Oh That People Would Understand Heart-to-Heart Christianity

Posted on July 26, 2026 by Steve Simms

Finding New Wineskins Beyond a Sermon-Centered Church (Part 5 — The Misunderstanding of Christianity)

Abounding Grace was a growing new church with an open mic where anyone could share as they felt prompted by God’s Spirit. It was a new wineskin that was attracting people who were passionately in love with Jesus. However, after Ernie and I had been there about a year, they shut down the mic. The worship was still powerful, but the congregation wasn’t allowed to speak up anymore.

Ernie and I missed the open sharing. We were at Abounding Grace for about 3 years. I continued to be a full-time motivational speaker, trying to focus on my business called Attitude-Lifter Enterprises. I had written a book about positive thinking (from a Christian perspective). It was strongly endorsed on the front cover by Zig Ziglar. I had a sign in our front yard to tell people about it. It said, “Mindrobics–How to Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life.”

Our house was on a busy road that led to the school where Abounding Grace was meeting. When people at church asked where we lived, I would tell them about the sign. It was amazing how many said something like, “Oh, we have been praying for the people in that house. We thought you were New Age.”

Ernie and I were still searching for a gathering where people had the freedom to share. We missed the altar times we had experienced at the Nashville Vineyard. Then somehow, we met Adam Swanson, the pastor of a small church about 40 minutes away in Murfreesboro. Adam was also looking for new wineskins.

Together, we started a Tuesday night meeting at his church where people could testify, share, and receive personal prayer with the gifts of the Spirit freely flowing. Those meetings were full of spiritual power and healing as we ministered to one another as led by the Spirit.

We continued to be part of Abounding Grace. They eventually started a home group in Murfreesboro. The leaders of that group were very open to mutual ministry, so Ernie and I began to attend it. We had a toddler daughter and growing careers that made driving to Murfreesboro twice a week very difficult, so we shifted away from Adam’s church to the new wineskin home group.

The pastor at Abounding Grace shared the pulpit with the church elders and with other people so that sermons weren’t confined to one person. I had wanted to preach there, but I felt like God told me not to ask. But then, one day it came to me to ask, so I did. I was told that the elders thought that I had read too many books about revival and that once I had said that I would do whatever the Holy Spirit told me to. And because of that I could never speak there. So, I gave up the idea.

About a week later one of the elders came to me and said: “Steve, it’s not a full sermon, but I’m supposed to share for about 15 minutes before we serve communion next Sunday. Would you like to take my place?” I said yes and thanked him for his humble lovingkindness toward me. I was able to preach a short sermon the next Sunday, although the church leadership wasn’t happy about it.

About that time, God began to put it on my heart to start walking the streets of the small black neighborhood called Natchez in nearby Franklin. It consisted of a housing project and small homes. I began to spend a day or two a week knocking on doors and spending time getting to know a group of men who hung out on the streets. They were mostly addicts and alcoholics. At first, they we skeptical of me, but eventually we became friends. We talked about Jesus a lot and I would frequently pray with them. They had amazing nicknames like Chicken Dinner, Peanut Butter, Big Bear, Buster, and many others.

Ernie even started going with me some. We were tired of being church spectators and felt like God was telling us to open a church in the Natchez area. We told the elders at Abounding Grace what we were feeling led to do and they even privately laid hands on us and prayed to send us out.

We prayed for a place to meet, and God opened up room in a small Senior Citizens’ center, but it was outside of the Natchez neighborhood. We started “God’s Glory and Grace” there. It was actually named by our daughter. Eventually we found a run-down building on Natchez Street that had been a wild night club called the Big Wheel. We were doing all of this with no church salary.

We started meeting at the Big Wheel building on Sunday mornings in a new wineskin way. Instead of a sermon, we let anyone present share and testify as they felt led by Jesus. It was intimate, caring, and compassionate like a loving support group. We learned a lot hearing each other’s stories.

Elvira who became a regular testified: “I used to party with the devil here at the Big Wheel, now I’m going to party here for Jesus. Her son and daughter-in-law, Charles and Vanessa, started coming and got excited about Jesus. It was an honor to baptize them in a tank. Vanessa used to spontaneously start singing an old Black Gospel song during the meeting with such power that it would give me goosebumps. Her favorite was, “I’m Coming Up the Rough Side of the Mountain.

Also, about that time I began to have voice problems that made me sound raspy and made it very difficult and humbling to speak. This caused my speaking career to quickly decline. Ernie had stepped away from several of her clients to spend more time with our daughter. It wasn’t surprising that we began to have growing financial struggles, basically living off credit cards and borrowed money.

Fortunately, a couple friend felt led to begin to give a week a month of their “tithe” (10 percent of their income) to God’s Glory and Grace). This gave us enough money to pay rent on the building. and to eventually start a free clothes and food pantry for people in the neighborhood.

