Steve Conover: Welcome to The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover. With me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka. Have you visited our website, foiradio.org? After this episode ends, visit us if you haven't been there. We have almost eight years worth of programming on our site for you to listen to. Once again, that's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Steve, we have a unique show today on the program, because we have two special guests. We're going to have Lorna Simcox, the Editor-in-Chief of Israel My Glory, and she's going to be handing the baton off to our managing editor, Jesse King. As Lorna comes to that point where she retires and she's looking forward to the future of continuing the work of Israel My Glory, we're going to talk about her years of ministry, serving with Friends of Israel, her position as Editor-in-Chief with Israel My Glory, and then also how she's handing the baton off to Jesse.

Steve Conover: But first in the news, according to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Palestinian support for Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem has increased over the past 10 years. Palestinians were asked, "If a permanent two-state solution is arrived at, would you prefer to become a citizen of Palestine, or would you prefer to become a citizen of Israel?" Those who preferred Israeli citizenship rose from 24% to 37% between 2010 and 2022.

Chris Katulka: Steve, here's my take. Many Palestinians are like me and you. They want dignity, they want a job, they want a roof over their head, and they want a good school where they can send their kids to learn, which is the reason their sentiments are shifting. Israel provides dignity, it provides work and the basic services that make life enjoyable. Many of them know if the Palestinian authority takes over, the amenities that they have grown accustomed to under Israeli sovereignty will be lost, and they don't want to see them go.

Chris Katulka: Well, we have a very special program for our listeners today, because we have two fantastic people in the studio, Lorna Simcox and Jesse King. And the reason they're both here is because there is a major moment happening with something that is near and dear to all of our hearts here, and maybe even yours, as you're listening to the radio program or on the podcast, and that's our magazine, Israel My Glory. There is a transition that's happening now where Lorna Simcox, who was the Editor-in-Chief of Israel My Glory is handing the baton off to our new managing editor, Jesse King. And so I have them both in the studio. Great to have you both here.

Lorna Simcox: It's great to be here.

Jesse King: Happy to be here, Chris.

Chris Katulka: This is exciting. Okay, so Lorna, I want to start with you. This first segment is all about you, Lorna, because Israel My Glory is the flagship publication of The Friends of Israel. In your eyes, what is the mission of Israel My Glory Magazine, and why is it important to our readers and to The Friends of Israel?

Lorna Simcox: Well, we have a couple missions, really, that makes us a little bit different than other magazines, other Christian magazines out there. First, of course, we are an evangelistic organization, so one of our goals is to evangelize the lost. And we are a Bible teaching organization, so one of our goals is to teach the Bible and to define God's plan for Israel, for the Jewish people, for the church. And we want to help the church understand the Jewish people, and help the Jewish people understand who Jesus is.

Chris Katulka: That is... You summed it up perfectly. I've always looked at it like... Do you remember the three E's of the Friends of Israel?

Lorna Simcox: Sure.

Chris Katulka: It was Evangelism, Education, and Edification. It was our desire as an organization to bring the gospel to the world.

Lorna Simcox: Yes.

Chris Katulka: It's our desire to educate believers about the importance of Israel and the Jewish people, and Israel My Glory is very much a part of that mission, as well. So you, you've served with FOI for 36 years.

Lorna Simcox: I can't believe it, I'm so old.

Chris Katulka: Drop in the bucket. Drop in the bucket. What was your journey to becoming the Editor in chief of Israel My Glory?

Lorna Simcox: When I started out, when I actually came to Friends of Israel, I was a widow. I was 36, and I had just graduated from Word of Life. And Marv Rosenthal hired me, actually, to be the editor of what he called The Bible Project. We were going to put out a Friends of Israel study Bible.

Chris Katulka: We shouldn't tell people that they're going to be asking for it now.

Lorna Simcox: We still should put it out. I thought it was a fabulous idea. Thomas Nelson had agreed to publish it, and so that was the whole project, and that was how I started out. But then Marvin left, and I met Tom Simcox, and I got married, and then I had another baby, so I wasn't in exactly a position to do something like that anyway.

