Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

Humanity’s Biggest Failure

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Steve Simms

What is humanity’s greatest failure? It is a failure of understanding, a failure of love, a failure of respect. It is a failing of compassion, a failing of negotiation, a failing of faith. It is trusting in human power rather … Continue reading →

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Celebrating Real Freedom On The 4th Of July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Freedom is a wonderful thing to celebrate. However, it is far better to be free than talk about freedom. For example, if government guarantees the freedom of speech, but a person has a habit of speaking in anger, that she/he wants … Continue reading →

Posted in addiction, Bible, Fourth of July, freedom, life, lifestyles, recovery, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged 4th of July, ability, addicted, addictions, adult, anger, anxieties, areas, be free, behaviors, bondage, bullied, can't stop using, capacity, celebrate, child, compulsions, control, cravings, defend, desires, dirrected, document, doing, dominated, dysfunctional, emotional, enslave, excessive, family, far better, fears, fighting, for example, forces, fourth, free, freedom, freedom of speech, full of, gallantly, genetic tendencies, glorified, Go and sin no more, gorernment guarantee, government, guarantees, habit, habits, house, justify, live your life, living, love your enemies, man, manipulation, mental, New Testament, no condemnation, overcome, passionately, peace that passes understanding, peer pressure, person, physical, political, prejudice, pride, promises, resisting, self-destructive, speaking, surrendered our freedom, talk, teenager, the world's greatest, thing, thinking, throw around, tormented, tormenting thoughts, under, weapons, what happened, where is, woman, wonderful, word, worries | 4 Comments

More Original Organic Church Thoughts

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Organic church is a term used to describe church that is based on spiritual life, personal relationships, heart-felt love, Spirit-led worship, and open participation, rather than on institutional structure or man-led meetings. It is also known as simple church and/or house … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, freedom, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, mysticism, organic church, public speaking, religion, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged active role, based on, beautiful, believers, body of believers, builds, caring, Christians, church, comments, community, completely, conjecture, constantly seeking, creates, family, field, flooding, free, freedom, Friends, give people, heart-felt, Holy Spirit, honest, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, ignored, institutional structure, kindergarten, lecture, love, makes God real, man-led, meet in a house, meetings, minister, ministry, more effective, most recent, New Testament, one another, open, opportunity, organic church, original, originally, others, participation, perhaps, personal relationships, posted, professional, program, publicly, rare, rather than, religious, rivers, seek, service, sharing, show and tell, simple church, souls, spectators, spilling, Spirit-led worship, spiritual growth, spiritual life, spoke, stirred, superfulous, taught, term, the Spirit, theological, time, tweets, used to describe, verse, watch, what God has done, what to do, written | 3 Comments

Positive Reading Is Super Inspiration

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Steve Simms

Faster than a speeding worry; more powerful than an evil motive; able to leap tall obstacles in a single bound . . . Look in an uplifting book! Positive reading is super inspiration! Some books contain ideas that connect, not … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, biography, books, church history, criticism, education, English literature, history, life, lifestyles, Quotations, Quotes, reading, self-help, Uncategorized | Tagged able to leap tall, accounts, all wealth, amazing adventure, American literature, blaze of glory, book, books, boring, cannot be compared, church history, cipher, connect, connects, contain, convenience, create vision, dazzle, drudgery, electricity, empowered, English Literature, enlightened, evil, exercise, experience, faster than a speeding, finish, folks, forced to read, formal, go, great, healed, heart, Henry David Thoreau, history, hope, human soul, ideas, ignites, in a single bound, in other words, intellectural, keep, know, learned, library, life, like, little or nothing, look, may sound strange, mind, more powerful than, more precious, motive, never read another book after, noble, not be cheated, obstacles, other, paltry, positive reading, pretend, put it, quotations, quote, quotes, read, reading, reflecting off a lake, Richard de Bury, school, self-help, set free, sought out, stir up, subjects, sunlight, super inspiration, trade, transformed, turned into, turned many people off, uninteresting, uplifting, where should you, wisdom, worry, years | Leave a comment

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

Winner Words / Loser Language

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Steve Simms

Words are powerful. All the words that we hear, read, think, and say, have an impact on our life. We can choose to hear, read, think, and say words that pull us down or words that build us up. Our … Continue reading →

Posted in books, freedom, life, lifestyles, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, thinking, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged absolutely, achieving, Albee, all, as your own, avoiding, behaviors, builds, Catherine Bramwell Booth, check out, choose well, Clare of Assisi, colors are the smiles of nature, contemporary environment, depressing discouraging, difficulty, Dorothea Dix, down, Edward Franklin, effort, Eliza E. Hewitt, encouraginng, entering, evaluate, few, forward, fullness of life, gladness, good, Gratitude, greatest courage, happiness, happy, harmful, have a hard time, hear, helpful, hope, impact, influences, instant, joyfully, kind, Leigh Hunt, life, lifestyle, listen, loser, love, Melanie Beattie, Morihei Ueshiba, negative, new beginning, on our life, open your heart, path, pay attention, positive, powerful, praise, prudent, pulls, quotations, read, say, securely, self-destructive, significant percentage, so much needs to be done, something for me to do, soul, successful, super, swiftly, take, take a few minutes, that lift, think, today, Tolbert Henry McCarrol, unkind, unlocks, up, uplifting, very, vulgar, what percentage, wholesome, winner, wonderful, words, words of the wise, world, your mind | Leave a comment

