Miles Pike

Martha and I are amused when people come up and ask something to the effect of “What is your real job?” Well, the “job” part is the mounds of office work, the recording process, web maintenance, hours of scheduling and confirmation calls, and RV maintenance a la dumping ze black water. The moments when we meet a complete stranger, but after worshiping together, find the stranger to be a fellow believer, an intricately made and loved part of Christ’s Body, and a future neighbor in the Kingdom — they are what make the job a joy and not a drudgery.

I consider myself stupefyingly favored because I simply love what I do. Growing up, if I was awake, I was singing. Life revolved around church. I accepted Christ’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life when I was a child, and there’s never really been anything else that I wanted to sing about.

By the age of 14, I had a 5-octave singing range. As with all gifts, thousands of hours of work, study, and instruction went into making it palatable. I started touring in 2006 and the Lord has blessed with over 1700 concerts in 43 states and Europe, 12 projects, a snazzy tablecloth, and the fledgling Miles Pike Podcast. As you can imagine, 2020 saw the tablecloth woefully underemployed, and its return to the workforce has been slow.

In 2006 I met my Martha for the first time. I’m legally blind, but ironically, for me it was love at first sight. For her, there were four years of negotiations in order. We were each other’s first love, first date, and we saved our first kiss for our wedding day. Since then, I've been so blessed to travel with not only the prettiest girl living, but my best friend, pianist, chauffeur, joke-tester, and wisest counselor. I’ve added “superwoman” to the list after our firstborn, Lillie, was followed in 18 months by the birth of the twins, Charlie and Phoebe. Peter calls marriage “the grace of life” and that grace has been invaluable in multiplying the joys and meeting the challenges of what we do.

Really, the joys have often come hand in hand with the challenges. There’s the challenge of being in a full time ministry in which the income fluctuates drastically and the expenses drastically fluctuate. That challenge comes with the joy of learning how to live a life that realizes a full reliance on God

Then there’s the challenge of being a homebody who loves the country but has to live on the road for months at a time. This challenge is balanced by the joy of doing what I am called to do, and having the privilege of doing it all with my Martha and little ones.

There’s the challenge of winsomely yet boldly preaching absolute truth in a society that is decidedly anti-truth, partnered with the temptation to look to my own abilities to change lives. But oh the joy of doing my meagre best, and then watching God reveal truth to the feeble mind, rekindle a fire nearly out, and as Ezekiel said, make a heart of flesh where there had been a heart of stone.

O Lord, everything good in me is due to you.

The rest is my fault.

~ St. Augustine

And always, always, there’s been the challenge of my eyes. From birth I’ve been blind in my right eye, and limited to tunnel vision in my left. I see just enough to fool everybody. I don’t drive. (You’re welcome.) I don’t see much, and my eyes aren’t generally comfortable with what I do see. Blinding migraines are a common occurrence unless I limit reading and avoid bright light, stress, a few annoying relatives, and fatigue. If I ever had to read to an annoying relative in bright light while tired and stressed, it would undoubtedly lead to total blindness. The challenge of my visual limitations brings the joy of seeing God take care of me and my family, give grace to make it through concerts, and show me yet again, that it’s not about me and my ability or handicap.

Through health scares, family struggles, a sometimes anemic national church scene, and the rigors of travel, we have turned to the richness of God’s Word. We have found the faithful exposition of men like Keller, Sproul, Begg, Piper, Dever, Mohler, and many others, to be so very helpful. Our aim in study and Scripture memorization is to help our audience hear the truth, and then respond to the truth in worship. We hope you have been so helped, and we praise God for all of you who have made this journey not only possible, but a sweet joy.