But when Elwood came on board in 1989, I worked with my husband... He's on the Bible teaching staff, he's a rep for Friends of Israel, and we would do things together and we'd bring the kids with us in those days. And in 1989, Elwood came and he found out that I had a journalistic background. I had worked as a journalist for many years in secular journalism before I got saved. So he asked me to start writing for the magazine here and there, which was something I could do with two girls who were still in school. And then in 1999, he asked me to come on board full-time with the magazine, and I became Senior Editor. And then when he stepped down as Editor-in-Chief, he asked me to take over, and the Board approved it. And that was how I ended up here.

Chris Katulka: And you were continuing the legacy of Israel My Glory magazine. The legacy of the magazine goes back to 1942.

Lorna Simcox: '42, yes.

Chris Katulka: I don't think most people know that.

Lorna Simcox: Yes.

Chris Katulka: There's a long legacy with the magazine.

Lorna Simcox: A very long legacy, and the magazine is very well-known. Sometimes we've gotten concerned, and I think rightly so, that there seems to be a little bit of a disconnect between Israel My Glory and the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, because the magazine was so well-known that people knew the name Israel My Glory, but they didn't know The Friends of Israel published it.

Chris Katulka: I get that when I speak in churches. "Oh, you're with Israel My Glory, right?"

Lorna Simcox: Yes. So we've been trying to bridge that gap somehow, because there's a much greater ministry with Friends of Israel than just the magazine. As wonderful and big as the magazine ministry is, we do have a much broader ministry as Friends of Israel as a whole, but the magazine is very well-known and very much respected.

Chris Katulka: And it goes back to 1942, to the founders of the organization, and it's always been a medium and a vehicle for sharing about the broader ministry of the Friends of Israel, which is very important to us here that we are able to communicate.

Lorna Simcox: Yes.

Chris Katulka: Even here on the radio program, we always like to feature Israel My Glory every two months when that new magazine comes out. And we also like to feature the work that our representatives are doing all around the world to build bridges and to bring hope into the Jewish community.

But Lorna, I know that since 1999 you have absolutely poured your life into each issue of the magazine. I've watched you. I'm not just saying that. I've watched you. Now that you're passing the baton, this is a moment. You're passing the baton off to the next generation, who will carry Israel My Glory forward. Did you ever stop to count how many issues you produced? And do you have a favorite issue that stands out to you over the years that you've been editor-in-chief?

Lorna Simcox: Well, we publish six times a year, so I guess that means I've basically super-intended over 138 issues. I don't know how we keep thinking up new themes because I keep thinking we're going to run out of things to do, but the Lord always provides good ones for us, always. And I'm not sure I have a favorite issue. Every time I look at one, every time we produce one, I think, "Wow, this is great. This is the best." And then we get to the next one. And I think, "No, this one's the best."

But we've had some issues that have been special to me. One of them is the Isaiah 53 issue. I love that issue, particularly because David Levy spent a lot of time with Zvi Kalisher, and we all loved Zvi, in Jerusalem, and he talked about being with Zvi, and how Zvi would go into Mea She’arim and witness and all that. And I really did like that issue.

We had a special issue that we did, I think it was in 2005 when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, and they left all that land when Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister. We had our photographer in Israel, who we worked with, go into Gush Katif, that area, and he took photographs that we ran in the magazine that are priceless today. Because the place doesn't exist.

Chris Katulka: You can't get in now. You can't even do that. Right, exactly.

Lorna Simcox: It was destroyed. It's such a shame. But there are certain parts of different issues that are very special to me, but I just love the whole magazine, really.

Chris Katulka: Now I know that you're privy to probably one particular writer for Israel My Glory, and that's not me, it's your husband, Tom Simcox.

Lorna Simcox: Oh, yeah. My poor husband.

Chris Katulka: Who sat across the office from you.

Lorna Simcox: Every time I need something that I realize I didn't assign, I say, "Tom, drop what you're doing. I need you to write."

