Preson Phillips: A Tampa Alternative
A couple of weeks ago I found myself reflecting on culture pubs while sitting at the King Corona Cuban Café in Ybor City. I was enjoying a Cuban sandwich with a guy I have been coaching. We spent a few hours talking as we listened to the heartbeat of the city.
Knowing the Heartbeat of Your City is Crucial
‘Tommy’ Preson Phillips is a 27-year-old living in Seminole Heights. He and his wife Sarah made a calculated, deliberate decision to live in a one of Tampa’s poorer neighborhoods – one that desperately needed a face-lift in more ways than one. They sold their gas-guzzling car and bought a Vespa motor scooter, not because it was cool, but because of the environment and the economy. Up until recently, Tommy was a supervisor at Starbucks. Often he can be found working on his Mac Laptop while listening to his ipod at one of the many cafés in Ybor City, a short Vespa ride from his house. He loves art and enjoys community. He is both a philosopher and activist. A poet and songwriter who is both authentic and passionate about the people God has called him to serve. He is a hometown kid.
Now Tampa is a fun city! It is the home of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, it is a city that loves a party. But not your usual party – it is a Pirate/Buccaneer Fest! It is a town of the renegade, the outlaw, and the outcast. When I first arrived in town August ’07, I felt like I had to go back and re-watch the Pirates of Caribbean movies. In hindsight I should have sat down earlier in my adventure with Tommy. He understands Tampa. Far more than demographics – this is his city and his people. More importantly he is a reflection of this city.
Being a Reflection of Your City is a Start
Tommy became a church planter by default last August. He and Sarah had a choice to bail on the community of faith, love, and hope that they were intimately connected to or to stay and essentially replant the church – the Lead Pastor suddenly left the church & the city. They choose the latter. Tommy currently serves as the pastor of the Watermark Church in Tampa.
Shortly before facing this decision Tommy [as a musician & artist he is know by his middle name, Preson] ventured into film-making. I love his music video [click on video] entitled “What Am I?” It gives you a good feel not only for Tommy, but the people and community that he serves. A community that longs for the authentic, longs for the divine, longs to be used by God to right injustice.
The second stanza is particularly telling:
Lord make me now a instrument
Of Your love and mercy
To bring those back I’ve led astray
With words of comfort the broken
And deeds that nurture their souls
And love that flows from the giver of Life.
Your City Needs You to Be YOU
In my mind, living the life God intended is simply being who God created you to be. So often, young church planters try to be someone else. Simply stated, the best thing you can be as a church planter is yourself.
Now this is not to say you should stop reaching, stretching, and growing into all that God dreams for you to be. But, you need to be you and not someone else!
Tommy’s song “What Am I” grew into an album – the observant & the anawim. Click on the link and enjoy. Pretty innovative approach to music – you can download it from the site, make a donation if you like, and get the chords for free. In the first two weeks of release more than 8,000 people clicked on and were blessed.
Tommy penned a reflection or two about the album on his site:
I have been writing and playing music for about a decade now. I’ve been in and out of a lot of bands, and have followed the Lord since I was a child. He has now brought me to a place where I never meant to go.
These songs are a documentary of my spiritual journey over that last 2 years, and are a written account of where the Lord has brought me in my life. I hope it blesses you in some way. . . These songs were all written for the church that I am the pastor of, Watermark, and were written for our studies in the books of Acts and Galatians.
While listening to this album I realized that the songs truly were a reflection of who Tommy was becoming. They also spoke volumes of the community he is leading at Watermark.
I have hope while I watch Tommy be Tommy. In a sense, he is an antidote to some of the poison Bob & Pat so aptly highlighted last month. Whether it be a ‘scaffolding people’ mentality – Tommy treats everyone he encounters with an eternal mindset or the principle stating ‘church plants need to happen far from the place where the planter began in ministry’ – to this Tommy would say ‘Are you kidding?’.
For me, it is refreshing to know and coach this ‘Tampa Alternative.’
Dr. John Edgar Caterson is passionate about igniting personal & organizational creativity, innovation, and diversity. He lives with his wife Kristi, son Gabriel, and two daughters Annabelle & Aliza, in Lithia, Florida. He also serves as the President of BNMI - a non-profit specializing in strategic partnerships, church multiplication, and Next-Gen leadership. JE and early morning photo (left) with his daughter, Annabelle. He 1st wrote this article for Next Wave.