Tag Archives: Nashville

Which Church Organizational Structure Is From God?

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Steve Simms

As far as I know, all the thousands of denominations and independent churches around the world claim that their organizational structure is from God. (At least, I’ve never heard of a church saying: “Our church’s organizational chart is man-made.”) Here … Continue reading →

Posted in apostolic succession, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, CEO pastor, church, church structure, congregational, Nashville, organic church, Presbyterian, simple church, Tennessee, The Salvation Army, What is church? | Tagged 100, a part of the same, action The Salvation Army, actively working, amazed, animates, apostolic succession, around the world, as far as I know, authority, Berry Street, bishop, body, by nerves, by the laying on of hands, causes, centers, CEO, Christian, church saying, churches, claim, come, congregational, congregations, continuous line, corporation, decisions, denominations, directly connected, disciples, each other, ecclesia, elected representatives, exercise, flowing through, for example, free, from God, from person to person, function, function together, functioning, give up on the idea, glory of God, going back to the first apostles, group, head of the church, hierarchy, Holy Spirit, human body, human direction, human organization, ignore, in the hands, independent churches, Jesus, Jesus Christ, keeps us together, life of God, made by vote, major decisions, majority rule, man-made, meaning, meeting, members, Nashville, never heard of, New Testament, of the body, one, one man, ordained, organization, organizational, organizational chart, organizational structure, organizational structures, passed down, pastor, Person in authority, positional authority, positions, Presbyterian, presbyters, presbytery, present, programming, rarity, reading, scattered here and there, Scriptures, see, seeks, Spirit-led church, spiritual, spiritual authority, spiritual descendants, style of church, Sunday, support, system, Tennessee, the Apostles, the Biblical, the Gentles lord it over, thousands of denominations, titles, told His, various members, voice of, voting, Worship Center | 6 Comments

Improv Works Well In Comedy — Could It Work In Church?

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Steve Simms

Improv is a shortened version of the word improvisation. It refers to acting or creating in the moment rather than planning one’s words and actions ahead of time. It can be thought of as “on the spur of the moment” … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, church, comedians, comedy, freedom, house church, humor, improv, improvisation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, Nashville, organic church, Quotations, Quotes, religion, simple church, spiritual, spiritual growth, supernatural, The Salvation Army, thoughts, What is church?, words | Tagged 225 Berry St., 37207, a great concept, a woman, accumulated yearnings, acting, actions, activity, afterwards, ahead of time, all that was shared, amazed, Americans, another person's, at how, because, Berry Street, Bod becomes morre real, built up, can be, church building, come see, comedians, comedy, controlled, could improv work in church, create, creating in the moment, cure what ails you, cures what ails, dreams, each, encouraged, encouraging words, enjoy, exercise, fit together, for yourself, from, gather, gifts of the Spirit, group of people, grow in love, happening, heart, humor, improv, improv in comedy, improvisation, in and through, just a theory, Last Sunday, least likely, lives, Liz Allen, love for Jesus, love it, Mark Batterson, Nashville, off the cuff, on a Sunday morning, on the spur of the moment, one another, one of the places, picture this, planned, planning one's words, pray for one another, presented by one person, probablly, proclaim, put it all together, quotation, rather than, refers to, said, Scriptures, services, short teachings, shortened, showed them, someone says, something, Spirit led, spontaneously interacting, Tennessee, testify, the church, the expression, the most familiar use of, the person of the Holy Spirit, The Salvation Army, the whole group, thought of, to the smallest detail, today, took notes, triggers, version, What God is doing, who has something to share, Why, wisdom of the soul, with each other, word, working, Worship Center, Yehudi Menuhin | 5 Comments

