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!

Is Your Brain Plastic?

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Steve Simms

Is your brain plastic? Yes, according to what Dr. Norman Doidge, M.D. reveals in his book The Brain That Changes Itself. Psychiatrists and brain researchers have traditionally believed that human brain function is localized and permanently fixed — that specific … Continue reading →

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Pythagoras’ Other Pythageorean Theorem

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Steve Simms

Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras, (born in 570 B.C.) found out an interesting fact about triangles. If a triangle has a right angle (90 degrees) and you make a square on each of the three sides, the biggest square … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, ancient history, Aristotle, biography, history, human rights, lifestyles, mathematics, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, romantic novel, self-help, The Pythageorean Theorem, Uncategorized | Tagged 90 degrees, American novelist, ancient Greek mathematician, another, as saying, biggest square, born 570 BC, command himself, compulsions, correct way, curel, demonstrated, enemies, equal, fact about, free, from, genetic tendencies, geometry, habits cravings, Henry Miller, I've got a brain, Johannes Tauler, lack of self-control, messed up version, movie, nature, need, Oh joy, Oh rapture, other, overcome, painter, pay attention, perhaps, personal freedom, philospher, pride ourselves in knowledge, Pythagoras, quotation, quote, quoted, receives his diploma, reciting, reexamine, right angle, same area, square, square root, stop, strong, the legs of a right triangle, The Pythagorean Theorem. high school, the Scarecrow, the square of the remaining side, The Wizard of Oz, the Wizzard, three sides, triangle, triangles, Twentieth Centery, what we know is incorrect, within you | 4 Comments

America Needs Mysticism

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

What does America need? To “throw out the incumbents”? “Change”? “Economic recovery”? “Universal health care”? “To “keep the Bush tax cuts”? “Stimulus”? To stop the “obesity epidemic”? A balanced budget? To deal with illegal immigration? To win or stop its … Continue reading →

Posted in Creator, God, house church, lifestyles, organic church, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-help, social justice, Uncategorized | Tagged a balanced budget, alcohol, Alcoholics Annynomous, Aldous Huxley, blind, brimming, Bush, called, change, changing human behavior, channels, conscious contact with God, consciousness awareness, contact with God, deal, direct, drugs, economic recovery, encounter God, for example, God's presence, hot to live with joy, human, ignorance, illegal immigration, illusion, insane, know to man, knowleddge, love, most effective tool for recovery, mystical way, mysticism, mystics, need, obesity epidemic, objectives, peace, permanently, personal communication, philosophical speculation, proven pwa, quotation, quote, radically, reality fliters, recovery, revelation, scientific knowledge, seek, show, stimulus, stop, teaches, technological capabilities, the Bush tax cuts, the key to, totally, tow wars, transformational, universal health care, universe, unmystical, various views, What does America need? throw out the incumbents, William McNamara, win, world | 12 Comments

The First African American Medical Doctor

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Dr. James McCune Smith was a great American who overcame tremendous obstacles to become a first in black history. He was born a slave in 1813. He received his freedom as a result of the Emancipation Act of the State of … Continue reading →

Posted in abolitionists, American Literature, biography, black history, Creator, history, human rights, lifestyles, popular culture, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-help, social justice, Uncategorized | Tagged abiding, African American Broadway, American medical schools, bend science, black history, blacksmith, born, circumstances, classification, confidence in God, Constitution, Creator, doctor, doctrine, Dr., education, effects, Emancipation Act of the State of New York, entitled to rights, exception, fast, flash, gloom, golden, great American, greatest privilege, hue, human spirit, hunger, ideas, James McCune Smith, king of tocay, lads, languages, Latin, learned Greek, learned men, like causes, lowest rank, material, MD, medical, medical school, midnight hopeless, might makes right, New York, other persons, overcame tremendous obstacles, prejudices, public opinion, quotations, Redeemer's love, reprehensible, required, right makes right, rules the land, Scotland, skin color, slave, soul, spirit, Sundays, thick, thought, United States, University of Glasgow, young | 2 Comments

Observations From Reading Quotation Books

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

“Most collectors collect tangibles. As a quotation collector, I collect wisdom, life, invisible beauty, souls alive in ink . . . I swim across a sea of quotes, splashing in the words and riding the waves of wisdom. ” ~Terri Guillemets … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, Bible, black history, English literature, history, lifestyles, popular culture, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-help, Shakespeare, speech making, Uncategorized | Tagged African Americans, Africans, alive in ink, Arabs, Asians, beauty, Bible, blank, books, children, collect, collected quotations, collectors, compensation, Daniel, David, dozens, drivel, English, Ester, foricbly, get to it, hand written, hardback, Hispanics, horribly wicked, Hosea, ignored, inspiration, invisible, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Beloved, language, learning how to read, life, life-long bondage, lot, Luke, made people work, majoirty, Matthew, men, mockery, Moses, Native Americans, neglected, nonsense, Obadiah, observed, original works, Paul of Tarsus, people groups, prevented people from marrying, professed, quotation, quote books, quotes, reading, Ruth, Rzekiel, sold people, Solomon, souls, South Americans, tangibles, Terri Guillemets, thousands, wade through, whipped on their bare back, white, wisdom, without any pay, women, world, world's, write, years | 3 Comments

Gone With The Whim (And They Don’t Give A Wham!)

