Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/840940
Growing up, my family was hot and cold. Some mes we went to church, some mes we didn't. I was never a really bad kid. Jesus was always right there in my head. I cussed, looked at dirty magazines and got drunk once and puked my brains out. I liked to chase a er all the girls, but I was a pre y decent kid. I re-dedicated my life to Christ at fourteen. I had a very clear calling from God at seventeen to go into the ministry (makes those dreams of a five-year-old pre y interes ng, huh?). A few month's later, I met my wife and two years later we were married. It's been 42 years. W.O.G. And what about that photo I have seen in your house the one of you playing guitar with the Motley Crue haircut? What was that all about? M.E. Ya know, I've always had this desire or vision to be ministering OUTSIDE of the local church as well as IN. As a youth minister in Camarillo, CA I started the Camarillo Youth Ministers Associa on (CYMA). In the 80's (s ll a youth pastor) I started a couple of bands (33AD which morphed into ALIEN) and we played all up and down the West Coast for three years (thus the haircut!). Even a er I started my first church, I wanted to work OUTSIDE of the local church and so I went to CLOWN COLLEGE and would work car shows, fairs and parades. I would give people a KING OF HEARTS playing card with a picture of Jesus on the other side. I just wanted to CONNECT with people outside the church. W.O.G. If Marty Edwards could say something to a younger Marty Edwards today, what would he say to him? M.E. Keep prac cing guitar. The only regret I really have, is not becoming a be er guitar player. I know, that's not very profound, but I've always played just enough to get by and that's a regret. W.O.G. Most of us know that you went to seminary and pastored several churches before founding Black Sheep, but was there a profound moment, a changing experience that made you believe in Jesus and have the personal rela onship you have with Him today? M.E. Well, like I said, I accepted Christ at a very early age and it was real. Don't tell me a small child doesn't understand Jesus, because I did. But then adolescence and all of tempta ons that come with it came along. When I rededicated my life at fourteen, that's when I got serious. I also had an epiphany one day a er church. Everybody was going out for Sunday dinner, like we always did when we went to church, but that Sunday I just wanted to go home and read my Bible and be quiet (I must have been sixteen or seventeen). While I was alone at home, I began 24 WheelsOfGrace.com Issue 36 For Christ and His Kingdom!