Little Rock Church: A Heart for the City
As of this writing, time machines do not yet exist. However, a story can transport us through space and time into the past. Recently, Gerald Driskill, an elder at Little Rock Church and professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, took me on a journey to 1986 when the church began.
At a Starbucks on North University, Gerald describes how the church began as “a group of lay leaders focused on house churches.” This community had no rigid structure. Church gatherings often featured an open mic for testimonies, exhortations, and encouragement. Gerald describes the early years as a “richer, more organic time in praise, prayer, scripture reading, testimonies, and worship.”
Out of this culture came a church focused on spiritual formation and living a lifestyle of worship and service inside and outside its community.
Everyone on Mission
Churchwide engagement is a hallmark of Little Rock Church, especially in its youth ministry. Gerald tells me, “We’ve always been a family-based youth ministry. Church staff aren’t supposed to do ministry for us; they are supposed to do it with us.” Parents at the church have embraced this call to engage, leading weekly small groups and discipling youth rather than leaving the spiritual formation of youth to the “experts.”
In response to the foster care crisis in Arkansas, the church was one of several that supported The CALL, a non-profit that has cared for over 30,000 children in the foster care system since its inception. Marol Carol Pederson, The CALL’s founder, invited church members to be foster families and provide wrap-around support for them. At one point, 25% of the church body engaged in The CALL, with some members joining its staff.
The church was the birthplace of Goodness Village, which provides affordable apartments for families needing to stay for extended periods in Little Rock for medical care. “There was one year when the call from leadership was, ‘Where is God calling you to minister in the community? That’s how Goodness Village started.’”
In response, one church member leased a single apartment and launched “Home Away from Home,” which later became the non-profit “Goodness Village.” Today, Goodness Village operates 20 fully furnished apartments and serves patients and their families who require outpatient medical treatment.
Reflecting on the church’s history, Gerald says their focus on lay leadership has always been there. “We were never about building a church where staff did all the ministry work,” he says. “We wanted to be a community where everyone was engaged in ministry and saw themselves as part of the mission.”
Equipping the Saints for Ministry
After a few minutes, pastors Tony Svendsen and Sean Simpson arrive. They are new to Little Rock Church after serving overseas as missionaries and bring renewed energy around equipping leaders. Tony explains, “Ultimately, that’s the call of the Church—to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” Sean adds, “Our passion is to raise up leaders [with] training that is simple, biblical, and reproducible.” This is crucial, as a nationwide study shows that fewer than 5% of U.S. churches have a reproducing disciple-making culture.
Like the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32), Gerald sees how the inbreaking of God’s kingdom in Little Rock might initially seem small. Yet, its influence will eventually spread throughout the city to bless it. “My heart for the city is that the city would just be better. Period. Even if only 10% of the population starts following Jesus. If you can just make the city better, people are going to be drawn to the gospel and more people will be equipped to share. It will be a better place.”
Gerald’s vision for Little Rock is more than what one church can do; churches must work together to effect change, something Tony gets behind. “That’s a key principle in movements. You’re pursuing 10% of the population. We realize that Little Rock Church won’t be able to reach 10% of the city. We have to work with other churches with the common goal of proclaiming the gospel and multiplying disciples.”
Living Out Your Identity in Christ
The gospel is a story that changes our core identity. Church leaders like Tony and Sean are helping others find their identity in Christ. Tony tells me, “We walk people through passages like 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. Paul says Christ’s goal is to reconcile the world to himself, and He has called you to be an ambassador. You represent God now as an ambassador, and He’s given you a ministry of reconciliation. That’s your new identity as a new creation in Christ.”
Tony and Sean recognize they are on the same journey as those they lead. “I’m walking with Jesus. I’m still learning,” Tony tells me. “That’s a lifelong process we’re inviting people into. [Discipleship is] not about the knowledge that you’re passing on. It’s about a life journey of walking with Jesus, coming alongside people, and teaching them what that looks like.”
New leadership often comes with changes in culture, something Gerald welcomes. “I’m okay with the culture shifts. There’s a health to them. Tony and Sean are bringing some focused vision.” However, Gerald believes the mission of Little Rock Church has not changed. “What is God’s answer to a broken world? It’s people filled by the Spirit of God. Jesus said, ‘Greater things than these you will do.’ The Church will be the hope in a broken world. It is Christ among us. We’re His Body. That is the Good News.”
A Praying Church
A focus on prayer is something else that hasn’t changed at the church. From the beginning, Little Rock Church has been a praying church. Gerald emphasizes prayer as “central to our life together in our house churches, our main assemblies, and by engaging with City Church Network’s citywide extraordinary prayer initiative.”
Every year, CityChurch Network gathers pastors and leaders for the Arkansas Prayer Summit. Reflecting on his first summit, Gerald shares, “I realized if I can’t escape to pray with others for a few days, then I am busier than Jesus. Not a good thing.”
The time in prayer brought him to tears as he realized he “had given up hope for unity, for the good news making a real impact on the city, for leaders finding grounds to work together.”
Unsure of how to move forward, Gerald recalls, “One word came to me—trust. Do you trust me to be at work in you? To continue to heal your heart? To be at work in my church and beyond?” Gerald says those three days at the summit transformed him and his understanding of prayer.
In the spirit of working together, Tony has launched a team-of-teams approach in the church, which includes teams dedicated to missions and outreach, preaching and teaching, and prayer. Gerald says, “We have a prayer team that covers our church and beyond in daily prayer.” This team also prays on the third Thursday of every month as part of Arkansas Prays, another CityChurch Network initiative to cover the state in 24/7 prayer.
The Care Portal
Little Rock Church is leveraging its long-standing community connections, such as The CALL, Goodness Village, and others, through the Care Portal. This platform connects the state with community responders to help children and families in crisis. In the U.S., over 7 million children are reported for maltreatment annually, leading to more than 400,000 being removed from their homes and placed in an already overwhelmed foster care system.
Sean explains, “The state will send a request into the portal, and community responders, including churches, address the need. Once we engage, we can offer support.” Gerald emphasizes how “ we need to get families healthier,” with Tony adding that churches must be proactive in becoming a support network for struggling families. The Care Portal makes early intervention possible before problems escalate, helping to reduce the number of children entering foster care by up to 50% in some cities.
The Care Portal not only meets physical needs but also addresses spiritual needs. Sean notes, “The state can see how the Church is moving in communities. It’s a faith-based initiative, so those who respond will be believers,” fostering relationships with community leaders and connecting with those who understand the on-the-ground spiritual needs of families.
We All Need a Gift
When Sean reflects on his relationship with Jesus, he sees it as a gift that demands a response.
We didn’t earn our faith; it’s a gift. We received the Holy Spirit, and everything good comes from the Lord. The only thing that’s getting in the way of being Spirit-filled is […] how we view ourselves. The most important thing for us to realize is who we are in Christ and how we should respond to Him. Jesus, the God-man, washed people’s feet. He submitted Himself to the Father’s will. What does that look like for us? How can we identify ourselves as servant ambassadors for God?
Gerald adds, “What we all need is a gift. I don’t know many counselors who would say, ‘You should have to earn your parents’ love.’ The crazy part is that even from a secular point of view, we understand that.”
Driving home, I reflect on Gerald’s words: “What we all need is a gift,” and recall Paul’s words to the Ephesians about the beauty of God’s grace.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
It is all a gift, or as Brennan Manning once wrote, “The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become—the more we realize that everything in life is a gift.”
We are grateful for the exceptional work of Little Rock Church and other churches in our city that are united in unceasing prayer, equipping leaders, and strengthening families. They’re helping the whole Church grow.
Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4:15-16
