If you received the FaithWriters newsletter last week, you know that FaithWriters is under new ownership. After ten years of running this site, the amazing Scott Lindsay has sold the business to Michael and Bea Edwards, evangelists and northern Michigan natives with a heart to expand this site and spread the Gospel through it.

Watch this blog for a “good bye” post from Scott – hopefully within the next week or so. But for now, I figured you’d like to get to know the lovely, friendly and wonderful folks who now own FaithWriters. And here they are!

JOANNE: Why did you decide to buy FaithWriters? How did you learn about it? What attracted you to it?

MIKE: We had been looking for a business for a while and could not find a good fit. At the same time I was concerned with getting a business that would take me away from my passion to share my faith. I tend to get very involved. Bea is also going to Moody Bible online and we had thoughts of her running a business we bought. Then again I did not want to take her away from what the Lord wants her to do. We wanted something that would not be too time consuming and it had to be something we wanted to own as Christians.

We received an email about FaithWriters from a broker who had been sending possible businesses to us for a while. Bea was the most excited at first and pushed some so we would make an offer. Apparently there were others very interested in the business. We both were attracted it it being Christian. We liked the idea of growing it so members could benefit and the gospel could be spread by all of us together.

JOANNE: Sounds like a great fit! What are your goals and/or plans for the site? Your vision?

MIKE: We want to offer as many benefits as we can to the members, so we will be shopping for the best we can find. We want to find more writing opportunities and more ways for the writers to grow. We plan on keeping the core group of ladies that take such good care of the members on the forums and website.

At the same time, we’ll be presenting a lot more of Jesus to the worldwide audience. We figure as the membership grows and the viewership increases, more people from around the world will be told about Jesus. We also plan on offering members information on defending their faith in today’s skeptical world.

JOANNE: Tell us about your ministry outside of FaithWriters. How did you get involved?

MIKE:Frankly, the last job we wanted was to tell people about Jesus. I mean, what would they think of us? Well, God had a different plan. We ended up talking to people about Jesus – just a little at first and then more and more as time passed. I became a Gideon and handed out thousands of Bibles.

Bea and I learned that most people think that if God exists, there are a lot of people worse than they are, so they will be okay. We took a class from www.livingwaters.com and learned how to show a person their true condition before God. That God’s standard is not other people: it is perfection. We started teaching the class on sharing your faith and on apologetics.

As of today, we have spoken with thousands of people face to face about Jesus. Many actually thank us and very few get mad. And it is a deep witness encounter where we take them through the law to show them why they need Jesus. Sharing our faith regularly is the best job anyone could have. The site will allow us to do this on a larger scale as a team with the members.

JOANNE: Tell us about your own writing. What have you had published, and do you have anything else in the works? What do you like to write?

MIKE: I have written and self published one book. It is similar to More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell, yet different. Full color cover 4.25 x 6.25 and 132 pages, it is designed to be handed out to skeptics and seekers. It is great for the believer too, in that it goes over the objective evidence for God’s existence and identity. I tell people all the time that there is no other belief more reasonable than Christianity based on the facts. The book comes from my passion and thousands have gone out.

We sell them for our cost: a box of 80 delivered by US mail, 18lbs, is about $60. I have many people across the country handing them out. I will be introducing it in an ebook format soon to FaithWriters for free. I have some other ideas for books and they all come out of my passion for the lost. Bea has an awesome testimony that I am encouraging her to write about. I think it would help a lot of people and lead many to Christ.

JOANNE: Tell us about yourselves. Where were each of you born? How did the two of you meet? Do you have children? Grandchildren? Where do you live?

MIKE: I was born in Dearborn, Michigan and Bea was born in Germany. We have four boys: Travis, Cory, Tyler and Colby who is the youngest at 20. We have one granddaughter, Jada Lynn, who is almost 4. We live near Traverse City, MI.

How did we meet? I was living on a boat in San Diego and got down on my knees and said a simple prayer: “God, please bring me a woman who keeps you first.” Something clicked inside and I knew God agreed. About a week later, Bea showed up in my life. We started a relationship and upon our first disagreement, she said to me, “Michael you are not first in my life. God is.” Wow: that is exactly what I prayed for and I had not told her about the prayer. That was also the first time those words had ever come out of her mouth.

JOANNE: Oh, I love that story! God is so faithful. What roles will each of you have in the day-to-day operation of FaithWriters?

MIKE: That is not completely settled yet. Right now, Bea has been overloaded with Moody studies and some other issues ,so I have been working on the site. When the site came up for sale, there were many other things going on in our lives. But if we wanted to take advantage of the FaithWriters opportunity, we had to act. So we are still settling other things down as we take it one day at a time. Bea will be much more involved shortly.

JOANNE: What are you most looking forward to in your relationship with FaithWriters and its members?

MIKE: I see what a family atmosphere it has. How people care about each other. We want to be a part of that. We also want the members to have as many benefits as possible from their membership.

JOANNE: And I know they are looking forward to you joining the family. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

MIKE: I want to thank Scott for building such a great site. I also want to thank all of the people who make the site what it is. And, most of all, we desire to thank God and glorify Him through this venture.

Thanks for talking with us – we’re excited to have you at the helm. Looking forward to seeing where FaithWriters goes?

Come say “hi” to the Edwards’ and welcome them in the comments!

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