Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

I like to look and think outside the box. In college I encountered Jesus Christ and I have been passionate about trying to get to know Him better ever since. My wife and I long to see the power and passion of the first Christ-followers come to life in our time. I have written a book about our experiences in non-traditional church, called, "Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible--Ekklesia." If you need encouragement, search for: Elephants Encouraging The Room and/or check out my Amazon author page. Thank you!

Humanity’s Biggest Failure

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Steve Simms

What is humanity’s greatest failure? It is a failure of understanding, a failure of love, a failure of respect. It is a failing of compassion, a failing of negotiation, a failing of faith. It is trusting in human power rather … Continue reading →

Posted in ancient history, anti-war, human rights, Jesus Christ, nonviolence, peace, Quotations, Quotes, Uncategorized, war | Tagged a better way, afraid, agree, amazing, American generals, antiwar, backed, beliefs, big, blog, bloody, carnage, child, childhood, civilians, claim, collateral damage. hurting, college, compassion, considering, country, courage, cruelly, cruelty, cry, days, deep convictions, despised, destruction, drafted, even, evil, example rings, exercise, failing, failure, faith, famous, folks, follie, folly, fought, freedom of speech, from, go to war, God's might, government sponsored, grieves, group, harm done, hate, hatred, horror, human act, human beings, human history, human suffering, humanity's, humanity's greatest failure, innate, intelligence, intimidated into silence, it is time, Jesus, kill, killed, laying down His life, life, losses, love, love our enemies, making war, mankind, massive, modern, morally wrong, nationaity, national conflicts, negotiation, never made any sense, not enough, on, openly, other side, parents, passivist, people, physical weapons, poems, popular, power, precious, prides itself, property loss, publicly admit, quotations, quotes, races, reason, rejected, relying, resolve, respect, right, right to life, rise up, sacrificial love, say, seeking, sense, shouting, slaughter, small, smart enough, soldiers, sophisticated, spiritual, stories, talk, technologies, television, terrible, terribly, terror, think, tremendous, trusting, turn the other cheek, Twentieth Century, un-American, understanding, unpatriotic, Vietnam War, violence, war, war movies, wife, win, win or lose, you, you lose | 6 Comments

Can A Church Be Full Of The Glory Of God?

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

A popular worship song says: “The splendor of the King; clothed in majesty . . .” It is great to sing about God’s splendor, but how do we bring it forth? There is a simple, but powerful answer to this … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, God, house church, Jesus Christ, music, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, prayer, religion, simple church, What is church? | Tagged among, awe, baton, Berry Street, Bible, blends, bring it, called, chaos, Christ's body, church, clothed in majesty, conductor, contributions, directory, do, do their own thing, experience, expressions, forth, gathered, gifted, giving, glorious, glory of God, God, God's splendor, great, hear, heart-felt, hearts, holy, Holy Spirit, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, indescribable, instructions, leading, leadings, member, men, morning, move, musicians, Nashville, obeys, open, option, orchestra, organic church, people, perform, place, popular, powerful, prayer, presence, responds, revelation, seek, shares, shines, silence, simple, simple church, sing, spiritually hungry, splendor of the King, stand, standing on holy ground, Sunday, symphony, talented, taps, taste and see, testmony, The Salvation Army, verse, women, word of knowledge, worship song | Leave a comment

Top Ten Most Disobeyed New Testament Scriptures

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Steve Simms

What are the top ten most disobeyed New Testament Scriptures? Here is my list of nominations (from the New International Version {NIV}) for the ten most ignored Bible verses: 10) “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will … Continue reading →

Posted in ancient history, anti-war, Bible, books, church history, English literature, history, Holy Spirit, human rights, Jesus Christ, King James Version, kingdom of God, organic church, Quotations, reading, religion, self-esteem, self-image, social justice, Top Ten | Tagged all these things, ambition, back, banquet, Bible, bless those who, blessed, blind, body, brothers, cannot repay, carefully, church, commits, conceit, considers others better than yourselves, crippled, curse you, daily, deny himself, dinner, do good, do not put out, don not invite, done, encouraged, everyone has a, exercise authority, fire, first, first speaker, flee, follow Me, Friends, from, Gentiles, given to you, hate, he must, high, host, humility, hymn, I Corinthians 14:26, If anyone would come after me, immorality, in turn, instructed, instruction revelation, interpretation, Jesus, kingdom, lame, lord it over, love your enemies, Luke 9:23, luncheon, Matthew 6:33, mistreat, most disobeyed, must be your servant, neighbors, New International Version, New Testament, NIV, nominations, of the, officials, Philippians 2:3, poor, pray, prepaid, prophesy, prophets, relatives, resurection, rich, righteous, righteousness, rulers, said, Scriptures, seek, selfish, sexual, sexually, sins, sitting down, slave, speak, Spirit's, stop, strengthening, take up his cross, tongue, two or three, vain, verses, weigh, When you come together, whosoever wants to become great, word, you can all | 4 Comments

