The Opening of Agape - PWC

This is my journey with God when I decided to introduce AGAPE to Philippine Women's College (PWC). I wrote this to serve as an inspiration to agapeans and as well as to let you guys know the updates and so you could pray with me.

June 1, 2009 (Monday)

I was quite ready to go to Philippine Women's College for an initial visitation of the school. I began to get excited as I would only count days before AGAPE would be introduced in PWC. I was and am praying for this and I know its time is yet to come.


June 8, 2009 (Monday)

I was really excited to see AGAPE being introduced to PWC. No words could describe how I feel right now. I thought everything would turn out fine just as I plan it would be. My emotions turned low as it was announced that there would be no classes due to a so - called A(H1N1) and that a friend of mine told me that PWC may not have classes during first day of classes but nevertheless I still hoped to introduce AGAPE even if it would take me that long. My friend told me to reschedule my visit next Monday (June 15, 2009).



June 15, 2009 (Monday)

Now the day of waiting is finally over. My excitement is on its height. I thought this was the day that things would workout as what was agreed but I began to wonder because there seemed to be not right here. I was affirmed of what I felt when an initial visitation of AGAPE in PWC did not happen. "I need to pray", I thought of myself. Some doubts began to accumulate but I decided I have to regain my faith.


June 16, 2009 (Tuesday)

Another day has been laid and still my excitement is still high. I decided to go an extra mile for this and even another mile if it requires me to. I still can't find a time to visit PWC because the weather is not good and we were not able to communicate properly with the students. I'm still hoping.


June 17, 2009 (Wednesday)

Oh, yes, another day. I'm really that wanting to go. I'm still up for it. This time there's a little anticipation of what can possibly happen and I was right. There's some hindrances left and that is due to some mild sickness. Two of my contacts got sick. I knew I had to pray an extra mile and I did. After that, we decided to reschedule by next Tuesday (June 23, 2009).


June 23, 2009 (Tuesday)

This day is far more different than other days. I know I could possibly visit PWC now but I also noticed that there would be struggles on my part because I have tomeet them in less than an hour. Maybe not anything worked out for me but I know God will continue to do something. I guess I'll have to wait for Him but as of the moment I thanked Him for allowing AGAPE to be initially introduced. I have meet with six (6) students from HRM and Tourism Department. I told them I'm thinking of visiting them some other time or next week.

The Father, The Son, And The Horse

In a small village, there was this poor father who only had a son, and a horse. One day, the father decided to travel to another place so he had with him his son and his horse.

The journey was long and tiring so the father decided that his son would ride the horse and that he would just take a walk. The villagers noticed it and said among themselves, "What kind of son would let his old father take a walk while he is rides the horse." The son noticing what was said about him told his father to switch position with him so to not argue with what was said. And so they continued to travel.

As they headed to another village, they noticed everyone is whispering something to another. They heard one of them saying, "What kind of father is this, who lets his son take a walk while he rides a horse." The father ashamed of what he did told his son to take a walk with him and that not anyone of them would ride their horse. And so they continued to travel.

The father and his son now continues to travel passing another village. Thinking no one would rebuke them of what they were doing, they marveled because the villagers there gazed at them and told them, "What kind kind of father and son would travel along with their horse without even thinking of riding it." Now really being bothered, they agreed to ride their horse.

Along their journey, they passed by some villagers near and they began to be really upset and confused. The villagers were somewhat not happy of what they have done. They heard them saying, "What kind of father and son is this to have a little horse carry them on their journey."

And so it was that whatever they do they can't please everyone they meet during their long journey.

Christian Band of the Moment: David Crowder Band

David Crowder Band is a 6-piece Christian electronic rock and worship band from Waco, Texas.

The band began when David Crowder from Texarkana, Texas realized that almost half of the students at Baylor University were not attending church, which he found surprising since it is a Christian university. He and Chris Seay started University Baptist Church (Waco, Texas) in 1995 while he was still a student. Crowder led worship there and continued to do so throughout the year. The church's congregation grew, as did the band's lineup.

Crowder began writing songs to incorporate into the worship times at the church and eventually the church released an independent CD, Pour Over Me followed by All I Can Say in 1999. These CDs brought the band to a wider audience and invitations to festivals and events followed. The band was signed to Sixstep Records/ Sparrow Records and has released six more albums to date. The band tours the United States continuously, but make it back to their home church in Waco, Texas relatively often. It has been said that Kyle Lake, University Baptist's former pastor and also longtime friend of the band, had a strong influence on the band's music in terms of content and inspiration both during his life and after his tragic death.

