The site that will distribute the new record just went live this morning. The address is www.presonphillips.com.

I have been waiting anxiously for a very long time for this record, and I’m so excited to finally get to share it with all of you guys. 

It is a free download if you want it to be, so head on over there and click around. There is information about the album and what the title means. 

I hope you enjoy it,

Preson Phillips

This is an older post, I wanted to shift it to the top again, because I read it recently, and wanted to bring these things to mind as we seek how to start these types of ministries again.

So last night, as we do regularly on monday nights at watermark, a few friends and I met at startbucks to brew some coffee, buy some fruit juice and bottles of water, and we headed downtown to sit on the steps of Sacred Heart Catholic church and share a cup of coffee with some of the most amazing people you’ll ever talk too. To share a cold cup of water in the name of Jesus with those who will be sleeping in the sweltering heat on a piece of cardboard.
Sacred Heart is the only place that people who don’t have a building that they call their home are allowed to sleep. They have built quite the friendly society there on those steps, about 60 people, all excited to get a cup of coffee, and more than happy to tell you about their journey through life.
Last night I met someone I hadn’t met before, his name was Humberto. He had a thick accent that sounded almost russian, and I was surprised to learn that he was from columbia. I asked him what brought him to america, and to tampa, he said “hold still for just a second, I wish to show you something”. He ran away around the corner and then 5 minutes or so later, he came running back with a leather bound folder.
He proceeded to open the folder and tell me all about his story. An amazing story. He had done so many things in his life, worked so many jobs, traveled so many places, and had sooooooo much knowledge about life… and God. He showed me his degree in spanish literature from Seattle, and his computer science certification from NY, his photos of all the different jobs he had worked at disney in California and Florida. He proceeded to show me columns that he had written for major newspapers in america, and shared poetry with me that was among the most beautiful that I had heard in my life.
After a while, we got into talking about life and community. He told me that he was so grateful for what we do, and then he told me this “You know, the bible says that man doesn’t live by bread alone, bit that we need the words that come from the Lords mouth also to survive. I want you to know that I can tell you are from Christ, and that there is no amount of words that you could have said in the world that could have told me about Jesus more than the fact that you have brought me coffee, and listened to me speak. I can see the love of Jesus…here…now. This coffee means nothing to me… yet, it means EVERYTHING to me!” He said so much more, and my heart was overwhelmed with joy. I must admit that I have had a hard time understanding how spending time and investing friendships here relates to evangelism, and was wondering if there was any fruit growing. All I knew is that this is what I was commanded to do, so I did it.
This man told me that people would probably disagree with what we are doing, but that is how we would know that we were doing what is right. He said “people will oppose you for helping us because people hate us, but you are doing what the Lord told you to do, and they know that, and it hurts them because they cannot”.
This man was speaking the words of Jesus to me… and why not? This is exactly what Jesus said when he talked about how people would stand before him and tell about all that they did in His name, and he will reply “yes, but when I was hungry you did not feed me, when I was naked you did not clothe me, and when I was lonely you did not spend time with me… for when you did this to the least of these, you did it to me!”

There are about 65 other “Jesus’s” sleeping out there. all they want is a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, and a meaningful conversation. They don’t want/need your money, or your pity or your _______ (fill in the blank). They want you to stop, and turn and sit and TALK.

It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again, Preach the gospel all the time, and if necessary… use words!

I am going today to listen to the final draft master of my new album. 

I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time on this thing. I think I started recording it back in august or something like that. Some songs were completely deleted and then started over, and others haven’t changed since the initial recording. 

All in all, I am very proud of this record, and I think you all will enjoy it. It is only 9 songs, but they are not like anything else that I have ever recorded before. 

In the time that I’ve spent recording this album, I’ve actually almost completely written my next one, and I hope to record it later this year. 

I’m gonna have it available online only because I realize what a waste of resources it is to print physical copies, and the truth is that people really don’t even need hard copies of media anymore. I still have about 500 cd’s in my shed from my last albums, and I have no reason ever to really spend the money or waste the resources. 

I’ll post an update when the album is available, and I’ll link to it, maybe I night put a flash player up on here too. 

There is allot of talk these days about how “unexperienced” candidates are when they run for office. When we have these conversations, we are validating what is known as “career politicians”. 

The “Career Politician” is something that was never intended in our democratic republic. As a matter of fact, in it’s conception, America was prided and looked up to because of the fact that it was governed by “normal people”, everyday citizens, just like you and me. They would have a normal civilian job, and would decide that something needed to change, so they would run for office. And if they won, they would serve out their term and then head back home with the pride that they served their country well and did what they thought needed to be done. What was even better about this system, is that the former politician would then have to live with the impact of the decisions that were made under their own command. In other words, they would have to taste their own medicine.

