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!

Top Ten Reasons Not To Make A Top 10 List

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Steve Simms

Top Ten reasons why not to make a Top Ten List. Reason #10 — People may think you are trying to be like David Letterman when you make a Top Ten List. Reason #9 — You can only think of … Continue reading →

Posted in lifestyles, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, self-help | Tagged 10, compulsion, count to ten, David Letterman, down, eleven, harp, making decisions, nine, nonconformist, number one, reaarange, read, spouse, strong, sue you, Top Ten List, writing | 2 Comments

Tennessee’s Abolitionist Newspaper — The Emancipator

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here’s a little known fact of American history and black history. In the early 1800s there was an abolitionist movement in East Tennessee. Elihu Embree even started an anti-slavery newspaper, The Emancipator, around 1820. Because of stiff opposition the movement … Continue reading →

Posted in abolitionists, biography, black history, Creator, God, history, popular culture, Quotes, religion, self-help, social justice | Tagged abject, abolistionist movement in Tennessee, adhering, American history, American liberty, author of nature, being degraded, believed, black history, Christian religion, complexion of the human skin, conjecture, conseque3nces, consequences, died out, disregarded, distant lands, drawing down, East, Elihu Embree, enemy, friend, growing rich, guilty land, human beings sold, infamy, judgments of Heaven, knowledge, latest generation, leaders, like herds of cattle, Manumission Society of Tennessee, matrimonial ties, men call it so, most probable means, moved to free states, movement, my posterity, owned slaves, parents, please everybody, principles, quotations, repent, repungant, rights of man, scale, scrupulous, sin against light, slavery, speaker, spoil, stand higher, Stephen Brooks, such an attainment, Tenneessee's abolitionist newspaper, the Declaration of Independence, The Emancipator, their own estimation, torn by violence, vain, what is right, writer | 6 Comments

Be Part Of Changing Lives & Transforming A Neighborhood in Nashville

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Steve Simms

The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center is a customized ministry of The Salvation Army Nashville. Established in March 2008, our goal is to see individuals and our urban Nashville community transformed by: * Allowing People The Freedom To Actively … Continue reading →

Posted in Creator, God, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, popular culture, religion, self-help | Tagged ability, amazing, ask risk children, assistance, attendees, attitudes, believers, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible lesson, Body of Christ, bondage to sin, brothers, caring, cell groups, changes, check, choices, church, city, clairity, class, climate, college education, community, confidence, connection, counseling praying with, cultivating, daily, dedication, development, diversity, East, economics, encouragement, environment, ethnic, examples, facilitated, fire, Forbes magazine, free, Friends, Froot Loops, funding, gather, GED, gift, glory, God, groups, harmonious, healthy relationships, hearts, helping, His word, Hispanics, Holy Spirit, hope, human barriers, individual, influence, innovate, Jesus Christ, jobs, leaders, lifestyle, lives, love, management expert, measurable results, meetings, members, minister, mission statement, moral, most effective organization in the U.S., moved to tears, mutuality, Nashville, needs, neighbors, obey, one another, open sharing, organic church, others, participatory, passionate praise, personal growth, Peter Drucker, prayer walks, predominately black, race, racial reconciliation, recreation, regulars, responsibility, Scriptures, sisters, spiritual awakening, spreading, staff members, study, Sunday, support, teaching, testimonies, The Salvation Army, tradition, transformation, urban, visitors, week, whites, witnesses, worship leader | 90 Comments

The Mountain Of Silence

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Steve Simms

Do you ever read a book that sticks with you like a piece of gum stuck on your shoe–even if you try to wipe it off, it won’t go away? That is what The Mountain Of Silence–A Search For Orthodox … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, religion, self-help | Tagged adult, ancient, book, Christian family, Cyprus, direct experience, egotistical, exists, Father Maximos, God, grand illusions, Greek Orthodox, Greek penisula, gum, heritage, ideology, idolatry, impurities, inspirati0onal fiction, knowledge, Kyriaco C. Markides, liberating effect, living reality, materialist superstition, methodology, mind, monastery, monks, Mount Athos, mysticism, non-fiction, para normal, passions, phoniness, professor, purification of the heart, religion, scientific materialism, Search For Orthodox Spirituality, secular assumptions, sociologist, sp0iritual techniques, sticks, The Mountain of Silence, traditions, University of Maine, Western thought | 2 Comments

My Chinese Hero — Watchman Nee

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

I found a book when I was about 20, by Watchman Nee from China. I couldn’t put it down. It was as if he was writing just to me, setting my heart on fire. The book was called: The Normal … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, biography, Creator, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, popular culture, religion, self-help | Tagged 50 million, aliments, alive today, arrested, China, Christianity, Communists, decades, dynamic, exciting, financial ruin, fire, full of power, heart, heart-felt, His Spirit, His will, house church movement, house churches, independent, jail, Jesus Christ, life, life-changing, Lord, negligible, organic church, outward, Overcoming Life, persecution, personal, preaching, prision, published in the West, relational, revelation, revelatory, sample. God, social service, sorry state, teachings, The Release of the Spirit, The Spiritual Man, took over, Twentieth Century, Watchman Nee. Normal Christian Life, weaknesses, Western churches, What Shall This Man Do?, world | 7 Comments