With their September 2005 release, A Collision David Crowder Band explored a new realm of musical diversity. The album houses a mix of bluegrass, folk, alternative, and worship woven together with a touch of electronic ambiance. This release landed them the #2 spot on the i Tunes Music Store and the #39 spot on Billboard 200 only one day after its release.

On the same day as the release of A Collision, their song "Turkish Delight" was released on the Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia compilation CD. This song, which is a reference to the magical Turkish Delight in C. S. Lewis's book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, has an old-school disco feel.

On March 19, 2007, the band officially started recording its newest album. Titled Remedy, the band also revealed the album's website, http://www.remedyiscoming.com/, which allows fans to follow the band via live webcams, and discover more about the album. Famously controversial rock musician Ted Nugent made a special guest appearance on the album, on the song "We Won't Be Quiet".Remedy was released on September 25, 2007. The day after its release, it reached #4 on the iTunes Music Store.

On July 16, 2008, the band announced via its website that it would be releasing a brand new live album and DVD set on August 19, 2008. The title was announced as being 'Remedy Club Tour - Live', and the cover art was released along with a trailer for the DVD.

On David Crowder's Xanga entry from January 31, 2009, he mentioned the pre-production of the band's next studio album.On Mike Hogan's MySpace entry from March 4, 2009, he confirmed that actual recording and production had commenced and provided directions for getting to the live webcam feed, which is in a page simply titled "Church Music".

2009

David Crowder Band was nominated for three Dove Awards at the 40th Annual Gospel Music Awards:

• Group of the Year
• Recorded Music Packaging - Remedy Club Tour Edition
• Special Event Album of the Year - Passion: God of This City

The band received the award for:

• Special Event Album of the Year - Passion: God of This City

2007

David Crowder Band received another Dove Award for their participation in Special Event Album of the Year - Passion: Everything Glorious

2006

David Crowder Band received their first Dove Awards at the 37th Annual Gospel Music Awards:

• Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year - A Collision
• Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year - "Here is Our King"
• Special Event Album of the Year - Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia

David Crowder has authored two books:

• David Crowder, Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi, NavPress, 2005.
• David Crowder with Mike Hogan, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die or (The Eschatology of Bluegrass), Relevant Books, 2006.

According to Crowder himself, it is improper to refer to the band as "The David Crowder Band". The group prefers to omit the article, as they do not want to make the band appear so definitive and concrete as "The David Crowder Band". The group may revisit this issue if other groups named "David Crowder Band" begin performing and may in fact, should that eventuality occur, insert "The Original" in front of the band's present appellation.

The addition of the asterisk (*) to the name (rendering David Crowder*Band) is a common occurrence evoking much mystery; however, the band uses this convention only in some logos. In text on their website and other media, the asterisk is omitted, which only adds to the lore. It is uncertain what the asterisk denotes reference to, or what metaphorical annotation is intended. The asterisk, however, can be seen on the David Crowder*Band music video "Foreverandever Etc...". No opinions on the asterisk's purpose are reliable at this point and time, although theories arise from time to time. One theory is that it helps slow readers find their place if, while reading the name of the band, they must leave and then come back and somehow try to pick up where they left off.

Astute observers concerned with said asterisk have pointed out the similarity of the band's name to Dave Matthews Band, and along with Crowder's Matthews-influenced acoustic guitar riffs, have suggested the asterisk alludes to a long-standing joke about the band's creativity. This is consistent with the band's writings, which have long-employed witty, subtle, and self-effacing humor. And while somewhat conjectural, yet the most convincing piece of evidence to surface pointing to the truth in this is the fact that the UBC Band's All I Can Say has thirty-four tracks, with tracks twelve through thirty-three serving as silent filler tracks leading up to an acoustic rendition of "Come Thou Fount," an often-overlooked mimicry of Dave Matthews Band's album Under the Table and Dreaming, which also has a total of thirty-four tracks, with tracks twelve through thirty-three serving as silent filler tracks leading up to the song known as "#34. Also, the total running time of the record is exactly 68:00, which is 34 doubled. This was completely coincidental."

On a documentary while recording their upcoming album, Church Music, Crowder mentioned that the asterisk meant, "David Crowder [is about to go insane because Jack Parker continually tries to sabotage the work of the rest of the] band."

Song of the Moment: Everything Glorious By David Crowder

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than it's hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that


The song just simply shows how the composer sees everything as though God is in each creation and how His glory is seen in every creation. We see how he is amazed about his surrounding, the day, the night, and every little thing. He's just telling us that no matter where we look, or no matter how we look, we could see God just everywhere. The song just reminds us that God exists and there's no doubt about it.