(Photo by Karen Brewer)
Rev. Lewis and Nancy Edwards
Rev. Lewis Edwards remembers seeing his late grandfather, Rev. John William Lewis, kneel at his bedside and pray for at least half an hour each morning and again each night. “That had a big impact,” Edwards said of the faith of his grandfather, who was a Methodist minister for 50 years. “And his sermons had a big impact on me. He was a great, godly man, and he had a big influence on me. He had a big bearing on my development, spiritually. I have a lot of his books. At one time, I had his desk, but I gave that to Mount Zion United Methodist Church for their museum.”
Lewis had come to South Carolina from Nebraska and graduated from then Clemson College in 1908 with a degree in agriculture. “He got saved and gave his life to the Lord at the Clemson YMCA,” explained Edwards, in an interview with The Christian View. “He felt the call to ministry and went to Vanderbilt for a year. He was so excited about the call of God that he stayed in the pastoral ministry for 50 years.” Upon his retirement, Lewis returned to Central with his wife, Ruth, his grandson said, “because he loved the place and atmosphere.” Edwards and his mother also returned to Central, after living in different parts of the state. His parents had separated when he was young.
Edwards would follow in his maternal grandfather’s footsteps, albeit reluctantly. When he graduated from Daniel High School in 1966, he had no aspirations for his future. “I was rebellious at the time,” he said, “and ministry was the last thing I wanted to go into. I loved aircrafts and had dreamed of being an aircraft mechanic. I had also dreamed of being an artist at one time. But the Lord knew what was best.
“I decided I would go to Central Wesleyan College (now Southern Wesleyan University) as a ‘last ditch’ effort, so to speak,” he continued. “I thought I would go for one semester and see what happened. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was a Christian at the time, but I was so uncertain as to what I was supposed to do. Then, students at Central Wesleyan started sharing their testimonies about missions and the call of God. I was really interested and said that maybe God had a call for me, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I had a very intense time of prayer for four months, praying about what God wanted me to do.
“In December of 1966, while I was still a member of Mount Zion Methodist Church, I got a call into the ministry. The Lord spoke to my heart about giving my life to Him and going into full-time Christian service. Before I got the call, I was interested in trying to help people to come to Christ, but still would not yield until I knew for sure that that was what God wanted me to do. He definitely confirmed that to me in 1966 during a service at Mount Zion Methodist Church. It was then I knew that God wanted me in Christian service. I stayed at Central Wesleyan all four years. I loved it and grew spiritually.”
After graduating, Edwards entered Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky and later graduated from Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained in the Wesleyan Church in 1974.
Edwards served as Assistant Pastor of Greenville First Wesleyan Church for one year, as Senior Pastor at Easley First Wesleyan Church for 21 years, and as Associate Pastor of Pickens View Wesleyan Church for 11 years until July, 2005, when he became Senior Pastor upon the retirement of Rev. Foster Gentry.
He and his wife, Nancy, came to Pickens View in 1994 at the request of Rev. Gentry, and served as Associate Pastor with an emphasis in youth. “I felt, at that time, at age 47, to be a youth pastor would be a strange experience for the youth and for me, too,” Edwards said, with a smile. “But we have enjoyed serving. My wife and I have no children, so all of the children of the church are our children, so to speak. We love and have helped raise them all.” Their service, he said, evolved from an emphasis on youth to Christian education. “We’ve been involved in a lot of areas in the church, from Sunday School to discipleship to outreach to evangelism, and different areas,” he said. “We feel honored to be asked to serve here at the church as Senior Pastor.”
(Photo by Karen Brewer)
Rev. Foster Gentry and Rev. Lewis Edwards
Nancy continues serving in her role as Minister of Music at Pickens View. “We’ve always worked together in church ministry in the various places we’ve been,” Edwards said. “My wife has also felt called to ministry, so she has walked along beside me. She is a licensed commissioned special worker in the Wesleyan church in music. Her music has added to our ministry together.” Nancy Edwards graduated from then Central Wesleyan College in 1972 with a degree in music and in education and also earned her Master’s degree in education from Furman University. Before her retirement, she taught at different schools in Pickens County, including Liberty High School in her hometown, where she taught music and special education. She now serves Pickens View Wesleyan as the church secretary in addition to her duties as Minister of Music.
“She oversees our music department and does a great job,” Edwards said of his wife.
“She did that for us when we were at Easley for those 21 years, and she has been doing it here for the past 11 years. She is an accomplished pianist and organist. She has always loved music, and sang in church when she was in preschool. She is my best right hand. My wife has made me and has been a big influence. We’ve worked well together.
“Pickens View is a great church to work in together,” Edwards said. “It’s a loving, caring church. We have around 200 people here. The area is growing, and there is a lot of potential for outreach. We have a senior citizens ministry here, and children’s church. We’re active in the community. We’re excited about the possibility of new growth and new opportunities here.”
Pickens View Wesleyan Church is located off Highway 8, Gentry Memorial Highway, between Pickens and Easley. “We have a great location,” Edwards said. Before Rev. Gentry retired, construction was started on a new 300-seat fellowship hall. “That will be used not only for fellowship meals, but also for musical events, workshops, seminars, outreach, a coffee house ministry, hopefully, and different things we’re going to try to do here at the church,” Edwards said.
The Edwardses make their home in Central, at his late grandparents’ homeplace, about a mile from Southern Wesleyan University. “My grandparents lived a long time,” he said. “My grandfather died at 96, and my grandmother died at the age of 92. They were married over 67 years, and they were in ministry together for 50 years.”
Both Edwards and his wife are only children. Their mothers were schoolteachers, and Edwards’ mother taught him as a student in the first grade. His wife’s mother passed away six weeks after discovering she had leukemia, when Nancy was only four years old. Edwards and his wife each had an aunt instrumental in their rearing. “We have had a lot of influential people in our lives who have touched us in different ways,” he said.
Those influences include his grandfather, the Methodist minister whose footsteps he followed into the ministry.
“One of my favorite verses of scripture is Matthew 6:33, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you,” he said. He and his wife share a favorite passage from Scripture, Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. “Those are verses that really helped me in my life and her in her life, to realize that God’s will is first and then everything else is added,” he said. “The realization is that you’ve got to trust God when He calls you, where He leads you.”
Edwards serves as Director of Chaplains for Adult Graduate Studies at Southern Wesleyan University and is a member of the university’s Alumni Board of Directors. He also serves as Executive Director of the grief aftercare program HOPE Ministries (Helping Others through Programs and Exchange of Ideas), is a member of the Ethics Committee for Cannon Memorial Hospital, and is a member of the Human Rights Committee for the Pickens County Board of Disabilities and Special Needs. He serves as Director of Spiritual Formation for the South Carolina District of the Wesleyan Church and is a member of several committees in the district, including the Public Morals and Social Concerns Committee.