Tag Archives: following

Are Sermons Effective?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

Have you ever tested the effectiveness of sermons? I did. I was a brand new pastor in my first church — Mayfield Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Mayfield, Kentucky. After finishing three years of seminary, I had been preaching for about … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christ, Christianity, church, Cumberland Presybterian Church, East Nashville, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, kingdom of God, lifestyles, movement, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, organic church, praise and worship, religion, sermons, simple church, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, values, What is church?, worship | Tagged 225 Berry St., 37207, AA, afternoon, alcoholics, Alcoholics Anonymous, American, American Christianity, an oral test, Berry Street Worship Center, better caught than taught, brand new, called, captured by, Christianity, church meeting, church setting, congregation, considered, continued, creating, culture, Cumberland Presbyterian, decided, doctrines, effectiveness of sermons, evening, everyone has a, experience, exploded, facts, fads, first church, following, follows trends, functions, grow, help people change, hot to hold, house church, however, hymn, ineffective, influencing, interpretation, job description, Kentucky, lecture, less than, lifestyles, like, little happens, little power, Mayfield, meetings, membership, message, mind, much more, Nashville, noble, nobody, none, one simple and easy question, open participation, openly, organic church, overwhelming, passively, pastor, Paul of Tarsus, Paul's instructions, poems, preach, preaching, prepared in a, professional, questions, requires more than, response, revelation, right, shocked, simple church, simple questions, sit and listen, society, society's, something more than, sometimes, started, Sunday morning, test, the basic point, the main topic, The Salvation Army, three years of seminary, TN, to build, to reach people, tongue, treating, try, type, virtuous, visit, weekly, When you come together, word of instruction | 26 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

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

Is Nashville The Manliest City In America?

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

I’ve heard that Nashville, Tennessee is listed as the manliest city in America (according to Combo the hearty, salty, cheese cracker snack, and Bart Sperling’s Best Places). I live in Music City and so I’m glad to see it at the top … Continue reading →

Posted in addiction, alternative lifestyle, boundaries, Christianity, Jesus Christ, life, lifestyles, manliest city, meaning, morality, morals, Nashville, peace, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, social justice, soul, Uncategorized | Tagged America, answer, Bart Sperling, battle, believes, Best Places, Bless those who curse you, calling, cheese cracker, Combo, commitment, cool, corruption, courage, cravings, crowd, daily lives, deny yourself, desires, devil, earth, easy, emotionalism, eveidence, everyday, female, follow, follow Me, following, forces, forgive, God in the flesh, greatest, guard, hearty, illustrated, Immanuel, immorality, injustice, inner resources, Jesus, lifestyle, listed, lusts, male, man, man up, manilest city, manly, media, modern, Music City, Nashville, obey, obeying, on top of it all, overcome, passive, persecute, practical, preference, quote, read, real man, Real men love Jesus, religious, requires, resist, salty, seduction, sentiment, silent, snack, stand up, surrender, take up your corss, Tennessee, thoughts, tough, truly, truth in love, views, whew, whims | Leave a comment

The Alternative Lifestyle

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

A true alternative lifestyle does not just change the object of one’s lust from one gender to another; it overcomes the power, control, and addiction of lust. We hear much about alternative lifestyles nowadays. Yet the greatest alternative lifestyle is … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, Berry Street Worship Center, Christianity, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, lifestyles, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer walking, revelation, salvation, simple church, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged about, accomplished, addiction, against, along, alternative, alternative lifestyles, attendance, based, Berry Street, breakfast, casually, challenge, challenging, change, chapters 5-7, chicken, children, Christ-style, church, coast, com, comfort, commitment, community, compulsions, contribution, control, cost, count the cost, cravings, daily, dare, deliberately, deny, depths, desires, destructive, direct, doctrine, doing, excitement, experience, extremely, flow, following, fully, gender, giving, greatest, group, growth, guaranteed, ham and egg, hear, Him, in spite, inner peace, intimacy, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, life, lifestyle seldom, lifetime, live, love, lust, manifesto, Matthew, meaning, meet, meetings, mentioned, much, Nashville, needy, never, nowadays, obeying, object, ongoing, out, over, overcomes, people, perhaps, persecuted, pig, power, process, provides, purpose, raise money, real world, religious, replied, requires, rewarding, ritual, rivers of living water, said, seek, seeking, self-denial, self-focus, self-fulfillment, self-sacrifice, society, soul, speaks out, strength, Sundays, support group, taught, teachings, The Salvation Army, The Sermon On the Mount, theology, through, together, tolerant, total commitment, tough, type, understanding, very, visit, walking, Worship Center | 5 Comments

Tag Archives: following

Are Sermons Effective?

Modern Myth #2 — Casual Sex

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