c. 2000 Religion News Service

VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ The Rev. Narvin Edwardson would frequently break down in tears when he talked of the dire need to raise money for his Christian orphanages, hospitals and rice programs in the Philippines.

The 68-year-old Canadian, who claimed he was moderator of the “South Asian Baptist Church,” would also suddenly burst into booming Christian hymns in the midst of promoting ventures in diesel engine parts, high-tech dryers and luxury Mercedes.

And when Edwardson tried to convince well-off North Americans, most of them Christians, to invest millions of dollars in his schemes, he would often fervently grab their hands and pray, saying how grateful they should be for all that God had granted.

But many Christians in the United States and Canada _ including prominent Colorado-based evangelist Bob Larson _ now bitterly regret the day they became financially embroiled with the tall, extroverted, ever-grinning, self-proclaimed Christian pastor and his Filipina wife, Michie.

At least seven people say they have recently lost some $3 million as a result of their dealings with Edwardson.

It has also been learned that Edwardson has a criminal record. He was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison in 1977 on six counts of fraud and two of theft stemming from shady car and hotel deals in Penticton, British Columbia, Victoria, British Columbia and and Calgary, Alberta. He bilked those victims of $160,000.

Edwardson, who has become aware that disillusioned former partners have begun filing complaints with police and are seeking compensation from him, pulled his three young children out of a private Christian school in Kelowna, British Columbia this month and has disappeared.

Since then, Edwardson sent a fax to one of his angry former associates, which appeared to originate from the Philippines.

Edwardson’s Kelowna phone numbers are no longer in service. There is also no evidence a “South Asian Baptist” denomination exists.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Kelowna confirm they have received complaints about Edwardson and are investigating.

James Wilson, owner of Active Chemicals Ltd. in Delta, a suburb of Vancouver, said he has lost $1.25 million to Edwardson.

Three years ago, Wilson said, he entered into a deal with an Edwardson company called University Diesel Products. Wilson said Edwardson used his connection with his well-respected industrial chemical company to gain legitimacy with other potential investors.

Wilson said Edwardson promised that part of the profits from the joint venture would go to Christian missionary orphanages and rice programs. But Wilson recently grew suspicious after he flew to Edwardson’s so-called manufacturing plant in the province of Zambalos, Philippines.

The plant was supposed to be producing devices that Edwardson said make diesel engines run more efficiently. But Wilson found only an empty building. As well, some equipment Wilson had contributed to the plant was sitting abandoned.

Wilson, along with others, has taken his story to the police, but he remains frustrated by the apparent lack of progress.

Kelowna evangelical Tom Johnson, a retired public relations manager with the giant ATCO Company, believes he’ll never see the $400,000 he invested through Edwardson in a plan to buy luxury cars in Canada and sell them in Seattle.

Johnson recently began trying to track down others who have lost money to Edwardson. Johnson said he received a fax from Edwardson this month, apparently originating in the Philippines. In the fax, Edwardson attacks Johnson for criticizing him, and claims he is an upstanding man of faith.

“I am truly a Christian and under God’s promise,” Edwardson said in the fax. “No weapons formed against me can prosper (because) I put my full trust in Him (God).”

Johnson, who initially trusted Edwardson because he said was a leader of the so-called South Asian Baptist Church, now says of Edwardson, “He’d break down and cry about his orphanages. He’d cry about his hospitals. He’d burst into hymns at strange moments. Later, he tells you, `Don’t worry, I’ll get you your money.’ But I’m finding out he tells everybody that.”

Five other people say their dealings with Edwardson have cost them dearly:

_ Bob Larson, a high-profile Christian evangelist based in Denver, Colo., said through his secretary that he lost a large amount of money to Edwardson several years ago. He would not disclose the amount, but wanted to assure his supporters that it did not come from his ministry budget.

_ Steve Miller, who manages fleets of cars and trucks in Los Angeles, said he has been legally pursuing Edwardson since he lost more than $300,000 in a dubious scheme involving Edwardson’s product, called a Universal Diesel Liquefier.

_ Fred Berning, a British Columbia real estate investor who met Edwardson through Heritage Christian School in Vancouver in 1995, says he’s out of pocket to the tune of $350,000 after buying “shares” in the diesel-part company.

_ Gerry Routledge, a former Kelowna auto body shop owner, lost “several hundred thousand dollars,” his house and his business five years ago after giving Edwardson money to seal a deal in which he would maintain Edwardson’s alleged luxury vehicle fleet, which Edwardson boasted contained more than 200 cars.

_ A Mennonite Brethren pastor in Abbotsford, 40 miles west of Vancouver,

who asked that his name not be used, said he had to sell his home in the mid-1990s after Edwardson cost him, and many parishioners, their life savings.

In addition, a couple on Bowen Island, a suburb of Vancouver, who also asked to remain unidentified, said they fear they’ll never see the $285,000 they invested in Edwardson’s alleged diesel-product operation.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Many of Edwardson’s victims say his wife, Michie, appears to be intimately involved in his business dealings. Edwardson has told people Michie owns a housing subdivision and an oceanside resort in the Philippine province of Zambalos. Michie has aggressively denounced investors who dare criticize Edwardson.

Many frustrated former investors also say that Edwardson rarely signs his name on legal documents. He generally prefers to make handshake agreements. When people have contacted Edwardson to ask what’s happened to their investments, he invariably tells them to stop worrying and that they will eventually get their money back.

“I’ve been devastated by this,” Kelowna’s Johnson says of his aborted investment through Edwardson in 13 luxury vehicles. “I don’t have much left. I don’t even own my own car anymore. I used to have a beautiful Acura 3.5 RL, but Edwardson traded it away. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my money again. But I want to see justice done.

“This man is very persuasive. He’s slick, professional and shrewd. He prays and sings and tells you how rich he is. And the key he uses to open doors is Christianity.”

DEA END TODD