Spending so much time in Natchez reminded me that while in seminary in Memphis I had felt nudged to see if I could become a pastor in The Church of God in Christ (COGIC)” the second largest African American denomination in the USA. I realized that I had never acted on that prompting, so I contacted a COGIC pastor, and they eventually accepted me as a fully ordained pastor in their denomination. Ernie and I were so blessed being a part of COGIC and learned a lot from them. (More in another episode — or Google Off the RACE Track — From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.)

My mother felt led to begin cooking a meal once a week and serving a free lunch in the building. The guys I had been hanging out with began to come and a few families from the neighborhood. My parents were very outgoing people, and they loved on and entertained all who came for lunch.

A few of Ernie’s friends wanted to help us minister in Natchez and they helped us start outreaches in the small park nearby. They would bring food, gifts, toys, music, games and other activities. You could feel the love that was overcoming a history of long-term divisiveness. It was wonderful.

Spending so much time in Natchez reminded me that while in seminary in Memphis I had felt nudged to see if I could become a pastor in The Church of God in Christ (COGIC)” the second largest African American denomination in the USA. I realized that I had never acted on that prompting, so I contacted a COGIC pastor, and they eventually accepted me as a fully ordained pastor in their denomination. Ernie and I were so blessed being a part of COGIC. (More on that in another episode.)

Then one day our friends who were giving part of their tithe to God’s Glory and Grace called us. They were members of a famous megachurch in Nashville. They said that one of their pastors had preached a sermon and said that all of their tithe belongs to that church and if they were giving any of it anywhere else, they need to stop. They apologized but said they felt obligated to shift their giving back to their church. That big rich church effectively ended the ministry of God’s Glory and Grace” in Natchez.

Ernie and I were struggling more and more with financial problems. We had cut back expenses, put our house on the market, and prayed more and more. My voice problems had all but ended my motivational speaking career. We were in trouble, but God wasn’t going to let us down. Stay tuned for the next episode:

If you live in the Nashville, Tennessee area come and experience the current episode with us. Every Saturday morning at 8;30 we host a Christian support group at Chile Burrito, 330 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37307.

#testimony #TestimonyOfFaith

Traditional leather bota bags hanging on wooden hooks against a stone wall
Rows of old and new leather bota wine bags hanging on hooks outdoors

Posted in heart care, heart connection, new wineskins, simple church, Spirit-led church | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pursuing the Promise of Experiencing God

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Steve Simms

Looking For New Wineskins (The Misunderstanding of Christianity Part 4)

God’s fire that I encountered in the Jesus Revolution and by spending time with radically committed Indian Christians is always burning in my heart. However, I was growing weary of trying to fit it into organized religion. Old religious wineskins rarely appreciate God’s new wine.

I eventually decided to become a motivational speaker and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. That way, I could let God’s fire burn in front of non-religious people. I did that full-time for the next 12 years while still searching for the new wine of God’s Spirit.

I needed help getting started as a speaker, and I kept seeing an ad in the Nashville Business Journal for C & T Seminars run by a woman named Ernie. One day I called her and told her I was a new motivational speaker. I asked if I could buy her lunch and if she would tell me how she got started. She agreed and was a great help.

I didn’t intend for anything romantic to happen, but it did. Although she had grown up as a Baptist, it didn’t bother her that I was a Jesus Freak, so Ernie became my wife. Over the course of a year, she became as excited about Jesus as I am.

We were regularly attending Christ Church, a charismatic megachurch. Once they asked me to preach in their small Wednesday night service. Ernie’s best friend and former roommate, Helen from Scotland, who wasn’t a Christian, was visiting us. She and Ernie attended the service. During my sermon, Helen whispered to Ernie, “That’s what he’s supposed to be doing.” Later, Helen surrendered her life to Jesus in our living room.

Ernie began to nudge me to get back into the ministry. I wasn’t eager to do so, but I finally contacted a pastor in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to let them know that I was available. To my great surprise, I was quickly hired to be the part-time pastor of Franklin Cumberland Presbyterian Church near Nashville.

It was an old historic church with fewer than 20 people, mostly elderly, in attendance on Sunday mornings. Things went well for a while. I preached on Sunday. Ernie started working with the women. Together we started an interactive Bible study on Wednesday nights. The church grew to about 60 people on Sunday morning. Most of the new people were young and were excited about Jesus. God was on the move in an old wineskin.

However, the original members were becoming more and more unhappy with the growth and with all the new people in the building. Someone reported us to the Presbytery, the pastor and a representative from each of the regional churches. They listened to the people’s complaints, and they listened to us testify about how wonderfully God was moving.

By a close vote they said that I could stay as pastor if I would let them record my sermon every Sunday. I knew they wouldn’t like my passionate preaching style, so I resigned.

A few of the original members and some of the new people decided to leave and start a new church. They asked if Ernie and I would lead them. We agreed but even in a new situation there was still resistance to my preaching style. We eventually left, but the church continued and even built a building. It’s known as Christ Church Franklin.

