Pastor David Carlson.

Read my blog: Fresh Read

I’m on Facebook

Hello, I would be glad to meet with you if you are looking for a church home, or if you just want to talk.  First, it is only fair that you know a bit about me.

I was born and raised in Port Orchard, Washington, which is on the Puget Sound in western Washington. Next came four years at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I received a degree in History and spent a lot of time with Ancient Greek.  There was a strong InterVarsity Christian Fellowship group there and it became a very formative force in my spiritual development.  I still use inductive and manuscript study methods that I learned with IVCF.

I was a volunteer staff member with IV in Missoula, Montana.  There I did various odd jobs to support myself and also worked with students.  The most interesting job was on a helicopter logging operation.  My future wife, Jerry Anne was a student at UM, and we met through the local IV group.

I attended the EFCA seminary near Chicago,  got married and returned to Missoula for a year, and then we both returned to Chicago to attend an Urban ministry program (me) and work in urban recreation (Jerry).  We lived next to a small city church for 3 years (10 minutes from Wrigley Field!).

After Seminary we served in the borough of Queens, in New York City for 9 years.     Our goal was to move an ethnic German church to be more open to the community.

After that we came to Madison in 1994 to serve at Bethany.  We live here in the neighborhood, our kids have gone to public schools, and we live close enough to the Yahara River to carry over our canoe.

  My interests include the Brewers, wood carving, cooking (and eating), reading History and mysteries from interesting places, and languages.

Bethany is a neighborhood oriented, multi-cultural church.  Over the years a number of ministries have gotten started out of Bethany - including at least 4 church plants.

Email me personally and we can start a conversation or get some coffee.    You can also find me on Facebook as David Eric Carlson

-D.C.