Happy Birthday, King James Version

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Steve Simms

In 1611, the Bible was translated into the king’s speech (the king’s English). The King James Version was first published on May 5, 1611. It is a masterpiece of English literature and the best selling book in history. In the … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, ancient history, Bible, books, church history, English, English literature, God, history, Jesus Christ, King James Version, new birth, reading | Tagged 1611, 400th, another, archaic, beautiful, believer, best selling book, Bible, birthday, born again, burned in my heart, convinced, daily, day, devoured, editiion, encounter, English Literature, eventually, experience, first, happy, hast, holy, hours, in history, including, indeed, inspired, Jesus Christ, King James Version, KJV, language, life, literally, masterpiece, months, people, personal, preacher, published, reading, red letter, rejected, Scriptures, slow me down, special place, the king's English, the king's speech, Thee, Thou, touched, transforming, translated, translation, translations, Word orf God, years | Leave a comment

Our Exquisite Existence Eclipses Evolution’s Explanations

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Steve Simms

If unaided, material evolution is true, then: Time plus a compacted blob of subatomic particles, produced everything — from human reason and consciousness to the most detailed and complex organisms on earth. However, for me, evolution is an inadequate explanation of … Continue reading →

Posted in big bang, creation, evolution, history, theory of evolution, thinking | Tagged animated, astronomer, atoms, ball, billions of years, blob, bounced, brain, cause, cells, chemical, cimprehension, collections, combination, compacted, complex, conceptionalizes, conclude, consciousness, cosmos, courses, dance on a keyboard, dwarfed, earth, eclipses, eco system, explanation, exploded, explosions, fingers, gasses, glories, how can it be trusted, human reason, ideas, inadequate, information processors, intelligence, interrelated, intricacies existence, life forms, light show, living, masses, massive, material evolution, mathematical formulas, mind, multiply, natural world, nightly, nuclear, observation, organisms, originated, out of this, Periodic Table, physiological, place in space, planets, pondering, process, profundity, program, question, reading, reproduced, rolling down, solution, soulless, speeds, splitting, spontaneously, stars, subatomic particles, time, trace, trajectories, ture, unaided, watches, wonder, world, writing | 2 Comments

Celebrating Real Freedom On The 4th Of July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Freedom is a wonderful thing to celebrate. However, it is far better to be free than talk about freedom. For example, if government guarantees the freedom of speech, but a person has a habit of speaking in anger, that she/he wants … Continue reading →

Posted in addiction, Bible, Fourth of July, freedom, life, lifestyles, recovery, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged 4th of July, ability, addicted, addictions, adult, anger, anxieties, areas, be free, behaviors, bondage, bullied, can't stop using, capacity, celebrate, child, compulsions, control, cravings, defend, desires, dirrected, document, doing, dominated, dysfunctional, emotional, enslave, excessive, family, far better, fears, fighting, for example, forces, fourth, free, freedom, freedom of speech, full of, gallantly, genetic tendencies, glorified, Go and sin no more, gorernment guarantee, government, guarantees, habit, habits, house, justify, live your life, living, love your enemies, man, manipulation, mental, New Testament, no condemnation, overcome, passionately, peace that passes understanding, peer pressure, person, physical, political, prejudice, pride, promises, resisting, self-destructive, speaking, surrendered our freedom, talk, teenager, the world's greatest, thing, thinking, throw around, tormented, tormenting thoughts, under, weapons, what happened, where is, woman, wonderful, word, worries | 4 Comments

