Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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we have a new home! Posted by Sarah Orsborn 02.02.2011 8:02 am

new eikon building

Big news! Eikon’s moving on up, literally. Mere months ago we got our first space to call our own, if only for one night a week, and we have loved our time at the green house—meals, stories, prayer have been shared. But, like hermit crabs, we’ve been yearning for a bigger space, one that could be ours every day of the week, so that we could share more with others. And that space found us, just as our lease on the green house was up.

Our new digs are located at 518 W. 9th St., near the intersection with Broadway, just around the corner from Starbucks (across the street from the Mosaic Templars building). We have big ideas and dreams for the space, which we hope will be a community gathering place, not just a building where we hang out on Sunday nights, though we’ll be doing that too (and you’re welcome to join in!). Having our own space every day of the week will allow us to host emergency homeless shelters, recovery groups, community events, and block parties. We’re renting the vacant lot next to the building, which we hope to turn into a community garden in partnership with others in the community, and we also see possibilities for an art gallery, a concert venue, and studio space for local artists.

While we’re super pumped about the new space, it’s going to take a bit of work and elbow grease to make our big dreams a reality. We have some needs: manual labor, money (check out our Paypal page), and stuff, including tables, chairs, couches, kitchen supplies, curtains/blinds, and new flooring. We’re all putting in a lot of work to get our new space up to par, and plan a sort of soft opening on February 13th (this is tentative), with our real kickoff of this new chapter planned for the 20th. We can’t wait to share this space with our city!

If you’d like to help, donate building supplies or ask any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact one of our leaders.

As noted, we’re still a long way from the space being renovated & brought up to shape, but here’s a few shots from Cara Beth Buie from our first night of renovation.

new eikon building

new eikon building

new eikon building

new eikon building

new eikon building

new eikon building

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Posted in announcements, core values, information, leadership, little rock, social justice, worship | 1 Comment »



last minute ways to help us throw our christmas party under the bridge Posted by Ryan Byrd 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 | No Comments »



an epic backpack. an epic meal. Posted by John Hardin 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 Ryan Byrd 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 »



cityView: in review Posted by Ryan Byrd 06.04.2010 7:59 am

cityView blog series

we began this series with the following introduction:

faith is everywhere. or lack of faith. or a little faith. regardless of which it is, there’s a bigger conversation occurring in our city than just a single church or a single faith perspective. instead of becoming an insular community, we hope that eikon can be a place that listens to & engages in the broader faith conversation in our city.

over the past few weeks of this series, i think we’ve begun to do just that. we’ve poked around in the faith conversation in and around little rock. we’ve turned over a few of the loose rocks. certainly, it hasn’t plunged us into the deeper waters, but we’ve waded in, getting our feet wet.

the conversation continues, though. in just the fledgling stages of this thing called eikon, we hope this series has been an introductory connecting point with the larger community around us. we simply don’t want to be an island church, floating in the waters of ecclesial and social isolation.

we want to continue conversations with people like thomas hudson, who is seeking out an image of jesus that actually does, instead of just says. we’re seeking out more conversations with people like darren huckey, who’s looking past our modern christian notions of god to capture the essence and jewishness of jesus. we’re looking for ways to connect with people like rich wiebe, who is seeking a life filled with deeply abiding love and compassion for others. all of our writers have expressed a unique dimension of the conversation revolving around faith in our city.

certainly, these aren’t the totality of perspectives in our community.

so, we’ll continue to seek people beyond our “four walls” that are trying to figure out if there’s some Thing beyond us or more to life than what we see in front of us. we’ll continue to talk and write and dream and debate and grow and engage the our city.

there’s a broader view in this city, in our community of little rock. our hope and prayer is that this series is only the entry point to engaging those many views.

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Posted in cityview, core values, culture, information, leadership, little rock, theology | 1 Comment »



point/counterpoint week 4: politics audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 05.06.2010 5:58 pm

point/counterpoint

this past sunday, we wrapped up a series called point/counterpoint. in it, we tackled some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consisted of two speakers who presented opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker used the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal wasn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it wasn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

this past sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about politics. the basic premise was whether or not the core values of jesus were more compatible with democratic values or republican values. presenting the democratic point-of-view was r street community church pastor mark currey and presenting the republican stance was our very own derek blaylock.

the conversation was really great and, at minimum, got a lot of people thinking, examining their inherent viewpoints and engaging in conversations after the gathering. i was glad we got to hear from two intelligent, well spoken people like mark and derek.

as mentioned previously, we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here. you can listen to it in the player or you can download it by clicking here.

if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to come hang out with us at eikon, there’s a great chance to do it in the coming weeks. this coming sunday (may 9), we’ll be talking about biblical egalitarianism in honor of mother’s day. the following week (may 16), we’re really excited to be kicking off a brand new series called prose: writing the story of community. you can find more about that series by clicking here.

hope to see you soon!

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Posted in core values, gatherings, information, leadership, theology, worship | 2 Comments »



point/counterpoint week 3: war audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.29.2010 8:04 am

point/counterpoint

a couple weeks ago, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

once again this past sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about war. on the affirmative side of the the issue was brent buie and on the oppositional side was tad delay.

the conversation was really great and, at minimum, got a lot of people thinking, examining their inherent viewpoints and engaging in conversations after the gathering. i was glad we got to hear from two intelligent, well spoken people like brent and tad.

as mentioned previously, we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here. you can listen to it in the player or you can download it by clicking here.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about politics. specifically, our speakers will be exploring whether or not the most important values of jesus are more compatible with republican values or democratic values. it should be fun, needless to say. :) as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!