Our best friends began to attend the Nashville Vinyard church and thought we would like it. We did! The worship was amazing. The sermon was okay. But the best thing was the open altar every Sunday morning. Several spiritually hungry people came forward each week to be prayed over. The congregation was free to leave, but those who did missed the best part of the meeting.

Prayer teams would pray over each person frequently giving them supernatural prophetic words, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom. Each week people were deeply moved and often in tears. They were being physically healed and set free from inner torment. It was truly amazing.

The Nashville Vineyard church started several small groups. Our friends were asked to lead one of them. They encouraged everyone in the group to listen to Jesus and share what he put on their heart. Their group was thriving with the presence of Christ.

However, eventually the church leadership began to require the group leaders to have their group discuss the Sunday sermon in a more tightly controlled format. That caused conflict with our friends and their group. They eventually left having been greatly hurt both emotionally and in their spiritual life. We stayed awhile longer, but the fire in that church was rapidly cooling off.

Two more couples in the church who also left talked to us about having our own small group. So, the six of us began to meet on Sunday nights in our living room for about a year. We called it “a hath a” meeting based on 1 Corinthians 14:26 in the King James Version. “When ye come together every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.”

Those “hath a” meetings with the 6 of us were wonderful. Yet we battled with feeling guilty that we weren’t in a traditional church. Those old wineskins were calling us back. Some friends told us about a new church, Abounding Grace, meeting in a school near us that had an open mic during worship.

We checked it out and loved it. The first meeting we couldn’t figure out who the pastor was. The worship was spiritually thrilling. People were enthusiastically praising God and even dancing before the Lord. From time to time someone would come to the mic and share a powerful insight, a Scripture, or a testimony. After about an hour, they would switch gears, send the children out, and have everybody sit and listen to a sermon by a different person each week. The new wine of God’s Spirit was flowing and I was hooked.

The pastor who so gracefully shared the pulpit (or podium in his case) was handing out copies of his book “Issues of the Heart — Let My People Go.” There was a small slip of paper inside the book that said something like: “Much of what I have written in this book is extreme, but I have been corrected by leadership and brought into a more accurate point of view.” That note made me really want to read it.

His book is all about Christians coming together to all listen to and obey the leading of God’s Spirit. I’ve read it several times and still have the copy the pastor gave me. I just opened it and saw these words: “The one-man system violates the people. One man becomes the eye, the ear, the nose, the foot, the hand.” He also wrote: “It is time to be up and doing. Their (spiritual) food will not continue to come from attending and listening; their food will be to do the will of the Father. So many need to realize that to move on in God is not rebellion. It is not a wrong sort of independence. Rather it is a natural healthy part of maturing.”

Wow! I was excited to find a pastor who articulated what I had experienced and learned from The Jesus Revolution and from being around on fire Indian Christians! Yet I was about to learn that even in that amazing church the new wine was in decline.

Stay tuned for Part 5: Finding New Wineskins Beyond a Sermon Centered Church

Looking For New Wineskins (The Misunderstanding of Christianity Part 4)

God’s fire that I encountered in the Jesus Revolution and by spending time with radically committed Indian Christians is always burning in my heart. However, I was growing weary of trying to fit it into organized religion. Old religious wineskins rarely appreciate God’s new wine.

I eventually decided to become a motivational speaker and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. That way, I could let God’s fire burn in front of non-religious people. I did that full-time for the next 12 years while still searching for the new wine of God’s Spirit.

I needed help getting started as a speaker, and I kept seeing an ad in the Nashville Business Journal for C & T Seminars run by a woman named Ernie. One day I called her and told her I was a new motivational speaker. I asked if I could buy her lunch and if she would tell me how she got started. She agreed and was a great help.

I didn’t intend for anything romantic to happen, but it did. Although she had grown up as a Baptist, it didn’t bother her that I was a Jesus Freak, so Ernie became my wife. Over the course of a year, she became as excited about Jesus as I am.

We were regularly attending Christ Church, a charismatic megachurch. Once they asked me to preach in their small Wednesday night service. Ernie’s best friend and former roommate, Helen from Scotland, who wasn’t a Christian, was visiting us. She and Ernie attended the service. During my sermon, Helen whispered to Ernie, “That’s what he’s supposed to be doing.” Later, Helen surrendered her life to Jesus in our living room.

Ernie began to nudge me to get back into the ministry. I wasn’t eager to do so, but I finally contacted a pastor in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to let them know that I was available. To my great surprise, I was quickly hired to be the part-time pastor of Franklin Cumberland Presbyterian Church near Nashville.

It was an old historic church with fewer than 20 people, mostly elderly, in attendance on Sunday mornings. Things went well for a while. I preached on Sunday. Ernie started working with the women. Together we started an interactive Bible study on Wednesday nights. The church grew to about 60 people on Sunday morning. Most of the new people were young and were excited about Jesus. God was on the move in an old wineskin.

However, the original members were becoming more and more unhappy with the growth and with all the new people in the building. Someone reported us to the Presbytery, the pastor and a representative from each of the regional churches. They listened to the people’s complaints, and they listened to us testify about how wonderfully God was moving.

