Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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join us in beginning a new chapter at eikon Posted by Ryan Byrd 09.01.2010 7:56 am

new building kickoff september

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 the blog post that lays out the basic ideas. following those announcements, we gathered a few weeks ago at our new space for a bit of a preview of sorts. once again, we were excited to get great feedback and create an energy surrounding our upcoming move.

well, we have now reached the time for that move.

on sunday, september 12, we’ll make the permanent move to our new space at 101 n. woodrow st. (a block east of the markham/kavanaugh intersection near pizza d’action). as you’ve read in the aforementioned (linked) blog post, this gathering will include a shared meal, conversation and a teaching time.

one of the things we’re most excited about is that it will kickoff not only a new space and new format to our gatherings, but a 3-month look at all things jesus: his life, death, birth, ministry, values, ethics, trials, fears, relationships and everything you might imagine that jesus did that now informs our lives. to be frank, we’re really trying to cut away the crap and fluff and hone in on what it means to be people who follow in the way of jesus.

it’s a big time for our community and we’d love for you to be a part of it. what about those reading this that are already a part of our community? pass this blog post along. put it on twitter. invite a coworker. invite friends we’ve missed on our facebook event. spread the word.

so, if you’ve desired to come check out eikon, there absolutely couldn’t be a better time than now. see you on september 12 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, gatherings, information, worship | 1 Comment »



you’re invited: preview our new space this sunday night Posted by Ryan Byrd 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 »



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 | 5 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 »



cityView: kimberly roth Posted by Ryan Byrd 06.03.2010 10:08 am

cityView blog series

Listening to iTunes in the morning makes getting to work on time difficult. I hear a phrase, which reminds me of an event, or makes me ask a question, and then my mind is traipsing off down some rabbit trail that may or may not end up forming a coherently written story.

Often, that story remains in my head and eventually gets emptied with the other deleted items. Sometimes it resurfaces down the road, but in a different format, only vaguely resembling my original thoughts. Occasionally, I have the good sense to grab on to the plethora of scrap papers lying around my room and jot down a few road markers so that the train of thought can be reformed at a more opportune time.

This morning the song that caused my tardiness was a live version of I Saw the Light by David Crowder Band and Robbie Seay. I had barely dipped a toe into the chorus before I drew back startled.

Hank Williams killed himself.

Ok, maybe not intentionally, but Hank Williams overdosed at the age of 29 after a hard life of broken relationships and repetitive struggles.

Context.

I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, No more night
Now I’m so happy, No sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light

Set apart from its back story, these lyrics could be daunting to an average human wandering aimlessly in a life filled with sin. Worse yet, what about those who have traded the wrong for the right, and still have days where they don’t have this feeling of wonderment? The lyrics standing alone would leave big shoes to fill.

Context.

But this song was not written by a saint. It was written by a human, whose last recorded single was “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive”, and who was in the process of writing a song titled “Then Came that Fateful Day” when he died.

Context.

Out of context, it is a weighty song to compare one’s life against. In context, it’s a song of hope. It’s a song about the lofty desires of a tragic life.

I believe that some days Hank Williams was able to sing this song, and mean it – moments of clarity. Other days, he must have wondered, “where the hell did that song come from?” as he downed a bottle of whiskey.

In the same vein, David fluctuated between his Psalms of praise and Psalms of despair. And he really fucked up his life. Luckily, He served (we serve) a redemptive God. A God who longs to receive our praise (though, in truth He does not need it) and yet is willing to hear our cries, our longings and our asinine questions.

Paul was human. He had some very good things to say about himself, and God entrusted him with some big tasks which he willingly took on, but he was human.

And we the readers, the interpreters, are human. Are we not hypocrites to announce from a pulpit that THE WORD OF GOD SAYS women should not be permitted to preach, and yet not require them to keep their heads covered?

What does inerrancy really mean?

Does it mean Paul lived a life free of context? That every word of the epistles can be taken at face value?

Or is there room for looking at the big picture? Can we step back and look not only at what was being said, but when it was being said and where it was being said and why it was being said and to whom it was being said? Why is this even a controversial issue?

Can we trust God to speak through the context of His Word?

Whiskey Bottle
Uncle Tupelo

jack daniels whiskeyPersuaded, paraded, enebriated, in doubt
Still aware of everything life carries on without
‘Cause there’s one too many faces with dollar sign smiles
Got to find the shortest path to the bar for a while

A long way from happiness
In a three-hour-away town
Whiskey bottle over Jesus
Not forever, just for now

There’s trouble around, it’s never far away
The same trouble’s been around for a life and a day
I can’t forget the sound, ’cause it’s here to stay
The sound of people chasing money and money getting away

In between the dirt and disgust there must be
Some air to breathe and something to believe
Liquor and guns the sign says quite plain
Somehow life goes on in a place so insane

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, music, theology | 3 Comments »



cityView: sarah orsborn Posted by Ryan Byrd 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 | 4 Comments »



cityView: tom hudson Posted by Ryan Byrd 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 »



cityView: amy bradley-hole Posted by Ryan Byrd 05.17.2010 2:48 pm

cityView blog series

I was recently on a floating trip on a river. It was a pretty pleasant river, but it had its fair share of rapids and rocky patches. And unbeknownst to me, there was a huge waterfall just around one of its bends. I saw it and started panicking, scared I was going to plunge over the edge and crash and burn. But at the last minute, someone on the bank saw me, and stuck a huge branch out towards me. I could save myself from the waterfall by just jumping off my raft and grabbing hold. But I didn’t. I froze, because I didn’t want to risk missing the branch completely and falling into cold, roiling water. How stupid was that? I was going to risk certain harm for uncertain safety, simply because I was afraid of what was in between.

Alright, alright, enough with the terrible allegory already. No, I haven’t been on a float trip lately. But yes, I have been about to crash and burn. And yes, in the midst of all the chaos, someone handed me a lifeline. And YES, I freaked out about it. I kept calling this awesome opportunity my “leap of faith.” Whenever I discussed my situation with anyone, I focused on the “leap” part. It was all about my fear, and the fall, and how much it would hurt if I screwed it up. My language and thought process was quite negative. This leap of faith was a scary thing, indeed.

And then one day, that little voice I hear (which, for me, yes, is Jesus, and who, by the way, is a little West Indian guy in tight pants who sits on my shoulder, but that’s a whole other story) said to me “But you’re forgetting the FAITH part.”

Wow. And so I was. I was all terror, no trust.

There I was, the girl who’s always smugly thinking about how strong her faith is, how solid her relationship with Christ is, forgetting to have any faith at all. I was forgetting to shut up already about the negatives. I was only thinking about the bad that could happen, and forgetting the wonderful ways in which my life could change. They just seemed, like that branch, too far away to be real. So when I took a minute to pause and hand it over to my higher power, I was able to see the beautiful glimpses of faith and grace that surrounded me. I have a family who has my back. I’ve got a community full of the most amazing friends right here in Little Rock who are my support system. I’ve got a church home where I can go to get recharged. And yes, I have a relationship with Jesus. What more could I need? And why, for Heaven’s sake, was I afraid of a little ol’ leap?

So what did I end up doing, you ask? I jumped, of course. And it felt fabulous. And how did it turn out, you wonder? I don’t know. I’m still in mid-air. But at least I know that, as I’m flying, I’m being lifted by faith.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, 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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Posted in core values, gatherings, information, leadership, theology, worship | No Comments »



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