Category Archives: popular culture

An Alter Call

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

Perhaps we need an alter call. Maybe it is time to change and make some alterations. * Alter the way you think. Most people never think much about their thought choices. They tend to just go with whatever thoughts come … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, change, change management, church, house church, life, lifestyles, meaning, organic church, popular culture, simple church, television, thinking, thoughts, What is church?, words | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry St., 37207, Acts, alter, alterations, anxiety, ball of fire, behaviors, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, book of, call, called, change, choices, choose, church, come to, commercial, con visit, conversations, create, culture, day, depression, described, do, do church, emotions, fear, frustration, great impact, guilt, harmful, hear, how, how to have church, how you live, however, human, I Corinthians 14:26, important, improve, impulses, invited, it is, life, lifestyle, make, make an effort, make your life better, making, mind, most, Nashville, need some help, negative, New Testament, not good, not the best way, obey, Observer, pain, passive, people, perhaps, place, present, problem many, quality, quality of life, rather, responding, say, self-inflected, song lyrics, spectator, Sundays, tells, text messages, the opium of the people, the original, The Salvation Army, the way, think, thought, thoughts, time, turned the world upside down, TV show, verse, weak, whatever, whims, words, worry, worse | Leave a comment

Myth Lab — Modern Myth #5 — Race

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

The concept of race was developed in the Western world during the 17th Century as an attempt to justify the terrible crimes that were being committed against Africans. The nominally Christian West needed a way to ease their conscience for … Continue reading →

Posted in black history, feelings, history, human rights, lifestyles, mind, morality, myths, popular culture, prejudice, race, racism, self-esteem, self-image, social justice, Uncategorized | Tagged . ease, 17th Century, Africa, Africans, all bleed red, allows, approach, asked, Atlantic, attempty, blue, brown, c rimes, category, characteristics, Christian, committed, concept, conscience, continue, convenience store, dark complexion, descendents, developed, different, East Asians, embracce, erase, Europeans, eye color, eye slant, eyed, fill out a form, folks, forced-labor, forcibly, holding, however, human, human cpatives, human race, I'm not like them, in our time, inferior, Jesus, kinky hair, l define, last night, life-long bondage, look down on, marginalize, Middle Passage, news reporters, nominally, other, parable, peopl, personally, Pharisee, race, reality, refer, say, shade, shared humanity, skin color, skin tone, slanted, society, spearate, terrible, Thank God, think, through, to justify, torturous, truth, West, Western world, writing down | 2 Comments

dated post deleted

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Steve Simms

dated post deleted

Posted in Christmas, college students, East Nashville, jobs, life, lifestyles, Music City, Nashville, popular culture, Red Kettles, sales, self-help, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized | Tagged $7.50, 8, a bit of, all walks of life, areas, at the same time, available, bell ringer, bell ringers, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Red Kettles, consider, Donelson, email, experience, extra money, friendly attitude, get, get our, great opportunity, Green Hills, had to say, hard to explain, have some fun, honor, hour shift, interact, interested, intorvert, Jeff, make a difference, meet, mid-november, ministries, money, morf, Nashville, Nashville3, need, nicest people, Nolensville Road, noon, out there, people's lives, per hour, privilege, put into it, REd Kettles, rfaised, ring, ringing bells, services, some, Steve Simms, supports, the paublic, The Salvation Army, this year, three, through, to others what a joy it is, transportation, warm, willing, Would you like | 2 Comments

Modern Myth #2 — Casual Sex

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Like the ancients, we moderns have our myths and our gods. Modern Myth #2 is the “casual” sex myth. It says: Random sex with various partners is a meaningless recreational activity with no significant consequences and should be encouraged and approved … Continue reading →

Posted in American, boundaries, casual sex, gods, life, lifestyles, morality, morals, myths, popular culture, self-image, sex, sin, television, Uncategorized | Tagged abandoned children, act, activity, Acts, addiction, alcohol, altar, ancients, anything, approved, betrayed, bill boards, blindly, bondage, bought into, breaks the heart, call, captured, casual sex, cheapo, college professors, coming out of the closet, commitment, compulsions, consequences, cravings, create, culture, deep, desires, drug use, dying, emotional bond, encouraged, experience, experiences, following, get set free, God's, government, guilt, habitual, harped, health, health care costs, health clubs, health departments, human, human being, hurting, increases, intense, intimitate, killing, life, like the, lives, magazines, meaningless, medical doctors, moderns, movies, music, myths, newspapers, no, parental example, partners, person, pervasive, playing, pleasure, poverty, power, profound, promoted, public health problems, random, recreational, regard, Russian roulette, scientists, self-destructive behaviros, Senate, sexually transmitted disease, shackin' up, significant, sikovision, slaver, slavery, society, suffer, surrender, toy, using, various, White House, worship | 10 Comments

What The Church Can Learn From Chris Johnson & The Tennessee Titans’ Running Game

