diff --git a/scribe/conf.d/scribe_stats.pyconf b/scribe/conf.d/scribe_stats.pyconf
index e69de29b..098b5d5e 100644
--- a/scribe/conf.d/scribe_stats.pyconf
+++ b/scribe/conf.d/scribe_stats.pyconf
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+modules {
+  module {
+    name = "scribe_stats"
+    language = "python"
+  }
+}
+
+collection_group {
+
+  collect_every = 20
+  time_threshold = 90
+
+  metric {
+    name = "scribe_overall_messages_per_second"
+    title = "avg messages/second"
+    value_threshold = 0
+  }
+}
diff --git a/scribe/python_modules/scribe_stats.py b/scribe/python_modules/scribe_stats.py
index e69de29b..be9a271d 100644
--- a/scribe/python_modules/scribe_stats.py
+++ b/scribe/python_modules/scribe_stats.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import sys
+import subprocess
+import re
+import time
+
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT
+
+descriptors = list()
+Debug = False
+
+last_mps_timestamp = float(0)
+last_mps_value = 0
+
+def dprint(f, *v):
+    if Debug:
+        print >>sys.stderr, "DEBUG: "+f % v
+
+def GetOverallMessagesPerSecond(name):
+    dprint("%s", name)
+
+    global last_mps_timestamp, last_mps_value
+
+    # get the current value
+    rc, output = run_cmd(["/usr/sbin/scribe_ctrl", "counters"])
+
+    # return 0 if command fails
+    if rc:
+        return float(0)
+
+    match = re.compile(r"^scribe_overall:received good: (\d+)$", re.MULTILINE).search(output)
+    value = int(match.group(1))
+
+    # save current value
+    value_diff = value - last_mps_value
+    last_mps_value = value
+
+    # calculate seconds that have passed since last call
+    current_time = time.time()
+    elapsed = current_time - last_mps_timestamp
+
+    # save current timestamp
+    first_run = last_mps_timestamp is 0
+    last_mps_timestamp = current_time
+
+    if first_run:
+        return float(0)
+
+    return float(value_diff / elapsed)
+
+def run_cmd(arglist):
+    '''Run a command and capture output.'''
+
+    try:
+        p = Popen(arglist, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+        output, errors = p.communicate()
+    except OSError, e:
+        return (1, '')
+
+    return (p.returncode, output)
+
+def metric_init(params):
+    '''Create the metric definition dictionary object for each metric.'''
+
+    global descriptors
+    
+    d1 = {
+        'name': 'scribe_overall_messages_per_second',
+        'call_back': GetOverallMessagesPerSecond,
+        'time_max': 90,
+        'value_type': 'float',
+        'units': 'msg/sec',
+        'slope': 'both',
+        'format': '%f',
+        'description': 'Average number of messages sent per second',
+        'groups': 'scribe'
+        }
+
+    descriptors = [d1]
+    return descriptors    
+
+def metric_cleanup():
+    '''Clean up the metric module.'''
+    pass
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    metric_init({})
+    
+    # setup last timestamp as 10 seconds ago
+    last_mps_timestamp = time.time() - 10
+    
+    for d in descriptors:
+        v = d['call_back'](d['name'])
+        print '%s: %s' % (d['name'],  v)