Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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cityView: rich wiebe Posted by 05.26.2010 8:47 am

cityView blog series

When the opportunity to write this piece arrived in my inbox I jumped at the chance; easy enough, I thought. Then I realized it would, indeed, bring me a difficult task: editing the terribly confounding mass; expressing the seemingly inexpressible in 500 words or less. Forgive me if I go astray of your connotations of faith, or religion.

As spiritual seekers we seem to come to a point in our lives where we ask of the expanse before us: “why?” In my mind a religion provides a framework for finding an answer to this question and prescribe a method one can employ to bring meaning to their life. Zen buddhism provides the framework I can comprehend and put into use with every action I take and decision I have to make.

I think that Buddha or Jesus probably walked this earth. I think that I am just a person. I do not know what exists beyond my perception, it very well may be God as expressed in Christianity. But, I do know what my existence thus far has shown me. What I make of the understanding I infer from my past experience is up to me.

If I take a moment, while not caught up in my mind’s negative perceptions, to understand the mind’s object I know it is beneficial to address it with love and compassion. The object of mind can also be seen with fear and loathing. How do I choose to see? It seems apparent, from experience with this world, that resentment and anger do not have much positive benefit. While fear may bring about an occasional burst of necessary adrenaline to help remove me from a dangerous situation, there are no wolves or bears at my door. The existence, then, of fear is a matter of perception. I find it quite possible, if not guaranteed, that we all have the same emotions brought about by our perceptions.

What, then, could it be that brings about the capacity to have sympathetic responses to the sufferings or joys of others? Looking into the eyes of the people I speak with I can see that they are human. Knowing they have the same capacity for love and fear I can have compassion for their situation. When our similar nature is viewed on a grander scale, it seem possible that we are of the same mind. This capacity to empathize is what I see as the spiritual component of our existence.

Having a deeply abiding love and compassion for others, their creations, and the manifestations of our world seem to me to be the very good way to travel through this life. Sadness and fear may come and go, but with compassion they can be overcome.

May your travels in this life be safe and happy.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 9 Comments »



cityView: sarah orsborn Posted by 05.19.2010 8:07 am

cityView blog series

About three years ago, my husband and I set out on a course that completely revolutionized our faith. We were sitting in our car when we heard No Impact Man being interviewed on NPR. Now the author of a book and star of a documentary, he was just a guy trying to live in NYC with his family with little to no net environmental impact, and blogging all the way. As we began to examine the ways our lives impact our environment, we discovered Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis. We started listening to Bell’s sermons via iTunes. We discovered Brian McLaren’s book The Secret Message of Jesus. And through these authors we discovered the thing which completely changed our way of believing: Jesus didn’t come just so we could go away to some heavenly kingdom when we die, but so we can help make that heavenly kingdom a reality here on earth, right now. When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand” He literally meant right here and right now. The kingdom where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the New Jerusalem, is exploding into our reality starting with the resurrection and Jesus’ defeat of death. And we have the honor of being asked to participate in God’s project of renewing all things.

In Genesis 2, when God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden and tells him to work and take care of this creation, the Hebrew verbs “to work” and “to take care of” are words used almost exclusively elsewhere to describe the worship of God. When we take care of creation, we are worshipping its Creator.

Rather than treat this planet as someplace disposable we’re leaving when we go to heaven, we believe we have a divine assignment to care for our environment and everything in it. One area of our lives in which this is most visible is the way we eat. And we believe food is literally a spiritual issue! Many of Jesus’ teachings took place in the context of a meal, whether it was the feeding of the 5,000, Mary anointing His feet with perfume and tears, the Last Supper, or the seaside breakfast He prepared for His disciples following His resurrection, when some of them didn’t recognize Him until they broke bread together. I think a case could be made that some of the times we can best see Jesus are when we are sharing a meal with others.

In our lives, this means eating food that is grown with respect to the planet, the workers who grow and harvest it, and the food itself. One interesting thing I have learned about Jews like Jesus is that when they pray before a meal, they do so in order to bless God for His provision, not to ask Him to bless their food. To have food to eat at all is to already be blessed. To choose food that is produced in a way that respects all of creation is to turn eating itself into an act of thankfulness and worship, even as we anticipate a joyous feast in God’s coming kingdom.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 9 Comments »



cityView: tom hudson Posted by 05.18.2010 9:09 am

cityView blog series

If you want to believe the world was created 6,000 years ago, and some guy crammed two each of five million species onto a boat less than 500 feet long for forty days, and another guy was revived after being dead for three days, after his blood pooled and separated, after rigor mortis came and went, after his brain was deprived of oxygen for 72 hours … go for it. I don’t have the energy to refute premodern cosmologies and annoyingly persistent tribal mythologies.

But at least consider that four hundred years ago, the earth was flat and located at the center of the universe, and the delusional jerk who touted something different, something threatening, was convicted of heresy.

If you want to believe God is all good and simultaneously all-powerful, yet also that bad things happen…enjoy. I’m not sure how to illuminate your and your holy book’s self-contradictions.

