Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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Help Support The Van at the Little Rock Tweetup Posted by 11.08.2011 8:02 am

little rock tweetup the van aaron reddin

Over the last couple months, many of you have kept up with and volunteered your time and resources to our newest community connecting point, Open Doors. Each Thursday from from 3 – 7 p.m., we’ve opened our doors to our homeless friends and offered a space for laundry, showers, food and drinks and just a place to take a load off. In a very short amount of time, we’ve made quite a few new friends and have had the opportunity to share in the lives of the Little Rock homeless community.

Now, we’ve been presented with a new opportunity with Open Doors. Little Rock Tweetup is a community of Little Rock Twitter users that meet monthly for a time of socializing and real life interaction. In an attempt to give back to the community, they’ve approached us about having their November tweetup at our building in order to have a potluck that raises awareness and support for our friend Aaron Reddin and, specifically, the community outreach he leads, The Van.

On Thursday, November 17 at 5:30—as an extension of Open Doors (which will already be taking place)—everyone’s invited to our building for a Mexican-themed potluck dinner. Greg Henderson has posted some details on the Little Rock Tweetup site and he’s is asking that people come with a potluck dish and/or a donation for The Van. If you’d like to know the needs of The Van, here’s a list that is updated by Aaron.

This should be a good time and a great opportunity to give back to our community. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact the organizers of the Little Rock Tweetup by clicking here.

See you all on the 17th!

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Posted in announcements, core values, events, food, gatherings, information, little rock, missions, social justice, theology, volunteer | 2 Comments »



last minute ways to help us throw our christmas party under the bridge Posted by 12.23.2010 5:34 pm

christmas party broadway bridge homeless

as many of you know, we’ll be serving dinner and throwing a christmas party for our homeless friends under the broadway bridge tomorrow night (christmas eve, 12/24) at 6 p.m. in an effort to not only provide a hot meal, we really hope this is a time to build and foster relationships with the homeless community. rather than perpetuating the “us” and “them” mentality, we think christmas is a great opportunity to celebrate together.

we’re a relatively small group here at eikon trying to make a BIG impact. so many of you have chipped in already to pull this off, by donating things, committing to prepare food and spreading the word (some of you even helped to alert various media outlets to raise awareness). as we’re just about 24 hours away, we thought we’d give an update and offer an opportunity to help in the 11th hour.

FOOD: just to switch things up a little, we’ll be having a mexican food theme. at this point, we have the major food elements covered, but if you’d like to make some christmas cookies or brownies or other festive treats, it would be a good addition to our party. (we need to plan for between 35-50 people.) if you’d like to help in this way, you can either bring it and join us a little before 6 p.m. under the bridge or you can contact our coordinator, christen byrd, at christen [at] christenbyrd [dot] com to make other arrangements. (even if you plan to join us, please contact her for planning purposes.)

GIFTS: we’ll be giving gift bags that include practical items that help to survive the frigid temperatures on the streets. while we have collected a considerable amount of items, we could still use any and all donations. here’s a list of things we’ve received and collected so far (numbers are rounded and approximate):

  • men’s socks: 100
  • women’s socks: 20
  • hats: 20
  • mugs: 20
  • men’s gloves: 50
  • women’s gloves: 5
  • chapstick: 50
  • hot hands packets: 175
  • scarves: 20
  • sleeping bags: 10
  • blankets: 15
  • hoodies/fleeces: 5
  • coats: (unknown)

whereas a number of these things have already been wrapped/bagged, we certainly could still use more, even if it was just brought down to the bridge at the time of the gathering (though, again, you can make other arrangements by contacting christen with the aforementioned contact information). if you’d like to purchase or donate any of these things, here’s what is most needed right now:

  • sleeping bags
  • ponchos (there’s a good chance of rain/sleet tomorrow night)
  • coats
  • hats

we will certainly be glad to give you a receipt for your items for tax purposes.

we really think we have the opportunity to be jesus to a community here in little rock that is often overlooked and pushed aside. and of all times to do it, christmas is a pretty good opportunity.

if you’d like to help in any way or have any questions, here are several ways to do that:

1. contact our coordinator, christen byrd, via email at christen [at] christenbyrd [dot] com, via twitter @christenbyrd or via phone at 501.551.8117.

