These rallying times together built up our anticipation and excitement for our praise and worship time and for the messages. Pastor Will and James Kim gave a total of six messages: “Dare to be Different,” “Dare to be Disciplined,” “Dare to Discover,” “Dare to Disclose”, “Dare to be a Disciple,” and “Dare to be a Witness.” Through various object lessons with Play-Doh, soda cans, and paper cups and clips of real-life teen challenges, Pastor Will and James helped the students to identify different peer pressures to succumb to sin and challenged them to be on the “offense” in terms of battling these pressures through confession, spiritual disciplines, and rallying behind Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to compel us to be His witnesses. Following the messages, we had times of prayer and reflection, as well as times of sharing by small groups by the eleven bonfire pits around Sierra Lodge. These post-message sharing times and prayer led to the salvation of 7 students, including one student from our small church visits, as well as many more rededication from the students to commit their lives to following Jesus.

The retreat, overall, was a very blessed and memorable time, which all of the students and staff enjoyed very much. We really hope and pray our students can see the many loving hands that have went into their lives and the messages would have prepared them to “Dare to be a Disciple” for Christ before the upcoming school year.

What was the most memorable time for you at the summer retreat?

Come Join Us!

Games, Food and Praise

As soon as people started arriving, we got into groups by grade and readied ourselves for the challenges ahead. We were competing to see which team would do the best in a series of games ranging from human foosball to Team Simon Says. My group was the twelfth graders and our team name was the Beastly Butterfly Boys and Birls (Girls). After each team gave its team cheer, we all rushed off to play. My team joined three others at the four-way tug-o-war, but we were soundly (and embarrassingly) defeated by the sixth graders. Kids seem to be getting stronger these days; who knew? We played several more games, including handball, water balloon toss, and a relay-race (the sixth graders beat us again). All in all, we had a lot of fun, and we got to bond a lot through the games.

After finishing the games, we were ready for some good food. We had burgers and hotdogs with a crazy selection of condiments—even guacamole! During the dinner, the winners of the team competition were announced, along with a special award to the sixth graders for beating us twelth graders. Afterwards, we had an awesome time of praise, InterHigh style; people were jumping up and down, singing passionately, and, in short, doing all they could to praise God!

The Mentor Panels

The high school students and the junior high school students split off for mentor panels during our session time. I was with high school where Pastor Will started off by talking about the encounters the disciples had with the resurrected Jesus. One example was Peter, who denied Jesus three times, but was welcomed back and reinstated by Jesus. Then four of our very own mentors came up and talked about how they had had similar experiences with the resurrected Jesus. Mike, one of the mentors, recalled when he first became Christian and how, like Peter, he had made commitments to Jesus. However, he found himself failing again and again and feeling guiltier each time, wondering how God could ever forgive him. But as he read about Peter’s reinstatement in John, he had realized that God is always willing to forgive. He finished by saying, “I realized that God is willing to give not only second but even third, forth, or fifth chances.” It was encouraging to hear how after discovering the resurrected Jesus, each of the mentors was able to experience God in their lives. We finished with some good old small group time, making the message personal and taking time to pray for each other.

In the meantime, the junior-high schoolers were having their own session. They started off with three mentors sharing what they were like in middle school. Each mentor talked about all the silly things they had done to fit in, like trying to buy all the “in” clothes or getting good grades, but realizing that these things didn’t really work. One of the mentors, Elaine, challenged us to not live our lives stuck in front of a screen, because there’s so much more to experience! Then James (he usually leads praise) gave a short talk about BEAD. What’s that? Well, it’s an acronym to help us remember the evidence we have for the resurrection: the Burial of Jesus, the Empty tomb, Appearances of Jesus, and the Disciples’ belief. To help make the message more memorable, James did something crazy things, like tossing the handouts in the air instead of passing them out! The session was a lot of fun: we got to know three of the mentors really well and, also, how we can remember the defense for the resurrection.

Well, that was all for this InterHigh Monthly. But, in case you missed it, you can check out the mp3 of the High School panel!

DOWNLOAD HERE: High School Panel – How the Resurrection Impacts Me Today

• How has the resurrection changed your life today? Post your comments below!