By a close vote they said that I could stay as pastor if I would let them record my sermon every Sunday. I knew they wouldn’t like my passionate preaching style, so I resigned.

A few of the original members and some of the new people decided to leave and start a new church. They asked if Ernie and I would lead them. We agreed but even in a new situation there was still resistance to my preaching style. We eventually left, but the church continued and even built a building. It’s known as Christ Church Franklin.

Our best friends began to attend the Nashville Vinyard church and thought we would like it. We did! The worship was amazing. The sermon was okay. But the best thing was the open altar every Sunday morning. Several spiritually hungry people came forward each week to be prayed over. The congregation was free to leave, but those who did missed the best part of the meeting.

Prayer teams would pray over each person frequently giving them supernatural prophetic words, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom. Each week people were deeply moved and often in tears. They were being physically healed and set free from inner torment. It was truly amazing.

The Nashville Vineyard church started several small groups. Our friends were asked to lead one of them. They encouraged everyone in the group to listen to Jesus and share what he put on their heart. Their group was thriving with the presence of Christ.

However, eventually the church leadership began to require the group leaders to have their group discuss the Sunday sermon in a more tightly controlled format. That caused conflict with our friends and their group. They eventually left having been greatly hurt both emotionally and in their spiritual life. We stayed awhile longer, but the fire in that church was rapidly cooling off.

Two more couples in the church who also left talked to us about having our own small group. So, the six of us began to meet on Sunday nights in our living room for about a year. We called it “a hath a” meeting based on 1 Corinthians 14:26 in the King James Version. “When ye come together every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.”

Those “hath a” meetings with the 6 of us were wonderful. Yet we battled with feeling guilty that we weren’t in a traditional church. Those old wineskins were calling us back. Some friends told us about a new church, Abounding Grace, meeting in a school near us that had an open mic during worship.

We checked it out and loved it. The first meeting we couldn’t figure out who the pastor was. The worship was spiritually thrilling. People were enthusiastically praising God and even dancing before the Lord. From time to time someone would come to the mic and share a powerful insight, a Scripture, or a testimony. After about an hour, they would switch gears, send the children out, and have everybody sit and listen to a sermon by a different person each week. The new wine of God’s Spirit was flowing and I was hooked.

The pastor who so gracefully shared the pulpit (or podium in his case) was handing out copies of his book “Issues of the Heart — Let My People Go.” There was a small slip of paper inside the book that said something like: “Much of what I have written in this book is extreme, but I have been corrected by leadership and brought into a more accurate point of view.” That note made me really want to read it.

His book is all about Christians coming together to all listen to and obey the leading of God’s Spirit. I’ve read it several times and still have the copy the pastor gave me. I just opened it and saw these words: “The one-man system violates the people. One man becomes the eye, the ear, the nose, the foot, the hand.” He also wrote: “It is time to be up and doing. Their (spiritual) food will not continue to come from attending and listening; their food will be to do the will of the Father. So many need to realize that to move on in God is not rebellion. It is not a wrong sort of independence. Rather it is a natural healthy part of maturing.”

Wow! I was excited to find a pastor who articulated what I had experienced and learned from The Jesus Revolution and from being around on fire Indian Christians! Yet I was about to learn that even in that amazing church the new wine was in decline.

Stay tuned for Part 5: Finding New Wineskins Beyond a Sermon Centered Church

Photo by Luna Joie on Pexels.com

Posted in Christian spirituality, church burn out, church hurt, church leadership, new wine | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Real Experience That Reads Like Fiction (The Misunderstanding of Christianity — Part 3: Inspired by Indian Christians)

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Steve Simms

The Misunderstanding of Christianity (Part 3: Inspired by Indian Christians)

In 1984, I was a burned-out pastor on fire for Jesus, managing a small retail lumber yard in Murfreesboro, TN. Religious obligation had me faithfully attending a nondenominational, non-charismatic church.

One Sunday, a man from India preached there. His name was MA Thomas. He was full of passion and love for Jesus. He had started hundreds of churches, 5 or 6 Bible schools, 70 or so Christian schools, several orphanages, and a few leper colonies throughout India. As he spoke, I felt an inner prompting to ask him if he could use a volunteer teacher at one of the Bible schools.

As we talked, there was an instant heart-to-heart connection. He eagerly welcomed me and invited me to come to India for three months to teach in the Bible school where he taught.

After I had made plans to go in the Fall, the pastor of the church tried to get Brother Thomas to uninvite me because I speak in tongues. Brother Thomas told the pastor something like: “My wife was raised in the Indian Pentecostal Church, and she speaks in tongues, so I have no problem with that.”

A few months later, Brother Thomas made another trip to the USA. When he returned home, I went back to India with him. We had to spend the night together in New York, and to save money, we stayed with Indian friends of his in a rundown, high-rise apartment building in the Bronx.