Chris Katulka: Start writing now. But are there sections of the magazine that stand out to you? I always loved two sections of the magazine growing up. The first was David Levy's piece, very doctrinal, got right to the point. And then I loved Rennie Showers' pieces, as well. Are there any that stand out to you as you think about the pieces in each magazine?

Lorna Simcox: I never really thought about it like that, because I, more or less, look at the magazine as a whole. But I know over the years, that one of the pieces, of course, that people have constantly commented on is Zvi Kalisher's column.

Chris Katulka: Yes.

Lorna Simcox: And interestingly, we have had, for those of you listening out there who want to know if Zvi ever led anyone to the Lord, we get questions like that because he talks about witnessing and teaching people the Bible and all that, but he never talks about leading anyone to the Lord. And someone asked him one time, and his answer was, "Well, I'm supposed to write a column about my job. My job is witnessing. God's job is saving them."

Chris Katulka: I love it. I love it. That's a great one.

Lorna Simcox: So he never wrote about all the salvation decisions that he actually received because he said, "I didn't save them. God saved them. You asked me to write about what I do."

Chris Katulka: Instead of talking about his story. I love it. Well, listen, to our audience, we have Lorna Simcox and Jesse King in the studio. We're going to hear from Jesse in a moment, but before we come back, we're going to share with you in just one second how you can get your hands on a subscription of Israel My Glory. If you've never subscribed before, listen, we have a deal for you, but you got to stick around to listen. So we'll see you on the other side.

Chris Katulka: I hope that you've been enjoying this interview with Lorna and Jesse to hear about Lorna's love and passion for Israel My Glory magazine. And if you're sitting there thinking, "I've never heard of Israel My Glory magazine before, it's been around since 1942, this sounds very interesting to me, I'd like to learn more about Israel and the Jewish people biblically," well, then I want to encourage you to get your hands on a free one-year subscription to our award-winning Christian magazine, Israel My Glory. In fact, this issue is all about the Book of Esther, and it's called "For Such a Time As This".

Now, you have two options if you're going to subscribe. Number one, you can receive the free issue that comes right to your mailbox, and that's our paper edition. But you can also get our digital edition of Israel My Glory, and along with getting the one-year free subscription, you'll also get 40 years' worth of Israel My Glory content that goes back to the early eighties. So again, I want to encourage you, if you'd like to learn more about Israel and the Jewish people biblically, if you'd like to know what's going on globally with the Ministry of the Friends of Israel, and to really get an understanding of what's happening in the Middle East, I want to encourage you to get a one-year free subscription to Israel My Glory magazine. Steve, how can our listeners get this one year free subscription.

Steve Conover: Yes, to get IMG into your home, you can visit our website foiradio.org. That's foiradio.org to learn more or to receive your one-year subscription to Israel My Glory magazine.

Chris Katulka: Welcome back, everybody. Before the break, we mentioned that Lorna Simcox, the editor-in-chief of Israel My Glory is handing the magazine managing baton off to the next generation, who will continue producing quality biblical teaching for our readers. Jesse King is the one to carry that baton, and he joins us. Now, Jesse, tell me, what does it mean to fill the big shoes of Lorna Simcox for Israel My Glory?

Jesse King: Oh man, it's a tall order. Lorna has expertly made the magazine a trusted source of biblical truth and Christian love for our Jewish friends. She really has a gift for taking teaching and making it accessible for people, whether they're Bible scholars or not. But thankfully, she's invested a lot of time into equipping me to take on her responsibilities, and I've learned an incredible amount of information from her, not only about how to edit our writers' articles well, but also how to handle God's Word with care and how to demonstrate our love and appreciation for the Jewish people and their culture and customs. I won't be Lorna 2.0 per se, but by prayer and dedicated work, I hope to continue producing a magazine that honors the Lord.

Chris Katulka: Yeah. Jesse, I like what you said there. You had mentioned the fact that we have, in our audience, they get Israel My Glory, we have Bible scholars who get Israel My Glory, and then we have people who are laymen in the church. That's a tough way to have to edit a magazine, because it's not a theological journal, and it's also not just a fluffy magazine talking about recipes and whatnot. This is handling God's Word. I'm interested to know how you feel like you've been able to wrestle with those issues of how to be able to edit between those two audiences?

