History of HIM Prayer Letter Ministry

SMS was founded in 1977 by Ron and Sue Faircloth in Columbia, SC. After Ron came to know the Lord in 1968, he and Sue felt called to full-time Christian service. In 1972 he became the Manager of Office Services at Columbia Bible College and Sue became the Manager of Secretarial Services. They held these positions for twelve years. One of Ron’s responsibilities was printing and mailing. During this time he became aware of the need for State-side printing and mailing of prayer letters of missionaries, and the vision grew. In 1977, SMS was founded as a part-time ministry, and the next year it was incorporated as a non-profit letter mailing service ministry. In 1984, they left their work at the Bible College to serve the Lord full-time with SMS, Inc.

In the summer of 1999, the Faircloths were seeking someone who would take on the leadership of SMS. After 22 years of service and working from their home, they felt the Lord was leading them to semi-retirement. One of the main characteristics of the person they wanted to find had to be a love for missions and missionaries. In God’s providence and timing He brought the Faircloths into contact with Roger Scholten (a 1970 graduate of Columbia Bible College), and a successor was found. God works in ways far above what we could ever ask or think, and in this case He not only provided a person but also an organization. In September of 1999, SMS became a ministry of Helps International Ministries, Inc. HIM ministers by giving assistance to missions and Christian organizations, so the merger was a natural (or supernatural) fit. In June of 2000, the entire SMS operation was relocated to Asheville, NC, which is home base for HIM.