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Margaret Mitchell’s romantic novel about the American Civil War and Reconstruction, Gone With The Wind, was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Had it been published in the Twenty-First Century, it might have been called Gone … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century, addiction, American Civil War, American Literature, black history, history, lifestyles, popular culture, Pulitzer Prize, quote, Quotes, Reconstruction, romantic novel, Saint Pachomius, sex, spiritual formation | Tagged Gone With The Wind, history, Margaret Mitchell, psychology, quotations, St. Pachomius, whims | 18 Comments

I Don’t Like Shakespeare (Neither Did Tolstoy)

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Steve Simms

If you have ever attended high school, you’ve probably been made to read a play (or several plays and sonnets) by William Shakespeare. For me reading Shakespeare was very hard work. I don’t like Shakespeare. Then my daughter (who graduated … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, English literature, history, lifestyles, Quotations, Quotes, self-help, Shakespeare, Uncategorized | Tagged being considered, boring, charm, contemporary, daughter, don't get, dull, dummie, English Literature, from, Goethe, great, great news, greatest, gruaduated, high school, I don't like Shakespeare, intellectual, intellectuals, interesting, Leo Tolstoy, like, made to read, media, movie, news, play, quotation, reading, requirement, Russian writers, Shakespeare, uninteresting, unspoken, very hard work, William, writing, you go | 8 Comments

What Is Christianity Anyway?

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Some say Christianity is a religion. But when you read the life of Jesus Christ, you notice that the religious people were the ones who were most offended by His teaching and by His lifestyle. Religious people were the ones … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, history, house church, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, popular culture, Uncategorized | Tagged 1800s, American, announcements, attending, before your own eyes, belief system, buildings, creed, debating, discover, doctrines, doing the word, from generation to generation, Fydor Dostoevsky, genuine, hearing, heirloom, human culture, intend, Jesus Christ, leaders, learning, lecture, life, lifestyle, lived, Mathew 5, meetings, New Testament, offended, offering, open mind, passed down, person's, poor man, profesional, re-read, read, reduces, religion, religious, religious organization, religious people, Russian workd, Russian writer, sacrament, sermon, singing, studying, taught, teaching, thanks for asking, The Books of Acts, The Grand Inquisitor, The Sermon On the Mount, tradition, true, TV, upbringing, wanted Jesus killed, weekly religious meeting, what is Christianity?, which one | 5 Comments

Experiencing God In Strangers

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Steve Simms

You don’t shoot salesmen, do you?” asked a 20 year old white boy as he stood on a black man’s front porch in Columbus, Georgia during the racial uprising of the summer of 1971. The smiling white boy was wearing … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, biography, black history, God, history, house church, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, popular culture, self-help, Uncategorized | Tagged 1971, a black Jesus, asked, better felt than telt, black history, black man's, Black Panthers, black woman, bless, Bobby Kennedy, books, borther, burned out, Christian, Columbus, different race, discouraged homesick, door-to-door, ear-to-ear, Ebony's Pictorial History Of Black America, fellowship, front porch, GA, Glory to God, God's work, grocery store, hands, harmed, holding hands, Jackie Robinson, Jesus, kinship, love, lynching, Madame C.J. Walker, marched, Martin Luther King Jr., picture, police, praying for each other, President Kennedy, racial uprising, riot gear, sales presentation, salesmen, sample copy, Savior, seat, segregation police dogs, sister, slavery, sold, son, soul, Steve Simms, strangers, sweet Jesus, territory, testify, the Jackson Five, thrreatened, Where Could I Go But To the Lord, white boy, white owned, wiping away tears, yard, you don't shoot salesmen | 6 Comments

The Powerful, Lost Church-Format

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Steve Simms

Regardless of denomination, doctrine, or socio-economic group, church meetings follow pretty much the same format. This is true no matter where you go. You probably know the format. It begins with a Call To Worship and then includes some singing. … Continue reading →

Posted in God, house church, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, popular culture, religion | Tagged 1600s early, AA, active, active participatent, Alcoholics Anonymous, amazing, announcements, another language, attending, audience, benediction, Berry Street, Bible, Bible-based, Biblical, building, Call to Worship, Christians, church meetings, churches, closing song, conducts church, confessing, controlled, daydream, denomination, different, direct the meeting, doctrine, drinking, each one has a, earliest, economic, embarrassment, encouraging, fidget, follow the same, foreign desperate for help, format, free, freedom from bondage, gather, God, God's Spirit, group, held, hidden, house church, international, interpretation, link, listen, liturgy, lost, may cause some discomfort, moved by, Nashville, New Testament, no pride, non-traditional, nothing to lose, offering, open, organic church, participation, passive listening, person up front, personal, psalm, Quakers, radically, rare, reading, Responsive Reading, revelation, sacraments, scoop, seeking, sermon, sharing, singing, snooze, socio, Spirit led, spiritual growth, support group, supporting, taken, talk, teaching, whenever you come together, willing to try, worship services | 40 Comments

Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

Is Your Brain Plastic?

Pythagoras’ Other Pythageorean Theorem

Observations From Reading Quotation Books

Gone With The Whim (And They Don’t Give A Wham!)

I Don’t Like Shakespeare (Neither Did Tolstoy)

What Is Christianity Anyway?

Experiencing God In Strangers

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