2. contact our pastor, ryan byrd, via email at ryan [at] eikonthechurch [dot] com, via twitter @ryanbyrd or via phone at 501.551.8118.

3. contact our community leader, john hardin, via email at johnwhardin [at] me [dot] com, via twitter @johnwhardin or via phone at 501.319.5363.

thanks for helping!

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Posted in core values, culture, food, gatherings, information, leadership, little rock, missions, social justice, theology, volunteer | 1 Comment »



Christmas Party Under the Bridge!!! Posted by 12.14.2010 12:12 pm

christmas party broadway bridge homeless

As many of you know, we will be feeding our homeless friends under the Broadway bridge on Christmas Eve (12/24). We have decided to not only make this a meal for them…but also have a Christmas party. I mean, it’s Christmas, and they’re homeless! They need some joy in their life! We are going to try and make it a joyous time for all involved.

We are a relatively small group trying to make a BIG impact. So this is going to take all of us…and our friends to help us pull this together! So please spread the word, ask your friends and family what they can donate to help us out.

FOOD: We will be having a Mexican food theme. We figured they probably get a lot of “holiday food” and might like a change up. So If you’d like to help cook or volunteer to bring a dish, please get in contact with Alena on facebook or on Sunday night. We need to plan for between 35-50 people.

DECORATIONS: We have apparently secured a tree. So we need any decorations that are easy to set up and quick to take down, and christmas lights.

  • Battery powered lights
  • easy to set up decorations

GIFTS: Most importantly, we’d like to give these lovely people something for Christmas. Here is a list of things we are trying to collect…

  • socks
  • gloves
  • hats
  • scarves
  • bus passes
  • packaged snacks
  • hot chocolate packets
  • coffee
  • insulated mugs
  • tents
  • sleeping bags
  • blankets
  • coats

I will organize some kind of meeting to wrap everything once we have it. Also, if you would just like to make a donation…please feel free! Contact me at christen [at] babybyrds [dot] com with any questions. We will take what we can get and give it to those who desperately need it on these cold nights. Thank you so much for your help and willingness to give! Now get to work and see what we can gather up!

christen

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Posted in announcements, core values, events, food, gatherings, information, social justice, theology | 5 Comments »



help us serve the homeless community Posted by 11.18.2010 1:46 pm

One of the most incredible things about following in the way of Jesus is the honor of working to make God’s Kingdom come on earth, as it is in Heaven. In Matthew 25 Jesus said that when we provide food, shelter, clothing, friendship and love to the overlooked, voiceless people in society we are providing those things to him. When we share tears, laughter, our lives and resources with our downtrodden brothers and sisters we are sharing those things with Jesus himself. If you stop to think about that long enough the joy becomes overwhelming.

We at Eikon have a specific opportunity to collectively and directly experience that and we want you to join us, whether or not you call Eikon home or even if you have no interest in the whole Jesus thing.

On any given night in Central Arkansas there are roughly 2,500 people without homes and food. For a number of years the area below the Broadway Street Bridge has been a gathering place for many of these folks. Starting at 6:05PM on Friday, November 26th (next week!) Eikon will prepare and serve a meal on the fourth Friday of every month to those who are there.

Given our size and limited resources, this is quite an undertaking for us. We should expect a minimum of 50 people for each meal, and over 100 is not uncommon on evenings when the weather is enjoyable. We are committed to serving fresh, healthy food bought locally and sustainably when possible as well as sustainable cutlery and serving containers. If we’re going to pull it off we need help in the following areas:

Food Planning: 4-6 people are needed to plan the menu and shopping list every month. Those interested can sit at the same table at Eikon Sunday night and we’ll get the planning done then.

Shopping: 2-4 people are needed to shop for each meal. The money will come from Eikon funds.

Cooks and kitchens: Our hope is that several of us can cook each meal together. The cooking could realistically be done by about 4 people, but it would be a lot more fun if we cook as a group. We may have to cook at 2 locations, so we also need at least 1 more centrally located kitchen.

Set-up: 4 people are needed to pick up, transport and set up tables, tents (if raining), etc. This will also involve tear down and taking the materials back to storage.