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point/counterpoint week 2: death penalty audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.21.2010 7:57 am

point/counterpoint

last week, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about the death penalty. on the affirmative side of the the issue was chris abrams, a husband/father/christian from north little rock, and on the oppositional side was me (ryan byrd).

the conversation was really great and, at minimum, got a lot of people thinking, examining their inherent viewpoints and engaging in conversations after the gathering. i was glad to engage with an intelligent, well spoken person like chris and we were all able to engage in a helpful question-and-answer time.

we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here. you can listen to it in the player or you can download it by clicking here.

our apologies for the poor sound quality. at the last second, we had some technical glitches with our sound board and it led to unfortunately low volumes.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about what the bible says about war. as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!

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point/counterpoint week 1: homosexuality audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.14.2010 8:07 am

point/counterpoint

a few days ago, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

sunday, two speakers launched the series with a great conversation about homosexuality. on the “traditional” side of the the issue was todd erickson, an eikon regular, and on the biblically-affirming side was randy mccain, pastor of open door community church.

the conversation was really great and, at minimum, got a lot of people thinking, examining their inherent viewpoints and engaging in conversations after the gathering. both speakers were incredibly well spoken and we were all able to engage in a helpful question-and-answer time.

we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about what the bible says about the death penalty. as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!

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so what does eikon believe?: orthodoxy vs. monodoxy Posted by Ryan Byrd 01.10.2010 3:15 pm

last night on twitter, author/theologian/semiotician/generally brilliant person len sweet posted the following tweet:

Orthodox or “Monodox” (Keith Ward’s word)? Orthodoxy=right beliefs: Monodoxy=1 belief, 1 right way to believe, only 1 set of true beliefs.

intriguing.

his thoughts were particularly engaging to me because i think they point to a value of eikon that’s worth exploring. as we’re still in the initial phases of development and growth, we have a lot of people seeking information about what kind of community eikon is and will become. as a part of this process and as people begin to join us at our various gatherings, we get a wide range of commentary like the following:

you guys aren’t very churchy.
you guys are more churchy than i expected.
i can’t really pin down what eikon believes.
eikon seems to be pretty narrow in its beliefs.

in other words, everyone has their own particular perspective and set of presuppositions which lends itself to seeing something very different than the next person. i think a part of this comes from, ultimately, the fact that we’re a little more fluid in the way we define our set of “truths” or hard-and-fast standard of so-called orthodoxy.

don’t get me wrong, we certainly have a series of “guiding theologies” that help to bring some cohesion to our community and shape the way we interact with each other and make decisions as leaders. these things are at the core of what it means to be a part of this faith community, but we’re careful to distinguish—as len sweet points out—between “orthodoxy” and “monodoxy”.

without going into tangential detail, we’re a little leary of a word like “orthodoxy” because it’s simultaneously broad and narrow. on one hand, it encompasses so many things to so many different people. “orthodoxy” to those in the roman catholic tradition might be heresy to those in the pentecostal tradition (or vice versa). on the other hand, “orthodoxy” can be seen as a very narrow window of beliefs that disallows a robust conversation about ideas and theologies. ultimately, though, i think what len sweet is getting at is simply some kind of shared beliefs that help to garner a cohesive theological conversation.

on the other hand, though, his suggestion (as i see it) that “monodoxy” is a dangerous element within the church is one we most certainly share. whereas, again, we have a set of theologies that help to communicate the vision for our community, a key theme of those theologies is that there’s room for a wide variety of interpretations of those values. when we say that our most fundamental guiding theology is the centrality of jesus, the question, naturally, that we’ve received from people is, “which jesus are you talking about?” the jesus who wept over the death of a friend or the jesus who used a whip to clear out the temple money collectors? certainly, one’s way of viewing jesus can be fundamentally different than the next person without straying away from a shared sense of “orthodoxy”. this, though, isn’t true with the concept of “monodoxy.’

monodoxy insists that there is only one view of jesus and if one strays from that singular viewpoint, then they have violated a sacred sense of “rightness”. if you worked your way through our list of guiding theologies, you could use any as an example. take ‘scripture.’ for many, scripture is the inerrant, infallible word of god. for many others, though, there’s a sense of “limited inerrancy”, which is a nuanced version of the preceding view of scripture. both of these views can certainly fall in line with an orthodox understanding of bibliology, but would certainly violate the singularity of one’s monodoxy.

ultimately, the point i’m getting at is that we certainly have overarching shared beliefs that characterize our faith community, but never want to be guilty of monodoxy. we have room for a variety of beliefs about god (or even lack of beliefs about god). we hope eikon can be a place where people don’t have to agree, but can engage in a conversation that leads to mutual understanding and growth. we absolutely hope to make jesus known and guide people in living in a way that resembles the life and person of christ, but we think there’s a bigger conversation involved with that than just a singular angle or a narrow monodoxy.

so, we’re currently in the process of adding voices to this community called eikon. there’s certainly room at the table for you and the perspectives you bring. we hope to both connect with and learn from you soon.

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



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