About Connected Marriage
Connected Marriage is dedicated to equipping people to help couples to have a healthy marriage. We serve pastors, marriage mentors and mental health professionals. We provide an online tool that includes interactive curriculum, surveys and customized reports to help you in your work with couples.
We pray that God would use us as a vehicle to help marriages become stronger and healthier.
Phil and Michelle Carlson
Phil and Michelle specialize in helping couples create healthy marriage bonds, improve communication skills, extend genuine forgiveness, and rebuild trust. They focus on marriages in distress, and also equip marriage ministry leaders to work effectively with couples in crisis as well.
They are co-authors of Connected Marriage, an online interactive curriculum and survey tool for marriage mentors to use with their mentees.
Phil and Michelle had a marriage crisis of their own in the mid-90’s. Married for over ten years at that time, their relationship was no longer working. They sought help from Godly counselors and their small group, and changed their relationship to create a closer connection than ever before. They are now incredibly thrilled to be with each other!
Since that time, they have been researching and sharing with other couples the skills and materials that helped them along the way. Wanting to reach beyond their local region, they created an online mentoring tool aided by therapists and psychologists. Phil says, “This is the tool I wished we’d had as mentors all along!”
Together, they have over 35 years of experience being married to each other and 15 years of experience teaching and mentoring couples one-on-one, in small groups, and in seminars. Michelle has 15 years of experience in corporate training and development and currently works as a technology manager. Phil has 25 years of corporate experience, both as a business owner and as an executive with technology and training companies with revenue of up to $300 million. In order to be better prepared to help couples, Phil earned a Masters Degree in Counseling from The Townsend Institute at Concordia University Irvine. Phil’s advanced training includes: Gottman Level 1, Gottman Level 2, Gottman 7 Principles Couples Leader, Emotionally Focused Therapy Externship, and a certification as a PREPARE/ENRICH trainer. Phil also has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology.
Far more effective than watching a DVD or reading a book, their training and technology backgrounds have enabled them to combine the best learning methods and online expertise, creating a relationship-building product that is incredibly unique in the market of Christian marriage education!
What Pastors Say
“I have trained over 2,000 pastors and facilitators on how to coach and mentor marriages. I like the Connected Marriage material. It offers an on-demand curriculum that can be easily implemented to help churches be more effective in impacting couple’s lives.”
Luke Nelson, Market Development Director, Prepare/Enrich
“I am grateful for the work Phil and Michelle Carlson have done on Connected Marriage. For many years they have been leaders in marriage enrichment at our congregation. They have invested themselves fully into hundreds of marriages. In Connected Marriage they have used their passion, vast experience, research, and faith to create excellent materials for marriage mentors. The materials are user-friendly and biblically sound. Plus, the Carlsons offer ongoing coaching, counsel, and encouragement. I highly recommend Connected Marriage to pastors and congregations who want to enrich, strengthen, and heal marriages. I believe it is one of the best investments a church could make.”
Bill Bohline, Founding Pastor, Hosanna! Church
“The Marriage Mentoring materials which they have created are superb. From an academic, clinical and pastoral perspective, I believe couples can experience tremendous growth in their relationship as they navigate through the modules which present opportunities for bridge building dialog, inter- and intrapersonal discovery, and relationship transformation!”
Kevin R. Hoffman, D.Min, Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, Pastor, Dayton Vineyard Church
“I’ve done a lot of research on marriage curriculum and trying to find the right one. I believe that if you consider Connected Marriage as an opportunity for your congregation you will see couple after couple after couple reengage into a deeper relationship as husband and wife. You will see the relationships within their families and in the congregation grow at a deeper level. It will have a greater impact than you can even imagine.”
Dean Swenson, Marriage and Family Pastor, Hosanna! Church
What Couples Say
“The program is so comprehensive in how it’s built and laid out that it really does change your marriage. We are transformed.”
Steve, Marriage Mentee
“No matter what your trouble is, Connected Marriage can be the tool that you need to turn a struggling marriage into one that’s thriving.”
Melissa, Marriage Mentee
“As the course builds on each week and on the concepts, you see progress. It might be slow, but you do see progress in multiple areas. You do start to see the changes.”
Christine, Marriage Mentor
“The communication piece has been really valuable. Because it really gives me some tools to be able to step back and think about each and every interaction that I have with her. Is this going in the way that I would love for it to go, or am I leading it off course because I’m not following some basic ground rules?”
Mike, Marriage Mentee
“What I really liked about this program is the comprehensiveness of the different tools. We were entering at a time when we weren’t in the best place and we definitely needed some help.”
Jessie, Marriage Mentee
“Whether your marriage is in crisis or whether your marriage just needs a tune up. Connected Marriage is for you. Just stick with it and you’ll see great results.”
Phil, Marriage Mentor
What Mental Health Professionals Say
“The Connected Marriage tool is one of the best I’ve seen. It provides rich insight and new perspectives for couples struggling with how to resolve issues in their marriage. Connected Marriage is more than an assessment – it is an experience leading the couple through a new and empowering journey. Not only is it effective and educational, it is very dynamic! I highly recommend this tool to counselors, professors, pastors, and lay counselors.”
Ava Oleson, M.S. MFT., D.Min., Associate Professor & D.Min. Program Coordinator
The Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
“Pastors can feel overwhelmed when it comes to helping a hurting couple. As a professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Luther Seminary, I see the need to effectively equip our pastors to work with hurting couples who need support. Connected Marriage provides hope and encouragement through comprehensive lessons and a framework for a pastor to lead couples toward healthier marriages. Additionally, it enables a pastor to empower lay leaders to help couples. Connected Marriage is a fantastic program that gives our churches an opportunity to impact the health of marriages in our community. I wholeheartedly recommend this powerful resource!”
Beverly A. Lonsbury, Ph.D., Pastoral Care and Counseling, Luther Seminary
“I have both an elearning and a therapy background. I like that the course combines the best of both worlds. It takes respected research in the therapy community and combines it with great up-to-date learning techniques. It’s fun and engaging and you learn key concepts to improve your marriage at the same time.”
Elisha Engelen, M.A, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
“I like the format. It builds on solid couple’s therapy and presents it in a format that’s user friendly. It makes it easy for couples to take in at their own pace.”
Kevin Kirley, MS, Licensed Psychologist
“I like the assessment tools that are used, the probing questions that are part of each of the key concepts. I like the reflective part and the consistent interactive focus to get couples talking about things that might be challenging to them. The key part of the whole concept is about information, awareness and promoting conversation among couples so that they can get better at resolving their conflicts and issues. The concepts are very thoroughly done and form a good base for couples that want to improve their relationship or to do some major repair.”
Dale Lokkesmoe, MA, Licensed Psychologist
“I was really impressed by the amount of research done into different theoretical concepts and how they apply to couples.”
Leanne Ravey, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Counselor
Connected Marriage is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We are donor supported. If you share a passion for healthy marriages with us, we would value your donations.