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

Christmas Chatter

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Steve Simms

Christmas chatter: ‘Tis the season to celebrate Jesus. Happy Christ Day! Merry Jesusmas! “When Christ entered our world, He didn’t come to brighten our Decembers, but to transform our lives.” –Rich Miller Have yourself a Holy Spirit Christmas. What we … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Christ, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, East Nashville, feelings, God, holidays, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, lifestyles, Lord, meaning, miracles, Music City, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, popular culture, praise and worship, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, Reason For The Season, self-esteem, shopping, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, values, worship | Tagged 'Tis the season, a great time, All hail the power of Jesus' name, Alpha, amazing, awesome, becomes more real, begins, Berry Street, Bible, birthday, brighten, celebrate Jesus, chatter, Christ Day, Christ entered our world, Christ will fill, Christmas, Dan Schaeffer, Decembers, diminish, enthusiastically, everlasting Father, every Sunday morning, fact, God's love, Grander, happy, Have yourself a, heard, His presence, holidays, Holy Spirit, imagined, is His, Jesusmas, keep silent, King of Kings, let angels prostrate fall, lives, Lord of Lords, love, love for God, Merry, mighty God, more important, mysterious, Nashville, of the season, old song, Omega, openly, pages of the, part of everyday life, people, power, powerful, Prince of Peace, real, reality, Rich Miller, says, surrender, talk about Jesus, testify, testimonies, the best deal, the best shopping deal, The Salvation Army, transform, turn away, What a friend we have in Jesus, What God is doing, what we talk about, when was the last time, will, wiser, Wonderful Counselor, worked up, Worship Center | 1 Comment

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Why all the fuss and effort to celebrate the Christmas season? You know. The most celebrated day of the year is about the arrival of Jesus Christ on planet Earth. Isn’t it amazing all the time, effort, and money that … Continue reading →

Posted in Americans, awe, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, East Nashville, freedom, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, miracles, mysticism, Nashville, non-material reality, Oh my God, popular culture, praise and worship, Reason For The Season, religion, revelation, Savior, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, The Salvation Army, Why be a Christian? | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry St., 37207, alive, all the fuss, all the time, amazing, around the world, Berry Street, birth, calls us back, celebrate, Christmas celebrations, Christmas season, come, confined, eager, effort, empowered, Enhance, experience, faithfully serve, freedom, gives, history, hope, human life, hundreds of millions, in our time, individuals, inner passion, inner witness, inside the human heart, inspires, Jesus, Jesus Christ, know, live a life of love, loves us, meaningless existence, mere, money, morality, most celebrated day, moves, Nashville, of the year, people, personally encountered, planet Earth, presence, present reality, random, rebellious, religion, respond, return, ritual, runaway, self-destructive behaviors, self-sacrifice, set free, shows, spent, steps out, stirs, Sundays, testifies, the arrival, the depths of our being, the living Christ, The Salvation Army, there is a God, there is more to life, TN, to believe, tradition, transformation, truths, try to deny, Why, working, Worship Center, you know | 6 Comments

Christmas Is About Judgment

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here’s a surprise: Christmas is about dealing with judgment. Our sinful thoughts, choices, and behaviors have been judged and we are guilty and condemned men and women. If our condemnation is merely canceled, the result would be chaos and injustice. … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazing Grace, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, blessings, change, Christ, Christian history, Christmas, Christmas Eve, feelings, forgiveness, freedom, God, Hell, history, Jesus, Jesus Christ, juddgment, life, lifestyles, morality, mysticism, Nashville, religion, repent, salvation, saved, spiritual, spiritual growth, spiritual warfare, supernatural, The Salvation Army, tolerance, Uncategorized, words, worship | Tagged 21st Century, 225 Berry St., 37207, a beautiful package, accetp the greatest gift, actively, all, all humanity, amazed, at the cross, at what happens, authority, behaviors, Berry Street Worship Center, bondage to sin, came, canceled, chaos, choices, Christ, Christmas, Christmas is about, come see, condemnation, condemned men, dealing with judgment, debt, defeated death, Don't, forgiveness, freedom, gather, gathering, grew up, guilty, have been judged, hell, Here's a, his suffering, in His name, individual, injustice, invited, Jesus, judgment, just remember, leadership, man-made program, men and women, merely, Nashville, overlook it, owe a debt, paid, personally, repentance, sinful thoughts, sins, Sundays, surprise, take active control, the babe, the grave, the greatest gift of all, the result would be, The Salvation Army, to take the punishment for, tolerance, turn the meeting over, turning waya from our sins, under His direct, upon Himself, we are guilty, we can nevber pay, when we gather, wrongdoing | 5 Comments