Servers: The more the merrier. If we have more than needed we can serve each other and some of us can just hang out and get to know some new friends. We’ll throw clean up in here as well.

Money: This isn’t really our favorite subject at Eikon, but the bottom line is we need resources to pull this off. You can write a check or donate online. If you desire, you can designate your contribution to this specific effort by writing 4th Friday in the memo.

This is starting next week, so we need help right now. Obviously people can volunteer for more than one of these needs. Please email or call John at 501.319.5363 if you have questions or are interested in helping in one or more of these areas.

Seriously, this is going to be so much fun we should be paying admission.

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Posted in core values, food, information, social justice, theology, volunteer | 2 Comments »



you’re invited: preview our new space this sunday night Posted by 08.13.2010 1:36 pm

despite it being relatively quick notice, we’re excited to share with everyone about our preview gathering this sunday night at our new building. we recently shared about the big changes occurring here at eikon and we’ve really been glad to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback, with many sharing in our excitement. if you haven’t heard about the changes, take a minute to read through last week’s post.

while we won’t be making the official, permanent move to the new space until september 12, we’re having a preview of the the new space and the new direction this sunday night. we’ll no doubt have a few kinks and a few moments of playing it by ear, but we hope to offer a fairly fully-realized version of what we’ll be doing beginning on a weekly basis in september. at 6 p.m., we’ll serve a dinner prepared by a couple in our community (in this case, john & shannon hardin) and at about 6:45, we’ll transition into a teaching/discussion time (children will move upstairs to their own space at that time). it will be extremely casual and a great opportunity for new people to get to know a few of our people.

the new building is at 101 n. woodrow st. (a block east of the markham/kavanaugh intersection near pizza d’action). there’s a little parking available on woodrow street in front of the building and more than plenty of parking in a small gravel lot behind the building (in the frontmost yard of the arkansas school for the deaf & blind).

so, if you’ve desired to come check out eikon, there couldn’t be a better time than now. see you sunday night at 6! if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me (ryan) at ryan [at] eikonthechurch [dot] com.

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Posted in announcements, core values, events, food, gatherings, information, worship | 1 Comment »



an epic backpack. an epic meal. Posted by 08.09.2010 8:03 am

john hardin montana backpack meal

Last week three (now) friends and I did a backpacking trek in the Beartooth Mountains of south central Montana. The only person out of my three backpacking companions I knew before the trip was my friend Thad from Nashville. He and I have known each other for only a year or so. His friend Jon lives in Bozeman, MT and largely put the trip together. Jon’s friend Mark went along too and neither Thad nor I had ever met him. The point being that the four of us didn’t start this trip out with a deep, close friendship.

Every multi-day backpacking trip has that “hardest” day and last Friday was ours. We had spent the couple days before hiking many miles in tough (but gloriously beautiful) terrain with 40 lbs each on our backs, fighting off mosquitoes that were as omnipresent as god him/her/itself, and enjoying some of the best conversation I have had in a long time.

On Friday, after already covering many mountainous miles, I fell in a cold stream and my boots were soaked. Jon accidentally threw his boots in some water while crossing. We kept going. Climbing. Bouldering. Crossing. At some point the conversation stopped and the four of us just kept putting one foot in front of the other—each within our own minds contemplating things that matter and simply persevering. We got to our original destination, Crystal Lake, and a thunderstorm hit. We decided to keep going and climb up one more ascent—our steepest of the trip—to Maryott Lake. I’m severely acrophobic and had a bona fide panic attack on the way up. Thank god I brought my Xanax with me. (More on that in a future The Wes Gazette post.)

We got to the top, found the lake, and made camp. We were exhausted. Our feet and legs were sore. My boots were still wet. Jon had blisters. And we were hungry. What happened next is one of the best memories I have of the trip.

Mark and Thad filtered water from the lake while Jon and I got ready to cook. We all changed into clean(ish) dry clothes, gathered around the stove and sipped on some scotch as the water came to a boil. First we had some dried minestrone, then some Katmandu Curry, and then topped it off with some apple cobbler. We talked about Joan Baez and trout. Bruce Springsteen and politics. The challenges of the day and anxiety issues. Our families and the condition of the world. There were plenty of laughs to go around, but also solemnity when appropriate.