The Most Important Letter Ever Written

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Most people have probably never heard of what I consider to be the most important letter ever written in the history of the world. This letter was written around 50-60 AD and sent from Jerusalem to Antioch in Syria. Why … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged 60 AD, abstain from food sacrificed to idols, Antioch, bold, book of Acts, case, chapter 15, Christians, commitment, communicate, cowards, death, decision, deny, every written, experience, followers, for His cause, freed, from blood, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, Gentiles, history of the world, Holy Spirit, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jewish dietary, Jews, living, New Testament, nomination, non-Jews, not to burden you, obey, offended, opened it up, original disciples, passionate, Paul of Tarsus, Pentecost, religious laws, requirements, resurrection, ritual, soldiers, Syria, The worlds most important letter, to all, willing to die | 5 Comments

Some Thought-Provoking Thoughts About The Things We Do In Church

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here are some Biblically based questions and thoughts about things we do in church: Would Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Hosea, or Amos (or any of the other Biblical prophets) have set passively in church pews for 52 Sundays a year and never challenged anything? … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church | Tagged 2, 53 Sundays, accept Jesus, active member, Acts, Acts 7, Amos, anointed, believe, Biblical, church, collected, come forward, contemporary approach, cool calm, daily active obedience, Daniel, deac, deacons, Elijah, Elisha, everywhere, example, Ezekiel, filled with the power, first altar call, follow Me, God, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, listen, love for Jesus, meetings, men and brothers, more efrfective, passionate, persecution, pews, preacher, preaching building, pretty, prophets, questions, revival, riot or a rivival, sit passively, Stephen Philip, stir up a, streets, strong fiery, the things we do, thoughts, to be saved, what shall we do | 3 Comments

Top Ten Christians After The New Testament

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here’s My Top Ten List — My Top 10 Christians After The New Testament 1) Francis of Assisi (Italian Catholic who fell in love with Jesus and followed Him with abandon — I think in the 12th century). 2) George Fox (founder … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, biography, black history, Creator, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, religion, self-help | Tagged 12th Century, 17th Century, 1906, 19th century, 20th Century, after, Albanian, alcoholics, America's, Anabaptist, Anthony the Great, Azusa Street, Calcutta India, Catholic, Charles H. Mason, China, Christians, Church of God in Christ, comunist prison, East London, Eastern Orthodox, Egyptian desert, evangelist, Fourth Century, Francis of Assisi, George Fox, house churches, Italian, Jesus, John wesley, journal, journal personal experience, largest African American demonination, Los Angeles, Mennonites, Meno Simons, Methodists, modern Pentecostal movement, monastic movement, Mother Teresa, New Testament, poorest of the poor, prostitutes, Quakers, revival, Roman, Society of Friends, teachings, The Salvation Army, Top 10, Top Ten List, USA, Watchman Nee, William and Catherine Booth, William Seymour | 38 Comments

Have You Ever Been To A “Hath A” Meeting?

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Steve Simms

The phrase “hath a” is from The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible (also known as the Authorized Version). This version is now more than 400 years old and the English language has changed drastically in that time. … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, God, history, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged 225, 37207, 400th anniversary, Authorized Version, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, changed, Christians, come together, doctrine, English, experience, for yourself, hath a, I Corinthinans 14:26, interpretation, King James Version, KJV, meeting, Nashville, New Testament, psalm, rare, revelation, share, Sundays, The Salvation Army, Thee, Thou, Thursdays, Thy, tongue, ye | 11 Comments

Why Was The Army In Little Rock, AR In 1957?

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Steve Simms

In 1957 I was a six-year-old in Little Rock, Arkansas. I had a lot of company there as members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division joined us in the city. At the time I didn’t really understand what was going on; … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, history, lifestyles, popular culture, self-help | Tagged 101st Airborne Division, 1957, Afghanistan, all men are created equal, American troops, Antioch University, Arkansas, Army's, bathrooms, black people, Central High School, colored, country, cruelty, dark, department store, downtown, escalator, faculty member, freedom, Garland Elementary School, government, hatred, integrated, integrated society, Iraq, Jim Crow laws, KVLC Radio, land, liberty and justice for all, light complexions, Little Rock, Little Rock Nine, Los Angeles, Meadowcliff, oppression, psychology program, school district, separate, Terrence Roberts, the South, water fountains, white | 1 Comment

Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

Top Ten Reasons Not To Make A Top 10 List

The Mountain Of Silence

The Most Important Letter Ever Written

Some Thought-Provoking Thoughts About The Things We Do In Church

Top Ten Christians After The New Testament

Why Was The Army In Little Rock, AR In 1957?

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