They served us a meal of Indian street food that one of them had just brought back from India. That food started me on more than a year-long battle with stomach problems. The next morning, I woke up with cockroaches crawling all over me. I’ve never seen that many cockroaches again. I began to wonder if I had made the right decision to go to India.

When we got on the plane to head toward India, Brother Thomas was talking to everyone. He asked one man to sit by him until the seat holder came. He quickly and joyfully began to talk to the man about Jesus. Then he asked him if the plane crashed, where would he go for eternity? The man said he didn’t know. Then he went on down the aisle to his seat.

Halfway over the Atlantic, the pilot announced that we had lost one of our two engines and would be making an emergency landing in London instead of landing in Frankfurt. The seat by Brother Thomas was still empty. Suddenly the man showed up and asked if he could sit with us. He wanted to know how he could go to Heaven.

Brother Thomas told the man about Jesus dying to save us from our sins and how Jesus is now alive and wants us to let Him live inside of us and be our inner ruler. The man prayed and surrendered his life to Jesus. Brother Thomas talked to him about how wonderful Jesus is until we landed safely (Thank God!) in London.

After much flight rescheduling, we finally arrived in New Delhi. We picked up out luggage and headed toward the train station. Then we found our second-class seats and spent more hours headed toward Kota, Rajasthan (in between New Delhi and Mumbai) where Brother Thomas lived and the Bible school is located.

We finally arrived at Brother Thomas’ tiny house beside the church. There I met his wife, his teenage son Samuel, and his daughter Elizabeth and her husband. Finally, they showed me to my small room upstairs above the church. Exhausted with stomach problems and culture shocked, I quickly fell asleep.

I was awakened the next morning for breakfast. The family had their meals together at a table in the church kitchen. There was no silverware. They just used their fingers both to serve and to eat the food. I am a germaphobe and had to depend on God the next three months to help me be polite and eat.

The first day they acclimated me to their lifestyle and routine. About 30 students lived at the Kota Bible Institute about a block away. After introducing me to the students they showed me the classroom where I would teach the Bible (in English) three hours every weekday morning. (The student’s had been taught English in school, but I had to use simple vocabulary and speak slowly for them to understand me). I also had brought a 6-booklet Navigator, fill-in-the-blanks Bible study that I taught from. Someone in the Murfreesboro church had bought enough for each student to have a set. Several of the church members had also contributed to help fund my trip.

Brother Thomas shared their daily schedule with me. He, his family, and the students gathered in the church to spontaneously and fervently pray together three times every day: from 5:30 to 6:30 AM, 2:00 to 2:30 PM, and 9:30 to 10:30 PM. Of course, I was expected to be a part of those prayer meetings. The students also spent the afternoons from 4:00 to 7:00 on the streets and door-to-do talking to people about Jesus and I often went with some of them. I had my meals with the family at the church. The students had theirs at the school.

They had powerful, passionate, and Spirit-anointed church services on Sunday morning and also on a weeknight. I was frequently asked me to preach at them. It was challenging. I was interpreted into two different Indian languages. My preaching and my Bible teaching were better received in India than anywhere I’ve ever preached or taught. They also had me preach a three-day outdoor crusade in a slum in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). I even preached at two or three Indian weddings. What a blessing it was to have my unconventional preaching style so well received!

Seeing God do amazing things through sold-out Christ followers in a passionate Spirit-led environment for three months was incredible! Indian Christians changed my life! I’m crying as I write about it.

When I was leaving to go to the train station to begin my return home, everyone crowed around me, hugged me, and powerfully sang together the song in English, “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” What a trip!

Yet, God had more in store for me. An English man who had spoken at the church in Murfreesboro made arrangements for me to spend two weeks in England on my way home. One week I was a tourist. The other week was another powerful spiritual adventure.

I spent Christmas week in a castle owned by Torchbearers, a ministry founded by Major W. Ian Thomas. Every Christmas for many years a fairly small group of Christ-followers had gather there for an intimate, informal time of seeking the Lord together. There was some teaching and a lot of Spirit-prompted sharing, praying, and testimonies. It was 1 Corinthians 14:26 in action — what I had been searching for since the Jesus Movement.

When I returned to Middle Tennessee, I had the desire to try to get back into full-time ministry again and face more disappointment as a pastor.

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The Misunderstanding of Christianity (Part 2: The Struggles of a Misfit Pastor)

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Steve Simms

“How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.” How hard it is to do things the way God wants to lead you instead of the way that makes you look good and feel comfortable.

The Misunderstanding of Christianity (Part 2: The Struggles of a Misfit Pastor)

While in seminary in Memphis, I preached on Sunday mornings at a tiny Presbyterian church in Truman, Arkansas. Ablaze with love for Jesus, I enthusiastically talked about Him. They politely and passively listened. Not much else happened.

Once I earned a 3-year MDiv. degree from seminary and was going through the process of being ordained a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, I was eager to go and make disciples. I was ready to take the Jesus Movement to a church as a full-time minister.

