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!

Ask Not How A Preacher Can Minister To You; Ask . . .

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Steve Simms

Ask not how a preacher can minister to you; ask how you can minister to others. Then you will begin to experience the “one anothers” of the New Testament and God’s love will no longer be a theory, but will … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, freedom, God, house church, lifestyles, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, prayer, religion, The Salvation Army, What is church? | Tagged 10:45am, 225 Berry Street, 27107, act, action, admonish, ask, ask not, attend, become, begin, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Biblically, brothers, built up, burdens, carry each other's, Christians, church, commands, deeply, each, encourage, everything, experience, gathering, given the opportunity, God's love, God's way, has, hymns, I Cornithians 14:26, ignore, in your midst, intended, interpretation, isn't in the, life, like, longer, love, meet, meeting, minister, more than, Nashville, New Testament, nowadays, obey, one another, one anothers, one to another, ordained, organic church, others, out loud, passively, Paul, perhaps, person, personally, place, power, pray, preach, preacher, professional, psalms, rare, reality, receivers, revelation, same, shall we say, share, sisters, sit back, something, speak to, spiritual songs, submit, suggestion, Sundays, teach, testimony, The Salvation Army, theory, tongue, trained, verse, week after week, What then, When you come together, word of instruction | 2 Comments

Some Ways To Experience Mysticism

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Steve Simms

A mystic is someone who experiences communication from and/or conscious awareness of God. Everyone has the potential for mysticism. In fact, God communicates with most people everyday. However, most of us discount or drown out His voice. We think it … Continue reading →

Posted in brain chemistry, Creator, God, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, Oh my God, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, The Brain That Changes Itself, thinking, thoughts | Tagged ages, ancient prayer, around, ask, at, attack, attention, avoid, be still, beach, better, Biblical, book of Acts, books, bring, close, communicates, communication, conscious awareness, creek, cultivate, discount, disprspectful, down, drown out, each other, edevalue, enter, ever, everyday, experiences, experiential, field, find a friend, flood, followers of Jesus, God, Gospels, have mercy on me a sinner, healing, hear, heart, hill, hostile, images, in you, insight, instruct, Jesus, keys, listening to, look, Lord, Lord Jesus Christ, mean, mind, mountain, mystic, mysticism, nature, New Testament, observe, ocean, often, openly, park, past, pay, pay attention, phrase, positive, potential, put, quiet, quote, read, reading, river, Rufus Jones, run through, saying, share, sights, sincerely, sky, Son of the Living God, sounds, speak, starry night, stories, take some time, testimonies, think, thinking, thoughts, touch, transformed, unkind, unlock, uplifting, voice, vulgar, walk in the woods, watching, way, way to live, why not, within you, words, write down, your servant is listening | 4 Comments

Source Of Tormenting Thoughts?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Everybody has probably experienced unwanted or tormenting thoughts. So how do thoughts that a person doesn’t want get into her mind? What is their source? One possible cause of tormenting thoughts could be a person’s own will, choice, or desire. … Continue reading →

Posted in brain chemistry, brain research, change, criticism, lifestyles, popular culture, prejudice, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, The Brain That Changes Itself, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged against, archetypes, attributed, beings, beliefs, believed, by, Carl Jung, cause pain, choice, demons, desire, destruction, determine, enough, entities, everybody, experienced, explanation, fight, gallantly, genetically, genetics, great, habit, habitually, heredity, human cultures, impossible, invaders, irrational, life, mind, modern, most, non-material, outside, overcome, painful thoughts, passively, people's religions, person, pontificated, possibility, prejudice, probablly, produced, programmed, psychiatrist, rules out, seeking, self-caused, self-destructive, self-tormenting, societies, source, spiritual, surrender, thoughts, tormenting thoughts, trauma, unwanted, unwelcome, well being, Western world, Why, will, wired, working against | 11 Comments

Famous American leaders speak against war

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Steve Simms

Edwin Starr sang the lyrics: “War, what’s it good for?” That’s a good question. Some great American leaders have spoken out against war. Benjamin Franklin said: “What vast additions to the convenience and comforts of living might mankind have acquired if … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-war, biography, change, freedom, history, human rights, lifestyles, music, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, self-help, self-image, social justice, Uncategorized, war | Tagged abhor, accomplished, additions, against war, all, American, aquired, awesome, bad, believe, Ben, Benjamin Franklin, bewteen, brutality, built, by arbitration, call, comforts, comment, concentrated, convenience, convinced, didn't like, differences, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edwin Starr, effort, employed, endeavor, enemy, entire, entirely, fighting, follies, foreign, futility, generales, good, great, greatest, hate, ignored, Ike, immoral, improving, indemnifying, inefficient, infrastructure, instead, instrument, James Madison, leaders, lived it, living, losses, lyrics, mankind, men, method, might, military, modern, money, multiplies, nations, Omar Bradley, oppression, outlaw, people's lives, powerful, President, problems, public utility, redressing, said, sang, scourge, seen, settle, society, soldier, solution, spent, spoken out, stupidity, Thomas Jefferson, thought, tyranny, unfortunately, United States, vast, war, What's it good for? question, wor, wrong | 1 Comment

