244: How Did Speculative Faith Lead to the Lorehaven Mission?

Happy New Year! As we launch this podcast’s 2025 season, we look back at a website with a legacy that predates Lorehaven. Way back in 2006, several Christian fantasy creators started a team “blog” called Speculative Faith. Let’s look back on that project that led to thousands of great articles from dozens of creators, and then later grew into the Lorehaven mission and this podcast.

Episode sponsors

1. Enclave Publishing: Memoria by J. J. Fischer
2. Garden of Mysteries: A Dragon Slayer Bible Story by Laurie Christine
3. Sunrise Publishing: Squire of Truth by Jill Williamson

Mission update

• New at Lorehaven: the upgraded Lorehaven Book Search page!
• Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild.
• We’re breaking from reviews and book quests, returning in early spring.

This was the original Speculative Faith site header from 2006 to 2009.

1. 2006: the creation of Speculative Faith

• Speculative Faith started nearly 20 years ago with five Christian creators:
  • Carol Collett
  • Bryan Davis, later author of many dozens of fantastical novels
  • Rebecca LuElla Miller, who stayed with the site the entire time!
  • Mirtika Schultz, who wrote the very first post
  • Stuart Stockton, who hosted the site and later wrote Starfire
• Stephen did not join until that October. Naturally, this was his first post:
  • Nine Marks Of Widescreen Stories: Part 1
• That’s right—a takeoff on the Reformed group’s “nine marks” concept

Here’s the reborn Speculative Faith logo and motto from 2015.

2. 2010: the rebirth of Speculative Faith

• Stephen got marri