Event Summaries
Welcome Week
Tour of Westwood
Join us as we host our annual Tour of Westwood! We’ll be stopping by the best places to eat in Westwood, sampling food, receiving coupons, and meeting a whole lot of new people.
You’re invited to join us as we kick off the year with a tour of Westwood. Westwood Village is full of great restaurants, shops, and places to hang out- all within walking distance from campus! As our tour guides show off UCLA’s beloved city, they’ll stop by various restaurants to pass out free samples of foods and desserts. In previous years, we’ve sampled foods from BJ’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Piccomolo, Chili’s, Shorty’s Subs, Diddy Riese, South Street, and Sak’s Teriyaki. These restaurants will not only let you try their delicious food, they’ll also pass out coupons for future visits.
GOClympics
Ready for wacky games, free pizza, and fun through
fellowship? Join us as GOC puts on its version of the
Olympic Games! Meet at Hedrick Turnaround on
Wednesday, September 21 for lunch and an afternoon
of light-hearted laughter and fulfilling fellowship.
GOC Bible Study and Ice Cream Bash
Come check out what GOC is all about by joining us for our first official meeting of the year. Stick around afterward to meet new people and enjoy an ice cream sundae.
Our first Bible study of the year will give you a good idea of what GOC does throughout the year. So if you can’t make any other Welcome Week event, be sure to check out this night! Each Friday night, we worship the Lord through music, the preaching of His Word, and fellowship with one another.
Saturday Scramble
Join us this Saturday for a joyful afternoon complete with epic games and refreshing snacks.
Fall Quarter
Fall BBQ
Besides Welcome Week, Fall Barbeque is one of GOC’s largest outreach events of the year. We’ll begin with an all-you-can-eat BBQ and then have a time of special music, testimonies, and a short message.
Traditionally, Fall BBQ is held at Sunset Recreation Center, where there is plenty of room to play a game of football or ultimate Frisbee. Grab some free food and enjoy meeting new people around you. We’ll begin the evening with an ice breaker game and some special music. Then a couple members of Grace on Campus will share about how God has worked in their lives. Afterward, we’ll hear a short message explaining why GOC exists. We’ll finish the night by enjoying some desserts, so be sure to stick around!
Freshmen Flashlight Frenzy
Are you a freshman with lots of energy? Want to get to know your fellow freshmen? Don’t miss out on what could be the most memorable evening of your freshmen year!
So what is this grandiose event, you may ask? It’s an evening hosted by the sophomores with the purpose of bringing the freshmen class together. It takes place on a Friday evening during Fall Quarter after our normal Friday meeting (keep an eye out for the announcement in the bulletin). Join the sophomores for a night full of games set up at various locations around campus. You might form some friendships that will last your entire college career, and maybe even the rest of your life! Whether you find yourself in a scavenger hunt around campus, a wheel barrel race through the Sculpture Garden, or a maze created in the Bombshelter eatery, you’ll be sure to make some amazing memories.
Quarter Cookout ($0.25 = 1 hotdog + 1 soda)
For three hours in Bruin Plaza, GOC hosts its annual sale of 1 hotdog and 1 soda for only 25 cents! By selling food at such a low price, we hope to attract many students and tell them why GOC exists.
A hotdog for $0.25? What a deal! A soda for $0.25? That’s not bad either. But getting a hotdog AND a soda for $0.25? That’s just ridiculous! Why hand out food at such a low price? We want to get the word out about us. During our Quarter Cookout, we’ll set up our canopy in Bruin Plaza and fire up the barbeques. As people come for this amazing deal, we’ll be able to share with them about GOC and why we exist.
Dinner for Eight Gracers
Need a break from dorm food? Running low on swipes? Enjoy a home-cooked meal with seven other members of GOC!
Once a quarter, the members of GOC who live in the apartments team up to put together a delicious meal you won’t want to miss. Dinner for Eight Gracers is a great way to get to know a few other people in our Bible study at a more intimate level. In the past, some dinner groups have coordinated creative meal themes, and some have even included costumes! Keep an eye out for this event in the Friday night GOC bulletin and sign up on the clipboards that will be passed around.
Survivor’s Party
Surviving finals week calls for a celebration! Kick back, relax, and enjoy some food and fellowship without having to think about another test or paper.
Come celebrate the completion of finals week and the survival of another quarter! On the Friday evening of each finals week, one of our staff couples will graciously open their nearby home to host a potluck dinner. There’s no set schedule for the evening, so you’ll have a great time relaxing, fellowshipping, and/or playing a few board games.
Winter Quarter
Broomball
Enjoy some friendly competition as the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduates duke it out on the ice rink in our annual broomball tournament! Only $10 per person!