Jesse King: That's a great point. There's a dichotomy there, where it might not be a theological journal, but I believe some writers might use it in a theological journal. They reference our writing. So we have some excellent teachers on staff that do a great job of just making God's Word clear for people. And I think that's the key. We have great teachers, and my job is to make it easy for anybody to chew on and digest. And again, Lorna has taught me a lot about how to do that, so I have a good roadmap of how to make it so that anybody can enjoy it, and still teach God's Word at a very high quality.

Chris Katulka: It's funny that you're saying this, because Lorna's not only taught you a lot, but she's taught me a lot, because she was kind enough to encourage me to be the editorial writer for Israel My Glory. And she's taught me so much about what it means to be an editorial writer. And sometimes Lorna had to hand the whole thing back to me and say, "Start over. We've got to go a different direction." But that's because of her genius in the way she was able to see how this would come out and print for readers. So I know that you and I probably have a similar experience working with Lorna in an amazing way. Jesse, what was your journey to becoming the managing editor of the magazine?

Jesse King: Oh, it was all God's doing, a hundred percent. Let me start back in college. I went to Clark Summit University, the former Baptist Bible College, and I studied writing there, and I knew I wanted to write, ideally for a ministry like this one. But fresh out of college, I went searching for a writing job, and I knew the hunt wouldn't be easy, but I didn't expect to see as many doors close in my face as I did. It seemed like no one wanted to hire me. It seemed like everything I tried kept failing, and it was disappointing. Lots of, "Oh, it was between you and one other person. You almost made it." And some just outright rejection. So in the moment it was difficult, but in hindsight, it's clear that God was leading me to this ministry.

So just a couple of weeks before getting married, I knew I was going to move from New York to this area in New Jersey. So I started searching for jobs in this area, and God made his direction so clear to me. I was searching for anything at that point, I just wanted to write. I didn't even think I had a chance about writing something that would teach about God's Word. And then I heard about the Friends of Israel, and I found that they were in the exact area where I was moving. I was going to live 10 minutes from here, and I was like, "Wow, that's absolutely God's doing." So I began as an intern for our media department in the summer of 2019. I learned the ropes of the ministry, I ordered your lunches, Chris, and all that stuff.

Chris Katulka: Liar. Don't say that.

Jesse King: All the good stuff for you.

Chris Katulka: Still waiting for that cup of coffee, Jesse.

Jesse King: That's right. And then at the end of the summer, I accepted a full-time position as a staff writer. So over the next few years, I began to work a bit more closely with Lorna as she prepared to retire, first in proofreading with her, and then editing some articles, and then writing a few articles. And then I took on the role of senior editor of the magazine. And then at the beginning of this year, I moved into this role of managing editor, and I'm loving it.

Chris Katulka: Hey, Jesse, when I think about... You have to have a unique fit for Israel My Glory. Lorna has a Jewish keppie because she's Jewish, so it's her DNA when she thinks about Israel My Glory. I know you're not Jewish, but what's your Jewish keppie? When did you get that Jewishness, that love for Israel and the Jewish people that emanates? I know you do, but when did that kick in as a believer for you, and how that works its way out in the magazine, as well?

Jesse King: That's a good question. I'd say growing up, I had a pretty healthy understanding of the Bible because I was blessed with a father who was a pastor, and he knows the Word very well. He always taught me well. I learned a bit through Christian school. I attended Christian school growing up in public school and high school. And then in college I had a pretty good undertaking of some good focus on Israel and the Bible. But really, it clicks just by working here every day, and dealing with the content that we have and just studying the Word from the lens of "Israel matters to God". Each day I feel like I'm really getting closer. I feel like the Bible becomes a little more clear every time I study it now. So I had plenty of help and hints along the way, but yeah, I think when I started here and fully got that perspective, it really settled into an instinct, more than just something I learned.