Norman Vincent Peale at 93

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Several years ago, Norman Vincent Peale, author of the book, The Power Of Positive Thinking, was scheduled to speak for an association convention in Nashville. He was 93 years old at the time. I knew someone who worked for that … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, change management, lifestyles, Norman Vincent Peale, positive thinking, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, thinking, thoughts | Tagged association, attend, author, bigger, boldness, book, capable, change, chosen area, compare, comparison, convention, conviction, Dr., energy, everybody is better, excited, feel better, feel inferior, forgotten, greater things, hear, high school, inferiority complex, lives, long pause, lose, mind, myself, Nashville, Norman Vincent Peale, not to compare, one-of-a-kind, optimism, original, positive thinking, problem, quotes, realize, remember correctly, scheduled, something, speak, speech, spoke, stories, strength, superior, The Power Of Positive Thinking, think, thought, weakness, winderity, years, yes, younger | 1 Comment

Uh Hum . . . What The Bible Says About Interrupting Church

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Interrupting a church meeting has been considered taboo for just about as long as church has existed. I only remember two times being in a church service that was interrupted, prior to being part of an organic church. When I was … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, freedom, history, Holy Spirit, house church, mysticism, Nashville, Quakers, simple church, What is church? | Tagged a fresh word, adds, allowing, ambulance, Arkansas, arrive, assistant, attend, bold, carefully, change, church, church history, collspsed, congregation, CPR, deeply, disorderly, eagerly, early, earthquake, enthusiastically, excited, existed, gave, George Fox, gone to be with the Lord, halt, ignored, insight, interrupted, interrupting, Jonesboro, Kentucky, kid, kind, left, light, man, meeting, middle, movements, moving, Nashville, New Testament, open, organic church, Paducah, panic, participatory, pastor, pauses, perhaps, person, polite, powerful, prayed, preacher, Presbyterian Church, prophets, Quakers, quenching, raises a hand, responded, revelation, revival, rude, service, silently, sitting down, speaker, spiritual, stop, Sunday, taboo, tag team wrestling, Tennessee. sharing, the Holy Spirit, think, times, transitions, two or three, weigh, words | 11 Comments

More Original Organic Church Thoughts

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Organic church is a term used to describe church that is based on spiritual life, personal relationships, heart-felt love, Spirit-led worship, and open participation, rather than on institutional structure or man-led meetings. It is also known as simple church and/or house … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, freedom, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, mysticism, organic church, public speaking, religion, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged active role, based on, beautiful, believers, body of believers, builds, caring, Christians, church, comments, community, completely, conjecture, constantly seeking, creates, family, field, flooding, free, freedom, Friends, give people, heart-felt, Holy Spirit, honest, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, ignored, institutional structure, kindergarten, lecture, love, makes God real, man-led, meet in a house, meetings, minister, ministry, more effective, most recent, New Testament, one another, open, opportunity, organic church, original, originally, others, participation, perhaps, personal relationships, posted, professional, program, publicly, rare, rather than, religious, rivers, seek, service, sharing, show and tell, simple church, souls, spectators, spilling, Spirit-led worship, spiritual growth, spiritual life, spoke, stirred, superfulous, taught, term, the Spirit, theological, time, tweets, used to describe, verse, watch, what God has done, what to do, written | 3 Comments

Respond To The Spirit Like A Windmill

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Steve Simms

The wind of the Spirit is blowing, but the church is stripped and locked down like the blades of a windmill. It refuses to move in response to the Holy Spirit, preferring the rigidity of religion instead of the roaring … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, freedom, God, Holy Spirit, house church, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, Michigan, mysticism, new birth, organic church, pentecostals, prayer, windmill | Tagged about us, apply, attentive, bird, blades, born of the Spirit, break, city park, clothe, clothed with humility, covered, direct, disobeying, Dutch, face the wind, fear, focus on, frame, graceful, Holland, Holy Spirit, impict, intentionally, Jesus, like the wind, listen to, live, Michigan, move, name De Zwaan, neglect, New Testament, obey, out of the box, powerful, presence, principles, Quench not the Spirit, refuse, reminded, resisting the Spirit, respond, rotated, sales, Scripture, seek, soaring, speak to me, teaching, the Netherlands, the Spirit, The wind blows, tradition, turn, unlocked, walking through the park, what people will think, windmill, Windmill Island, yesterday, yield, you hear its sound | 2 Comments

Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

Can A Church Be Full Of The Glory Of God?

Happy Birthday, King James Version

Our Exquisite Existence Eclipses Evolution’s Explanations

Celebrating Real Freedom On The 4th Of July

Norman Vincent Peale at 93

Respond To The Spirit Like A Windmill

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Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible

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