skills on those hills!

Changes / Growth

Hello LSCC'ers!

There's been a change in our South Bay group. Jeff and Justin have decided to head up with the start of a Santa Clara group. This change and the transition is not always easy, but we hope it will allow the San Jose group to have room to grow once again and let us continue to support each other as our brothers step out from their comfort zones.

May God watch over Jeff and Justin in LSFG Santa Clara, and may God continue to build leaders and new members into the San Jose group!

LSFG South Bay!

Retreat this weekend!

Hey Everyone,

Just a reminder that we wont be meeting for small group tonight. Instead, we'll be meeting this weekend in Santa Cruz for our LSCC Retreat! Here's some info below for this weekend.


Retreat Location: Sequoia Retreat Center (11445 Alba Rd Ben Lomond, CA 95005)
Arrival Time: Friday 10/23 @ 7pm
Things to pack:

- Sleeping bags/Own bedding (sheets and blanket)
- Pillow

- Towel
- Toiletries

- Bug spray
- Comfortable sturdy shoes for walking/hiking
- Jacket (check weather)
- Bible
- Journal
- Books "Jesus with Dirty Feet"
- Own devotional materials
- flashlight with fresh batteries

- layered clothing (check weather and pack accordingly)
- Ear Plugs if you're a light sleeper
- Alarm Clock
- Water bottles (Siggs, Nalgene, Camelbak, Contigo!)

- Games to play with the others (board games, card games...)

Directions from San Jose

• Take Highway 17 toward Santa Cruz
  

• Exit at Mt. Hermon Road and turn right at the signal onto Mt. Herman Road.
  FYI: Google maps and navigation systems will take you via Bear Creek Road – while it is possible arrive via Bear Creek Road it is a longer drive.

• Take Mt. Herman Road 4.5 miles through Scott's Valley, on through the hills down to the town of Felton.

• You will come to a "T" with a signal at Graham Hill Road. (If you go straight you will be in the parking lot of a park.) Turn right onto Graham Hill Road.

• Turn right again onto Highway 9 (next signal).

• Continue north through Felton and on to Ben Lomond.

• Go straight through the 4-way signal in Ben Lomond.

• Go 0.5 mile and turn left onto Alba Road. Be careful not to turn too soon or you will end up on Hubbard Gulch Road. Hubbard and Alba are close together.

• Go 1.5 miles to The Sequoia Retreat Center sign on your left. Enter the next left.

• Follow the signs to Check In, park and walk to The Welcome Center for check-in.
  
  
  

Drive safe and see you all there!

Pot Pies & Putt Putt!

Thanks for everyone who came out and joined our activity! It was awesome to play with everyone and hang out outside of the bible study context. For those who couldn't make it, we missed you and hope you'll are feeling better!

ANNOUNCEMENT: We're having large group bible study at Crowne Plaza next week.
When: 10/7, Wednesday @ 7:30pm
Where: Crowne Plaza
Dinner will be served so be ontime!
Please don't show up at Berina Lair otherwise I'll know you didn't read this!!

Here are some photos from our activity... Enjoy!

The Putt Putters

Crazy Eyes!

Surprise! blinding flash!

Shot on goal... oops, wrong sport. ;)

Work it Asah! Work it!

Pretending to pass gas...

Actually passing gas.... Yes, this is the winning team...

ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!

Our next meeting on September 30th will be at!!!!!!

Marie Callender
751 East El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
408-245-3710
@7:00PM

then, onto some friendly competition at:
Golfland
855 E. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
time TBD--after dinner (8:30???)

See ya'll there!!!

Colossians 3:18-21 Wives, Husbands, Children and Fathers.....

18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

In this study we learned about God's design for families! This was a design created to preserve unity in the family, expanding again on the topic of unity in the church. Some interesting points that were brought up:
In verse 18 the word, "subject"-- this word shows us that the action is voluntary rather than obligatory. Women have the option to submit to their husbands...should they or shouldn't they?
Verses 18-21: A good point that a fellow brother brought up-- women seem to get riled up at verse 18 and men at verse 19 and they get mad at the opposite sex-- but you know what? This is what God personally asked of the wife, and personally asked of the husband. If you're going to get riled up, take it up to the Boss!

