Kairos' Annual Report for 2010

As I sit back to reflect on an amazing year of ministry, it is astounding to think of all that has happened and all God has done! Officially dubbed “Kairos” this year, our College/Young Adult Ministry here at LBAC has seen an incredible amount of fun memories, transition, and meaningful life-change over the short span of 2010.

Kairos (pronounced "kai-ross") is a biblical Greek term meaning “appointed time” or “season.” Progressing from High School into young adulthood is a tumultuous chapter of life. In Kairos, we share and grow together in this transitional season of life from childhood to adulthood in education, leadership, and spiritual maturity.

Through the dependable depth of Friday night Bible studies, the profound solitude of seasonal retreats, the sacrifice of local service, and the care behind fun outreach events, Kairos is a unique community of students stepping out in new initiative to make education, career, friendship, and most importantly, their relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, their own passionately dedicated commitment.

“Through the dependable depth of Friday night Bible studies…”

Kairos has been blessed this past year with many gracious hosts! Our Friday night Bible studies have met at the homes of Maryn Kaczorowski, the Barretts, the Metz, the Cannons, the Slades, the Hillhouses, and the Jasons.

Our Friday night Bible studies and discussions (listen) have led us through many topics and books. In January, we studied missions: having a dinner with our Missions Conference, missionaries, visiting retired C&MA missionaries at the Town & Country Manor. We walked through another “Love, Sex, and Dating” series in February. March through June was our kickoff into studying the Gospel of Luke in depth. Our “Foundations” series through the summer grounded us in biblical doctrine while helping our understanding of Mormon doctrine and culture before we would embark on our missions trip to Utah. September saw us study sanctification and spiritual growth, and then picked back up the Gospel of Luke to close our year.

“…the profound solitude of seasonal retreats…”

We had a few times this year to escape our busy, cluttered, and distracting world with Kairos retreats, each providing deeper time in God’s word and quality relationship building and investment in each other.

Our Winter Retreat 2010, up in a snowy Lake Arrowhead cabin, was cozy, relaxing, and unifying. We studied and discussed the canonization, authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture all weekend. (see pics)

Our annual Red Rock Retreat camping trip in the tranquil Mojave Desert was another avenue of adventure, exploration, and teamwork as we bonded through fighting the weather, broken equipment, and sickness together. Our circle-around-the-firepit discussions about the identity, empowerment, and role of Holy Spirit were incredible! (see pics)

Possibly the highlight of Kairos’ entire year was our Utah Summer Mission Trip 2010. Through various fundraiser events, team meetings, and training exercises, we were finally ready for an adventure into the Mecca of Mormonism. We ran a small week-long neighborhood VBS in Ogden, prayed and shared the gospel at Temple Square with C&MA church-planters Joe and Jen Filer, and modeled true biblical Christ-following to various LDS college students we invested in through the week. The spiritual impact, Kingdom-focus, and far-reaching effects of this trip make it the best investment we’ve made all year! (see pics, video)

“…the sacrifice of local service…”

Our students in Kairos are encouraged to serve the Lord with their time, money, and talents, and the ways they’re sacrificing for God are encouraging!

In consistent, regular service, our Kairos students serve weekly in LBAC’s Awana, youth group, and worship ministries. They also showed up in mass to serve during our immense VBS week this past summer.

Where special, specific opportunities arise, we’ve again been encouraged by our students’ hearts. We installed insulation and flooring in the Jason family’s house, we’ve help move multiple families this year, we cleaned Long Beach wetlands during the city-wide “ServeDay”, and packed backpacks full of supplies at the Long Beach Rescue Mission for needy local students.

Our student’s passion to serve God has carried some far away as well. Sarah Davis served half of 2010 in Kurdistan with C&MA missionaries the Phenicies. Alysha Kerr taught English at a Christian camp in Germany this summer (video), and nurse Grace Knight served on two separate medical mission trips in Peru (May) & Mali (Nov). Just recently, Kelly Douglas has left to return to Utah after our USMT2010 trip, serving currently as a missionary to Mormons in various ministries! (video)

“…the care behind fun outreach events…”

Kairos has thrown a variety of outreach oriented events as well this year, inviting new and non-christian students to join us in friendly, casual atmospheres. We’ve kayaked the Bolsa Chica canals, had bonfires at the beach, biked down to beach days, visited CSULB art shows, and snapped pictures for our fun Formal Dinner event.

