Preson

Check out Preson Phillips. He's a pastor of a missional church community in Tampa called Watermark. The website is for a cd he recorded of songs written about their journey. It's mostly acoustic, with a folk/indie feel. They lyrics are just fantastic, check out this song called "Until God's Realm Comes", it's one of my favorites and one of the best pictures of the church I've ever found. You can listen to it while you read, just go to his website and hit refresh a few times until this song starts playing in the top left corner...

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We gather to sing of your kindness that’s showered upon us
To whisper your promises, shout out the truths of your love
We lift up your name as we care for your children around us
Encouraged in unity, gathering strength from your words
Thank you for kinship thank for love.

Excited by life, we will sing with the gifts that you give us
Impassioned by mystery, mystical Lord upon high!
Heartbroken seeing what sin has destroyed all around us
Hopeful in knowing what will be fulfilled in your Word
Until your Kingdom comes…

Maybe in this there has been but a glimpse of the kingdom
And maybe our hearts will be stirred for the mission before us
Maybe in this there has been but a glimpse of you Jesus
And mercy will flow through these streets as we exercise worship
Until your kingdom comes

until all are fed
until all know home
until all are free
until justice done
until peace the way
until grace the law
until love the rule
until God’s realm comes
until God’s realm comes
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Pretty sweet, eh? And if you still aren't convinced, he is actually giving the cd away for free on his website.

One of the most exciting parts for me is how I discovered him. My favorite band, underOATH, just put up a song from their new record on myspace. Their guitarist mentioned in a blog that he had produced a "folk record" for a friend of his, and so I decided to check it out and found Preson. I started looking more into this church and just loved reading about what they were doing and their heart for their city, their view of church and the role of God's people. It also was cool to see that the books they recommend are all the same books that have really impacted me! And it turns out 3 of the underOATH guys are part of the church community. So I was pretty excited about that! Well, check it out and let me know what you think!