Welcoming |ˈwelkəmɪŋ| Dinner |ˈdinər|: The 3 F’s - Food, fun, and fellowship.

Generic much? Here’s a helpful analogy to understand what WD is really about. Imagine with me...

Let's say you had the kind of dad that dressed up like Santa every Christmas and had you sit on his lap and tell him what presents you’d like. Cute, no? Let’s say he did this well past the time when it was no longer age appropriate, even overlapping with the point in time where he started knuckle tap greeting all your junior high friends, and randomly busting out in the robot dance.

Yes, sadly, your dad was a fool… but he was your fool. Sure, there were times where you wanted to pull off your own arm just so you’d have something to throw at him… but deep down, you knew that he did it all to make you laugh, so you loved him for it.

This, my friends, is the essence of Welcoming Dinner. CFC’s finest bible study leaders/coleaders get together to put on crazy skits, sing and/or dance and all they are trying to say, “Welcome! Look! See that we are big.. big fools. We want to be YOUR fools.” And if they happen to look funny or cool along the way, it’s just a happy accident.


On with the show!


Musical Performance: Chris & Suggey

Asian people rapping = Recipe for Success.




Skit: What if? Would you rather?

How come no one ever uses the ring finger for anything? What if we used it for everything?



Would you rather be forced to hold your own hands when you talked to people, or have to hold other people’s hands when you talked to them?






Skit: International Student Connection
This was ISC’s debut at Welcoming Dinner, and it was a rousing success. Cute… funny.. applicable… stories about challenges that international students face on this campus… and no doubt helpful to everyone in the room, not just international students.

These are some of the leaders of ISC. I really just posted this picture because it’s like an optical illusion that makes Yoshi and Matt look the same height.




Song/Skit: Boy Crazy
Marah is boy crazy… and stalking Chris… then confiding in her friend Christina about stalking Chris… and then stalking him again. All while occasionally bursting out in the chorus of “Mysterious Boy” with Suggey as her strangely clad background singer/rapper.


Fun Fact: Marah and her stalkee are married in real life. Sadly, this was not their real life romance story.

Maybe at first you looked at Marah and thought, “You’re real pretty AND you can sing... is your personality any good?” What? Was I the only one who thought that? Kidding. Ok.. seriously speaking, this girl has some serious comedic chops. Biggest laughs of the night.




Musical Performance: Suggey = No Game

Fortunately (or unfortunately.. whatever floats your boat) Suggey was fully clothed during Welcoming Dinner. Although I have to say, the fact that he decided to take off his outer shirt for this number, leaving just a white undershirt, made me seriously wonder for more than a few moments whether a bucket full of water would appear somewhere on stage.

This was a parody of Flight of the Conchords.. and an excellent one at that. Suggey was “pretending” to be a guy who couldn’t get girls because he didn’t know how to compliment them.

Some choice lyrics in case you got lost in Suggey’s breathtaking falsetto:
Suggey(serenading Christina): “You could be a movie star's double, but you probably wouldn't get any face time.”

Suggey: What is the chance a hottie like that could live in my dorm, what's the chance?!
Chris: Ooooo, chances are pretty good.




CFC’s Best Dance Crew


The fabulous judges. If you’re not a fan of Lil Mama-isms, wow I don’t even want to know you.




Dance #1


This number was about getting out of your comfort zone. The main character couldn’t let go of his Spongebob Squarepants doll. At one point the Spongebob was thrown into the audience, which was pretty awesome because… hey, free Spongebob!




Dance #2

This one was about roommates, I don’t really remember the details because I was giggling at the funny faces that Itch (on the left) was making.



haha



hehe



hoho




Dance #3



Life Lesson: If you are skilled at flirting with women by engaging in choreographed dances with them, it is a bad idea to do it with two women at the same time. This is pretty good advice whether you are dancing or not. We give out pearls of wisdom like this all the time here at CFC. Y’all come back now y’hear?




Testimony: James

Now for the ever awkward transition from funny to serious. Luckily, James did it like it was his job. If you’ve never heard his voice before, you’re really an incomplete person. The content of the testimony was undeniably blessing and heartfelt, but honestly, he could have been reading me bread recipes I would have had a smile on my face.




Special Praise:

The night ended with a great song by the Special Praise Ministry. This was the heart of Welcoming Dinner, stripped of all the insane/ridiculous pretenses. Simply, welcome and we hope and pray that God will bless you deeply this year.

Picture Credit to Minsoo & Melanie. Thank you for enabling me.