Lots of good stuff!

This was noted earlier in the NT in the good book of Ephesians. And you know, when something's repeated in the Good Word, you KNOW how important the topic is!

Ephesians 5:22-39 (New International Version)

Wives and Husbands
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[b] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Last study... There's a memory verse!!

Our last study was on Colossians 3: 15-17:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father..

Following our last study which spoke of us putting on our new identity in Christ, these last set of verses teaches us that we need to KNOW the word by heart. This allows us to live it out.

With that, make sure to remember our memory verse:
Colossians 3: 17:
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father..

Colossians 3:10-14 Putting on our new identities

Colossians 3:10-14 (New Living Translation)

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile,[a] circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,[b] slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
++
Our latest discussion was on casting off our old self and putting on the new. God promises us a love that is unconditional--where our identities do not matter, except that we are followers of Christ. Clothe yourself, fellow brothers and sisters, with love! Love others like He loves us!

Announcements

LSCC Retreat !

October 23-25, 2009 @ Sequoia Retreat Center
There will also be retreat activities on Thursday, Oct 22nd (optional)

Here's the link to register for the retreat. http://lscc.weebly.com/retreat.html

Please submit payment by writing a check to LSCC or paypal Vincent Mo at veensantmo@gmail.com
$100 before Aug 31<-- BEST PRICE!!!
$120 before Oct 1
$150 before Oct 23
**SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE so if finances are an issue please talk to Bonnie.
Note that your application is not yet complete until you submit a check or paypal before each deadline.

Please contact Bonnie if you have any questions about the retreat. Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday to Jeff & Congrats to the Shaws!

Happy Happy Birthday Jeff!

Congratulations Ansel & Yukari! Welcome back from Kauai!

We'll be having bible study this week so see you tomorrow at 7:30pm!

Aug 5th - Colossians 3

Our next study we will continue our study of Colossians!

Do you still remember what the previous chapters were about?

Last week's study, Colossians 2:16-23, was about freedom from human regulations. Christ alone is sufficient! Don't get swept away in rituals!

A preview of Wednesday!
Chapter 3 verses 1-4!

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

July 29

Last week we had a big turnout to help Ansel and Yukari make their wedding programs. It was a lot of stamping, cutting and organizing. Thanks so much for those who came out!

Dumpling Making Party

Here are some pictures from our Dumpling Making Party courtesy of Justin! Enjoy!

Ben is working hard for his food.

Nancy's giant dumpling. Can you tell which one is bigger?

Flying saucer pot stickers.

Farmer's Market Trip (June 14th, 2009)

Hey SJers,

If you're interested, Anne and I will be heading to the Mountain View Farmer's Market on June 14th when we're planning to have a wildcard service for Sunday. It's an opportunity to be in the company of fellow believers on Sunday and to see who our local growers are and try to put into practice some of the things we learned at Freedom Summit about being responsible consumers.

Here are some details about the Farmer's Market:
http://www.mountainview.gov/city_hall/comm_services/recreation_programs_and_services/community_events/farmers_market.asp

It's open from 9:00AM to 1:00PM. We're planning to head over around 10:00AM. If people are interested, we could meet ahead of time and grab some breakfast before heading to the farmer's market.

Let me know. 408-206-0911

Jeff

Col 1: 15-20 and homework!

We continued our study in Colossians learning about God's supremacy and what we need to understand from that.... That He is more than just "our homie"-- He is our supreme God, all powerful, most Holy, our Savior!

Colossians 1:15-20 (New American Standard Bible)

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

19For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

+++

Homework for this week: Be Christ-like for one day and write down your thoughts throughout that day. Report back at the next small groups! :)

Freedom Summit

Hey Guys,


Freedom Summit from Freedom Summit on Vimeo.

Our May LSFG activity is going to be attending the Freedom Summit conference. You should've heard an announcement or received an email about Freedom Summit, which is a conference on slavery and human trafficking coming up in May.

