Returning to Vietnam with Beehive Global Collective and the costly grace of being set apart
From Kenya’s late‑night questions to Vietnam’s week of Proximity Discipleship, this is a call to stay close enough, long enough, and set apart enough for Christ to be unmistakably formed in us.
Every time I go to Kenya and know there will be proximity time with Peter LeKombe, I know what is coming: he walks over with a page of questions he has been pondering from Scripture and smiles, “Matayo, I have questions!” On our last trip to Marsabit in Northern Kenya, we sat down—often late into the night—pouring over the Word with tea growing cold beside us. As I read his list from Moses to Saul to David, I couldn’t help but chuckling.
“Eh, Brother, what is it?”
A single thread ran through most of the questions: Failure to Keep Separate.
The battle to remain separate has marked humanity from the beginning. The same ebb‑and‑flow pull to keep separate continues to plague those of us striving to follow Christ now. Nearness without distinctness collapses into sameness, and sameness slowly unravels formation and witness.
We have returned to Vietnam safely with Beehive Global Collective. The last two days have been for rest, acclimation, and prayerful preparation. Today we travel to the Central Highlands for a week of work with ministry partners, students, and local leaders. On Sunday I will preach on our shared identity in Christ and how baptism is the outward sign of inward consecration, a public declaration that we belong to Jesus and are set apart for His purposes, a sign that we are choosing to ‘keep separate’ for Him. We will meet with our ministry partners to scope the 2026 training seminar, align on indigenous leadership, and strengthen reproducible practices around Scripture, prayer in households, table fellowship, and correction in love. Our aim is simple: be present, be close enough, long enough, and set apart enough, so that Christ is formed in people.
Proximity discipleship is sustained with‑ness that forms people in Christ through shared life under the Word. It is more than access or attendance. It is patterned nearness—Scripture, prayer, confession and correction, table fellowship, and mission—where love has shape and holiness has teeth. Jesus called the Twelve “to be with him,” then sent them out (Mark 3:13–15, ESV). He prays that His people would be in but not of the world (John 17:14–19, ESV). Salt and light keep their edge precisely by remaining distinct while near (Matthew 5:13–16, ESV). Proximity without consecration becomes mimicry. Consecration without proximity becomes withdrawal.
What follows are the scenes Peter asked about in August—moments where nearness collapsed into sameness, and what it cost the people of God.
From Sinai to the monarchy the pattern repeats: when nearness loses distinctness, sameness follows, and mission unravels.
These are not calls to withdrawal but to consecrated presence within the world.
In our work with Beehive Global Collective, we bias toward presence over pursuit. Presence honors people and place. Pursuit chases outcomes and often erases distinctiveness. Done well, proximity discipleship embeds with people while keeping a clear rule of life, reproducible practices, and guardrails that protect identity.
“You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine” (Leviticus 20:26, ESV). In Christ, our identity is declared: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). Our pattern is transformation, not accommodation: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2, ESV). Bonhoeffer warned that those who love their dream of community more than the community itself become its destroyers. Cheap grace evades discipleship. Costly grace follows Jesus in daily dying and rising, so that our nearness to people is matched by our nearness to God.
Keeping separate for the Kingdom is both simple and costly. Let us stay close enough to hear one another’s real stories, long enough to see change take root, and set apart enough that Jesus is unmistakable among us. This week, as we serve in the Central Highlands, pray that our nearness would be matched by holiness. Pray that our speech is shaped by Scripture, our pace marked by Sabbath, and our presence defined by quiet, faithful love.
We will share ministry updates in the days ahead as the work in the Central Highlands unfolds—stories, answered prayers, and first steps toward the 2026 training seminar. Until then, we are grateful for your prayers and partnership. Let us walk near, and let us walk holy.
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27