600+ at RISE: Evidence for the Resurrection

Over 600 people attended an amazing evening at Rise this past Saturday! There was much anticipation in the air, as we awaited to hear from one of the most well-known Christian philosopher, author, professor, debater, and apologist of our time! Friends came from as far as Fresno and Vacaville to hear Dr. William Lane Craig give his arguments for the plausibility of Jesus’ resurrection, and how this life-changing event of Christ conquering death was really the hinge of history.

The evening started off in a haze, that is, from the fog machine on stage, as we had an uplifting time of praise and worship by the praiseband. Then there was a skit called “The Resurrection on Trial”, which took place in a courtroom, where the prosecution tried to present some possible theories as to why Jesus never really rose from the dead. The theories were presented through hilarious vignettes, like the kung-fu version of Jesus who used his chi-force to push away the two-ton stone or the ninja disciples who distracted the Roman Soldiers with Little Caesar’s pizza to steal Jesus’ body (all done through shadow puppets) or the disciples who accidentally went to the wrong tomb because the sign pointing to Jesus’ tomb was tampered with by a klutzy disciple. These are actual theories held by scholarly figures who claim that Jesus never came back to life, and it makes you wonder if they really believe what they are saying. Dr. Craig mentioned later that there was even one person whom he debated that was adamant that Jesus had an identical twin brother!

William Lane Craig lays out the Evidence

Then Dr. Craig came forward to present many compelling reasons for why the resurrection is true and not just a fairy tale or a figment of someone’s imagination. I won’t rehash all his arguments here, but you are more than welcome to check out his website at Reasonable Faith or just order one of his two recent books, On Guard and God is Good, God is Great. If you want to push yourself intellectually by taking it to the next level, he has written many other books that has much more detailed and lengthy reasons on this topic. He ended his talk with a stirring testimony of how he came to know Christ as a teenager, through a friend who was gracious enough to introduce him to God, and how that led him down a path of becoming a seeker, asking many questions about Jesus and finding out for himself if God was really who He said he was as written in the Bible. He had his God-moment one night while looking up at the night sky, and being awestruck by the fact that God would want a loving relationship with him, a sinner. That changed his life forever, as he has faithfully devoted the rest of his life to championing the truth of Jesus Christ, and the result of that is that God has used him to impact countless lives.

We had a Q&A time afterwards, where we got into small groups and tried to come up with some questions to ask him. He winsomely answered many of Christianity’s toughest questions, and everyone walked away feeling a little bolder and more confident in our faith. Some of these questions we hope to tackle at our future InterHigh monthlies!

Share with us your Experience!

Were you there?

What was your favorite part of the evening? (praise, skit, WLC talk, discussion, Q&A)

Let us know below in the comments section!

In this past “RISE: Evidence for the Resurrection”, we had a chance to hear William Lane Craig share with us a long list of evidence supporting the fact that Jesus did indeed RISE from the dead! Amazing!

But wait… I understand that Jesus rose from the dead but NOW WHAT?

Join us this coming InterHigh Monthly VII as we discuss what the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it all means for us personally.

As always expect a great time of praise, food, fellowship and more!

But that’s not all! We are going to have SPORTS & BBQ to kick off the summer! So bring sports clothes if you’d like. It’s going to be really fun. Please sign up below soon as you can!

Note the Location Change!
May 22nd 2010 @ 5pm-9pm
Willard Jr High School, 2729 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

WE’LL PICK YOU UP if you BART to Ashby BART Station! Rides will be given from Ashby Bart Station at 4:30PM. Email info@interhigh.com or call (510) 761-6243 to let us know to wait for you!

so… SIGN UP BELOW!

InterHigh Monthly VII – Announcements!

InterHigh Monthly VII – Trailer

Let us know that you’re coming so please sign up below!

The World on a Screen

“The world on a screen?” Kind of sounds like we’re describing Google™ maps. Guess what. We aren’t. We’re actually talking about the Internet and video games.  Our technology offers a virtual world that could be seen as a replacement for the real world (you know, cars and trees and people and stuff). So, on to the event…

We had lively discussions about four video clips for most of session one. The mentors leading the session began by showing us a clip from Wall-E. (Oh no, Disney! For more on that, click here). All of the people in the clip were looking at their computer screens chatting, even when they were right next to each other! However, this could be the direction society is heading towards today—most of our relationships are becoming based online rather than in person. In fact, another video clip highlighted how misleading, or even fake, our online personas can be. This, of course, might lead to no one knowing what we’re really like, especially if allow our online relationships replace our real ones. What a tragedy!