When The Toilet Paper Gets Turned Around

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Steve Simms

Once I attended a Career Track seminar in Nashville about change management. The presenter challenged us: “Reverse your toilet paper.” That wiped me out. Surely I hadn’t paid $99 for this silly bit of advice. The presenter said: “Change is difficult … Continue reading →

Posted in change, change management, criticism, freedom, lifestyles, Nashville, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, Uncategorized | Tagged $99, 21 days, a change, accept, accomplished, act, ambidextrous, around, as normal, attended, attitude, automatically, away, back, backwards, bathroom, bathrooms, begin, behavior, behind, bit of adivce, brainwashed, Career Track, challenged, change, comfortable, conversation, Cottonell, decide, difficult, discomfort, discomforting, do it yourself, endured, environment, experience, familiar, feel, for everybody, fulfilled, full benefit, funny, get used to, go ahead, gone, habit, hainging, hang, happier, head, in front, influenced, inside, insures, keep, life, life-enriching, make it happen, management, misery, motivated, Nashville, odd, Okay, period, pocket, point, positive, presenter, projects, psychologists, question, resistance to change, resisted, results, right, roll, self-improvement, seminar, sight, silly, squeeze the Charmin, strange, stuff, talk, think better, thinking, three weeks, tissue, toilet paper, TP, transition, turn around, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, very, watch, White Colud, wiped me out | 4 Comments

I Was Misled by Sunday School

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

When I was a child my family seldom went to church. Once, however, when I was in the third or fourth grade, we visited a Presbyterian church a few times. One Sunday, when I was attending Sunday school there, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, biography, Creator, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, religion, resurrection, self-esteem, Sunday school, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged acknowledged, actigve, answer, apathetic, began attending, Bible, blackboards, book, boring, challenged, challenges, child, Christ, Christianity, class, classrooms, college, cool, daily lives, deceiving, Dr., dull, encountered, encounters, enthusiastically, erased, experienced, false, family, freshman, G. Scott Sparrow, Geroge Washington Abraham Lincoln, getting grunk, grade, high school, historical figure, history, I am with you always, implication, in love, in the present, Jesus Christ, Jesus is alive, kids, know, late, less, manner, meet, message, misleading, night, parents, partying, person, person from history, politely, Presbyterian, present, psychotherapists. testimonies, read, regularly, relevance, religious, responses, sad, shattered, solicit, spiritual, statement, stories, Sunday school, supported, talk, talked, teacher, true, two thousand years ago, uninterested, walked, walked the earty, went to church, Western world | 3 Comments

Warning: Use Self-Directed Censorship

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

John Locke was an English philosopher and political theorist. His ideas about freedom greatly influenced America’s founding fathers and are reflected in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, Locke believed in a kind of censorship, a self-directed control of what we … Continue reading →

Posted in criticism, English, English literature, freedom, history, lifestyles, popular culture, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, Uncategorized | Tagged abused, America's, among, another, background, bad books, bad thoughts, begets, best things, both, can be, can't afford, causing, censorship, character, consequences, consumed, control, control information, current, dangerous, Declaration of Independence, desire, desires, devour, discipline, diseases, distance from truth, English, fatherless children, filled, fills, financial crisis, flooded, food, founding fathers, free spending, freedom, going backwards, greatly, harm, harmful, head, hear, heartbreak, homes, ideas, ignorant, images, imagination, in our society, individuals, influenced, internet, Jhon Baptist de la Salle, John Locke, killed in the womb, kind, media, millions, mind, misery, morally wrong, mortgages, movies, much, need, notions, nowadays, obesity epidemic, out of control, passes, perfectly, philosopher, pictures, point, poison, political theorist, quotation, quoted, Ralph Waldo Emerson, read, reading, reflected, ruin, runaway, said, same, saying, see, self-censorship, self-directed, self-harming, self-inflected, sex, society, spread, standing still, stir up, sums up, sweep, texting, today's, tools, TV, unjust, use, video games, viewer discretion, warning, well used, won;'t, words, worst, writing, wrong | 2 Comments

Conversion/Salvation/Being Born Again Or Blind Belief?