First up was the Clarksville First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the city of Clarksville, TN. They hired me to be their assistant pastor. It was very dry and formal and had two pulpits. The head pastor preached out of one. I made announcements, read a Bible passage, and led a responsive reading out of the other. During the week, the pastor spent most of his time in his office. I visited people in the hospital and in their homes. Sometimes they would let me pray with them.

After nine months, I was thrilled to be hired by the small Mayfield Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Mayfield, KY, at the time a town of about 14,000 people. The church had an attendance of about 20 people. They were very friendly to me and liked to compliment my preaching. But I wanted more than compliments. I wanted them to get excited about Jesus.

I began to attend the Full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting in town and met the owner of the local radio station. He was as excited about Jesus as I was and began to attend the church. He asked me to visit his son who he thought was doing drugs. I did, and eventually his son and two of his son’s friends met Jesus and got on fire for Christ. They became Jesus Freaks in the town high school and began to attend the church,

The church started growing both spiritually and in numbers. Things were off to a good start. I even started taking the three high school students to Maranatha, a charismatic group of fired-up young adults that met in Paducah. Those three guys were growing stronger and stronger in the Lord.

The first year was great. The second year things began to slow down. The college guys got more interested in Maranatha than in the church.

The church had grown to about 60 on Sunday mornings. The original 20 weren’t fully comfortable with the growth. I was trying hard to get the people to testify and share during the Sunday service. The denomination didn’t like what was happening and was putting pressure on me to tone things down. I could tell that I was going to have to settle into routine religion or face a lot of conflict.

Two of my roommates from Melodyland School of Theology were pastoring small, charismatic churches, one in Carson City, NV and the other at Lake Tahoe, NV. They had a friend who was pastoring in Reno, NV. I was invited to be the volunteer assistant pastor in Reno, so off I went.

I loved the Spirit-filled praise and worship time in Reno. However, I wasn’t too fond of the way things shifted at sermon time. The people went from enthusiastic participants to mere spectators. I tried to encourage more interaction during my two years in Reno, but my suggestions were mostly ignored.

I finally took the strange job of managing a small retail lumber yard with two part-time employees and moved to Murfreesboro, TN. I started attending a mid-size nondenominational, noncharismatic church. I settled into the passive Sunday morning routine until M.A. Thomas, a visiting pastor from India who had started several thousand churches there, invited me to come and teach in one of his Bible schools for three months. (More on that in Part 3.)

My spiritual fire was recharged! When I got back to Tennessee, I decided to look for a way to get back into full-time ministry. I found a position as assistant pastor of a nondenominational church of about 200 people in Paducah, KY, called Gospel Mission Church. It was non-charismatic; I think my Holy Spirit fire was too much for them. I lasted about 3 years and was basically forced out.

Some former members of Gospel Mission Church had started their own church and asked me to be their pastor. I accepted, but for some reason they asked me to leave after a few months. I never really understood why.

Then a Pentecostal friend of mine and I started a church called “Christian Challenge Outreach.” I wrote a weekly column called “Christian Challenge” in a local newspaper. We thought the name might draw people to the new church. We decided to be co-pastors and to alternate preaching on Sunday mornings. We also tried to get people to testify and share during the service. We never grew to more than 15 or so people and had trouble paying the rent on the building, so after about six months we stopped.

I decided to give up on being a pastor and to become a motivational speaker instead. I thought that I could sneak Jesus into my speeches. So, I moved to Nashville and began to speak to professional associations and civic clubs. I started attending a charismatic church start-up and thought I would focus on a speaking career. But God had other plans. (More on that in Part 4)

five small historical churches and one large Gothic cathedral in a rural village surrounded by green fields and trees
A collection of five small historical churches with a large Gothic cathedral in a peaceful countryside setting
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The Misunderstanding of Christianity (Part 1: The Jesus Revolution From Southern Style to Southern Cal Style)

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Steve Simms

My roommate, Jimmy Hoppers, and I showed up at a small Southern college in the fall of 1969 — the University of Tennessee Martin (UTM) in rural West Tennessee. Little did we know that it would drastically change our lives in unexpected ways. Jimmy has written about our experiences in a book called “The Jesus Revolution Southern Style.”

It was there at UTM that, for the first time in my life, I encountered Jesus as a living reality rather than as a religious story. I was swept into a movement of God that was unorganized, mostly unchurched, Spirit-led, supernatural, and the most exciting time of my life.

Multitudes of students were getting caught up in Jesus. We would spontaneously gather all across campus to talk about Jesus and to Him. We were part of a spiritual movement that was producing Southern Jesus Freaks.

After graduating, I wanted to continue my Jesus Revolution experiences, so I moved to Southern California to attend Melodyland School of Theology—a charismatic seminary in Anaheim not too far from Calvary Chapel.

My first day there, I was waiting in line to register. When my name was called, a guy behind me said, “Frank Beard said to tell you hello.” Frank Beard was a fellow UTM Jesus lover. The guy behind me, Marlon Rains, had met Frank in Atlanta. I told him the motel where I was staying. Then I went on to register.