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Nashville’s Tennessee Titans’ running game has something to teach the church. After a holdout that caused Chris Johnson, the best running back in the National Football League the past three years, to miss all of training camp, the Titans signed him to a $50+ … Continue reading →

Posted in change, change management, Chris Johnson, church history, CJ2K, criticism, history, house church, life, lifestyles, Nashville, National Football League, NFL, operationg system, organic church, popular culture, recovery, simple church, sports, Super Bowl, tailgate party, tailgating, Tennessee Titans, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 000, 100 yards, 2, 2011, 3, 6, abnormal, accepted, accepts, accomplishing, achieve, Acts, afraid, and, back, blame society, book, both, changes, Chris Johnson, Christianity, church, CJ, Cleveland Browns, continually, continues, criticized, declining, denial, described in, determination, don't lower your standards, don't make excuses, everyday, face the fact, failure, forced to conform, free from sin, game, games, get it back, he, holdout, improving, influence, keep striving for improvement, keep working, know, lack of spiritual power, level, little, low performance, maintaining, make adjustments, many years, million dollar contract, miss, mortivated, Nashville's, National Football League, NFL, normal, not getting the job done, not producing success, numbers, often, openly admitted, out of the box, pitiful, players, poor performance, power of God, powerful, practice effort, publicly, read, really bad, refused to accept, rember past success, remember, resisted, running game, said, same, satisfied, season, seasons, see, she, signed, someone, state, strive for improvement, sub-standard, supposed, take personal responsibility, teach, Tennessee Titans, the best running back, the things, three, Titans, to make excueses, tragic, training camp, try, try new ideas, until they get it right, what can the church learn from, work, yards, years, yesterday | 4 Comments

A Forgotten American Folk Song’s Powerful Message

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Steve Simms

I live in Nashville, Music City; however, we don’t hear songs like this old American folk song in Nashville or on MTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtlxoRAAHVU Our culture has changed and the message of this song is no longer heard (or even tolerated). … Continue reading →

Posted in addiction, boundaries, change, Christianity, criticism, discipling, drugs, education, forgiveness, freedom, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, mind, morality, morals, MTV, music, Music City, mysticism, Nashville, negro spirituals, Oh Sinner Man, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, recovery, self-image, sin, soul, spiritual, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged 90%, a wretch like me, alcohol, America, American folk song, ancient, answer, aware, awareness, begins to see, believes, bit, brightness, C.S. Lewis, center, changed, chaplain, Christian, churches, clean, clotes, counselor, create, crime, culture, darkest night of the year, depravity, dirt, dirty, don't hear, drug, early days, fact, falsely, filthy, finally, first rays of light, God, God's glory, God's light, good people, good person, grow, hands, have mercy on me, hearts, hint, holier, holy, hymn, I am, I am a sinner, I'm a, increasing, interview, interviewed, Jesus Christ, Jesus prayer, John Newton, know, life, link, listening, live, living, looks, Lord, lost, managed, men, Michael McKinley, misery, monkx, more, more sensitive, nearer, new, noonday sun, notices, O, of the, Oh Sinner Man, old, Orthodox, over the horizon, perhaps, person, Peter K. Nelson, practice, presence, program, quite, rehab, rright, see ourselves, sees, self-destruction, self-judgment, simple question, sinfulness, sinner, son, spiritual darkness, story, sun comes up, surprises, tale, tell, think, Tim Chester, told, toward, ultra-conservative, used by, very far from God, watch, wee bit, what kind, Why, women, woods, word, work, wretched, writer, you, Youtube | 5 Comments

Is The Denial Of God Anti-Intellectual?

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here is my definition of anti-intellectual: opposing or indifferent to an intellectual approach; basing an opinion on personal presuppositions and/or emotion, rather than on reason. The rejection of the idea of God is based on an unproven, irrational presupposition — the view … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-intellectual, apologists, Aristotle, Atheists, big bang, consciousness, Creator, God, history, morality, morals, popular culture, religion, scholasticism, thinking, thoughts | Tagged 20th Century, act like, an effect, ancient, anti-intellectual, approach, arguments, atheism, atheistic, attacks, author, based on, basing, behavior, behaviors, belie, belief, belief in God, best of all possible words, beyond, blatantly, book, breaking out, Bryant, cause, choice, Cleverly, definition, demand, demand human rights, deny God, disapproval, dishonestly, embrace, embraces, emotion, encounters, energy, ethics, exclamation, existence, existence of God, exists, express, fact, fanatical, feel the need, filled, for example, free will, God, governments, greek philosophers, has nothing to do with, hell, history, honest, idea, ideas, important, in other words, in the name of religion, inconsistent, indifferent, innocent human beings, intellectual, irrational, irrational concept, John Adams, justice, late, leads, letter, live, lives, logic, love, man, material, material world, matter, misquotes, morality, much, necessary, non-material, not fit to be mentioned, nothing, opinions, opposing, organizations supported, parenthesis, personal, personal opinion, polite company, present day, presupposed, presuppositions, primarily, produced, quote, rationality, read, reading, reads, realities, reason, reasoning, recognized, rejecting God, rejection, religious, religious people, Richard Dawkins, scientific, scientist, seek, self-proclaimed, shocked, show, some kind, something, speak up for, The God Delusion, the killing of, think, Thomas Jefferson, throughout, unproven, view, writes | 30 Comments

