IDOL WORSHIP: 'American Idol' wows crowd at Village Baptist (PHOTO)

A crowd at Village Baptist Church rubbed elbows and heard from an American Idol Sunday.

The Destin church, in partnership with WPSM 91.1, brought in Phil Stacey, the seventh-place finalist on American Idol in the sixth season of the wildly popular Fox reality show.

“He was real, real personable and told a lot of stories about American Idol and how amazed he was that the Lord had given him this opportunity,” said Michael Turner, minister of Music at Village Baptist. “He definitely thinks Paula was the best judge on American Idol.”

Stacey played guitar and keyboard and sang music from his new CD “Into The Light.” Turner said it was his first concert he had done since releasing the CD last week.

His first single “If You Didn’t Love Me” was released to country radio on January 7, 2008 and peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His self-titled debut album was released in April 2008.

“He seriously played for two solid hours,” Turner said. “There were about 400 people there. We wish it could have been more, but the 400 that were there got a treat.”

One person to attend was 19-year Destin resident Denise Corcoran.

“It was really amazing,” she said. “I had never heard of him, but he is just a wonderful Christian man.”

Next up, the church is hosting a community concert on Dec. 13. The event will feature New Song, Big Daddy Weave and soloist Francesca Battistelli.