My father and brother had driven to Anaheim with me and were planning to fly back after a week. I was searching for an apartment but having no success. The day before my family was going to leave, there was a knock on our door. When I opened it, I saw Marlon Raines with two other guys, Tom Griner and Eric Stovesand. He said, “We’ve rented an apartment and need another roommate. Would you like to join us?”

With great relief, I jumped at the chance. Those three guys became lifelong friends. They loved Jesus so much! Marlon and Eric were from St. Louis; Tom grew up in the South. Together in our friendship, we continued to experience the Spirit-led spontaneity of the Southern-style Jesus Revolution.

However, things were different in Southern Cal. The School of Theology was on the same property as Melodyland Christian Center, one of the first megachurches in the USA. The classes began in an amazing way. They would start with about five minutes of spontaneous prayer and praise (even sometimes including singing in tongues). Then they would shift into classroom style lectures.

I loved the beginnings of the classes, and I learned a lot from the lectures, but the Southern style Spirit-led interaction was hard to find in the California Jesus Revolution. My three roommates and our friends frequently experienced it among ourselves however other than that it seemed rare.

I searched for it at Melodyland Christian Center. The church services there were anointed with great teaching, but the people in the huge congregation were basically kept as spectators. On Saturday nights I would sometimes go to a Jesus Music concert (before it was called Contemporary Christian Music) at Calvary Chapel (the church featured in the movie and book “The Jesus Revolution”).

In spite of the spiritually, the school and the churches around us were training us to conform to and to be leaders in the passive audience model of church. In its early days, the school was teaching us that if we had a grown up in a denominational church we should go back into that denomination and become a pastor so we could change it from within.

They convinced me. I had been an active member of a Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and they had a very small seminary in Memphis, Tennessee.

So, after three semesters at Melodyland, I transferred to Memphis Theological Seminary. It was religion Southern style — very structured, analytical, formal, controlled, and dry. Several of the professors didn’t even believe what the Bible clearly taught. I endured and was able to keep God’s fire burning in my heart by boldly speaking up about the living Jesus, finding and reading deeply spiritual books from the school library, daily devouring the Bible, and frequently praying in tongues.

I graduated and was eventually ordained as a Cumberland Presbyterian pastor. What a misfit I was. They were not accustomed to a Jesus Freak pastor. I’ll talk about my pastoring experiences in another post.

I believe that spectator-style church is a misunderstanding of Christianity. Learn how to experience Christ beyond traditional church. Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Posted in Jesus calling, Jesus freaks, Jesus Movement, Jesus prayer, Jesus revolution | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let Living Faith Be Your Go-To App

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Steve Simms

Faith? Faith is faithfully relying on and depending on God with or without a sign!

God doesn’t want people to be stuck in an outward form of godliness. (2 Timothy 3:5) He wants us to be inwardly empowered by faith. (Galatians 3:11) Faith unapplied is God denied.

God doesn’t want us to settle for sermons. He wants us to be directly led by the promptings of His Spirit. (Romans 8:14) He doesn’t want us to simply listen to lectures about the written word. God wants us to be faithful doers of it. (James 1:22-25) He wants us to listen to and obey Jesus, the living Word. (Hebrews 4:12, John 1:1-14)

Faith isn’t about just following the rules. (Titus 3:5) It’s about living by God’s righteousness, peace, and joy. (Romans 14:17) It’s not only about church attendance. It’s about the ongoing experience of the powerful presence of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

It’s not about pride. It’s about humbly letting God Himself be your guide. (James 4:6) It’s not merely about Bible information. It’s about holy transformation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It’s about letting the words of the Bible burn in your heart. (Luke 24:32)

True Christianity’s not about your political views or what’s in the news. It’s about letting the risen Jesus be your King and continually govern you from within. (Matthew 6:33) It’s about radical loyalty and obedience to the inner kingdom of God. (Luke 17:20-21)

Have you learned to walk in the Spirit? (Galatians 5:16) Are you willing to continually notice Christ’s voice and to hear it and obey it? (John 10:27) That’s what God wants for you. (2 Peter 3:9) Refuse to settle for less. Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

(The picture is AI-generated. The writing was all generated within me as I listened to the Holy Spirit and let Him transpose the words in my heart.)

Hand holding smartphone displaying The Faith App with devotional and Bible study options
A person is using The Faith App to follow a daily devotional in a cozy living room.
Posted in faith, faith and politics, faith in action, faith in God, justification by faith | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Be Inspired!

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Steve Simms

Religious traditions or heart-to-heart togetherness? Which truly inspires?

Many Christians throughout history have set aside God’s 50+ New Testament “one another” commandments in order to observe their own Sunday morning traditions. (Mark 7:9) Instead of assembling together to “spur one another on to love and good works” and to “encourage one another,” (Hebrews 10:24-25) they have gathered to passively sit through religious program after program.