Things That Stir My Soul

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here are some things that stir my soul to sense the spiritual reality that surrounds us — that create a sense of awe in my heart. These things motivate me, inspire me, and help me be aware of the reality … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Bible, biography, books, Civil Rights, Creator, God, history, life, lifestyles, music, mysticism, organic church, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, self-help, social justice, Uncategorized | Tagged Amazing Grace, aware, awe, beauty, Bible, biographies, books, breakthroughs, Brother Sun, children, Christian, classics, collecting, common, concerns, conserns, create, creativity, etc., experience, expressing, favorite, flowers, focusing on, Gandhi, getting, God, growth, heart, help, helping somebody, hills, His, his/her, history, holding a baby, Holy Spirit, in my heart, inspirational, inspire, interacting, It's A Wonderful Life, Jr., Les Miserables, lives, manifest, Martin Luther King, meeting, message, mind, motivate, move, movies, music, nature, needs, observing, ocean, of others, openly, partcipating, passionately, people, personal, Philokalia, presence, publicly, quotations, quotes, rainbow, reading, reality, revivals, sense, share, Shenandoah, Sister Moon, small, social justice, songs, speeches, spiritual, spirituality, squirrels, stary sky, stir my soul, stories, story, sunset, surrounded by, surrounds us, take over, the, The Arthur Blessett Story, The Cross, things, To Dream The Impossible Cream, uplifting, watching, What God is doing, William Wilberforce, within me, woods, worship, writing | 2 Comments

My Top Five Christian Groups (Churches) Of All Time

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Steve Simms

I am an avid church history reader. However, I don’t much enjoy the politics and religion of the institutional church. Instead I love reading about the living faith of Christians in the past and about spiritural movements when multitudes came to … Continue reading →

Posted in Anabaptists, ancient history, Bible, church history, God, history, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, lifestyles, mysticism, new birth, Oh my God, organic church, pentecostals, Quakers, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 100 years, 12, 1906 Pentecostal experience, affluent, aggressive, Anabaptists, assembly, avid, awesome, back home, bar tunes, beat drums, believed, Bible, billion, boldly, book of Acts, buildings, Christ, Christian movements, Christians, church history, countries, doctrine, drunkards, evangelize, favorite, finanical support, First Century, five, folks, generations, great love, group, healing, history, home, I Corinthians 14, institutional church, invaded, lead a song, lifestyle, lived, living faith, love, marched, meetings, miracles, missionaries, moved, multitudes, name, New Testament, of the, official, on fire, on the streets, one-way ticket, open air, participate, past, Pentecostals, people, politics, poor, power of God, preachers, professional, prostitutes, Quakers, reader, religion, Roman Catholics, Salvationists, sea steamer, silently, Society of Friends, speak, speaking in tongues, spiritual movements, store front, tens of thousands, The Salvation Army, turned the world upside down, words, world, worship | 10 Comments

Didn’t You Know You’ve Got to Cry Sometime?

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Steve Simms

Diana Ross sings a song that asks this question: “Didn’t you know you have to cry sometime?” However, a popular myth in our day says: “Strong people don’t cry,” or “Real men don’t cry.” Why, then, do they have tear ducts? The … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, biography, books, crying, history, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, music, mysticism, Oh my God, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, tears, thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged . outlet, a sign, admission, analysis, ancient, anguish of heart, appearance, asks, Babylonian captivity, believed, broken heart, brokenness, By the rivers of Babylon, calamity, calm, caring, collected, comfort, communicate, compassion, concern, condition, cool, crying, day, deeply felt, Diana Ross, Didn't you know, discover, distress, disturbing, don't cry, dreadfully, dut ourselves, embarrassment, emotion, endure, enemmies, examples, exceptions, experience, far from, far more, fast, fellow, for instance, for the most part, freely, frequently, genuine, great, grief, groaning, guard, heard, heart-felt, Hebrews, hold back, human connections, human resources, human spirit, humans, humility, I eat ashes as my food, I flood my bed, ignored, image, indicative, inner reality, intellectual understanding, Jeremiah, Jerusalem, Jewish, Jews, King David, know how, let, life, man's man, mere, mingle my drink, more effectively, moved beyond, myth, Nehemiah, never stopped, New Testaments, next time, night, nowadays, off, old, our day, pain, passionate, Paul of Tarsus, people, perhaps, popular, popular song, profund, publicly, question, quotation, quoted, Real men don't cry, relief, remain, remember, reveal, said, say again, scorn, shed, sign of weakness, significant, sings, society, someone, song, strong, tear ducts, tears, the cross of Christ, the myth, the weeping prophet, touch, tough men, truth, warning, warrior, we could use some, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion, weep with those who weep, Why, without, words, worn out, you have to cry sometime | 1 Comment

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Celebrating Real Freedom On The 4th Of July

Positive Reading Is Super Inspiration

A Fisk University Professor’s Unusual View Of Education

Winner Words / Loser Language

Didn’t You Know You’ve Got to Cry Sometime?

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

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

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