But if you want to think a little brown guy named Yeshua, as reported in your book, was onto something valuable – maybe even seriously earth-shaping truths…and you want to follow his teachings…that intrigues me.

For in a world where there are no epistemologically sound indicators of the nature of God, all I care about are results: things I can see. And Jesus produced results. But he was a bit of a delusional jerk too, and certainly threatening and heretical, and he got what was coming to him, as did Galileo after him, for similar reasons.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be Jewish back then, perpetually waiting for the Messiah to come fix everything.

I also cannot imagine being contemporary Christian, believing that the Messiah has finished at least most of his work, and that everything that matters is taken care of. When I look at the world, I see that most everything I care about is not taken care of.

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” Clearly, Jesus cared about results. But I’m not sure he believed everything was tidy when he checked out either. Indeed, he commanded his followers to pick up where he left off. And some say that the (passivity-breeding, remarkably pre-messianic) notion that he will return to fix everything again is up for interpretation.

Like Jesus, I expect his followers to be concerned with results. Yet among Christians, and in areas of the country strongly influenced by Christians, we see the highest rates of divorce, infidelity, murder, STDs, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity. We see the poorest health care systems, least high school graduation, strongest socioeconomic stratification, and legislated bigotry, much of which Christians legitimize with scripture.

I don’t blame social maladies on Christianity, but suggest that contemporary Christians are not concerned with the results Jesus prioritized. And I don’t need to champion my personal socialist Jesus for that to be apparent.

I am also not set against believing in some God. If I choose to, it will not be because I think God exists, but because such belief yields results that matter.

But until Christians bear fruit, I feel compelled to cast my lot with the jerks. I take up arms with heretical jackasses who think everything is not alright. I fight for the powerless, even at the expense of those in power. I want to make comfortable people squirm, and comfort those who want to change the world.

And behold. Sometimes the world really does change shape.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 5 Comments »



help support lauren and cure international Posted by 05.07.2010 7:58 am

cure international

EDITORIAL NOTE: One of the values we have here at Eikon is putting our money where our mouth is. No doubt, we have limited financial resources and aren’t able to give to every person or organization, but we certainly want to help out when we have the opportunity and ability. One of the people in our community, Lauren Stephens, has the opportunity to travel with Cure International to Uganda this summer. It’s an incredible organization and opportunity for Lauren, but it comes at a steep cost. So, I asked Lauren to write a little about the trip and what it will take to get here there. Eikon is going to make a significant gift (well, for our little church anyway), but we want to invite you to contribute as well. If you want to give through Eikon, simply write a check to Eikon Church and in the memo line put Lauren Stephens – Uganda. *100%* of those funds will go to this specific cause. Mail the check to:

Eikon Church
2501 Kavanaugh Blvd, Unit B
Little Rock, AR 72205

Thanks!

—————————————————————————

I will be going to Uganda, Africa with CURE International July 26 – August 10. CURE International is a non-profit organization that has established hospitals in five different countries in Africa, two in the Middle East also in Honduras, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. CURE has seen 1 million patients and performed 70,000 life-transforming surgeries. The hospital in Uganda specializes in the treatment of children with cleft palate, hydrocephalus, club foot, spinal deformities, and other crippling orthopedic conditions. Along with the treatment of these beautiful children they also educate the parents and families on living healthier lives with the resources they have.

I have chosen to go into the nursing field because I have found that my passion is to help others and to try to make a difference in the world. I want to go on this mission trip so that I can be a very small part of what will be a turning point in these children’s lives of living without fear of them and their families being ridiculed for what their culture calls a curse but is a medical condition that can be remedied. While there, I will have the opportunity to be in the operating room observing, but mainly working with the children who are recovering from the surgeries, spending time with the families serving them food and offering support, and also with the children before their operations and their brothers and sisters. We will also take five days to travel with a mobile clinic to reach out to surrounding villages and communities to offer basic healthcare needs.

In order to go and be given this opportunity I need to raise a total of $3800. I am coming up on a few deadlines. The first being $2000 by May 15th, next one is on May 26th to have $900 and the final payment of $900 will be due on June 26th. The funds raised will cover the majority of the costs for me but it also covers a portion of what it takes to get supplies there and helps keep the hospital functioning such as food, medicine, beds, etc…

-Lauren Stephens

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Posted in core values, information, missions, social justice, theology | 1 Comment »



point/counterpoint week 4: politics audio Posted by 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 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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Posted in core values, gatherings, information, leadership, theology, worship | No Comments »



point/counterpoint week 2: death penalty audio Posted by 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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Posted in core values, gatherings, information, leadership, theology, worship | No Comments »



an invitation to join us for easter Posted by 04.01.2010 8:05 am

easter jesus eikon

we’re just a month into our weekly gatherings and so far, things have continued to progress and people continue to connect. one of the many milestones of our new community is sharing together in a time of worship for our first easter.