I get allot of propoganda talking about how “inexperienced” this candidate is, or how “untested” that candidate is. My answer is always the same, “what do they want to accomplish”, and “can I get behind that?”.

Here are a few of Americas most “unexperienced” Presidents:

George Washington
John Adams
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson
Ulysses S. Grant
Franklin D Roosevelt
…

Do you get my point? Do you want me to name some of our most “experienced” presidents? I don’t think you would like the list. Here’s a little taste.

Richard Nixon
Gerrald R Ford
James Carter
George W. Bush 

The office of president was meant to be held by any American whom the people could get behind, and anyone who could inspire a nation to bigger and better things. Sadly it has become a game for the rich and famous, who spend 30 or 40 years in a fake reality of government, and tend to lose touch with the people for whom they are supposed to serve. Maybe someday a younger more inexperienced candidate will come along and then we can all see the opportunities that were always supposed to be available to everyone, not just those that were born into whatever dynasty is in power at the time.

It dawned on my last night, after a 6 hour house church gathering, that years from now Sarah and I will probably be trying to recapture what we have right now in this very point in time. 

We are in a good place, a very good place… the best place. 

There comes a point when you enter into pure surrender and just decide that you are going to ride a thing out and see what happens, even if it hits the dust, even if what it ends up was not what it was intended to be at the start. The conversations that have been had lately, and the honesty that has been pouring out of peoples mouths is something that I have never truly experienced. And it is shocking and soooo encouraging. 

Slowly but surely God has shown us who we are and what we are supposed to be. We still only have a small glimpse, and we are all a bit antsy, but we have no doubt that we are in Gods will right now, and he is making it abundantly clear by providing for us in miraculous ways. We are surprised on almost a daily basis now… surprise by who really come out and makes a strong profession that Jesus has changed them… surprised by the people who have really woken up to the living God around them and see that they have a part to play in the story… and surprised by the people who have become real genuine Christians that you thought never really saw anything outside of themselves. It is humbling. 

I don’t usually talk about what I do on here, mainly because I’ve seen what revealing yourself in a public forum can do to people (the kind and honest words of those that you love and respect become unexploded hand grenades and are thrown back at them in moments of weakness), and I know that there are plenty of people reading this page that have a connection with what things used to be, and I still get all the prying questions that have been like a dripping faucet for years that has only gotten louder and louder as more and more water droplets are added to the pipes. I always do my best not to put veiled messages on here, and to make sure that nothing I say can be misconstrued as an attack on another person (these are not the acts of Christians, but are acts of the flesh wanting vengeance rather than peaceable discourse) But I can honestly say that I whole heartedly believe that everything that has happened was done so that the Lords will might be done, and I think I realized it last night. Everything that was done may have been done BY people, but in the end it was done FOR God to bring this community to the place where it is now… in this very moment.

I’ve come to realize that everyone is important, and no one is a useless piece of chaff. All are Eikons of the living God and have a part to play… from the handicapped man who yells out in excitement (which used to make people uncomfortable, but now excites and makes us all smile in appreciation of his spirit), to the agnostic boy who criticizes every word I say (but surprises me with a big hug and a kind word as he leaves), to the “cool kids” who are very self aware (but have faith in God to provide, and live recklessly and sacrificially to match it), to the ones who think they’ve got it all figured out and are “enlightened” (who turn out to say the most encouraging things in the most vulnerable of moments). 

I have come to live for today. To not worry about tomorrow. To not have a strategy. To not plan 5 years ahead. To forget everything I’ve been taught about how to discern God’s will. And to realize that we are all supposed to dwell in uncertainty… in some divine tension of “what are you doing?” because it always ends up in “I can’t believe you did that!”. 

What can God do with 115 young, confused and spiritually immature people (with an equally matched and unexperienced leader)? Well, I’m not sure… but I’ve read what He did with 12 of them. 

I saw “The Happening” last night. I’m not gonna hold back. I don’t ever even do movie reviews, but this needs to be said. 

Within 5 minutes of the movie starting I knew that something was wrong. The acting was horrendous, I mean literally “junior high” acting. I was seriously laughing at the childish dialogue, (especially when Marky Mark says “bro”). At certain points in normal conversations I could hear people sighing and rolling their eyes while trying to give this film the benefit of the doubt. 

Now for the plot line… ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ….Plants? …PLANTS? The plants are angry with us. Seriously? 

