Troyce Simmons is not an ordained minister. In fact, he has no formal religious training at all.
But he knows about love, and he has found a way to spread that love to those he meets every day.
A little more than four years ago, Simmons started what he calls a “pebble ministry,” where he writes tiny hopeful words on rocks and hands them to people he encounters, expecting nothing in return.
He often gets more than he bargains for, though.
“Most of the time, people just start talking to me and telling me how they feel,” said Simmons, a Cornelia native. “The rock is really an opening for them. It takes them to a place where they had an experience and it makes a connection to that individual.”
Simmons was working in the cell tower industry in the mountains of Coverton, Virginia., in 2015 when he had an epiphany during a break from work when he experienced a moment of total peace.
“I saw this nice rock about 10 inches long and five inches wide. I wrote on it ‘my mountain of peace.’ I then heard a voice say ‘Share it,’” Simmons said in his testimony pamphlet.
He got the urge to pick up small pebbles over the next few days, and two words came to his mind – love and peace. He started writing those words on the rocks.
One day shortly after, he was sitting in a park in Cleveland when he decided to give one of his pebbles to a man and his grandson sitting nearby. The man practically told Simmons his life story right then and there, and he knew he had answered his calling.
“Everyone’s life goes through transitions,” Simmons said Wednesday. “I wanted to serve something greater than myself. I don’t want to force anything on anyone, I just want to connect with anyone who needs love.”
As a pest control technician in the region, Simmons meets a lot of people, giving him ample opportunity to make those connections. Simmons says his religion is love, and that was cemented in February by something his brother Paul said before he passed away.
“He told me ‘On this journey we call life, it’s not when you die, it’s how you love while you live,’” Simmons said.
On what he calls an “amazing journey” so far, Simmons said he has had all kinds of conversations with people who clearly were just itching for someone to listen to them.
“I have talked to a lot of folks who might be down or whatever and they just open up, and they tell me they needed this and that it touched their heart,” Simmons said. “I had a couple people tell me they were thinking about committing suicide and when they saw the word ‘hope’ on the rock, they found that hope to live another day and keep going.”
At Fairview Elementary, one of his rocks is on display to remind students and faculty there that there is love in the world. The pebble ministry has even gone global, as people have told him they sent the rocks all over the country and even to places like England and Russia to friends and family members who also needed love and hope. “This is bigger than me. It is something God has allowed me to do through Him and I’m grateful for it,” he said.