Chris Katulka: Yeah, that's great. Jesse, as the managing editor, do you have a vision for the future of Israel My Glory?

Jesse King: Well, I want to continue to keep the faithfulness to God's Word and our loving kindness for the Jewish people. And that really has come across so clearly through IMG under Lorna's direction. And those have always been our goals, so that's not going to change. And I really just want to do those things in a way that our current readers will appreciate, and also in a way that interests the younger generations of readers, too. There's many faithful young Christians who do love Israel and the Jewish people, and we know many of them and we're thankful for them, but really they make up a minority, I would say. So many other young Christians aren't looking to learn more about Israel and what the Bible says about them and the Jewish people. That's probably because many of them come from backgrounds that teach that Israel has been replaced by the Church or Biblical prophecy is just too hard to understand. So I hope to make it clear to readers of all ages, all backgrounds, all perspectives, that Israel really does matter to God, and it should to us, too.

Chris Katulka: Lorna, as you hand off the baton, what's your hope for Israel My Glory magazine?

Lorna Simcox: Well, I'm thrilled that Jesse is taking over, and I know he is going to do a wonderful job, and I would love to see the Lord increase our circulation, triple our circulation. I would love to see him enable us to have more pages, because when you get the May/June issue, you will see that we were struggling. We had a lot of good copy that we wanted to run, and we didn't really have enough room. So if the Lord would-

Chris Katulka: Jesse, you taking notes?

Jesse King: Oh yeah.

Lorna Simcox: If the Lord would make it possible for us to go up in pages, I think our readers would like it. I would love to see that. And I would just love to see it continue to bring people to Christ and teach people to love Israel and the Jewish people.

Chris Katulka: One of the best ways that we can encourage people to continue advancing Israel My Glory, because it's not just up to you two, it's up to our readership to share about the magazine, to promote the magazine. They can go online now. They can share the magazine on their social media pages. That is really one of the best ways to continue to advance the work. We'll keep writing and we'll keep completing the mission that God has given to us to teach truth about Israel and the Jewish people from a biblical perspective, to stand up against antisemitism, to share the work that we're doing all around the world with The Friends of Israel.

But really, none of it matters if our readership isn't sharing and connecting and letting us even know how much the magazine means to them. So if you're listening right now, maybe you're driving in your car, maybe you're on the podcast and maybe you're thinking, "I've never seen Israel My Glory before." Well, this is a great opportunity, just like you heard in the ad, to go to foiradio.org. If you've never signed up for our magazine, you can get a one-year free subscription to our award-winning, Lorna, award-winning magazine, Israel My Glory. And it's a great way to, if you've ever wanted to dip your toe in understanding more about Israel and the Jewish people, Israel My Glory is a great way to get started.

Lorna and Jesse, thank you so much for being a part of the program. And Lorna, thank you for your years of dedication to Friends of Israel and to IMG and to making it an excellent, excellent resource.

Lorna Simcox: It was a labor of love, truly. I praise God. He brought me here and gave me this position.

Chris Katulka: Praise the Lord.

Steve Conover: Thank you so much for joining us today. It was a joy to have Lorna Simcox and Jesse King as our guests on the program. Chris, where are we headed next week?

Chris Katulka: Well, I'm going to Israel, Steve. I'm very excited. I'll be boarding a plane later this week with Dr. Jim Showers, and we'll be taking a group of nearly a hundred people to the Holy Land to do an entire tour around the land of Israel. And while I'm over there, I'm looking forward to being interviewed by you. I'm looking forward to sharing about all the things that are happening in the Holy Land and the growth, the resurgence that we're seeing of the tourism industry to the Holy Land as well.

Steve Conover: Our host and teacher is Chris Katulka. Today's program was produced by Tom Gallione, edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. This program was engineered by Bob Beebe. And I'm Steve Conover, executive producer. Our mailing address is FOI Radio, PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. And I'll give you one last quick reminder to visit us at foiradio.org. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. We are a worldwide evangelical ministry, proclaiming biblical truth about Israel and the Messiah, while bringing physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people.