“Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”
Proverbs 16:24
I write because I believe these words to my core. Following a forty day fast, Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation to turn loaves into bread, by quoting Moses’s admonition to the Israelites who had seen that very type of miracle every day for forty days, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4/Dt. 8:3).
Israel had depended on God’s miraculous hand to bring manna for forty years—what could be more important than this daily bread? Moses tells them that God’s Word is of equal importance. Jesus, famished after forty days of fasting is met by the Tempter, and he tells him that he will not forfeit the substance that comes from holding true to God’s Word for a loaf of bread.
Ours is an Esau world. We exchange our birthright for a pot of stew, God’s Word for an endorphin hit, the eternal for the ephemeral.
My hope is that by stewarding my ministry of words, I can help push back against that tide just a little bit. I blog first to pastor my dear congregation New Life Bible Fellowship through the ministry of the written word. My hope is that the three additional touchpoints during the week allow those God has entrusted to me as an under-shepherd to grow in their love for God, their wisdom, and to foster unity. I’m grateful for the many who read who aren’t part of New Life. I pray that my writing encourages and strengthens you in your walk and in your heart for your local church.
I felt called to blog for many years before I finally responded to that call. God was merciful in having me wait. I went through a personal and marital crisis in 2013 (you can read about that here) that took me out of pastoral ministry for two years, and I am grateful that God allowed me to navigate my own path of spiritual growth and healing before I began to write more publicly.
Thank you especially to my faithful subscribers. Sometimes readers will ask how they can support me. That is a kind question, especially because blogging can be a rather lonely ministry. When I get up to preach, I have the blessing of looking into the eyes of the congregation, of seeing people nod, of watching emotions well up. A blog is sent into the ether often without much response. Here are four meaningful ways to encourage me as a pastor-writer:
1. Subscribe. Subscribing to my emails lets me know you’re in. Social media suppresses blogs (they don’t want to direct scrollers to anything outside of their app). Subscribing helps me connect directly with you. You can subscribe at the top of the home page (don’t miss that you’ll need to hit confirm on the auto-email that is sent to you).
2. Share. It’s so encouraging when you share content with your friends that is meaningful to you.
3. Comment. Your words of how any given posts impacted you bless me tremendously.
4. Support. The elders of New Life Bible Fellowship are generous enough to allow me to write as part of my role as pastor. It is for that reason I do not ask for personal financial support and have not moved to Substack like many bloggers. If you have felt blessed by this ministry of New Life, I would encourage you to consider supporting our church. You may do so here.
Below are my five most read posts of 2025. It is always interesting to me which of my posts resonate with readers. If any of these posts blessed you, would you share it with a friend?
Please know how grateful I am for you. Thank you for your support and for investing your time and energy in reading The Bee Hive.
A parent’s role never ends; it just changes. Every time I hold a child in my arms on a dedication Sunday, I reflect on the holy and weighty call of a parent. If I had the opportunity to sit with myself over coffee on the day we dedicated our children, here is what I would say.
4. Your soccer coach has a plan for your life
As another fall kicks off, your family is about to be ambushed by those who have strong convictions about where your family should spend its time. Well-meaning teachers, coaches, 4-H leaders, and drama and choir directors all want you to devote untold hours to their passion. And not a single one of those opportunities is bad. But they are dangerous.
3. The danger of Driscoll in me
Leadership is a challenge. When I was a kid, I aspired to be a pastor. I had no idea that this underbelly of leadership awaited my heart. The attendant temptations are sobering. But Christ calls us to lead in humility. Christ calls us to be those who submit ourselves to one another for his glory. When we don’t, we are no longer leading Christ’s church, we are leading our own. And woe to the pastor who leads his own church.
2. Why didn’t we preach about Charlie Kirk’s assassination?
May we grow as both leaders and followers, humbly granting one another charity for whatever decisions our congregations make in balancing the timeless truth of God’s Word with the pressing events of our day.
1. How to make youself home at (almost) any church
“This year my resolution is to get back to God.” My friend shared his resolution with me and my heart leapt. He asked me how he could start that journey. I encouraged him to read a gospel and to connect with a church. He’s only been to church a few times in his life and I could feel the anxiety creep up on him as he considered the possibility.
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash