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?

Cheers to 2008! Looking forward to 2009!

Hope you guys had a Merry Christmas and spent some quality time with your loved ones. I want to take this time to thank you guys for a great year at LSFG San Jose. We've have grown so much both physically and spiritually. Looking forward to more memories in 2009!

Here is a recap of the announcements from our last meeting along with new huddles and cooking rotation groups.

Calendar of Events for 2009:
1/7: Huddles
We are starting off the new year with one last meeting with your current huddles group. New huddles starting 2/4.

1/14: Resume Bible Study at Berina Lair

1/21: Activity

1/28: Bible Study


New Huddles Groups: Names with an * are quarterbacks.
- Tak*, Ben, Justin, Leo
- James*, Sam Chen, Ansel, Arthur
- Vincent*, Jeff, Sam Kao, David Chen
- Yukari*, Bonnie, Marina, Kiki

Cooking Rotation
- Tak, Marina <-- January 14
- Kiki, Sam
- Bonnie, Jeff
- Yukari, Ben
- Justin, James
- Vincent, Ansel

LSFG Core Vision for 2009: We'd like to grow a new small group thing coming year which means we all need to be more intentional about inviting and praying for friends. Please have some target members in mind and we will share in our upcoming meetings.

See you in 2009!

Hello Brothers and Sisters,

We won't be meeting for the next two weeks because of the Christmas and New Year's holidays but we hope you have a very safe and loving break.

We'll see you again on January 7, 2009.

the LSFG leadership
(aka the TRiaD)

the straight and narrow

This week James and Ansel cooked up some mighty good beef stew. Thanks for the warm and hearty dinner, guys!

Matthew 7:13-14:
13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

This week we discussed the topic of "the narrow gate". It's eye opening to think, "wow, not everyone will find the road to salvation". This includes people who call themselves, "Christian". This is reiterated further down in verse 21: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." What does this mean?
--Don't take your salvation lightly. Follow His commandments. Carry your cross. The path won't be easy and there will be plenty of distractions. Don't be worldly during the week and then "christiany" on Sunday at church and at small groups. Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk.

So much pressure!

Tak and I will be cooking the first San Jose meal of 2009! What pressure. We need to come up with something good. I'm taking suggestions!

Matthew 7: 7-12 Ask, Seek, Knock

Tonight was Texan steak night for food. We filled up people's stomachs with food and the Kong's house with smoke! But it was yummy! hehe.

The study was on Matthew 7: 7-12:

7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

A lot of questions were asked-- primarily about how He provides. Sometimes our prayers are answered and we are satisfied -- we pray that we get into college, we pray that we finish college...--and after a lot of struggle we find that we got into college and are done! Straightforward, right?

Our prayers are sometimes not answered the way we expect it (or want it). We pray for God to bring those who we love to know Christ. We pray for healing of the very sick. And sometimes, this doesn't happen. Did God fail to answer our prayers? No. He knows what must happen for Him to be truly glorified.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 1:1)