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!

Ida B. Wells — My #VIII Greatest American Of All Time

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Steve Simms

Ida B. Wells is remembered during Black History month but it is hard to find much about her in American history books. However, in my thinking, she is the 8th greatest American of all time. (Learn more about her in my … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, history, lifestyles, self-help | Tagged Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, America, American history, anti-lynching, apologizing, attorney, baggage, Black History Month, black schools, brave men, burned down, causes, Chicago, cold blood, conductor, courageous, court costs, courts, customers, editorials, fair trial, Free Speech and Headlight, greatest American, grocery, Holly Springs, Ida B. Wells, Jim Crow, life-long, lives, lynched, lynching, Memphis, Mississippi, murders, NAACP, office threat of her life, property, public lynchings in America, quote, racial injustice, railroad, refused, resistance, resolution, save our money, segregated, slave, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases, stand, store, teacher, teaching job, teeth, Tennessee, torture, town, train, US government, US Senate, USA, white owned, women's right to vote, World's Fair, write blacked owned newspapers, wrote, yellow fever | 6 Comments

My #9 Greatest American — William Monroe Trotter

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Steve Simms

“There can be no freedom without equality.” —William Monroe Trotter Standing almost alone during the Jim Crow days of forced segregation, open racism, and public lynchings of the early 20th Century, William Monroe Trotter boldly spoke out for equal rights. … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, history, lifestyles, self-help | Tagged 20th Century, accommodiation, agitation, American, American history, Birth of a Nation, black history, blacks, Booker T. Washington, Boston, business, Christ, Civil Rights Movement, cost, Declaration of Principles, delegates, discrimination, equal rights, equality, financial difficulty, France, freedom, God, Harvard, inferiority, Jesus, Jim Crow, liberty and justice for all, life, lynchings, movie, NAACP, Negro, Niagra Movement, non-violent protest, Paris Peace Conference, passport, Phi Betta Kappa, postal service, power, President Woodrow Wilson, racism, right to vote, segregation, ship, The Boston Guardian, The Boston Riot, The New York Times, US State Department, W.E.B. DuBois, White House, whites, William Monroe Trotter, World War I | 5 Comments

Top Ten Greatest Americans #10 — Dorothy Day

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

Number ten is Dorothy Day. Here’s a quote from her. “No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” Dorothy Day was born in 1897 and grew up in Chicago. … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheists, black history, history, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged abortion, American history, atheism, atheist, beach, black history, build a better world, Chicago, civil rights, Communists, day, Dorothy Day, feed the poor, French Catholic, God's leading, greatest challenge, heroes, homeless, hopeless, Houses of Hospitality, injustice, Jesus Christ, justice, love, manifesto, Mother Terersa, New York City, newspaper, peaceful transformation of society, Peter Maurin, poverty, pregnant, revolution of the heart, Sermon on the Mount, social teaching, The Catholic Worker, Top Ten Greatest Americans, vow of poverty, war, women's rights, worker's rights | 5 Comments

The Power Of Fasting

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Steve Simms

Fasting is going without food in order to focus on seeking God through prayer. Spiritual power is released through fasting. Jesus said that some deliverance only comes “by prayer and fasting.” Fasting is the active and intentional denial of our body’s desire for food. … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Creator, God, Nashville, organic church, religion | Tagged 37207, Bible, body's desire, burn in your heart, day, deliverance, denial, desperate, everyone is welcome, fasting, fervent, focus, gives grace to, going without food, hosting, human limitations, humbles us, humbling us, hunger and thirst, Jesus, Nashville, naturally, passion, physical hunger, power, pray, prayer, presence, released, resist the proud, righteousness, Scripture, seeking God, spiritual power, The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, they shall be filled | 1 Comment

Frederick Douglas — “An American Slave”

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Steve Simms

Frederick Douglas was claimed to be personal property from his birth around 1818 in the state of Maryland. He was physically, mentally, and emotionally abused — kept in degraded conditions and treated like an animal. He was separated from his … Continue reading →