this sunday (april 4), we acknowledge this particularly important time of anticipation and celebration for people who follow in the way of jesus. easter marks the season in which we specifically reflect on the death and eventual resurrection of christ. easter is a time of renewal and restoration of the places where we find pain and hurt and decay and death. new life begins at easter. hope is restored. people are renewed. the broken is made whole. and we at eikon certainly hope to celebrate these things this sunday.

as always, we’ll gather at 6 pm at 1900 n. university ave. (r street community church’s building). the gathering will be a sort of interactive time of worship that centers around the stations of the cross (in a kind of a modern, re-imagined way). in addition to hearing from me (ryan), we’ll also be hearing perspectives from both kim roth and john hardin, so it should be a good chance to hear a few different perspectives. so, we think it will be a unique experience worth participating in.

hope to see you there!

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Posted in announcements, events, gatherings, information, theology, worship | No Comments »



an urgent call to be jesus to our city Posted by 01.06.2010 5:56 pm

There are times when saying lives are at stake is not hyperbole. This is certainly one of those. There are people in imminent danger of freezing to death on the streets of Little Rock in the next few days and our community has the opportunity to do something about it. The City of Little Rock is opening an emergency shelter at 2500 East 6th Street in the Nathaniel Hill Community Complex. However, they are relying on the community to staff the shelter with volunteers and provide meals, bedding and other essentials for the people staying there.

Eikon is providing soup for the 80 or so hungry mouths tomorrow (Thursday) evening, but we really need some help. The most immediate need we have is about 10 pots of soup; so far we have commitments for 4. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but it should be hearty. Please call Christen at 501.551.8117 to let her know if you’re willing to throw a pot together.

Dinner will be served at 5:30 pm tomorrow, so the soup will need to be there at 5:15. We need at least 6 people willing to serve it. If you want to cook but cannot deliver it at that time, you are welcome to take it to take it to Ryan & Christen’s house tomorrow (here’s a map). Call Christen to make arrangements. Additionally, you can call me (John) at 501.319.5363 to make arrangements for me to pick it up from you wherever you’re at.

The shelter is also in dire need of volunteers to get them through the weekend. If you can give some time this weekend, please call Libby DeLay at 501.773.9093 to let her know when you can be there. We also need towels, pillows and bedding. Contact us at any of the numbers above if you wish to provide those items.

This is a tangible opportunity to show the love and compassion that are central to the teachings of Jesus and central to the heart of what Eikon is all about. Ultimately, there can be no real of understanding of Jesus without believing that serving these folks is not just our obligation, but our sincere privilege.

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Posted in core values, food | 4 Comments »



altView: christopher macdonald Posted by 11.20.2009 8:45 am

altView

“I have heard many complain that they did not want to be “so heavenly-minded that they were no earthly good.” But we are usually in no personal danger of this. In fact, I have yet to meet a human being who was. I have met people who were in danger of being so “religious” that they were no earthly good; but never too “heavenly-minded.”

When people speak of heaven they often wax eloquent as if heaven were an ethereal dreamland. But heaven is more real than you or I. While we are but a vapor upon this earth, we speak of the throne of God as if it were a wishful wisp of smoke from our great-grandfather’s pipe.

In the same way that we are insane to create God in our image (when in fact it is the reverse), so to project a heaven out of your own infantile crayon-on-paper theologies is cute but should go no further than under a magnet on the fridge. Heaven informs our lives and those places in our lives now that seem the most solid in Christ are the beginnings of becoming a citizen of Heaven where such creativity, vision, knowledge and reflected glory will be more powerful than we can imagine. What does C.S. Lewis say? Beings so luminous that if we were to see them today we would be “strongly tempted to worship” them.

Not only is heaven our future, it is to be our present. We are to “seek the things above”- present tense -“where Christ is”- now – “at the right hand of God”. The closest I can come to interpreting the meaning of this verse is that we are to seek the reality of the Kingdom of God in our life.

Jesus Christ is the most heavenly minded, yet the most earthly good. Can you name one man who has ever been more earthly good than Jesus of Nazareth? Now can you name one man who has ever been more heavenly minded than Jesus of Nazareth? The truth is, the heavens themselves reflect the eternal glory of Christ, yet no man has ever been more earthly good than Christ, the “Second Adam,” God in the flesh.

The Jesus follower who is heavenly minded, will always be the most active, Why? Because Jesus is the most active agent in Creation in all ways at all times, even holding all of it together relationally at this very moment in a way beyond comprehension. To be a follower of this Living One to to actively become a part of that as you are “in Him” and He is in you.

To be “heavenly-minded” is to have the “mind of Christ”; and it is unfortunate that many of us simply want the old mind back. The eternal perspective is to be taught by God to see a bit from His vantage point. To be sure, in a “mirror dimly” is all we can take in. But someday “face to face” and then we shall be like Him.

(This is an excerpt from SPOKE: Journal of Christ.)

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Posted in altview, core values, theology | 1 Comment »



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