| Tellyourtestimony URL: |
| http://www.tellyourtestimony.com/PhilCarlson |
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| Marketplace Ministry |
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Promote and advertise your business, events, music and talents. Posting is Free.
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| Every Nation Campus Ministries |
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Visit www.PrayerIsEssential.com or contact Phil Carlson to find out how you can help make disciples and bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas!
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| Contact Information |
| Contact Name: |
Phil Carlson |
| Contact Title: |
Campus Missionary |
| Email Address: |
phil.carlson@everynation.org |
| Address: |
N/A |
| City, State, Zip: |
Dallas, TX N/A |
| Country: |
United States |
| Phone: |
214 243-8368 |
| Fax: |
N/A |
| Website: |
www.prayerisessential.com |
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Phil's Comments:
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Posted: 7/1/2009 3:49:46 AM
Hey Phil, just checkin in to see how you are doing? Are you still ministering in Dallas? What's new..Blessings to you and all you r doing. Your friends at TYT
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Posted: 6/23/2009 3:16:41 PM
Way to go, Phil... you listened to God's true calling on your life - full-time Ministry, Amen. Thank you for your testimony, and I'll be praying for your finances. It's good to be TYT friends, thanks ! Peace in Him, David
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| Status Update |
Phil is learning ...
.jpg "Tell Your Testimony - Status Update - Scott")
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friends 49 hours ago...
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.JPG "Tell Your Testimony - Status Update - DALE")
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my dad went to be with the lord he was 92 pray for me lol 219 hours ago...
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has lost 27 lbs since mid May! Feeling GREAT! 268 hours ago...
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has lost 23 lbs since mid May!!! I feel better than I have felt in a very long time! 4 hours ago...
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has lost 20 lbs in just over 5 weeks now! 4 minutes ago...
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| Phil's Testimony |
I left Florida to attend Southern Methodist University in mid-August of 2000, leaving behind many dark memories of childhood including growing up without a committed father, awkward school years, being molested in preschool by my preschool teachers, my grandmother’s slow, painful death from Hepatitis C, my mom’s divorce from my first step-dad, his alcoholism and abuse, times of great financial lack, severe depression, the pressure to succeed in a high-stress college-prep program in high school, and difficulties related to my mom’s recent back surgery.
The odd thing was, in the midst of all that adversity, being raised in a United Methodist church, I knew God had a purpose for me, though I didn’t know what. The thought I occasionally accepted, and mostly fought was that I had a future in vocational ministry. No matter what was to come, I was just excited to attend school 1,100 miles from home.
No sooner did I arrive on campus and students from ministries of numerous denominations reached out to me. Baptists, Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals/Charismatics, Episcopals, Evangelicals and Non-denominationals. God was pursuing me! Even so, I attended fraternity parties, got drunk, and continued a pursuit of what I thought I needed from the world. After all, there was a lot of opportunity for that since SMU was ranked as the #17 party school in the U.S. that year.
At the beginning of October, a couple days after I felt humiliated because of drinking so much that I woke up in a pool of my own vomit the next morning, I followed a girl to Trinity Church, Dallas (Morning Star Christian Church at that time) and found far more than I bargained for. They were recording a worship CD that day, and the atmosphere in the church auditorium was electric as the worship team played. As soon as I walked in, I felt the tangible presence of God and knew it was Him without question. He had my attention. Pastor Joe gave a powerful message that day about meeting God, and that only when we are humbled (in my case, humiliated), can we really recognize Him as He is. I was hungry to hear more. I knew I had to come back. A couple weeks later he spoke on the Biblical concept of hearing God, and discerning the difference between the voice of God, and the voice of the world, the devil and the flesh.
On November 9, 2000, at the urging of one of my newfound Christian friends, I attended an event called, "AFTERdark."
Joe ... no, not Martin, White this time, of Promise Keepers and Kanakuk Ministries shared the Good News of Jesus Christ in a powerful way as part of the AFTERdark event. The part that grabbed my attention was when he said that through Christ, God was no longer a grey-bearded old-guy-in-the-sky, but He is now my heavenly Daddy ... if only I would acknowledge Him as my Lord.
As part of Joe White’s message and testimony, he shared that he had Leukemia. At the moment he spoke about it, I felt the urge to tell him that he was healed. I mulled it over in my mind and based on what I had learned from Pastor Joe’s sermon a couple weeks earlier, I got up at the end of the service to tell Joe what I knew I had to say.
