Don’t Stop Bee-lieving: How Bees are Mobilizing Speed the Light
During the 2022 Celebration Tour, Deven Anderson (youth and communications pastor at New Life Circleville) and I connected, and he shared with me about his new youth ministry venture, beekeeping for Speed the Light. I was intrigued. Beekeeping isn’t exactly something you learn in seminary, so I was curious to know what prompted Deven to begin this endeavor.
Deven began serving as the youth pastor at New Life AG in Circleville in 2020. The youth ministry had not been able to contribute to Speed the Light in several years, and he was determined to find a way to help the students grow in their missions awareness and increase missions giving. He wanted to help teach them the value of serving, not just giving money toward missions. So, he began trying a few projects, all of which were time-consuming, exhausting and didn’t yield the fruit he hoped for – in his students or financially.
In March of 2022, Deven attended Matt Sullivan’s Speed the Light breakout session at Synergy and was encouraged to hear all the creative ways that Matt and his team found success in building a missions culture for their youth ministry. That prompted Deven to start praying about creative, outside-of-the-box opportunities that his youth ministry could sustain. He felt the Lord speak to him, “Honey bees.” He laughed because he was terrified of bugs and was hesitant to take that as a word from the Lord.
Immediately, Deven thought of all the obstacles: Expensive startup costs. Getting the pastoral staff to agree. Learning about beekeeping. Not to mention, where do you even get bees? He was concerned he would start this project and accidentally kill all the bees. He went to school for ministry, and no one mentioned anything about beekeeping! However, the Lord had all of this worked out already. But the more he prayed, the more he felt like this was what they were supposed to do as a ministry. Their church has 27 acres of land that are only used once a year for a large outreach, so they had the space. He just had to get the support of the leadership.
With the blessing of church staff and elders, in June of 2022, they were well underway with their first season. “My wife and I just started catching swarms in the area. People would call when they saw them in their yards, and we would go get them. We’ve never had to pay for bees.” Deven has seen the favor of the Lord in offsetting each major expense as it has come their way. “One of my high school teachers retired and is full-time in Honey,” Deven told me. “He gave us used equipment to get started. Even when it’s hot, and you do get stung, it’s been so clear that God has brought us this far and provided everything we needed.”
The students at New Life help in various roles when it comes to the honey bees. While a few kids have expressed interest in working directly with the bees, that is Deven’s responsibility right now. Once the combs have been removed from the hives, students help extract honey from the combs. They also oversee the entire bottling process, make treats like honey pops, and sell the honey in the church and community. One of the students even designed the logo and labels for the honey bottles. “Part of this process has been teaching the kids that it doesn’t always mean giving money for missions; it’s also giving time, talent, & gifts.” The students have also learned the value of teamwork. Deven was already committed to creating a “sticky” youth ministry after reading the book Sticky Church. This process has taught him that “together, we can create something sticky and sweet. Once you’re in [the youth ministry], it’s hard to leave because people care about you.” Working together has helped create that culture of belonging.
Before starting the honey project, their student ministry raised $300-$500/year for Speed the Light. In their first bee season, they were able to raise $3,200, and that was starting late in the year. They expect to significantly increase that amount by the end of 2023 and to see growth each year. Right now, their most significant challenge is keeping up with demand. Last year they had 3 hives and produced 180 pounds of honey. It sold out in just two weekends. This year, they have 12 hives and an entire beekeeping season, but they are still selling out quickly after each harvest (there are three each year). They hope to continue adding hives so that they can expand this mission’s fundraiser to also be a way of connecting with their community. They want to be known as the bee church.
Now a little over a year into this endeavor, Deven wants to encourage other youth pastors, especially those who lead small ministries like his. “Start with prayer. We tried lots of things on our own. We worked really hard, and all of our fundraisers failed. We can’t do this on our own. We try as humans all the time, and we fail all the time. Praying and being venerable with God to lead us is what got us here. Let Him give you your thing. Make sure you’re swinging at the right pitches. Use what God gave you. For us, it was this property. Be obedient and let him provide the rest, even when it doesn’t make sense and you can’t see how it will work.” As Deven sought the Spirit, he was able to identify and train student leaders, making it possible for them to see MORE THAN a 300% increase in mission giving! That is Ohio for Jesus! It may have seemed impossible just a few years ago, but with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
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Tara Zimmer
Ohio Ministry Network Communications Director