What The Church Can Learn From Sports Tailgating

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Steve Simms

Millions of people love to gather in stadium parking lots for pre-game tailgating parties. According to the American Tailgaters Association (more than 300,000 members), between 20 – 50 million Americans tailgated in a stadium parking lot in 2006. Here is a quotation I found … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, college, house church, life, lifestyles, Nashville, National Football League, NFL, organic church, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, religion, simple church, sports, Super Bowl, tailgate party, tailgating, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 2006, 37207, agenda, amazed, American Tailgters Association, Americans, anticipation, arrive, awesome, ballgames, befor, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Bible study, breakfast, church, church meeting, come, company, create, decided, draw, each other's, eating, embrace strangers, enjoy, enjoying, enthusiasm, excitement, experience, flow, food, freely, friendliness, from, games, gather, gathering, get together, God, group, heart-felt, interact, into, it hit me, last, laughed, learn, let, level, love, meet, members, millions, minister, morning, Nashville, one another, open discussion, openly shared, passers-by, passion, people, people waiting, planned, pre-church, pre-game, programs, quotation, said, same, see, seldom, share, shared, sililar, snaks, stadium parking lots, start, suddenly, Sunday, tailgate party, tailgated, tailgating, tailgating parties, The Salvation Army, the way to go, thing, thrilling, uninhibited, unknown, What if, wife | 5 Comments

My God! I Want To See That Again! “Reborn To Be Wild”

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Steve Simms

When I went to my favorite Borders book store for their going out of business sale, God, as He often does, led me to a book that stirred my heart (Reborn To Be Wild). I left the tracks of my … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, college, college students, crying, fire, God, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, mysticism, Nashville, new birth, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, religion, salvation, simple church, spiritual, tears, What is church? | Tagged 10:34, 37207, across, again, alive, amazing, assembling, Berry Street, book, borders, can't, chapter, Christ, closest, come, Dear Lord, die, directly, Ed Underwood, encounters, favorite, fire, first, follow Jesus, following, form, fresh, gatherings, generation, generations, God, God's glory, going out of business, group, heart, hearts, human, hungry, Jesus Movement, last night, lead, leader, leadership, leave, led, living, Lord, love, meeting Jesus, meetings, midst, mightily, mind, move, My God, Nashville, need, now, O God, obey, one more time, passionately, power, powerful, program, programs, pursue, reblazing, Reborn To Be Wild, rekindle, religion, results, ritual, rolled, sale, see, sell the farm, spontaneous, stir up the gift, stirring, structured, Sundays, take, tears, The Salvation Army, time, tracts of my tears, tragedy, Wake us up, weep, when, wife, within you, witness, write | 1 Comment

What The Church Can Learn From YouTube (Live, It’s Sunday Morning!)

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Steve Simms

I found these YouTube statistics online. It has more than 2 billion views per day which is almost twice the prime-time audience of America’s three major broadcast networks combined. More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all three U.S. … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street Worship Center, broadcast yourself, freedom, God, house church, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer, religion, salvation, simple church, spiritual, The Salvation Army, What is church?, YouTube | Tagged 10:45, 2 billion, 225, 60, ability to, allow, America's, audience, Berry Street, bet, broadcast, broadcast yourself, church, combined, come, communicate, content, control, creativity, days, each, encouragement, everybody, experience, eyeball, found, generate, get across, Give, glad, God, happening, heart, human being, ideas, important, instruction, interest, judgment, learn, listen, live, major, make, message, mornings, Nashville, networks, of, on their, one person, online, opportunity, outdo, per day, perhaps, post, prayers, prime time, produces, recognized, recorded, say, see, share, sing, site, something, song, songs, statistics, Sunday, Tennessee, testimonies, three, to offer, trust, try, twice, U.S., unique perspective, upload, uploaded, use their own, value, value people, videos, views, week, work, world, years, you, Youtube | 8 Comments

Category Archives: popular culture

An Alter Call

dated post deleted

Modern Myth #2 — Casual Sex

What The Church Can Learn From Chris Johnson & The Tennessee Titans’ Running Game

A Forgotten American Folk Song’s Powerful Message

Is The Denial Of God Anti-Intellectual?

These elephants want to inspire you! Search Amazon for: Elephants INspiring The Room.

Email Subscription

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

Top Posts & Pages

Recent Posts

Archives