But you say, “I don’t spend that much time online unless you count…” Video games? That’s right, we also talked about video games. Many of us were surprised to learn that the military uses games similar to fps’ (first person shooters) to condition military troops to impulsively shoot enemies. A shocking statistic: the firing rate of riflemen at enemies went from 15% in WWII to 95% in the Vietnam War! Yep, the rate quintupled! Yet when we play these games, without the restrictions of military supervision and training, we train ourselves to be killers. Sounds dangerous, huh? But an even more dangerous effect of video games on us is addiction. In a video clip from Frontline, we saw the sad story of many Korean teenagers who have become addicted to video games. How does this relate to us? Well most of us might not be addicted to video games or to the Internet, but we all have things that attract us online – dramas, facebook, blogging, manga, you name it. We have to be on our guard to be sure that we are moving towards less wasted time, keeping this verse in mind: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)

Moving on, we had dinner (chicken bakes and salad) followed by games. I particularly enjoyed the thinking cap game. First, each person drew the food that best described her on an index card. Then, we placed these cards in the “thinking cap” that each mentor wore. Finally, the mentor tried to guess the food that was displayed on his cap, and who the food represented. One of the mentors, Nick Yoo, drew an ice cube because he was “so cool that he’s frozen!” (I thought it was because he sweats a lot). We followed this with a time of rocking praise—it really helped me get ready for the message…

Remember

In other news (or in session two), Pastor Will talked about the importance of remembering. “Remember what?” you say. Remembering what you ate for breakfast yesterday? No, we were talking about the importance of remembering Jesus’ death for us on the cross, especially in light of Easter. As an example, Pastor Will talked about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, describing it quite memorably: “God pwned Pharaoh ten times!” However, when the Israelites left Egypt and arrived at the Promised Land, they were afraid of the very tall and buff residents of Canaan. They even started complaining and demanding to go back to Egypt. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? They had been slaves in Egypt, but they wanted to go back—they didn’t remember what God had done for them. So to relate this back to the Passion Week (the week before Christ’s death), Pastor Will asked us to take this week to remember what Jesus has done. As Jesus tells his disciples during the Last Supper, “‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’” So let’s take time to remember how Jesus has “pwned” difficulties we’ve had in our life, and also how He purchased our forgiveness from sin with His death.

Well, I really enjoyed this month’s InterHigh, but I can’t wait until Rise next month! We’re having William Lane Craig, one of the most famous experts in defending Christianity, come to speak at the event. Remember to invite all your friends, including the non-Christian ones. And until next time, let’s do our best to be God-honoring InterHighers!

What was your favorite part of InterHigh Monthly #6?

• Date: March 27, 2010
• Time: 5-9pm
• Place: 2000 North Loop Rd, Alameda, CA, 94502 (Get Directions)
• Cost: Free!

Join us for InterHigh #6 as we delve deeper into the influence of media and the world of video games.

Is it simply a “game”?

Video game technology has come a long way from the old days of Pac-Man. With faster computers, high-speed bandwidth and very realistic graphics, we are living in an age where the line between fantasy and reality is becoming more and more blurry. From young junior high kids to grown up adults, video games are occupying a greater slice of our waking hours, and for some people, their social life as well. So what exactly are the worldviews that we’re downloading into our minds as we become transported into this virtual reality? Does playing hours upon hours of video games really affect us emotionally, socially, and even spiritually? And does the Bible have anything relevant to say about this topic (even though video games is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible)? Come join us as we explore this issue of video games and how we ought to approach this area in a biblical manner.

Watch the InterHigh Monthly Trailer then Sign Up!

• Do you think video games influences our behavior and how we view the world?

Comment Below!

Well at InterHigh Monthly V, we delved into true worldview of Disney with about a hundred students from all over the Bay Area!