Dehydrated backpacker food is not usually the best in the world, but that meal was one of the most memorable I’ve ever had. There was such a sense of accomplishment; the notion of all being in it together—dependent on one another—was strong. We looked after each other and made sure that the weakest among us (generally me) was doing alright. It was a collective even in the middle of the rugged, individualistic West and an example of what experiencing things together can do.

I mentioned that Thad was already a friend of mine, but after this trip I now consider him a close friend who I know I will have many profound conversations with in the years to come. Jon’s graciousness and willingness to put others before himself were and are an inspiration. Mark’s steadiness and Socratic style during conversations were calming. My life is now better than it was just 10 days ago because of knowing these guys.

An epic backpack. An epic meal.

I’m terribly excited about the new direction Eikon is going in. I look forward to sharing some food, memories, and some life with all of you.

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Posted in core values, food, leadership, theology | No Comments »



a new direction: announcing the new look of eikon Posted by 08.02.2010 1:29 pm

[ok, let's just go ahead and put it out there that we've got some serious blog FAIL going on here… yes friends, we're blog slackers here at eikon, but we promise guarantee swear will attempt with great fervor to update more regularly. ok, onto the news at hand…]

i love quotes. i have a running collection of them that i’ve compiled over quite some time. awhile back, i came across one that i’ve repeated several times in conversations as we’ve prepared for the next steps for eikon. novelist ellen glasgow once said,

all change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.

as we’ve prepared and planned the big changes here at eikon, we’ve steadily kept in mind that change should be forward-oriented, plotting steps to help us grow and progress as a community.

we think we’ve done that with this new direction.

last night at our weekly gathering, we laid it all out, but we wanted to share it with our online community as well. obviously, online discourse is a bit more limited than actually being a part of our gathering, but i’ll try to relay the news as close to how it occurred last night as possible.

VALUES

more than anything, change that is actually growth is steered by a set of guiding values. while you can read a more a more church-defining set of guiding theologies here, there were some specific values that led to the new direction:

• jesus as primary value
• first church values (taken from an ongoing series)
• flattened leadership
• social justice
• financial responsibility – 50/50 value
• jesus-centered community

MEETING SPACE

we’re moving! we’ve been deeply thankful for r street community church’s willingness to let us crash at their place for the past 6 months, but it’s time to move on.

the space—at 101 n. woodrow st. (near the corner of kavanaugh & markham)—will allow for a hybrid house/”traditional” church setting and atmosphere. on one hand, because of the fact that it’s a converted house, it has retained an intimate vibe that corresponds with the surrounding neighborhoods (stifft’s station, capitol view, hillcrest). on the other hand, because it’s been converted into a meeting space, it will allow for larger groups and teaching/conversation times.

additionally, it will provide upstairs round-the-clock office space, allowing for meetings, quiet space and storage). we’re also excited that the building comes equipped with a full kitchen, which will lend itself to other announcements (keep reading!).

here’s some pictures of the building (interior pics to come):

new building new building

CHILDREN

as we’ve searched for meeting spaces over the last year, one of our primary concerns was a space for children. quite frankly, some places met every single criterion we had, but was shot down due to lack of a children’s space. despite the small size of this space, we’re still excited to offer a dedicated space with structured learning and activity time for children 5 years and younger.

SHARED MEAL

as we’ve discussed in previous gatherings, there’s something transcendent, something sacred about a shared meal. now, we’ll make that a core feature of our weekly gatherings. every single week, we’ll begin our time together at 6 p.m. with a meal that’s prepared by us. whether it’s a single family, multiple families or potluck-style, each week will feature a family-style dinner.

we’re particularly interested in sustainability, recycling and waste reduction, so we’re committed to using real plates/utensils/glasses/etc and encouraging people to use locals meats/produce/etc when preparing the meals. we also think this will be a great way to involve people outside of our community. do you have a friend who loves to cook? or a friend who loves to eat? get them involved. sitting down to eat is a universally unifying experience and we hope to incorporate that into our gatherings.

