Our mission is to help formerly incarcerated men re-enter the workforce through saving and shepherding one of God’s most fascinating creatures, the honeybee.
We help formerly incarcerated men productively re-enter their community. We practice this daily by mentoring them on how to keep healthy and happy honeybee colonies. In addition, through the testimonies of their life experiences, these men bring a life-changing hope that can inspire others.
Most importantly, we believe in The Great Commission spoken by Jesus. We know we live in a stressed-out, confusing, and hopeless world, but there is Hope! We desire to share the hope found in the Good News with others because we truly believe we are living in the End-Times.
Mike
My prison experience saved me from myself and hopelessness. During that 28-year journey I found hope and recommitted myself to the God I learned about as a child. Reading the Bible with its numerous mentions of honey, instilled a desire within me to reconnect with the honeybee and beekeepers I knew also from childhood. As I studied more, I learned just how important early Christian traditions contributed to the development of beekeeping and to how we keep bees today. The inspiration for New Hope Honey Makers becoming a ministry of working with bees and sharing the hope we have as children of God was born from a simple conversation I had with a sister inside a prison chapel.
John
While in prison I found Jesus in a personal way while reading, listening and watching the WatchWord Bible in my prison cell. In 2019 after 32 years in prison, I was given the miracle of rejoining my community and was blessed to become the first beekeeper of New Hope Honey Makers. Beekeeping has helped me to understand the importance of giving back to my community just as the bees do. Being a part of New Hope Honey Makers has given me a newfound purpose in life focused on God and the importance of helping others through our faith. Today I love helping our honey bees thrive while sharing my strength, hope and experience with others.
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David
In 2002 I met Mike in prison. Through my association with him and the WatchWord Bible, I discovered my true faith and hunger for God’s Word. After 27 years of incarceration, I paroled and had the same desire as Mike and John to help others through our faith, which grew even stronger and more evident as we talked. So it was a natural for me to join them and to share that same hope through beekeeping and honey making to help others. My present role is spending time cultivating relationships with our ever-expanding faith community throughout California. My beekeeping education has shown me just how amazing and miraculous God’s fuzzy little creature can be in our lives as we live out community.
