Executive Leaves Company to Live All in God

Executive Leaves Company to Live All in God
Michael Philips (Sep 26, 2013)

The inspiration for the ALL IN Movement started last summer when Phillips gave his truck to a complete stranger in a store parking lot.

Michael and family(Gonzales, LA)—Michael Phillips, minority owner and one of the original architects of the award-winning Louisiana IT firm Sparkhound, has announced he is leaving one of the fastest growing IT firms in the country to form a new organization dedicated to promoting his Christian faith. The organization is called All In, and was created to address the common fears, misconceptions and stereotypes that people have about Christianity.

The inspiration for the ALL IN Movement started last summer when Phillips gave his truck to a complete stranger in a store parking lot.

"It was an emotional thing for both of us, and God used that to begin this whole thing in me. I just decided that I knew what God wanted me to do was to leave behind the comfortable things I rely on and do this," Phillips said.

Phillips, 38, said God had been dealing with him on matters of faith for weeks leading up the parking-lot incident. When he saw the man's vehicle stalled, Phillips said he acted on his faith to put his trust in God and not in things. "The whole time there was a voice in my head saying, 'Give him your truck. Give him your truck,'" he said.

The incident provided the impetus for Phillips to start All In.

All in logoThe All In website features videos, teaching materials, merchandise, and other content designed to lead the visitor to question what they think they know about Christianity. It includes videos of celebrities like NBA's Glen "Big Baby" Davis and the NFL's Corey Webster speaking of how faith is an active part of their everyday lives. The site also encourages visitors to take a pledge to go "all in" and commit to pursuing a genuine, everyday relationship with God.

Phillips is making a giant leap of faith by leaving Sparkhound-one of the largest IT companies in the Gulf South and the Louisiana Business Report's 2013 Company of the Year. But he's optimistic about the way the organization will be received. "I'm living what I believe," says Phillips. "It's about faith, and we believe there is a shortage of genuine conversation where real faith is discussed and displayed. We're not political or religious, and we don't represent any denomination in particular. We want to invite people to participate in an honest conversation about faith, belief, God, and real life."

Video messages from Davis, Webster and others address how Christians are often accused of being hypocrites, closed minded, or judgmental. "You may know me from the NBA, but what you may not know is that I live my life All In," says Davis. Other videos address what the organization calls the most common misconceptions, fears, and stereotypes of Christianity.

Phillips hopes to get pastors, youth workers, and people from all over the world to join the movement to go All In through signing the pledge, gathering with others who are All In, wearing All In merchandise, and working through the group studies or guided conversations found on the site about faith and Christianity. "We want to change the way people think about being a Christian," says Phillips. "Our goal is to get at least one million people to go All In."