The Backstory of Today
Rev. Scott DeVries
BTGMI
Are you a Today reader? If so, then you know that the May theme for the Today devotions, written by Rev. Scott DeVries, is “Malachi: Our Heavenly Father Loves Us.”
DeVries is a new author for the daily devotional produced by ReFrame Media, the English outreach of Back to God Ministries International.
Choosing authors for the publication is no easy task. The devotional is read by more than 945,000 subscribers via paper, email, social media, web page, or mobile app.
Today managing editor, Eleanor Lamsma, says, “We select our Today writers from a very talented pool of CRC ministers. We like to make sure we have a variety of seasoned and new writers with a variety of writing skills so that we can appeal to our wide range of readers.”
The Today editorial team chooses authors well in advance of their publication date—more than a year— to ensure that the writer has adequate time to develop a daily devotional that challenges, inspires, and encourages readers.
Each reading must be concisely written so it fits within the page constraints of the printed copy. After an exhaustive editing process, the finished copy is translated into Korean and Chinese. An audio version is also recorded. Some are even translated into Spanish!
For a glimpse into how authors come up with topics to challenge and inspire readers’ spiritual walk, an interview with DeVries’ can be found on todaydevotional.com’s Who Wrote It. Also, the interview if available through audio.