After our normal Friday night Bible study, everyone will make their way over to a nearby ice rink. With two rinks at the location, we hold a round-robin style tournament. The team with the most victories at the end of the evening claims the championship for the year! Whether you’re a broomball fanatic or you’re just looking for some good fellowship on the sidelines, be sure to join us! And remember, it’s only $10 to play for the entire night!
Men’s and Women’s Retreat
During our Men’s and Women’s retreat, we’ll split up by gender and have a heart-to-heart time with our staff members who will deal with gender-specific issues.
This overnight retreat takes place after our normal Friday night Bible study at separate locations at Grace Community Church. On Friday evening and Saturday morning, both the men and the women will have an extended time in discussion and prayer. There will also be a question and answer time between students and GOC staff regarding the discussed topics and other life issues. Come join us as we learn to be mature men and women who seek to honor our Heavenly Father.
Spring Quarter
Volleyball Tournament
Do you play volleyball? Do you enjoy getting together with friends? Most importantly, do you want to help support people going on Short-Term Ministry trips? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you’ll want to be at this tournament!
Hosted at UCLA’s Sunset Recreation Center, this fundraiser event is aimed to help support sending Grace Church’s Short-Term Ministries teams around the globe. On the scheduled Saturday, hundreds of students from nearby college campuses and young adults from all over Los Angeles will gather to compete in the annual tournament. Throughout the day, over forty teams will compete to raise thousands of dollars for those going on Short-Term Ministry trips over the summer. There will also be a massive barbecue, a raffle, face painting, and other fun activities. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be good at volleyball to participate! There will be both a competitive and a non-competitive league.
Spring Retreat
Spring Retreat is a great opportunity for the students of GOC to escape to the mountains for a weekend retreat to enjoy each other and our great God.
Traditionally set for the end of the 8th week of Spring quarter, Spring Retreat allows for a time of sweet fellowship, the preaching of God’s Word, and special times of reflection and sharing. You’ll enjoy cabin style housing and outdoor activities such as basketball, swimming, and football. Be sure to bring your Frisbee, football, board games, and playing cards. There are also hiking trails around the area and organized crafts. If you regularly attend GOC, you will not want to miss this end of the year event!
Spring Banquet
To cap off the school year, the graduating senior class hosts an elegant multi-course formal dinner for the entire ministry of Grace On Campus.
Come join us as we reflect on God and His faithfulness to us throughout the year by enjoying an end-of-year video, special music arranged by the students and staff of GOC, and a multi-course formal dinner.
Summer
Resolved Conference
The annual Resolved Conference features four days of expository sermons from some of the most gifted preachers out there today. In previous years, we’ve heard preaching from John Piper, Randy Alcorn, John MacArthur, Rick Holland, Steve Lawson, and CJ Mahaney.
The Resolved conference is a long weekend where you can push pause on the pressures of life and push fast-forward on your understanding of God. Picture a room with over 3,000 people, think of heart-pounding singing of gospel-saturated worship songs, imagine ten hours of expository preaching from some of the most gifted preachers of our generation, and envision the immense spiritual momentum that can result from this much gospel inertia. This is Resolved.
Resolved is hosted by Grace Community Church. The goals of the conference are simple: to equip believers to have a stronger faith in Jesus Christ, to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers, to affirm the Bible’s authority over the life of every person, and to point people back to their local churches for growth and accountability.
Crossroads Super Study
Over the first half of the summer, Crossroads, the college ministry of Grace Community Church, hosts special evening Bible studies at the church.
Super Study traditionally takes place during UCLA's Session A on Thursday evenings at Grace Community Church. Topics in previous years have included missionary biographies, the life and death of Jesus Christ, and right thinking in a world gone wrong. There is normally no GOC during session A.
GOC Session C
During UCLA’s summer session C, GOC meets on Thursday nights.
These meetings are structured similarly to our normal Friday night Bible studies, but there are fewer people, allowing for a more casual setting. Topics in previous years have included spiritual gifts, selected Psalms, and wisdom in Proverbs.
Fall Retreat
Before the school year begins, GOC has the privilege of having this retreat to prepare our hearts and to focus our minds for the full year of ministry ahead.
Normally held at a hotel in the Los Angeles area, this retreat allows our shepherd to prepare our hearts with the Word of God and to provide vision for the upcoming year. Throughout the weekend, ministry teams also meet to plan for Welcome Week. Fall Retreat is very laid back, giving everyone the chance to catch up with each other after a long summer apart. If you’re a returning member of GOC, you won’t want to miss this very important time of the year!