About Carl Carlson
Carl is the founder/director of Men of Valor. He
founded Men of Valor in 1997. The passion for this ministry
was driven by Carl's own experience serving a 15-year sentence
for armed robbery.
Since his release in 1980, he has tried to serve
the Lord, working with juvenile offenders and prisoners,
showing them another way and teaching them that there
is hope. His example has shown countless men that they,
too, can live a better life and work hard toward an
education, get a good job and have a family.
As a child, Carl was himself "highly at risk," abandoned by
both his parents, neglected, and raised in orphanages, foster
homes, and reform schools. Later, after serving in the armed
forces and Vietnam, Carl made some very bad decisions and
ended up in the state penitentiary on an armed robbery charge,
with a 15-year sentence.
After serving a number of years in prison, Carl found the Lord,
and his life has never been the same. Since his release in 1980,
he has worked with juvenile offenders and
men in prison, trying to show them another way, teaching them
that there is hope, that they can live a decent life, and that
they can work hard toward an education and a good job. The one
and only answer lies in God and His redemption.
Right out of prison, Carl went to work with boys in a juvenile
detention facility. Later he and his wife served as houseparents
in a group home for boys. In 1986, he founded Y-CAP YMCA, a
nationally recognized ministry for "highly at-risk" juvenile
offenders and their families. Carl left Y-CAP in 1996 to return
to a grassroots work with a focus on men incarcerated in the
prison system, as well as those returning to society.
Carl has a bachelor's degree in behavioral science from Trevecca
Nazarene Univesity and a master's degree in guidance and
counseling from Tennessee State University. In May 2008, Trevecca Nazarene
University awarded Carl an Honorary D.D.S. Doctorate Degree for his nearly
30 years of ministry in the community. He and his wife, Karen, have been
married since 1980 and have four sons.
CONTACT US!
Men of Valor
1420 Donelson Pike, Suite B-6
Nashville, TN 37217
phone: 615.399.9111
fax: 615.361.8544
Email us at: carl@movnashville.com