During our conversation, I confessed to him that I had never known I could know God as intimately as he described. I couldn’t make eye contact with him the whole time, so he grabbed my head and forced me to look him in the eyes. He then told me something that has defined my life until today. He said, “I don’t know what your background is with your father, but as of right now you are my temporarily adopted son. ... I want to tell you something your father has never told you before. I love you, and I am proud of you. ... And now I’m going to speak on behalf of God. ‘We love you, We are proud of you, and We know that you will be the father you never had.’”
After saying those things he hugged me as a loving father hugs his son, and it felt as though God Himself was the one doing the hugging, not just a man. I cried. A lot. Such was the end of my old life, and the beginning of a new life in Christ. Though struggles would come, I would never go back because someone stepped in to do more than just talk about God’s love for me. Joe White actually showed God’s love for me by His actions, which has put the desire in me to do the same for others.
Since that November I have been on mission trips to Mexico, New York City (a month after Sept 11th), Costa Rica, Canada and Louisiana (a month after hurricanes Katrina and Rita). I served as the student coordinator of prayer and evangelism for Victory Campus Ministries (VCM) at SMU, won an award for demonstrated leadership in religious life on campus, and have mentored a number of young men through that ministry, including two student leaders of VCM at SMU who graduated in May of 2008. In March of 2004, I met my biological father for the first time - something I couldn’t have handled except through knowing my heavenly Father already.
I graduated in 2004 from SMU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Individualized Studies in the Liberal Arts with a focus on the Theory of Leadership and Administration of Organizations and a minor in Religious Studies. That same year, the national organization of Victory Campus Ministries changed its name to Every Nation Campus Ministries (ENCM), but due to the confusion that would follow from changing our name at SMU, our chapter of the ministry maintained the old name. Since the summer of 2004 I worked at Circuit City for a little more than two years and Capital One Bank for a little more than a year while continuing to volunteer with ENCM/VCM at SMU.
A NEW DIRECTION IN MINISTRY
Early in 2007 I felt God urging me to take action towards leaving my secular job and taking on ministry as my vocation. Several months later, after a difficult break up with my girlfriend at the time, in the midst of a time of prayer and fasting, I finally chose to accept and obey the call. January 31st, 2008 was my last day working for Capital One. Four days later I started classes in Nashville, TN in a two month intensive college/youth missionary training course sponsored by Every Nation Campus Ministries. The course was truly life-changing, transforming my whole understanding of how I even look at the world while equipping me to better communicate the Gospel and run a campus ministry. It was during this time that Jim Laffoon of the Every Nation Ministries leadership team told me that he could see me “stamping love on a generation.” After completing the course, on April 5th I returned to Dallas.
I am currently living in Dallas just a 20 minute walk away from the main campus of SMU. As of now I regularly meet with church leaders, businessmen and women, Christians in general and anyone who will listen, sharing my story and the testimonies of what ENCM/VCM is doing at SMU. In the midst of that, I am also developing a financial partnership team to get me serving on campus as soon as possible.
Very soon I will be on staff with ENCM/VCM at SMU. I will help run weekly Bible study meetings, plan outreach events, engage in evangelism and mentor students in Christian leadership principles. As a ministry we also have a passion for world missions, so I will take students with our ministry on an international mission trip during spring break.
Our ministry has seen many students come to Christ in the Meadows School for the Arts on campus, which is where I will spend much of my time. It is my passion to see that school impacted by the Good News of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ.
My involvement there will also enable our SMU campus director, Jerret Sykes, to focus more on the new open door we have to SMU's football team. June Jones, a born-again Christian, lay member of Every Nation Ministries and former head coach of the University of Hawaii Warriors (who finished 12 and 1 for the 2007-08 season), is the new head coach of the team.
If you’d like to know more, or would like to know how to take part in what God is doing in my life and the lives of students at SMU in Dallas, TX and around the world, E-mail me at phil.carlson@mac.com
God bless!
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Phil's Testimony Info
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Which categories of people did you belonged to before you were saved?
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The Partier, The Goody Two Shoes, The Abandonded, The Abused, The Unaware, The Evolutionist, The Religious, The Intellect, The Musician
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| Who have been your best examples? |
Joe White of Kanakuk Kamps, Jesus (of course), my second step-father
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| List books, music or ministries that have helped your walk: |
The Bible, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, The Shack (That book is filled with powerful fiction, but not systematic theology).
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| List ministries you are involved with: |
Every Nation Campus Ministries, also known as Victory Campus Ministries at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX
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| List ministry websites: |
www.prayerisessential.com
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Church:
Church website:
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| Prayer requests: |
Please pray that I would have all the financial support I need to be able to start ministering at SMU to college students.
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| Occupation/Business/School: |
Campus Missionary
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| Business Website: |
www.everynation.org
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