Students remembered David Phillips, a youth minister for Christ Chapel Bible Church, as a mentor and a man of God on Monday.”He was a tremendous leader and an unbelievable guy,” said Jimmy Williams, a senior entrepreneurial management major.

Phillips died Sunday morning when he lost control of his 1999 Toyota 4Runner on a patch of ice while driving on Interstate 20 from his home in Aledo to the Fort Worth church.

Williams, who served under Phillips as a summer intern for the past three years, said Phillips was known for loving Christ, serving faithfully in the ministry and putting others before himself.

“His goal was to make Christ look good,” Williams said.

Kara Bagley, who worked on the high school staff with Phillips, said he had a great impact on the high school students he worked with.

“He loved to see them grow in Christ,” said Bagley, a senior psychology major. “He wanted our students to pursue holiness more than anything.”

Brent Kesler, a junior communication studies major who volunteers for the high school group, said, “All the high school students he talked to would tell you that they really respected him for his wisdom.”

Holly Crews, who worked with the high school ministry, expressed sorrow for Jennifer Phillips, his 24-year-old wife of less than two years.

“I started working with high school ministry this past semester and (Phillips) and his wife, Jen, really stuck out in my mind in making me feel welcome,” said Crews, a junior English major.

Crews said there were too many details to describe just one specific memory about the minister.

“He was the backbone of the ministry,” Crews said.

Michael Burr, a member of the high school ministries staff, said he knew Phillips for 10 years as a mentor and dear friend.

“If he knew this story was being written, he would be embarrassed and say ‘Don’t look at me, look at God and the grace he has given us,'” Burr, a TCU alumnus, said.

Phillips left behind the sermon he never gave Sunday morning at blog.myspace.com/ylrock, in which he wrote about dealing with worry and turning to Christ for encouragement.

“Because of Christ’s work, your worst circumstances are the chisel in God’s loving hands,” Phillips wrote.

Burr said the myspace.com account Phillips set up earlier this month was comforting to those mourning his loss, and his sermon will reach more people because of the accident.

“Dave was going to give that sermon to 3,500 people and now people all over the nation are reading it,” Burr said.

Burr said the past two years were Phillips’ happiest because of his marriage, the job he loved and the people he worked with.

“There was nothing he left behind that wasn’t fixed,” Burr said. “There’s nothing I can see that was a regret.”

Visitation will be from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight in the Garden Chapel of the Greenwood Funeral Home, 3100 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. at McKinney Memorial Bible Church, 4805 Arborlawn Drive, Fort Worth