There have been several issues of SIM South Africa’s magazine SIMnow that I produced but never posted here. I’m going to post them now to celebrate what God has been doing through the ministry He has continued to entrust to us throughout these many years. This post was actually published Sept. 19, 2023, but I’ve dated it by the magazine issue’s publication for the sake of issue order.
I think my favorite thing about the Winter (June) 2022 issue was that it was very strong visually. Our cover story was about a program that teaches people simple, sustainable, affordable techniques for improving their soil and raising crops. The couple that runs the program had hosted me for a wonderful visit, and she is also a good photographer, so we had many excellent photos for the article.
Another one of our articles was a report by a South African colleague working with ministries in the city of Jos, Nigeria. I had visited Jos and even one of those same ministries in 2013, so I was able to use my photos with the article.
One of my photos from Nigeria also provided our “Go” add for the back cover, and the other two ads used stock photos I had been looking forward to using. Our “Pray” ad featured a richly dark black and white profile of a man praying (by Jack Sharp on Unsplash.com), and the “Give” ad exemplified receiving with a beautifully joyful portrait of a young boy appreciating a soccer ball.
Other articles included:
- a report by an American missionary helping with a soccer program in Cape Town.
- an announcement that we had begun using a new daily prayer request feed on the app PrayerMate, along with an interview with the app’s creator.
- the Books feature was our second “Why I wrote…” article, contributed by a South African who’d written a book on Biblical portraits of godly leaders.
- the “Food from Afar” cross-cultural culinary feature was contributed by an American missionary friend, who told of learning foods and words with her tutor in isiZulu (the Zulu word for their own language).
- a Movies feature by me about a Beyond the River, a South African film I’d long wanted to see about a canoe race team struggling with their training, cultural differences, and brokenness.
- a Devotional by a colleague using what God had provided him in order to meet some sudden needs.
- our director writing the “Why Missions?” feature.
Like the basket joyfully held on the front cover, this issue exemplified the fruit that God prepares in advance to be harvested in His timing. And that will always be something to smile about.
You can read or download the magazine at SIM South Africa’s website.
The Heffron Family 