This whole thing is a joke. Shamalan is done. The only thing that can make the movie good is to hand it over to the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 guys and let them do their thing… seriously, that would be a riot!

The high point of the movie is when two teenage boys get shot by some rednecks hiding out in their country homes clinging to their guns (and religion;)) in fear, the bad thing is, it was meant to be a serious and suspenseful part of the movie, but people in the theatre were screaming with laughter.

We all know that M. Knights movies all have a secret ending, that’s why we go to them. So, here it is. The secret ending:

The secret is that its not a movie… it’s a crappy propaganda piece. I’m seriously sick of being duped out of my money for political reasons. I have no problems with the climate debates, and I don’t have a big opinion one way or another I’m not a scientist, and neither are YOU (I’m a follower of Christ, and I take care of His creation because I love Him), but I honestly half expected Al Gore to make a cameo. 

When the film ended, most of the theatre booed. I’m not kidding, they booed out loud. Then they all stood around outside of the theatre complaining about what a trite piece of human feces this film was. I almost created a bond between everyone. Imagine, 250 people, standing around talking about how horrible it was that we will never see, either our 2 hours, or our 9 dollars again. Even though we didn’t know each other, it was like we had all experienced something that bonded us together… our hate for this movie! It was a beautiful thing really. 

Maybe that was the point though. 

Wait a minute… WHAT A GENIUS! The secret ending had nothing to do with the movie at all, it was about what he wanted to happen AFTER the movie was over. He was trying to bring us all together… to unite us around a shared hate for his own movie. 

Don’t you see? M. Knight Shamalan sacrifice his own career so that we could find common ground and new relationships through our hate for himself! If you think about it, he is more like a Christ figure than anything else!!!

Thank you M. Knight Shamalan! You have given us a great gift! The gift of hateful unity!!!

Thank you… a million thank you’s!

Can I have my 9 dollars back though? 

IMonk opened up his blog this week and let people say things that they could never say in real life. These were some of my favorites (”Favorites? because you agree with them or because they were funny?”... hmmm)

“Do you realize that Jesus said it is hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God and most of us are among the richest 5% of the world?”

“What if Jesus meant what He said would happen if we don’t forgive one another?”

“I’ve never seen the altar call in the Bible, much less playing music while it’s given.”

“Did the early church have the flag (or any other symbol) of the Roman Empire in their worship services?”

“I think Oscar Romero was more like Jesus than most of us are.”

“Calvin and Luther disagreed bitterly on this point. I happen to think they were both wrong.”

“I notice that the Great Commission doesn’t even mention preaching the gospel”

“I don’t see the command for a personal quiet time in the bible.”

“Catholics are Christians, too.”

“Why are you using a prayer meeting to reveal all the sins of your non-Christian co-worker? Did he/she give you permission?”

“I don’t want to turn and greet somebody for only thirty seconds.”

“What if Jeremiah Wright had a point?”

“Christian television is embarrassing.”

“The republican party wasn’t invented by Paul”

“The democratic party wasn’t invented by Paul”

“Referring to a funeral as a “homecoming” is trite and cheapens the curse of death, Christ’s redemption, and the promises of resurrection.”

“The Religious Right was annoying, but the new Christian Left is getting insufferably smug in only a fraction of the time.”

“Why is there always church discipline for sexual sins, but never for legalism, materialism, etc.?”

“No, I don’t think that blogging is a redemptive way to spend your time”

I read today “that the biggest movements in theology today are the “New Reformed” and “Emergent”, but also that emergent is starting to turn into the mirror image of Judas, and will eventually hang itself.”

I would actually agree… but… I don’t think emergent was ever meant to survive, I don’t feel like that was the intention. It never wanted to become a denomination, and was created to exist in a certain time and place for the purpose of reformation. It never wanted to be the object of affection, but a catalyst for a revival of orthopraxy.

I appreciatte what it has done, even though I feel that it is starting to lose steam and many people are starting to jump ship (not because of any certain reason, but simply because I feel it has become more and more integrated into areas of evangelicalism, and the lack of diversity in its authors and leaders).  Nobody likes to see a rockstar become domestic and blase’. 

We all know that rebellion eventually becomes mainstream (yuppies), not because it sells out, but because it makes its mark and awakens a few. These few, though not as extreme as the fathers of the movement, implement the change needed to last for generations.

Make no mistake, the change has been made and it is a good change. And now the next generation must find it’s place as the new leaders of the kingdom. I don’t think it will be so polarizing (on either side), and I don’t think it will be limited to only a handful of voices. I’m hoping that it will bridge and unite. I’m hoping that it will be respectful and reconciling. 

I’m excited about taking part in it.