Category Archives: Nashville

The Most Unique Church In Nashville

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Steve Simms

This isn’t documented with an official survey or anything, but I think McFerrin Park has Nashville’s most unique church. It is diverse economically, racially, and socially. It has no pulpit and no sermons. It has a different worship leader every … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Holy Spirit, house church, life, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, religion, simple church, Sunday school, The Salvation Army, What is church? | Tagged 225 Berry Street, 37207, a drummer, a need comes up, adults, anytime, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible study, box, brass band, chairs, changed, church, colored cloths, come and see, couch, couple, cross, curious, different, diverse, documented, during the week, each other, economically, every Sunday, every week, front yard, gathering, hanging on it, house church, intentionally, McFerrin Park, mix, most unique, Nashville, Nashville's, national magazines, nights, no pulpit, no sermons, non-traditional, offering, open discussion, open sharing, organic church, participation, pews, plate, play, pray for people, racially, really care about, Salvation Army, sanctuary, simple church, socially, somewhat, spend time together, Sunday, support group, takes the time, tambourines during worship, The Tennessean, Thursday, uniforms, visibly excited, wall, worship leader, written up | 5 Comments

Of Human Bondage — Judgment, Tolerance, Or Salvation?

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

We boast of freedom in a life of limits. As humans we live in the ever present bondage of boundaries. Nothing in our lives is unlimited. We can only climb so high, reach so far, run so fast, think so long, enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Berry Street Worship Center, boundaries, church history, history, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, positive thinking, Quotes, religion, salvation, simple church, social justice, The Salvation Army, thinking, What is church?, William Booth | Tagged 000, 18802, 2, a third option, about, acceptance, accepting, accusing words, addictive, amazing, and/or, army, attempting to justify, attitudes, begin, behaviors, being rescued from, being set free, blame, blaming others, boldly, bondage, boundaries, Bramwell Booth, but in deed and in truth, cause and effect, climb so high, consequences, create, crossed out the word, culture, daily, decades, denial, destructive, devasting, discussing, disguise the pain, do, don't know when, dull, duration, East London, efforts, embraces, enjoy, ever preent, expiration date, fast, fatalism, father, flyer, forgotten concept, freedom, get free, guilt, harmful, held hostage, held in bondage, Here I am to save the day, how do we deal with, human thoughts, humans, I am a regular, I was born this way, in an effort, in the mean time, Jesus Christ, judgment, judgmental, jusdge us, life, life choices, life's limits, limits, live, lives, living, long, meet, mighty power, millions, movement, news media, not in words only, nothing at all, nowadays, opening, other parts of England, others, ourselves, pain producing, passively, pen, people, perhaps, perishable products, physical existence, pie-in-the-sky, practical, presence, pretend, price we pay, prison doors, proclaim, proclamation, raging fire, reach so far, read, real freedom, rediscover, religious platitudes, resurrected, run, said, salvation, say, so many ears, social work, spread around the world, surrender, talk, that's just the way I am, the end is coming, The Salvation Army, the things that, the way we live, think, though out, three ways, time, to promote a meeting, tolerance, unlimited, verbally, volunteer, We are a salvation army, We are a volunteer army, we boast, who can say, William, William Booth, working, world, written | 6 Comments

Organic Church = God On The Loose

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

There are sometimes awkward moments in unprogrammed, participatory church (also known as organic church or simple church). People sometimes say things and/or do things that are outside of my comfort zone. On a recent Sunday morning at The Salvation Army Berry Street … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street Worship Center, God, Holy Spirit, house church, life, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, simple church, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged are you ready, awkward, Berry Street Worship Center, bit, blow, but, came to, church, close, comfort zone, comfortable, comfy, courage, cut, danger, denying the power, disturb, farthest from God, freedom, fuffle our feathers, gather together, God, having a form of godliness, Him, His way, Holy Spirit, how true, information, Lord, meeting, midst, mind, moments, my, Nashville, on the loose, organic church, outside of my, participatory, power, predictability, rock, shake, sharing, simple church, situations, sometimes, spiritual life, startle, stretch, structure, Sunday morning, take the limits off of, The Salvation Army, thereof, things, throbbing, transformation, unbound, uncomfortable, unprogrammed, visit, where it will, wide open, wind, wondering, words, work, working | 4 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

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

A Fisk University Professor’s Unusual View Of Education

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Steve Simms

Over the years there have been so many plans and programs designed to improve the quality of education in America. However, after all these plans and programs, politicians, educators, and others are still talking about how something needs to be … Continue reading →

Posted in American, black history, education, James Weldon Johnson, life, lifestyles, Nashville, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, race, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, Uncategorized | Tagged answer, As, bad school, bad teacher, best school, college, county, disinterested, early, education, educators, educcational, factor, famous, Fisk University, fix schools, for, go for, graduated, high school, highly, hungry, improve, in America, James Weldon Johnson, knowledge, leaders, learn, living room, located in, minds, motivated, NAACP, Nashville, nephew, no, odd, on his own, on the other hand, others, over the years, plans, politicians, poor, preponderant, professor, programs, quality of education, quote, right now, rural, schoo, six, something needs to be done, student, students, system, talking, teachers, Tennessee, travels the world, Twentieth Century, Ukraine, uninterested, unmotivated, view, web design, web design company, week, won;'t, writer | Leave a comment

Talk About Expensive Gas!

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

Recently I pulled up to a gas pump in Nashville prepared to pay almost $4.00 per gallon. As I got out of the car I was bombarded with very loud music coming from the car on the opposite side of the pump. … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, brain chemistry, Civil Rights, criticism, human rights, lifestyles, music, Nashville, self-esteem, self-image, social justice, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged $4.00, attitude, bad stuff, barge, bombarded, brain, car, CD, conscious, contortionist, demonic, ears, evil, f-word, fight, filth, for a tank, gas, hear, high prace, Jesus, loud, loudly, mental, music, n-word, Nashville, nasty, negativity, nozzle, obscenities, occupied, pay, per gallon, pollution, pounding, profanities, pump, pumping gas, pumps, spewing, spiritual, vehicle, vulgarities, words, worman | 7 Comments

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

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

Did Oprah Read My Book?

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Steve Simms

I wrote and published a book on self-esteem. It has a unique title: Your Sperm Won — Experiencing Your Value As A Championship Human Being. It is about the incredible statistical odds against any particular human being, being conceived. The premise … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, black history, Creator, God, history, house church, lifestyles, Nashville, popular culture, public speaking, Quotations, Quotes, self-help, sex, Uncategorized | Tagged against, all the best, ask her, beauty, best friends, bigger, blocks lived, Bonita, book, came into being, championship, co-lead, commencment address, conceived, copy, day, descritpion, East, egg, every, every last one, exist, experiencing, father, father's barber shop, few, future, God loves you, high school, home from school, how, human being, impact, incredible, influence, literally, looks, loved, mailed, members, millions, missed, mother, Nashville, no accident, nontraditional, odds, one day, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah's, organic church, outreach ministry, overwhelming, particular, people, perfect, planet, poodle skirt, positive, premise, published, quote, read, Salem College, self-esteem, show, sounds, speech, statistical, stops me cold, think, title, together, unique, urban, value, Vernon, visit, way, web, winners, wonder, world championship, worte, Your Sperm Won | 1 Comment

Category Archives: Nashville

Can A Church Be Full Of The Glory Of God?

A Fisk University Professor’s Unusual View Of Education

When The Toilet Paper Gets Turned Around

Did Oprah Read My Book?

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

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