If you’re satisfied with superficial Christianity that merely teaches human rules, (Mark 7:6-7) you’re lukewarm and you need to be heated up. (Revelation 3:16) If your faith isn’t a roaring fire within you, fan it into flame before it’s too late. (2 Timothy 1:6)

Lectures can lay out the letter of the law, but they can’t empower people to live daily in the spirit of the law. (2 Corinthians 3:6) Only God the Holy Spirit can do that. (Acts 1:8)

Humble, repentant, open-hearted prayer leads to direct connection with God the Spirit. (James 4:6) A church service that doesn’t enable and empower people to connect directly and heart-to-heart with “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27) and with other Christ-followers may be what the Bible calls a powerless form of godliness. (2 Timothy 3:5)

Photo by Diva Plavalaguna on Pexels.com
Posted in Christian spirituality, inspiration, inspirational, religious tradition, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Replacing the High and Low of Hierarchy with the Alternative of M&Ms

Posted on July 19, 2026 by Steve Simms

The High and Low of Human Hierarchy and the Alternative of M&Ms

Hierarchy’s high is this. Because it places one person as the head over all the others, it creates a chain of command that can effectively control what goes on in an organization, a business, or a church service.

Hierarchy’s low is this. Because it relies on human authority and control, it interferes with, hinders, and even prevents direct leadership and direction by God the Holy Spirit.

God’s alternative to human hierarchy is M&Ms. It is everyone present engaging in mutual ministries under the Headship of the living Jesus as they are prompted and led by His Spirit.

Jesus told His disciples not to function as a hierarchy. (Matthew 20:25-26) Christ-followers are supposed to function as His body and to be directed by His Headship rather than by following a human hierarchy.

Overseers (elders, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) in the body of Christ are always plural. They are guides on the side, not a single sage on a stage or one person monopolizing a pulpit. Together they train and disciple Christians to engage in Spirit-led, mutual ministry that obeys the 50+ New Testament “one another” commands.

Would you like to experience spiritual awakening in your life, your family, your community, and your nation? Then let go (of human control) and let God lead you into M&Ms — Spirit-prompted mutual ministries.

If you listen to sermons about Jesus but your daily life isn’t about getting to know Him better and better, you’re missing the point of Christianity. When people truly encounter the risen Jesus and surrender themselves to Him, they no longer serve their own desires for human control. Instead, they focus on obeying and pleasing God.

Posted in church government, church leadership, ecclesiology, hierarchy, Lord it over | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Humble Heart-to-Heart Conversation Outdated?

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Steve Simms

Simple survey: Which do you prefer — the poem or the prose?

1)
Passive
Depression
Isn’t good
For your
Mental health.
Get up.
Get helping.
Get hope.

Or 2)
Passive depression isn’t good for your mental health. Get up, Get helping. Get hope.

Answer in the comments. Please like and share help and hope everywhere you go today. It will make the world a better place and make you feel better about your life. #hopeful #helpful

Let’s have a humble, heart-to-heart conversation. Caring, compassionate human interaction is incredible. Try it today and see.

Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com

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There’s No Excuse To Hide

Posted on July 17, 2026 by Steve Simms

The Bible calls on Christians to walk in the light. (Ephesians 5:8-10) Light exposes things. To walk in the light is to allow the hidden things in your heart to be exposed. It is to “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16)

Yet when Christians gather on Sunday mornings, you don’t see them walking in the light and having open, honest, heart-to-heart “fellowship with one another.” (1 John 15-7) You don’t see them confessing their sins to one another and spending time praying for each other. You don’t notice them assembling themselves together to “spur one another on to love and good works” and to “encourage one another.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Instead of letting God’s Spirit be their inner guide (Romans 8:14) you see Christians hiding behind religious pride, routine, ritual, tradition, programs, and even Bible teachings. Rather than confessing, testifying, (Revelation 12:11) and openly sharing what God prompts them to, (1 Corinthians 14:26) they hide what’s really going on inside of their heart.

When the Holy Spirit is quenched, Christians harden and shut down their heart. That stops God’s inner rivers of love from freely flowing. That’s why the Bible says to walk in the light.

A house church can be just as shut down and tradition-bound as a brick-and-mortar church. The difference between ekklesia and church isn’t the location. It is the leader. A church focuses on the leadership of a one-man pastor. An ekklesia focuses on being led by the Holy Spirit. Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

When people gather to all listen to God the Holy Spirit, and then each person present says and does what He puts on their heart, God’s glorious ekklesia is experienced in action. Churches are all around, but ekklesia is rarely found. Make church ekklesia again.

People who follow the risen Jesus are never supposed to walk in darkness. (John 8:12) If you want to know Jesus better, begin to gather with other Christians, not to passively watch a program or sit through a “service” but to walk in the light together. If you want to experience light like that, come visit the Christian encouragement group that meets on Saturday mornings at 8:30 at Chile Burrito, 330 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37207.

Diverse group sitting in a circle in a cozy room, engaging in discussion
A diverse group of people share stories in a warm, supportive group setting
Posted in Christian spirituality, Christian support group, discipleship, ekklesia, house church | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment