I want you to meet my new friend Mike—Mike Mafa from Soul FM in Botswana.

When I met him recently in Johannesburg at the first Africa by Radio convention, the first thing I noticed was his smile. It’s impossible to miss! He smiles when he talks, when he sings, when he prays—especially when he prays. Mike has the most incredible smile I’ve ever seen, which is pretty amazing considering that he has been trying for seven years to get a radio license in his home country of Botswana.

Talk about persistent. Mike has filled out application after application, met with official after official, only to be denied a broadcast license every time. Talk about optimistic! He named his station Soul FM even though it’s never even been on the air yet!

It would be enough to depress most of us … but not Mike. He’s doing radio anyway, and has been for several years now—on the Internet with a live audio stream. HCJB Global helped Mike with a new audio streaming device a few months ago and have committed that when he gets that license – and I know he will – we are ready to help.

So it is with so many of our partners in Africa.  Day after day, in some of the harshest climates and under some very difficult political situations, they are faithful in their passion for using media to reach their communities for Christ. I pray often for Mike and I hope you will too. There are many faces I see when I think of our media partners, but it is Mike’s smile that always brings a smile to my face!