SDCWG was founded in 1978 by Dr. Sherwood E. Wirt, who had recently retired as editor of Decision magazine for the Billy Graham Association. Woody, as he is affectionately known by Guild members, had a vision to help Christian writers learn how to effectively communicate through the written word and get published while doing it!

Woody started the first critique group that year. A small group of writers met monthly to help each other through constructive critiquing of each other’s work. That one group eventually grew into a network of meetings all over San Diego County and eventually into Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties. Today, in San Diego, ten groups meet regularly. One of the original groups, from East county, has been meeting for over twenty years and every member has been successfully published many times