I Grew Up In Church Without God

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Steve Simms

My parents tell me that when I was a toddler, I used to talk to them about God. They didn’t go to church or have much interest in spiritual things, so they were quite surprised by my interest in God and … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazing Grace, awe, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Boy Scouts, change, Christianity, church, college, college students, East Nashville, feelings, fire, freedom, God, Hindu, Holy Holy Holy, I Corinthians 14:26, Jesus, Jesus freaks, Kumbaya, lifestyles, Nashville, non-material reality, organic church, Presbyterian, religion, revelation, self-image, simple church, spiritual, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, University of Tennessee Martin, What is church?, Why be a Christian?, worship | Tagged 10:45 am, 225 Berry St., 37207, 41 years ago, a Christian, a million miles away, a real believer in, about God, actual Presence of, agnostic, all-consuming, amazing, an official church member, another thought, Arkansas, attending church, Berry Street Worship Center, Boy Scout, burns in my heart, campfire, childhood years, Christ, Christianity, closer to God, come and see for yourself, Come by here, Communicant's Class, confusing doctrines, congregation, creatively. modeled, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, describes, do church, dynamic relationship, eerie, elementary school, entered, every few monts, experienced, experiencing God, faint sense, felt, focused on, freely, freshman, funny thing, given the freedom, go to church, God's absence, God's awesome presence, high schook, Hindu, Holy Holy Holy, how to connect, hymn, I Corinthians 14:26, If you were born, immeciately, interest in God, invited to start, Jackson, Jesus Freaks, Jonesboro, junior year, know God, knowing God, Kumbaya, listened, living, living God, make me happy, mind, modern, more present, more real, mother, my Lord, Nashville, non-traditional, odd thought, older, parents, participate, passively, people, physical surroundings, popped into my mind, preached, preacher, Presbyterian Church, realized, regularly attending, rejected, relating to God, remember, results, rituals, sensed, series of classes, shouldn't church, shows up, something stirring inside, spiritual condition, spiritual fire, spiritual things, spiritually empty, suddenly exposed, Sunday morning, Sunday sermon, Sundays, support group, surprised, sweet Presence, talk, Tennessee, the Bible, The Salvation Army, The University of Tennessee Martin, think back to, TN, toddler, usher in, verse, Why do you think you are, with Jesus, wonder, wondered, words, you will be blessed | 4 Comments

George Barna’s 9 Challenges For American Christians

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Steve Simms

George Barna, founder of the Barna Research Group, issued nine challenges for American Christianity in 2002. Here is a paraphrase of his nine challenges along with how a church in Nashville, Tennessee, The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, is attempting … Continue reading →

Posted in Barna Research Group, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, challenges, church, East Nashville, evangelicals, Gen Y, George Barna, Holy Spirit, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, Nashville, organic church, popular culture, race, racism, simple church, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, worship | Tagged 37207, 50-50, allow peop;le to participate, amazing things, American, as led by the Spirit, asking God, attempting, attributed to, Barna Research Group, beliefs, believe, Berry St., Berry Street, Bible, bit, black and white, built-in cost, causes, challenges, changes, Christianity, Christians, church, churches, come, compete, cooperate with, cost, criticize, daily lives, different, do church, each week, eager to learn, encourage, encouraged, ethnic groups, evangelicals, exciting, expression, flow in the Spirit, follow, founder, fresh, Gen Y, George Barna, go, goal, good leaders, Gospel, I Corinthians 14:26, imput, issued, lack of, leadership, multi-racial, musical styles, Nashville, never know, nine, no matter what, non-traditional, not allowed, obey, one person, open, other, outstanding, paraphrase, power, prepared, produces, qualities, race, right in front of our eyes, sale old same old, seek, segregated, seriously, sermons, study, Sunday, Sunday mornings, supernatural, Tennessee, The Salvation Army, theological, to be involved, to meet, to share, to stand on God's word, toning down, uncomfortable, usually, visit, working of God, worship, Worship Center, worship leader, worship meeting, young adults | 1 Comment