TEACHING

quite frankly, it’s good to hear more than just ryan and the occasional john-led night. we want and need to hear from multiple voices with varying viewpoints and leadership styles. from “traditional” teaching to conversational times to interactive learning sessions, we hope to incorporate a wide array of gatherings that will connect with a wide array of people.

we’ll be asking a number of people to lead the teaching times. whether you think you’re a “teacher” or a “pastor” or even a leader, we’d love for varying voices to lead our discussion time together. in addition to standard teaching/discussion times, we also plan to have “open mic” nights that are open forum conversations as well as “traditional” worship nights.

GATHERINGS

we want to allow plenty of time for dinner which will include conversational time and getting-to-know-you time with others. we encourage families to eat together. whereas children are welcome to stay, we strongly encourage parents to take their children to the upstairs children’s room at 6:45. for the next hour-ish, we’ll engage in a teaching/conversation time.

GATHERINGS

we’ll continue to gather at 6 p.m. each sunday night (for those bringing food, please arrive in time so that people can begin eating at 6 p.m. sharp). we want to allow plenty of time for dinner which will include conversational time and getting-to-know-you time with others. we encourage families to eat together. whereas children are welcome to stay, we strongly encourage parents to take their children to the upstairs children’s room no later than 6:45. for the next hour-ish, we’ll engage in a teaching/conversation time.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

we’ll officially make the permanent move to our new space on sunday, september 12. in the meantime, here’s the schedule of what/where we’re doing:

august 8: regular gathering :: r street building
august 15: preview night :: new building (101 n. woodrow st.)
august 22: regular gathering :: r street building
august 29: worship night :: TBA
september 5: off for labor day (possible casual gathering somewhere)
september 12: kickoff event :: new building (101 n. woodrow st.)

so, there you have it. we’re really excited about the new direction and we think it will be an opportunity to spark growth and help us to engage much more in the way of jesus. like i said, a lot of information is just not best communicated in this format, as compared to our gathering last night. so, if you have any questions, feel free to leave comments or email me (ryan) at ryan [at] eikonthechurch [dot] com.

in the meantime, spread the word: tweet it, update it, text it, email it, blog it. maybe even tell a real life human being! :)

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Posted in announcements, childcare, core values, food, gatherings, information, leadership, little rock, social justice, worship | 6 Comments »



a 4th of july invitation Posted by 07.02.2010 8:02 am

For those who aren’t cool enough to already have plans for 4th of July weekend, please consider settling for some burgers and hang-out time at the Hardin House on Sunday. We’ll cook/hang out and then (possibly) head down the road to Knoop Park to watch the city’s fireworks show over the river. Thanks to the awesome deal on burger patties at Whole Foods, we’ll take care of the meat*, buns & fixings. So, we’ll need the following:

  • Corn on the cob
  • Desserts
  • Traditional sides (baked beans, potato salad, etc.)*

We’ll have tea, water, pop and juice. Adult beverages welcome, but BYOB.

Kiddos are certainly welcome.

When: Sunday, July 4th. 6:00PM
Where: 2501 Kavanaugh Blvd., Apt. B†

Either email john at johnwhardin@me.com or reply to FB invitation so we can have some sense of how much food to buy. I’ll let those bringing food know as well.

*Keep in mind that when making your sides that within our group may well be vegetarians. I’ll have some black bean burgers ready to go as well.

†If, by some chance, we have a lot of folks and kids who want to come, we may change locations. I’ll make sure the word gets out if so.

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what’s missing in ch ch? ok, nevermind… Posted by 01.08.2010 4:35 pm

eikon START teamok, so let’s just begin by saying that we hereby pledge to never again invoke any of those cheeseball quotes from church marquees… alright, now that we’ve placed our hand on the bible and sworn our unwavering non-cheesy intentions, let’s move on… :)

over the course of the last 6 months, we’ve begun the process of the actual physical formation of eikon. we’ve had an incredible response and we’ve been able to connect with so many different kinds of people that we would have never guessed. over the last couple months, we’ve offered people a chance to marry their verbal intentions with a physical means of carrying them out. that process has been called the START team. in essence, it’s just a group of volunteer people who have committed to learning more about eikon and taking an active role in the start of the church.