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Steve Simms

In some Arab countries it is against the law for a person to convert to another religion than the religion of her/his birth and/or upbringing. However, having been raised in a particular religion is no indication of its truth or … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, Bible, biography, Creator, freedom, God, history, human rights, Jesus Christ, John Wesley, lifestyles, Oh my God, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 1700s, 18th Century, a direct, accepting without questioning, adhering, adopts, against the law, America, American, another religion, Arab countries, being, belief, believer, birth, blind belief, born again, called, change, childhood, Christ, Colonies, coming into, conversion, deceptions, deep work, defined, devoted, divine perfection, Dwight L. Moody, encountered, England, entire life, Examine yourself, experience, faith, frustrated, give up, goal, goes, Gordon D. Fee, heart work, Holy Spirit, home, human, I came to, I felt my heart strangly warmed, illumination of the soul, Indians, indication, infect, infection, introduced, invaded, Jesus Christ, John wesley, Joseph Alleine, lack of success, likeness, living, living God, man, members, mighty, mind, movement, multitudes, on fire, one of the greatest, otherwise, particular, passionate, Paul of Tarsus, person, personal relationship, personal transformation, personally convinced, preaching, quote, raised, realized, receive, returned, risk his life, rituals, rote, salvation, set in, some, spark, spiritual, spiritual awakening, suggestion, teachings, Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, think, thoughts, throughtout, to convert, truth, trying to convert others, upbringing, validity, ways, who will convert me?, will, wish, with God, witnessing | 1 Comment

7 Practical Ways To Like Yourself Better

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Steve Simms

Self-esteem is important. If you don’t like yourself (who you know best) you probablly won’t be able to really like anybody else. However, a poor self-image (also known as an inferiority complex) can be overcome. You can actually like yourself. Here are … Continue reading →

Posted in freedom, God, lifestyles, Quotes, race, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, Uncategorized | Tagged 7, accept, acknowledge, affirmation, and, anybody, ask, beauty magazines, bed, began, behavior, best, better, blow, brag, brains, can be, compare, comparisons, compliments, conscience, damage, failures, forgive, future, Give, God, guilt, human being, humans, I like myaelf, important, incredible, inferiority complex, injure, Jamie Lee Curtis, job, know, life, like yourself, look so good, make amends, measure, mind, moral values, move on, night, not a human doing, obey, out, overcome, past, performance, personal worth, poor, possible, practical, probablly, quote, reading, really, refuse, regardless, regrets, repeat, repeating, right and wrong, self-esteem, self-image, self-respect, sense, shame, silently, special, steps, strengths, thank you, today, unique, value, violate, ways, weaknesses, where, women, words, worth, wrong doings, your, yourself | 2 Comments

Roaring Fork, Foxfire Mountain, & Spiritual Living Waters

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Steve Simms

Zip-ah-dee-do-dah On a recent trip to Gatlinburg, I saw a brochure from Foxfire Mountain in Sevierville, Tennessee. It was about zip lining, soaring from one tree to another on long cables. During my week at Tree Top Resort in Gatlinburg I … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, biography, Foxfire Mountain, freedom, Gatlnburg, God, history, house church, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-help, Uncategorized, What is church?, zip line | Tagged actions, among us, baby bird, big mistake, bold, boldness, books, brochure, cds, Christians, college student, coming out of, conferences, consequences, courage, creating, dangling cable, deck, die down, down stream, dvds, etc., falling, fill me, flow, flowng, Foxfire Mountain, free-flowing, gather, Gatlinburg, God, godly, Holy Spirit, how, huge, I need, important, in my stomac, it hit me, Jesus, keep, keep me, living waters, loud, lump in my throat, manifesting, material, mind, mountain strea, mouth wide open, New Testament, obedience, obstacles, Okay, opnions, organic church, out of, Out of your innermost being, platform, power, preachers, pulleys, rivers of living water, Roaring Fork, rocks, running, seminars, Sevierville, slowed, small, soak, soared, somewhere, source, speaking in tongues, step, stir up the gift that is in you, strap, teachers, Tennessee, the fruit of the Spirit, third story, timidity, traditions, Tree Tops Resort, trip, trust, unconcerned, up stream, valley, watch, what people think, whew, wire, with others, words, worship, yellow, zip lining, zip-ah-dee-do-dah | 4 Comments

Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

Source Of Tormenting Thoughts?

When The Toilet Paper Gets Turned Around

I Was Misled by Sunday School

Warning: Use Self-Directed Censorship

Conversion/Salvation/Being Born Again Or Blind Belief?

7 Practical Ways To Like Yourself Better

Roaring Fork, Foxfire Mountain, & Spiritual Living Waters

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

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