Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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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!



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!



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!



point/counterpoint week 1: homosexuality audio Posted by 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!



point/counterpoint: voting results Posted by 03.24.2010 8:07 am

point/counterpoint

a couple weeks ago, we announced our upcoming series (that will begin april 11) called point/counterpoint. in it, we’ll be tackling some hotly-debated topics. the format will consist of 2 speakers that will present opposing viewpoints of a topic. for example, if we do a week on homosexuality, one speaker would present “homosexuality is a sin’ and the other would present “homosexuality is not a sin.” each speaker would use the bible as their primary starting point to present their argument. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present 2 thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it won’t be a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

in addition to announcing the series, we presented you an opportunity to actually choose the 4 topics by voting in our poll. we had a great response and we’re excited to reveal what the top 4 vote-getters were. here’s a graph showing the vote tally.

you’ll notice that the top vote-getters are the following (in descending order): homosexuality, death penalty, war & politics. it was a close race several days for nationalism, abortion & sustainable food sources, but they just missed the cut.

we’re really excited about the series & we think it will be a great time to get a variety of viewpoints that all, ultimately, center around what scripture has to say. in other words, one of the things we affirm at eikon is that the bible isn’t necessarily a book full of singular answers, but rather, a guide that helps us plot out ways of engaging in hard-to-understand topics such as the ones you all have chosen.

so, mark it on your calendars! the series begins april 11 and will conclude may 2. as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!



point/counterpoint: vote to decide our upcoming series’ topics Posted by 03.11.2010 9:07 am

point/counterpoint

even as i type, i’m hiding my face in shame… yes friends, it’s been just over a month (!!) since we last blogged. wow…

well, we have good(ish) reasons (we’re trying to make ourselves feel better…). since kicking off weekly worship gatherings several weeks ago, we’ve been busy, busy, busy. the current series, confessional booth is going great and we’ve been excited to convey our guiding theologies while confessing some of our shortcomings.

even in the midst of this series, though (we have a few weeks left), we’re planning for the next one. we’re excited to announce that the upcoming series (that will begin april 11) is called point/counterpoint. in it, we’ll be tackling some hotly-debated topics. the format will consist of 2 speakers that will present opposing viewpoints of a topic. for example, if we do a week on homosexuality, one speaker would present “homosexuality is a sin’ and the other would present “homosexuality is not a sin.” each speaker would use the bible as their primary starting point to present their argument. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present 2 thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it won’t be a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

we really think this will be a great series, but we need your help to make it happen! instead of us just choosing the 4 topics, we thought we’d put it up for a vote. so, please fill out the following survey (and pass this link onto friends!!).