Date: May 15-16, 2009
Location: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, Mountain View, CA

If you are interested in attending, please contact Bonnie, Will, Dan or Justin.
There is more information at the Freedom Summit website.

Sky High - Friday, April 17th

Hello LSFG San Jose!! As announced in your Fellowship groups, we’ll be having a Pebbles activity FRIDAY, APRIL 17^th.

Details:

7:20pm – Meet at Sky High Sports: http://www.jumpskyhigh.com/index.asp :: $10 per person, free for newcomers

7:30pm – Parking Lot Picnic of Chicken McNuggets & Tacos

8:00pm – Enter Sky High

8:45pm – Puke out nuggets

10:00pm – End of event, possible dessert outing

Please CHOOSE:

A) Bringer – A bringer invites friends and will host them throughout the event. Bring a max of 2-3 friends so you can handle the load. Intro them to people who would have similar interests and would get along.

B) Clinger – A clinger will CLING to new people that bringers have brought. Your job is to pick a new person or two and really try to hang out and get to know them throughout the event. Goal is to get this person’s phone number or e-mail.

E-mail Jeremy (jeremy.c.chien@lmco.com) with your choice and if you’re a bringer, please tell him how many friends you’ll be bringing.

March 25th: Sufficiency of Christ

At this meeting we read and discussed 1 Colossians 1: 1-8:

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the holy and faithful[a] brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

From this passage we see that Paul writes to believers that he's never met before. He's heard of them and their bearing fruit and their love in the Spirit. He identifies the church by their faith, love, and hope. We learn how important is is for us to be self-sufficient WITH CHRIST. We also learned how when reading the Word every time we re-read something we learn something new. This may be based on where you are in your life, what experiences you're going though... the Bible is God's LIVING word. Isn't that neat?

How's the gospel affect you?

Split Huddles with Union City

Thank you Will and Leo for a delicious dinner this week! You guys definitely did not disappoint!

Below are the Split/Joint Huddle Groups with Union City. There are no quarter backs this week so please take the initiative to contact the people in your group and set up an email list. This is an opportunity to get to know other brothers and sisters who you don't normally see during the week so please make good use of this meeting. Let me know if you need anyone's contact information.

Joint Huddle Groups
Linda, Niki, Yukari, Bonnie
Grace, Kate, Marina
Dennis, lil'D, Tak, Leo
Jason, Kellen, David
Aaron, Ning, Vincent, Will
Alan, Hank, Sam Chen, Ansel
Dan, Ming-gih, (Davit), Arthur, James
Jeremy, (Brian), (Uland), Jeff, Nathan

Fun Time Shooting Pool

Thank you Justin for planning our March activity and thanks to all those who showed up and supported! It was definitely a good time of friendly competition and never ending games. I leave with some photos of our activity, courtesy of Veensant. See you all at Bible Study Wednesday!

Transitions and Seasons of LIfe

This week we had a topical study in how we identify ourselves in the seasons of our life. From 1 John 2:12 to 14 we see John writing to people in different seasons of life, kids, young adults and parents. It's so easy for us to become completely distracted and overwhelmed by life as we try to adjust within each stage of our life. Sometimes we can spend so much time studying for hours to pass the exam, staying the late hours to get the next promotion or rushing from place to place to run errands.

While it's important to do well in your work remember that these are all temporal things. 1 John 2: 17 the world is passing away... but the one who does the will of God lives forever...

What would you do if you lost your job? Does that identify you? Would you feel that suddenly you no longer have worth because you're reputation was taken from you as your job was taken from you? God is eternal. Our identity should be with Him! That will never be taken from us!


1 John 2:12-17 (New International Version)
I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:5-6 (New International Version)
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

March Activity: South First Billiards

Hey All, information about next week's activity is posted below. Please come support and bring friends!