Posted in Angelina Grimke, black history, Creator, Harriet Beecher Stowe, history, John Brown, lifestyles, Nova, PBS, self-help, The Abolitionists, Uncategorized, William Lloyd Garrison | Tagged abhorrence, agitation, all men are created equal, American abolitionist movement, apology, authority, belief, birth, Black History Month, caught, character, courageous people in Egypt, cruelties, Declaration of Independence, degrade, degraded conditions, emotionally, endurance, enslave, enslavement, escaped from bondage, Frederick Douglas, freedom, great orator, heroically, horrors, human, inflicted, injustice, justify, limits, man, manual labor, Maryland, mentally, Middle East, moved people deeply, non-violent revolutions, oppose, oppress, oppression, overlooked, overthrowing dictators, passion, pay learn to read, people, personal property, physically abused, prescribed, quotations, rebellion, ridicule, separated from his family, slavery, soul within, speak at meetings, stood for, stories unjst suffering, treated like an animal, tyrants | 16 Comments

Accepting Black History Into American History

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Steve Simms

Some people say that we shouldn’t talk about black history in the USA, just American history. That is a worthy goal — a color blind history where all people are equal. The only problem is that when we honestly look … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, history, lifestyles | Tagged abolitionist movement, African Americans, American history, autobiography, Bible, black codes, black history, black US senators, bondage, color blind, country, crime, darker, equal, experience, Frederic Douglas, government institutions, human, inequality, laws education, legal rights, Mark Twain, marriage, Native Americans, Paul Harvey, property, psyche, Puddin Head wilson, racial groups, rape, reading, reconstruction, selling, slave narratives, slave rebellions, slavery, Stowe, textbooks, the Constitution, the rest of the story, Uncle Tom's Cabin, underground railroad, USA, whites, William Monroe Trotter, worship | 12 Comments

What Skin Color Is Your Church?

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here is a question for you: What skin color is your church? Should churches that represent Heaven and all of its glorious human diversity (people from “every kindred and every tribe”) be able to be identified by the prominent skin … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, black history, history, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged American, assemble, believers, brown, Christian, church Heaven, churches, diversity, glory, Gospel, government sponsored, kingdom of God, Korean, love, power, Racial segregation, real, red, ritual, shades, skin color, supernatural, tear down, tribe, USA black, walls, white, yellow | 13 Comments

Where Did Sojourner Truth Get Her Name?

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Steve Simms

One of the greatest Americans was a woman named Sojourner Truth. She escaped from slavery in New York in the early 1800s and began to preach across the land. She was a powerful and passionate speaker and was frequently invited … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, history, lifestyles, religion | Tagged American history, anti-slavery, black Americans, education, famous, financial backing, God, listen, Lord, meetings, name, persecuted, preach, race, sins, slavery, Sojourner Truth, speaker, women's rights, world famous, wrong | 2 Comments

I’m Livin’ My Dream In Nashville

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

I am seeing a dream come true right here in Nashville. It is so exciting. For 40 years, I’ve dreamed that a church meeting could operate without the programming, control, and/or direction of a human leader. I’ve searched the country … Continue reading →

Posted in history, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, religion, self-help | Tagged Christians, church, come true, concept, confess, country, discouragement, dream, encouragement, express, eyes, facebook, God, hearing, heart, history, Holy Spirit, Jesus, leader, led, love, meet, members, Nashville, New Testament, open, page, participate, pastor, Paul of Tarsus, people non-traditional, praise and worship, pray, prompted, prophesying, Quakers, Scriptures, secrets, sharing, sidetracked, sins, Sunday, tears, temptation, unbeliever | 31 Comments

Why A White Guy Digs Into Black History

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Steve Simms

Every month is Black History Month to me. I dig into all the Black History I can find. When I tell people that I am into reading and studying Black History they usually look at me with a puzzled look … Continue reading →

Posted in history, lifestyles, religion, self-help | Tagged America's, American experience, animals, black history, bondage, Christian, compassion, denial, dig, education, escape, faith, God, hatred, heart-rending, hidden, impossible odds, inspiring, literature, makers, month, Native American, overcome, pain, passionate, period, rarity, reading, secrets, shade, skin, slave narratives, store, stories, time, trust, unjustly, violence, white, whitewashed | 24 Comments

Author Archives: Steve Simms

About Steve Simms

Ida B. Wells — My #VIII Greatest American Of All Time

My #9 Greatest American — William Monroe Trotter

The Power Of Fasting

Frederick Douglas — “An American Slave”

Accepting Black History Into American History

What Skin Color Is Your Church?

Where Did Sojourner Truth Get Her Name?

Why A White Guy Digs Into Black History

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

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