Passion For The Christ — Spiritual Fire & Desire

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Steve Simms

Human history is sprinkled with lights — men, women, and children whose hearts were ablaze with passion for the Christ. Many are called “saints” and are remembered in our day. Untold millions of others, however, were unheralded in their day … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, books, Christianity, church, church history, East Nashville, house church, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus freaks, Nashville, National Football League, NFL, organic church, pentecostals, popular culture, Quakers, Quotations, Quotes, religion, saints, simple church, sports, Super Bowl, support group, The Salvation Army, TV ministers | Tagged 100, 10:45, 225 Berry St., 37207, ablaze, all over the world, Anabaptists, as fast as they can, banging their chest together, Baptist, based, being done, Berry Street Worship Center, best friends, best selling books, books, burning desire, Catholic, challenge, children, Christ, Christians, church, churches, come, concerts, conference, conferences, consistent, contain, dance, dart out of the door, determined not to show, doctrines, East Nashville, emotionless people, event, every Sunday morning, excitable churches, excitable. dutifully attend, excitedly, experience, expression, extremely bored, faces, filled, flaming, follow, forgotten by history, freaks, freeflowing, frozen in church, good ole American, grown men, had in common, heart-felt, hearts, heretics, high-fives, history, human, I Corinthians 14:26, in our day, in our heart, inspire, interest, Jesus, Jesus Christ, know, leave, lecture about God, light shines brightly, lights, line, listen to, living rooms, meeting, men, Methodist, millions, move, names, Nashville, nod off, obey, on and on, one thing, one way, Orthodox, our day, passion, passionate, passionless, passively, pastors, Pentecostal, people, playing a boys' game, prosperity, pumps them up, Quaker, quench the Spirit, quotation, quotations, regularly, religious fads, religious trinkets, remembered, right-wing politics, rush away, saints, see, seek out, shelves, singers, sitting like a statue, soulds like, spiritual, sprinkled, stadium, stir up the gift, stoic, Sunday morning, Super Bowl.every year, support group, T-shirts, talk to me, Tennessee, the Christ, The Quotable Saints, The Salvation Army, the thing, The Voice of the Saints, through, TN, TV ministers, type, unheralded, very hard to find, watch a ball game, watching, were, what about, when it comes to, women, words, writings, written word, yawn | 7 Comments

Down By The Spout Where God’s Glory Pours Out

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

I was in a church once and the pastor was trying to get some of the people sitting in the back rows to come and sit near the front. He told them: “Come down by the spout where the glory … Continue reading →

Posted in awe, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, East Nashville, God, Holy Spirit, house church, life, lifestyles, Nashville, Oh my God, spiritual, The Salvation Army, What is church? | Tagged 225 Berry Street, 37207, allowed to work, awe, back, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, carries, catch the current Holy Spirit's, church, church building, cultivate, degree, denominational affiliation, desires, discovers, eample, East Nashville, encounter, felt, flow, free, front, glory, glory of God, God's glory, God's presence, God's voice, heart, humbly, inner, inner rivers, Isaiah, Jesus said, learn, listen, manifest glory, meeting, meets, midst, most important thing, Nashville, non-traditional, obey, opinions, Out of your innermost being, overwhelmed, pastor, people, pours out, present, prophet, Quench not the Spirit, respond, responsive, rivers of living water, rows, sense, shall flow, spout, Sunday, Sundays, temple, The Salvation Army, thoughts, undone, work | 3 Comments

Tag Archives: Nashville

Are Sermons Effective?

Christmas Chatter

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Christmas Is About Judgment

I Grew Up In Church Without God

Passion For The Christ — Spiritual Fire & Desire

Down By The Spout Where God’s Glory Pours Out

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