Another crucial week for Jacksonville contestant on Fox's 'American Idol'

Phil Stacey likes his job in the Navy just fine. Not to mention his position as music minister in a Jacksonville church. But now that he's made it through another week of American Idol, he has a few decisions to make. After all, the show has launched a musical career or two the past few years.
"I was planning a Navy career, but I'm a very confused young man about direction," he said by phone from Los Angeles. "I always wanted to pursue a recording career, too."

Stacey, 29, is part of the final 20 on American Idol, the country's most-watched show.

At 8 tonight, the 10 remaining men will sing, followed by telephone voting. Wednesday, the 10 women sing, followed by voting. Thursday, the two men and two women with the lowest votes will be announced and sent home.

Stacey joined the Navy in 2003 and came to Jacksonville Naval Air Station the next year to be the lead singer in Pride, a Navy rock band.

"I'm very contented in the Navy," he said. "I love my job. What's better than doing a lot of rock shows for kids?"

Then there's the ministry. After all, Stacey's father is a Church of God minister in Hendersonville, Tenn. His wife's father is the pastor at Evangelistic Center Church in Shawnee, Okla. And Stacey is minister of music at Jacksonville's First Coast Christian Center.

"I could be a career music minister, too," he said. "But there are aspects of my life - my family, my country, my faith - that I would like to share on a larger scale than I can with the Navy. If this goes where I can actually do that, I think that'd be a very positive thing."

Roger Bull/The Times-Union