Worldview of Disney

We began with presentations from our very own mentors on the worldview of Disney, reliving our past a little bit (watching some among us do their best to sing some Disney songs!), and bringing a critical mind to the fantasy we’ve all seen as children. Most were surprised to find, through revealing videos and insightful discussion, how dangerous these fantasies really are: worlds where a woman must win a man with her body, even if it means giving up her voice (Little Mermaid) or withstanding his abuse (Beauty and the Beast); worlds where a man must be a handsome, hulking muscle-man; worlds where the ugly generally are unimportant or goofy side-kicks. Lastly, we see the consistent theme of romantic love as the “happily ever after,” which combats the truth that we will find no happy ending until we find it in God. We were called to watch even the most innocent looking media with the prudent mind of a Christian, and overturn the values we’ve been exposed to for so long.

Next we had some good food (and I guess some salad too), and followed it up with taboo and charades. But of course at InterHigh, you can never judge a game by it’s cover! What we REALLY played was a game I can only describe as the most ridiculous word-guessing game I’ve ever played, where at first you can describe the words (pretty easy), then you can only act the words out (bearable), and then use only your head and facial expressions! I must say, we have some talented faces…

What is the church?

To cap it all off, we had a thought-provoking message from Pastor Will, turning us to a reexamine one of Christianity’s most fundamental concepts: the Church. What is the church? What is our place in the church? Do we really need the church to be followers of God? As a part of the church, explained Pastor Will, we are part of the body of Christ, a group of people living for God and acting as a unit. How, then, does one part of a body act when it is severed from the rest? Could you imagine a hand sitting on the ground, severed from a body? Yeah, it’s pretty disturbing. Not only do we need the church to serve with the gifts God has given us, but God has given us the people and groups in our lives for a reason! Pastor Will exhorted us to serve our youth groups and the people around us as best we can, because we should never be wishing we had a different youth group; we should always be finding ways to serve to the best of our ability, no matter where God has put us, so that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Praise the Lord for another InterHigh full of fellowship and the Word! I can hardly wait a whole month and a half for Rise and William Lane Craig!

What was your favorite part about InterHigh Monthly #5?

We were at RISE and it was AWESOME! Hundreds of Christian youths from all over the bay area came to the UC Berkeley Campus to attend “RISE: Take a Stand for Jesus”. The music was blarin’, youths were singing at the top of their lungs as the praise team led all of us in an incredible time of praise. Soon after, the well-known, veteran apologist Sean McDowell, urged us to critically think about the gospel truth and its relevance to the non-Christian world.

Then four youth students presented a hilarious and poignant skit portraying common difficulties that teenagers face with their Christian identity. With these issues in mind, Pastor William Kang explained that Interhigh Fellowship was launched in order to provide the needed worldview and apologetics training, college mentors, and fellowship with other Christian youth. The purpose is to support the faith of middle and high school students attending churches in the Bay Area, in light of the startling rates at which churched youth fall away from the faith after high school. There was a powerful moment of solidarity for the youth when all the pastors, leaders, and mentors gathered around them and prayed for them. The program ended with some team games and refreshments, during which the mentors and the youth split up into smaller groups and got to know each other better. As people filed out, the energy level was still high and the mentors were all abuzz with the meaningful conversations they had had with the students. We knew that the event had touched many of the youth in some way, and we were excited for their spiritual growth at the upcoming Interhigh events.

Mark the Date. RISE – April 17, 2010

Look you don’t want to miss out on this coming RISE. It will be even more awesome. (As if that could happen!) Not only did we make a lot of new friends since our last event and thus expect a packed house – William Lane Craig is coming! Some of you may not be familiar with him – but he is probably the most famous Christian apologist of our time. What does that mean? It means he takes his two Ph.Ds and his massive brain power and spends all his time speaking about the evidence and claims of Christianity. It’s his job to go to big name universities and debate atheists! And now he is coming to InterHigh, to talk about the incredible evidence and facts of Jesus’ resurrection. It is really, really compelling. It will give you incredible confidence in the validity of the Christian faith, and for those of you who are are just seeking – a compelling case for the claims of Jesus.

SO DON’T MISS OUT. Go to our RISE page and sign up today!
Everyone is welcome! By the way – it’s completely free!

Watch the RISE Trailer