Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.

Don’t miss Thursday’s show – my guest this week is a fascinating man who is elbow deep in the Amish community. Brad is the Amish Experience in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, editor of Amish Country News, and compiler of the book THE AMISH IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Herald Press).

More about Brad: Brad grew up in Lancaster City and graduated from McCaskey High School in 1969. As a sociology-anthropology major at Ithaca College, he lived and worked with an Amish family for three months in Lancaster as part of an independent study. His interest in other cultures took him to the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, where he worked in agricultural extension and taught English for three years. Following a one-year teaching stint in York, he went to Japan, where he taught English and wrote articles on Japan for numerous publications.

Returning to Lancaster in 1987, he secured a position with Amish Country Tours and is now president and a co-owner of the company. During Brad’s tenure, he has overseen the renovation of the Amish Country Homestead, obtained “Heritage Site” status for the Homestead, as well as having written the script for and piecing together the complicated puzzle of the Amish Experience Theater’s critically acclaimed special effects driven production of “Jacob’s Choice.” In addition to the daily tours of the Amish farmlands, Brad has developed popular theme tours for both individuals and groups, especially student groups.

As Editor-in-Chief, Brad is responsible for the editorial content and publishing of Amish Country News, with half a million copies printed annually. In his 20-plus years in this role, he has written 100’s of articles about Lancaster County for the magazine. His “Amish Series” has long been one of the most eagerly anticipated in each new issue. He’s been encouraged to publish a compilation of his Amish Country News musings and may yet consider doing so.

In 2005, working with the PA Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, he was instrumental in planning and scripting the “Witness Movie Anniversary Tour,” which brought visitors to Lancaster from all over the world to see the farm where this famous Hollywood movie was filmed. More recently, he created the Amish Visit-In-Person Tour, which gives visitors the opportunity to personally meet and talk with the Amish where they live and work. In 2010, the VIP Tour was the first, and to date the only, experience to be designated an official “Heritage Tour” by the County of Lancaster, granting prestigious authenticity status to the experience.

In 1999, his compilation of Amish writings titled THE AMISH IN THEIR OWN WORDS was published by Herald Press, and he is currently working on a “Volume Two.” He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau, and currently is President of the Lancaster Community Concert Association. While Brad has spent over 12 years living and traveling abroad, he says that his heart always stayed in Lancaster, which he is now proud to call “home.” For more information about Brad or The Amish Experience, please visit: www.amishexperience.com. More of Brad’s personal writings on the Amish and other general information on Lancaster at www.amishnews.com.

WANT A COPY OF THE AMISH IN THEIR OWN WORDS? LEAVE A COMMENT ON {HERE} (WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS) AND WE’LL RANDOMLY CHOOSE A WINNER ON MONDAY THE 12TH!