The Eikon Podcast

Join me as Otoma Edje and I have a conversation with theologian and author Scot McKnight about creating a biblical culture of goodness in the church, where the church is headed in its response to racial inequity in the world, the role of women in the church, and much more.  McKnight is the author of A Church Called Tov, Reading Romans Backwards, The King Jesus Gospel, The Blue Parakeet, Kingdom Co...

What is the role for the kingdom communities when it comes to engaging in a two-party, or similar, political system?  Today, we examine the challenge and dangers of the two party system for Christians.

In this episode, Jason and I talk about more recent events in the United States, like the situation surrounding Colin Kaepernick and his actions during the playing of the national anthem, as a springboard to examine the topic of Christian nationalism, using the United States as an example. We will talk about recognizing the elements of when Christian nationalism is present in a nation and what we,...

Gordon Ferguson, author of Dynamic Leadership, Prepared to Answer, The Victory of Surrender, the Power of Gratitude, The Apostle Paul, Discipling , and many other books,  joins the podcast today to talk about the difference between patriotism and nationalism, as well as how the Christian version of nationalism  serves as a constant danger to the kingdom of God.  To access Gordon's biblical te...

How do we respond when we think other individuals or our church collectively needs to grow in an area? We can often fall into the trap of wanting to advance the kingdom of God within the life of our church community but do so through means that are not kingdom methods. Anger, frustration, impatience, and divisiveness, are not what God wants from or for his people. We will look at important princip...

It seems that our political discourse these days often devolves to the point where conversations end with unhelpful phrases like, "you're an idiot." But how did Jesus manage have followers like Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector that could not have been on further ends of the political and philosophical ends of the spectrum? What did they have to give up in order to trul...

The earliest Christians believed that the most important piece of evidence demonstrating the truth of the claims of the gospel was that the Christian communities lived out the kingdom as a radical alternative to anything that they would see in the world. If they did that, people would take notice. With that in mind, they felt it was of the utmost importance to create a kingdom habitus in the churc...

Today we have an exhilarating conversation with  Jon Veal and Jordan Campbell of Alt_Chicago (Alt Space Chicago) and Bill Barberg of Insight Formation. These are devoted followers of Jesus making a big impact in their communities and the world as they live out the values of the kingdom and embrace being the alternate community of the kingdom in practical ways. This will encourage and inspire you t...

You will not want to miss this episode! We are joined today by a collection of amazing younger people that share their thoughts on the state of faith in their generations and what they need from older Christians. You will be inspired, informed, and grateful for Jesus, his kingdom, and the wisdom and insight of these followers of Jesus.  Our special guests are Santiago Rios, a 23-year old grad stud...

In the book of Revelation we find an epic battle between the team of the Dragon and the Beast against the Lamb. This is not just a fantastical story about animal wars, but a way to challenge the allegiance of our hearts and minds. The Beast can be far more tempting than we think and we can find ourselves living out the role designated for the people of the Beast, all the while sure that we are ful...

The New Testament says that kingdom people are exiles in the present age.   Join Jason and I as we talk about what this identity means and how it helps us find the balance between being in the world but not of the world.

Does the Bible get it wrong on one of the most fundamental and obvious issues of human dignity and freedom? Does it condone slavery? Don't miss the incredibly enlightening conversation on those questions and more with Dr. Richard Rodriguez of Florida International University, author of "An Unsealed Indictment: How American Slavery Violated the Scriptures." We will also consider how...

Join me today as I talk with Dr. Jamila Michener, a follower of Jesus and professor at Cornell University. We talk about the prisoner education program at Cornell of which she is a big part, and much more. Note: We recorded during a blizzard which led to major Zoom disruptions and a few other technical difficulties so please bear with the roughness of this episode. But there is so much enlightenin...

We have become so convinced and discipled by the culture that political power is the only way to make any real change in the biggest issues of society, that visions of the kingdom that strive to use means and methods of the kingdom rather than politics are often accused of doing nothing or withdrawing from the world. Or we give our loyalty and energy to political passions because surely partisan p...

In this episode we look at some ancient Jewish and modern misunderstandings of the kingdom of God. We will consider what do we need to know about "time travel" to understand the kingdom, why the kingdom is not the same thing as the church, and begin to discuss how that all impacts how we approach the topics of justice and political engagement.

Special guest Tom A. Jones joins the podcast today to talk about all things kingdom of God. Tom is the author of a trilogy of books on the Kingdom of God as well as popular and important books like The Prideful Soul's Guide to Humility (co-authored), The Baptized Life , and many others. 

How great would it be if Jesus could be our president? Or what if he could be the king of the whole world? That might sound great, yet, whenever he was given opportunities to be the king or ruler, he rejected it and instead chose the way of the cross and the kingdom. Knowing why that was, is vital to understanding how we can interact and engage with the world today.

Christians are called to be salt and light to the world but so many people simply see us as judgmental jerks. Join Jason Alexander and I as we talk about what it means to be the prophetic community and how to embrace a role that critiques the systems of the world with hope rather than just criticizes everything about the world and come off like a bunch of jerks.

Christians are given the task to be image bearers of God and are told that we will one day co-rule creation with God but does that mean that we should rule the world right now? Jason Alexander and Michael continue the discussion of how disciples of Jesus are to interact with the world.

What does it mean that human beings were made in God's image and given the vocation of image bearers? Were we created to rule over the creation, and if so, what went wrong? What importance does the theme of image bearing have on the biblical narrative and in our lives today? We will start to consider these important questions and more in this episode with biblical teacher Jason Alexander.

Welcome to Season 2. We begin a this new season looking at the topics of the kingdom of God and how it relates to contemporary politics and the need for justice in the world. In this episode we will consider why we need to talk about these topics that can so easily devolve into conflict and why it should not be that for the people of God, but also why we must talk about such difficult topics. We&a...

In this episode, we look at the challenges of changing a church's culture in pursuit of cultural humility and the quest of being all things to all people. We look at best practices to help a church community remain focused on their biblical goals of being the people of the kingdom and how to stay motivated during the hard work of being flexible and humble for the benefit of others.

This is a special episode you will not want to miss. Join me for this interview with the founders of the group, Disciples Working to Abolish the New Jim Crow, a group seeking to bring an end to unfair mass incarceration tactics and mistreatment of those convicted of crimes in the United States. 

A Church can be diverse but not culturally humble or inclusive. In this episode we consider what a church needs to pursue cultural humility and continue to grow in being all things to all people.

The level of cultural humility and competence of a church will not go beyond that of their leadership. In this episode we consider what being all things to all people will look like in a church's leadership and how they can pursue and grow in these areas.