apexworship

hey guys - I'm moving my blog to http://philwing.com. It's been a nice stay here at blogger but Abs hooked me up at the new site and I really like it. So from now on, go here to read the randomness that is Phil. I won't be posting on this one any longer.

I LOVE this kid!

Gibson Jude Wing


He was born Saturday, April 23rd, at 8:29pm. He was 7lbs 3oz and 19 3/4 inches long. He's got reddish brown hair and blue eyes...for now anyways. :o)

God, again, I praise You for Your work of re-creation - Yours truly are the only hands capable of miracles. Thank You so much!

I don't have a lot of time to post so I'll make this as quick as possible.

I'M BECOMING A FATHER THIS WEEKEND!!!

That's right, Friday (April 22nd), at 2:00pm - Amber will be induced. That just basically means that a doctor forces her to go into labor. There is nothing wrong, this is not an emergency or anything. The doctor just said that it looked ideal for the baby to be born this weekend. She went in for an ultrasound on Tuesday and the lady said, "this looks a lot more like May 3rd, not May 10th." We thought, SWEET - one less week to wait! Then the doctor did the exam. He said, "May 10th? Hmm, ya know, it would really be ideal for this baby to be born this weekend. How about Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?" We were blown away...and of course, we jumped on Friday as fast as possible! So, yeah, this weekend Amber and I become parents. Please, please, please pray for us! Pray for Amber - pray that she will have the strength needed for this; that she'll rest in the peace of God, knowing that His will will be done. Pray that Amber and I will be like Jesus to our son. Pray for our son, Gibson. Please pray that everything would go well on Friday and that'd he'd be born just as God wants him to be. Pray for the doctors, nurses, etc. as well. We'd appreciate it so much!

Lord, we don't deserve this! Gibson is a visible symbol of your grace to us. I am overwhelmed at the beauty of your creation...and re-creation. You alone are God! You alone are capable of this! I praise You God for your handiwork in my family...Your family. From every bit of energy, emotion, and thought - thank YOU so much!

I can't believe this!!!

I'm so excited! They're coming to Indi, Louisville, Columbus, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, and even F-town! This could be one of my favorite musical teamings since Crowder, Silas, and McDonald.

It's been a while since posting and for that, I apologize. Unfortunately, today I'm in one of those "don't want to blog deeply" moods. In light of this mood, I give you:

3 random Phil facts:

1. My son, Gibson Jude, is due to be born in about 5 weeks...maybe a little less if we're lucky...blessed, I mean. I can't wait! He's been kicking his mom a lot lately which is kinda funny. "my baby's a little hercules"

2. I've decided not to shave my face until Gibson arrives. I don't really grow a great beard though so I'll just look a little more ugly than normal for a few weeks. There's no real reason behind this decision other than the fact that it sounds fun...and because I envy these guys.

3. I bought a new hat about a month ago and today I am wearing it. I've worn it one other time...but today, this hat and my head are in marital bliss. It's red mesh and white cotton and kinda looks like a trucker hat, but it says 'England' on it. I get the vision of British truckers and their CB radios - (said with the finest of british accents) "breaker, breaker one nine, cheerio mates. Beware the officer on your starboard. He's a cheeky fellow who looks as if he might have his knickers in a bunch." Ok, thanks for indulging me on that tangeant. I like my hat.

With those 3 fun facts, I bid you adieu...

I must admit, I like these pickles...

better than these pickles...


Now, I'm no pickle racist, but I do believe that the whiter pickles taste better than the darker pickles.

(don't worry, "brother part 2" will be coming soon as well)

It was a great time in TN, but I've got to admit that my favorite part of the week happened after we got back. Sunday night, we had the privilege of playing for "1 Night" which was a youth worship experience for the youth ministries of Apex, Faircreek, and Hillside. This was one of the coolest nights I've had the pleasure of being a part of. The teens (and youth leaders) sang, read, danced, sculpted, painted, shouted, prayed, and shared their praises. Some teens made phone calls of confession. Others wrote thank you notes to those that had impacted them. Some spent all night reading the Word or praying. It was so cool to see!
We, as the band, got to provide the soundtrack for the night, which meant we played for 2 hrs. straight...and loved every second of it! We even wrote a song spontaneously during the service. It was one of those times that we were just jamming and and I couldn't help but sing my prayers. "You are Lord above all! I can't help but sing of who You are, I can't help but tell of what You do, You're like a fire burning inside. For You are Lord above all!"

Seriously, it was such a joy! Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication make for a great God night.

So Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday I had the joy of playing music to our God with some great people! That's my praise week!

Well, I believe that played more praise music this past week than I ever have...and it was a BEAUTIFUL week!!!

Bright and early Sunday morning, Joel, JP, Brian, and I embarked on our jouney to Cleveland, TN where we were the praise band for "Global Impact"; a missions conference at Candies Creek Church. One of my favorite parts of this whole trip was in the car, on the way down. At 11:00am, we had our own church service there in the 4 walls of a Chevrolet Trailblazer. All 4 of us brought the Word, discussed the Word, prayed, and sang praises. I was very challenged in my views of service and servanthood. Those 3 guys can preach!

Well, we made it to our hotel safely where there was a very nice package waiting for us. It was full of candy, water bottles, cookies, and other goodies. I went out to the front desk and asked Bart (the concierge) who it was from. He said "that's from the church". Let's just say that this package was a small forshadowing of what was to come. Oh, and by the way, the crew from "Monster House" was staying at our hotel. They had just redone 2 places in Cleveland, TN.

We got to the church and immediately we were being taken care of. Guys were helping us unload, setup, get ready, etc. It was great. We got a soundcheck and met up with the missions pastor and the speaker for the conference. The prayer time that we had that night set the pace for the rest of the week. They/we were here to make the glory of God known to all peoples.

We had a couple nights of sound difficulties...mainly due to the fact that we had an 80's metal head running sound...which we were ok with, but the church wasn't quite as cool with. hah. Eventually we got it worked out and it was all good in the hood...or maybe it would be better said it was "all good in the woods. "

The coolest part of this conference was not the conference itself, it was the people we got to meet and get to know. This church made us feel at home; we felt like we were a part of Candies Creek Church. Each night, a different group of people would come up to us and say "hey, we're taking you to dinner tonight". Some were small groups, some were families, others just good friends. But they went out of there way to make us feel welcome, and they succeeded. The volume of our laughter was heard in many a restaurant in Cleveland, TN that week. Apparently they must think that bands and football teams are much alike because they took us to buffets for 1/2 of our meals.

Some other cool people we got to meet were the missionaries...who were our age. We met one guy, Jason, who was 29 but had lived in Tajikistan for 4 years with his wife and 2 kids. He had just been literally run out of the country by the religious leaders in his city. We also met Steve who was 26 and was now an assistant missions pastor at Germantown Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. He had previously spent a year in Egypt before taking a job at that church. Last was Will who was 25. He had just spent 18 months in South Asia. He is back in the states for 6 months mobilizing and equiping people, mainly college & 20's, to do mission work.

They were our age!!! I was reminded that missions isn't an old people thing, it's a Christian thing, regardless of age or location.