Our students are also being sent out. We’ve seen many commissioning prayers just this year! Stan Markowski left to pastor students in Ohio. Sabrina Kerr has been an ambassador for Christ while working a 9-month Disney Cruise. Stephen Hennessey recently moved to South Carolina to start up new camps for boys without fathers with “Team Focus.” And Sarah Davis is now serving as an arts director for a church in Canada. The Kingdom mentality behind the life-changing choices of these students is thrilling!

This past year has been an incredible encouragement of God developing passionate adult disciples for Himself through Kairos. God is moving in this ministry! What a privilege to be a part of His faithful work!

Kerry Scott Kaufman

Director of Kairos: College/Young Adult Ministry

Mother Nature Calls

There's been a recent outbreak of caterpillars making cocoons above our front door. Around 5 little spiny chrysalises were suspended this week, but this evening I returned to the house to see a butterfly had emerged! There you have it: nature actually does come right to your front door.

Cali Coast Cycling Tour 2010

A few weeks back my dad, aunt Jo, and myself embarked on a cycling trip for 4 days up the California coast. We started in Paso Robles, riding out from that weekend's Great Western Bike Rally. We stayed nights at Gorda, Big Sur, and Santa Cruz. My mom picked me up half-way to Half Moon Bay so i could make Chris and Jen's wedding that weekend, but Dad and Jo continued on into San Francisco to finish the ride. I did about 200mi in 3.5 days, but the hills and headwinds completely made up for the 2 years of flat cycling I was used to in Long Beach! View our route here.

Each day contained a week's worth of gorgeous scenery, grueling hills and wind, and myriad stories and experiences. Here's just a few highlight shots from the Hwy1 coastline. View all my pics on facebook here.

Here we are before we took off.
Here's the rugged coastline. what an awesome road to ride!
a point of land we went out on for a break. breathtaking
its a lot easier to ride these hills when you get rewarded with this
it was still pretty cold and foggy most of the morning and evenings.
spectacular scenery!
Julia Pheiffer State Park. Breathtaking. there even a waterfall cascading down to the sand, if you can see it at the upper left.
just south of Monterey
next to famous Bixby Bridge.
next to the infamous Artichoke of Castroville.

View all my pics on facebook here.

Facebook ads

so, Google facebook ads are always reading my fb info and posting pictures on my sidebar asking me if I'm interested in "Single Jewish Girls."

But...since i posted my status saying I'm teaching about Mormonism, it showed me this new ad. Its the exact same woman and text, except that her face is paler and her shoulder covered. interesting.

What's gonna happen when i start teaching on Scientology?

Cycling Summer Tour, 2010

Time for another cycling exploration!

When I graduated from Biola 3 years ago (shoot. its been that long?), my dad and I rode back up from Buena Park (LA) to Castro Valley (Bay Area) along PCH on our bikes. We cycled up the entire stretch of the LA beaches, thru Malibu an

d Ventura, up through Santa Barbara, and all the way to San Luis Obispo, all on or near Hwy 1.

We stopped at a naval “missile park”, saw incredible views along the coast, grabbed a snack on the Pismo Beach pier, touched the giant artichoke in Castroville, ate plenty of fresh fruit from roadside stands near Half Moon Bay, disappeared into the foggy hills of Pacifica, hopped BART across the SF Bay, and finished with our tires riding up onto my parent’s driveway in Castro Valley! With the exception of a brief bus-trip shortcut to cut down on time (SLO to Salinas) and BART across the Bay, we finished at 373 miles in 5.5days.

Next week I can make up for that bus ride shortcut. We’re riding now from Paso Robles up to San Francisco again up the NorCal coast, May 31st – June 4th. My aunt Jo will join us. View our route here.

I’m looking forward to fasting from the internet for almost a week, seeing some beautiful Cali coast, and spending great time with my dad and aunt. See ya!

Feelin' Lucky?

Here’s some new artwork at the Gagely apt.

Micah found it somewhere and probably spent too much money on it.

"A New Hope"

When Lankford told Dave to change the LBAC marquee for his sermon titled “A New Hope”, Micah and I were delighted! It’s actually referring to Moses’ birth being a new hope of deliverance for Israel as we teach through Exodus at LBAC.
Here’s to all you fellow Star Wars fans out there:
Next week I’m hoping for "Revenge of the Sith”