with the dawn of 2010 (twenty-ten or two thousand ten??), we’re turning a corner in terms of the nature of the START team. whereas we’ve spent our previous sessions dealing with the theoretical aspects of eikon (i.e. why? what? who? when? etc.) and have asked for an initial, concrete commitment, we’re now asking others to join with us in the pragmatic aspect of forming a new community. what that ultimately means is mobilizing people to just do stuff. all kinds of stuff: offer further insights, seal envelopes, move chairs, fold handouts, design graphic pieces, do photography, shake hands, be a smiling face…just stuff. with the official start day (regular, weekly gatherings) for eikon coming in mid-february (be on the lookout for some more clues on that very soon), we’ve got plenty of stuff to do. and that ultimately means that we need some more helping hands. we need you! (see, i used an exclamation point to tell you that…so it must be important! see, there’s another one…)

UPCOMING MEETINGS

we’ll have 3 meetings in january (and likely 1 in february), so we’d love for anyone and everyone to be a part of those. the first one was this past sunday and we’ll be having another this sunday night, january 10. at 6 p.m., we’ll gather at john and shannon hardin’s home once again (see map here), so it will be a very casual environment. we’ll build in some time for drinks and a light dinner, so you’ll have a chance to catch up and hang out a little. also, we’ll be offering childcare on location, so feel free to bring the kids (if you plan to bring children, please drop us a note letting us know asap).

if you have any additional questions, feel free to shoot us an email at info [at] eikonthechurch [dot] com or leave a comment. see you sunday night!

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Posted in events, food, gatherings, information, leadership, start team | No Comments »



homeless shelter update & call for volunteers Posted by 01.08.2010 8:15 am

last night, our community had the privilege of serving dinner and getting to know a group of homeless people at the emergency homeless shelter organized by the city of little rock (you may have read about it in our previous post). we had a great time and it was good to help out a group of people who aren’t just “homeless people”, but fellow citizens of our city. we experienced a lot of grateful people who were happy to eat a homemade bowl of soup and escape the bitter cold for the night.

there are quite a few observations i could make, but, ultimately, none would be fully adequate to describe the great time we had. all in all, i think my overwhelming observation is how many people i saw myself in. i don’t mean people just resembled me or had similar characteristics, but it’s more to say that the stigma of dirty, drug-addicted, crazed people on the streets simply isn’t true. literally 99% of the people at the shelter were just regular people like you and me. connected to that observation is also the thought that, with a couple different decisions in my life, i could easily be the one finding a cot on the gym floor instead of the people i was serving. undoubtedly, i could see myself in the people we served.

ultimately, what i’m getting at is the invitation for you to share in the experience i just described. whereas we—formally, as a church—served dinner last night, there are still a huge need for volunteers. one of our people, libby delay, is the volunteer coordinator for the shelter and she has expressed the need for many more volunteers, with jobs ranging from clean-up to security to just people who are there to have conversations and be a friend. here’s a schedule with shifts:

friday
midnight-8am: need 8 volunteers
8am-4pm: need 8 volunteers
4pm-midnight: need 8 volunteers

saturday
midnight-8am: need 8 volunteers
8am-4pm: need 7 volunteers
4pm-midnight: need 8 volunteers

sunday
midnight-8am: need 8 volunteers
8am-4pm: need 8 volunteers
4pm-midnight: need 8 volunteers

monday
midnight-8am: need 8 volunteers
8am-4pm: need 8 volunteers

so, if you feel compelled to lend a helping hand, give libby a call at 501.773.9093.

finally, i wanted to take a minute to specifically mention a few people who were instrumental in pulling together last night’s dinner. first, a big thanks to my wife, christen byrd. she took the reigns early and organized quite a bit up front. also, as always, john hardin, our community leader, stepped up and was a big piece of why this came together smoothly. despite the fact that she wasn’t working in an “official eikon capacity”, libby delay has done an amazing job and put in a lot of sacrificial hours. bradley phillips, traci berry, cara beth buie and kimberly roth helped us serve food. we also had several people take their time and energy to cook pots of soup including kat hills, amanda morgan, kyran pittman, denise brockinton, bekah caraway, keely kaffenberger and cathy dean. i’m sure i missed some people, so my apologies if i missed you!

thanks to everyone for a great night of connecting with some people here in little rock that we might not otherwise.

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Posted in core values, food, volunteer | 1 Comment »



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