Who: LSF San Jose
Where: South First Billiards
(Located 420 S. First Street, Downtown San Jose near Convention Center)
When: Wednesday 3/18 Kick off anytime from 6:30 on.
Cost: $10/table flat-rate (unlimited peoples as long as we have Student ID),
$8-$15 for food. (Kinda like a TGIF or a Dave&Busters)

Justin chose this activity for many reasons, the primary being able to invite friends, coworkers, and stragglers to come and hang out with us. We're people who genuinely care for others, so let's meet some of the other people in each other's lives.

Website: http://www.sofapool.com/
Map: http://maps.google.com/?q=south+first+billiards&iwloc=A

Women's group and Men's huddles

This past week the women of LSCC met up for a pizza dinner and got to hear the testimony of our sister, Sarah. After she shared, we broke up into groups to discuss a series of questions that she prepared for us.

The men met for huddles and discussed some tough questions prepared by Sam.

I hope everyone had a chance to pray and have true fellowship.

See you at next week's study where we will continue our journey in 2 Corinthians.

Progressive Dinner, 2/18 @ 7pm

Hey Guys! I'm looking forward to the Progressive Dinner activity coming up next Wednesday and I hope you are too. There's going to be a lot of good food and getting to know people from the other fellowship groups!

Here are the groups you'll be in for the dinner on Wednesday and the house order you will be following. Dinner starts at 7pm so please on time to the first house on your list. You will be receiving an email this week with directions to your first house by the hosts. Cooks, you will also be receiving an email from the hosts with a set menu. Also, please let me know if your name is listed below but you can't make it. Thanks!

group A: linda's, steve's, josh's
ansel
david chen
arthur
kate
kellen

uland
grace

group B: josh's, linda's, steve's
vincent
sam chen
brian
dan yun
jason
hank

group C: steve's, josh's, linda's
justin
leo
gracie
dan yen
alan
ming-gih

Announcements

January 31-February 1: LSCC skii/snowboard trip

Week of Feb 4th: Huddles group (meet with your new huddles groups and fellowship!)

• Yukari (QB), Marina, Bonnie, Kiki
• Tak (QB), Ben, Justin, Leo
• Vincent (QB), Jeff, Sam Kao, David Chen
• James (QB), Sam Chen, Ansel, Arthur
  

February 18th: Progressive dinner (more on that later!)

God bless! :)

Thank you, come again!

Last week we had a farewell party for Sam and Kiki. The dashing duo will be transitioning into the family ministry with the arrival of "K.B." (Kao Baby). While we will miss them from our mid-weekly meetings we know that they'll be a great addition to the family ministry.

Thank you so much for serving and for your loving presence.
Thank you Sam for your wisdom, leadership and guidance.
Thank you Kiki for your kind heart, contagious laughter and diligence with the small groups administrative duties. We're excited for your new chapter in life with the baby on the way. We pray for the safe arrival of your newest member of your family, as well as strength for the mother and father!

Thank goodness this isn't a real goodbye. We'll be seeing you on Sundays, joint small groups and other misc. functions.

Thank God for friends! Our brothers and sisters in Christ!


http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=benkeenkong&target=ALBUM&id=5294994164978066113&authkey=9shldkxrKUs&feat=email

Paninis, birthdays and more of the Word

This past week was Marina's and Sam's birthday week! We celebrated with chef J-Lue's homemade brownies and ice cream! Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday to you~!!!

As for the food Tak and Marina made us some toasted, gourmet sandwiches-- aka PANINIs! mmMM! Who knew that a grill can make an ordinary sandwich EXTRAordinary! haha.

Our study was on Matthew 7: 15-20:

15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

From this we learned to stay informed! Be active not only in your ministry (reaching out to others, showing God's love through giving actions, worship)--but in your knowledge of the Word. There are a lot of false prophets out there who can interpret the Word incorrectly. (In fact, I ask that you, fellow readers, take my comments as supplemental but not primary information.) Knowledge is power only if used correctly. Remember, even Satan knows the Word inside and out (Matthew 4). Know the Word and understand things in context.

Secondly, we learned that we can tell that someone is a true follower of Christ by the fruits they bare. What kind of fruit are you baring?