The Eikon Podcast

When examining a passage Like Mark 1:1-11, it is important to be aware of what we think we already know. If we don’t analyze our own assumptions, we will bring them into the text with us which causes us to decontextualize the biblical passage without being aware this is what we’re doing. The Eikon Living team begins our contextual study of Mark in the first chapter and talks about the meaning of t...

Our study of the book of Mark begins with an often-neglected passage in Mark 12. Jason and Michael explain why we are starting Mark with a strange passage about Sadducees, widows, resurrection, and Scripture. Is it possible to know the Scriptures forward and backwards and still miss the heart of God and who Jesus is? The warning from Mark is not only did the Sadducees do this, but so can we. Micha...

It's a new year. Time for a new name and a new direction! Join Gianna, Michael, and Jason as they set the stage for a new method of digging into scripture. 

We will be taking an unexpected but hopefully brief hiatus. This short update explains why and when we will be back with season 4.

Marshall Mead, Executive Director of the World Discipleship Summit planned for July 31-August 7, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, joins Michael to share the journey of the conference that was originally planned for July, 2020. Marshall talks about the challenges of planning, postponing, and rescheduling such a large event and shares about important spiritual lessons learned during that process. He gives...

Michael and Jason share their five favorite books that they read this year and Gianna invites her husband, professional basketball player, Reggie Hearn on to share his five favorite books of the year. The lists are wide-ranging and will prove to be rich resources for the readers in the audience. Before signing off for the year in this final episode of season 4, the crew announces and explains the...

Michael, Jason, and Gianna review the major points of the great lie from this season, talk about why it matters for the church to understand the deception of the great lie and the danger of ignoring its effects, and chat about a few things that weren't discussed this season. Michael discusses his upcoming book on the great lie and shares a few important items that will be covered in the book...

Jason explains to Michael and Gianna what Advent is and why it is such a potentially important, but often overlooked or ignored, tool for the Christian community.

MyCresha Burns joins the podcast to talk about the welcome table and how the concept applies to our lives. She insightfully utilizes the traditional African American spiritual song to examine the biblical concepts of hospitality and welcoming the stranger. She discusses how churches that are a diverse congregation can still miss the point of the welcome table and become less than what Jesus envisi...

The discussion today centers around whether the focus of the church should be on social justice or on "preaching the gospel" and saving souls. There are groups of Christians that feel strongly about and advocate for both of those issues as the primary purpose of the church. The question is, which one is correct? Then there are those that argue for finding balance between these two areas....

Why does it seem that we can tell more about how someone will interpret or respond to big issues of the day or news events based on what news shows they watch than by their faith in Christ? Michael, Gianna, and Jason talk about this phenomenon and much more today as it relates to the concept of what they are calling antidiscipling. They discuss what it is and why it has become such a powerful forc...

Michael and Mark Kang, a minister in the Detroit Church of Christ, have served together in the same regional family of churches for over 15 years and they agree on many things. But there are also some areas in which they disagree. Michael invited Mark on this special bonus episode and gave him an open mic to talk about whatever he wanted, point out any areas where he thinks Michael has been wrong,...

The Corinthian church was rife with prejudice, division, and inequity. So why would Paul open his letter by calling them holy ones of God rather than bigots, fools, or idiots? The answer is just as important to understand for our context today as it was then. Michael, Gianna, and Jason talk about this important truth of identity and what the real problem is when we label others with identity marke...

Have we been misreading 1 Corinthians by neglecting its context and subsequently missing some of the true challenge that Paul laid out for disciples of Jesus in that passage? Michael, Gianna, and Jason discuss the historical and cultural background of one of the most famous sections of the New Testament and what it might mean for us in practice today.

Author and minister, Steve Saindon, joins the podcast in a special bonus episode to speak about his new book, "Better than Wine: How Healthy Intimacy in Marriage Reveals God," as well as the upcoming 2nd annual Shameless Conference which Steve created.  You can discover more about Steve's ministry at www.n2fm.org 

On this episode, Michael, Jason, and Gianna continue their look at a Roman culture that was so divided by status that they wouldn't eat or even die with one another. But they had become so blind to the ways in which they were reflecting the inequities of their culture in the life of the church that they did not even see when they were guilty of allowing the great lie to impact their partaking...

Michael, Jason and Gianna discuss the responsibilities that social media giants have versus personal responsibility in light of the revelations that Facebook operated under an algorithm that favored controversial and anger-inducing posts. After that they dive back into 1 Corinthians, discussing how the great lie was impacting the church in Corinth where spiritual gifts are involved. They then turn...

Michael, Jason, and Gianna Hearn dive back into our look at 1 Corinthians and its relationship to the theme of the great lie. They wade through the swampy ground of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and discuss what women wearing head coverings have to do with image bearing and superiority of the elite and ask if women shouldn't be covering their heads in worship after all. The episode begins, though, wi...

If you have ever wondered how you can make a real difference in your community, especially in the places that are seemingly paralyzed with drug addiction, homelessness, people hopelessly entangled in the criminal justice system, and other maladies, then you will not want to miss this episode. Mel & LaTasha Harris lead ODAAT (One Day At a Time) in some of the toughest communities in Philadelphi...

 You will not want to miss this episode. Dr. Douglas Jacoby has written over 30 books, and taught God's word in over 120 countries and 100 universities. Today, he joins Michael and Jason to discuss the topic of justice. He explains what the difference is between biblical justice and some of the more contemporary versions of justice and offers some important challenges to the church and the cu...

"All things are permissible for me," is not a phrase that would have sounded uncommon to the ears of first century Corinth.  Finding out who used this phrase in Roman culture and for what purposes continue to help us understand how the great lie of superiority was infecting the Corinthian church and how Paul was discipling them through it. Understanding both the problem and they ways tha...

What does a young man sleeping with his step mother and one Christian suing another in first-century Corinth have to do with the Great Lie? That's exactly what Michael and Jason discuss in this continuing look at the impact of the Great Lie in Corinth and why it is vital for us to learn the same lessons that Paul wanted to teach to the Corinthians. But first, they examine what we can learn fr...

Michael and Jason continue their look through the letter of Paul to the Corinthians as he challenges them with the explosive truth of the gospel and shows the saints how they have dangerously built the church on the wood, straw, and hay of the culture around them without even realizing they were doing so. Reading Paul's letter in this context helps us to see just how deeply subversive it is a...

Jason and Michael look at 1 Corinthians 1 and the explosive ways in which the gospel challenged them to look at the world, but also to examine themselves and see how the lie that some humans are superior and others are inferior had infected the church and was causing division among them. But this discussion doesn't just stay in the first century, it starts to look ahead to the ways that today...

 Today we welcome Tim and Sam Blake, ministers in Hartford, Connecticut for a discussion that centers on the influence that the great lie can have in society and in the church and we hear from them how it impacts their ministry and presents challenges as ministers in a diverse congregation in addressing these issues. The discussion with the Blakes begins at about 12:35.