ok… breathe…

 

I guess anytime you move across the country it’s a bit stressful, but I bet most people know where they are going to live before they go! I might do it differently if I had a chance to do it all over again, but we are here and we and the Caudells are living in great houses.

We are starting to feel like this little cabin is our home (even though we still have boxes piled high all over the place). The views out of our windows are breathtaking up on this mountain… hardly what we are used to back in Loganville, GA.

I frequently have to stop and say, “I live here now”. It’s surreal. For over a year now we have thought about, talked about, and dreamed about living in Wilmington and starting Valley Town Church. The time has come. We are on the ground running.

We got our PO Box set up because the mail man doesn’t come to our house. Yep you probably just went back and read that sentence over again to make sure it said what it says.

We slide around on our neighborhood streets (which are dirt roads) with our rear wheel drive SUV with summer tires on it. You can see the fear in the locals’ faces as they pass us on the road. They know immediately that we ain’t from around here.

Things go at a different pace up here. It’s going to be another week before we get our internet set up. I’m borrowing a weak signal from a neighbor right now. In order to get your utilities switched into your name you must mail in paper applications. (paper is that stuff made from trees that people used for things before the internet was invented)

Anyway, I’m just enjoying all the differences here in Vermont. I think I’m going to like this slower pace of life. I love this town. I love the people here. They are incredibly kind. One couple even baked us cookies and brought them to our house!

We had our first launch team meeting on Sunday. So far our launch team is 7 adults and 6 kids strong. Not a bad start.

We have so much to do. Everything from getting VT tags, switching drivers licenses, setting up bank accounts, getting Valley Town incorperated and getting 501-C3 status, getting a website up and running, securing a space to meet, rounding up all the equipment we need, and the list goes on. So glad to have the Caudells and Chris Hunt up here with us to help!

Please pray for our relationships here. Pray that we all keep from being overwhelmed with everthing and just breathe every now and then. Pray that we are certain not to neglect our own relationships with the Lord through all the busyness. Pray that God gives us favor with people here. Pray that we will have boldness. Pray for spiritual protection. Pray for productive days.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting us through your prayers and through giving. We couldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. We will stay in touch.

Ben

Home Sweet Home

I know you all have been incredibly anxious to hear the news of the Presten’s arrival. I’m Hannah Wilhite, Ben’s sister. Because Ben is busy unloading boxes and has limited internet access for blogging, he has asked me to update everyone.

I spoke to Ben last night on the phone and got a few details that many of you may have been waiting to hear. Let me start out by saying–and reiterating how incredibly FAITHFUL our God is! The Prestens AND the Caudells both have homes–GREAT homes, that just happen to be only 2.5 miles away from one another, right in the very heart of Wilmington.

After exhausting searches and countless dead-ends it was obvious that Satan had every intention of blocking the way and bringing devastating disappointment upon Ben and Zac. Tiffany and Dawn were expected to arrive on Wednesday and as of Tuesday, both families were still homeless. Ben and Zac were able to stay with friends who graciously opened their home, but with two trucks full of stuff, and their rental time exhausted, all they could do was pray that the Lord would provide homes early Wednesday morning. They were counting on yet another miracle from God.

AND GOD DELIVERED! As He always does…right at the last minute. Wednesday was spent unloading the Presten’s truck into their new home (see picture above), awaiting the arrival of Tiffany, Dawn, and their children. The Caudell’s home wasn’t available for a few days so they stayed with friends that evening.

Yesterday, both families gathered together at the Caudell’s new home with another family who will be joining Valley Town Church’s core team. God has put everything into place. They are ready to start ministering to the lovely people of Wilmington, Vermont—sharing God’s GREAT LOVE for them. We will all be looking forward to hearing what God is going to do next!

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Psalm 115:1

-Hannah

Our Move So Far in Photos

Here We Go!

Our moving trucks are packed and our houses are empty. Tomorrow morning at 6 am Zac and I are heading North with Tony Motes and David Hammack. We are heading to Wilmington with everything we own. Our wives and children are flying up on Wednesday. Chris is coming up on the 10th. We are waiting expectantly for God to do big things.

Please pray that the Lord will provide a home for the Caudells and also for us before we get there on Sunday. Otherwise we won’t have a place to put all our stuff!

Trusting in Him.

Ben

Out of Ur… Part 2

Looking at Wilmington from just outside of town

This is part 2 of our calling story originally posted back in April for those of you who have recently started following our journey to plant a church.

By: Ben Presten

Four months had passed since the morning that God made it clear to Tiffany and me that we would one day plant a church in New England (see Tiffany’s post telling the first part of our story) We were spending every spare minute in God’s word and reading books about starting a church. My internship was going well and our faith was growing quickly. As we studied church planting we began to see a common thread throughout every story of a couple being called to start a church. Every church planter’s story included a broad calling to begin a new church, and then a specific calling to a specific city in which to begin the work. As we read of account after account, we started to realize that the Lord would clarify for us where exactly he had in mind for us to go. We had already experienced the broad calling to church planting, and now we knew we needed a specific calling to a city.

In December 2010 Tiffany and I talked and decided to begin asking the Lord in faith to call us to the specific location he wanted us to plant a church. To be honest our praying was not very fervent. Perhaps we still felt as if it would be quite some time before the Lord would answer our prayers. On December 11th my brother told me that he and his wife were committing to pray for us for the next few days. They would be praying for God to reveal to us the city to which we were called. Still thinking that God would wait until a later date I honestly didn’t think much of it.

The next day, December 12th, I was at work. I’m a firefighter and work 24 hour shifts. Evening rolled around and I was anxious to read my bible. The evenings tend to be our down time when we can start to relax and do our own thing. I retreated to my bunk to spend some time alone in the word with the Lord. I was studying Psalm 32. God’s word was especially refreshing to my soul that night. I read the first verses of Psalm 32 which spoke of the one whose sins are not counted against him.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (v. 1-2)

The chapter then goes on to talk about the importance of confessing our sins to the Lord.

I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (v. 5)

I began confessing my sins to the Lord and enjoying a time of great fellowship with him. I continued to read. I was stopped in my tracks as I read a verse that I believed spoke directly to our situation.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (v. 8)

As I read it was as if a light was being shone into my heart revealing to me some real error in my thinking. I suddenly saw very clearly that I was placing a great weight upon my own shoulders. I was assuming the responsibility of hearing from the Lord about where we were to plant. The problem was that I was having to put my trust in myself instead of God. I began to thank the Lord that he would instruct us as to where we should go. I felt a great release as I laid the responsibility at the feet of Jesus believing that as long as we were truly surrendered to go where he told us to go, the Lord would see to it that we would have direction.

In that very moment, alone at my desk, head hung over my bible, the Lord spoke to me. I was not asking him to speak to me right then… I was not expecting him to speak to me right then… but he did. He didn’t speak to me in an audible voice. In fact it was clearer than an audible voice. Everything in my mind came to rest and my thoughts were stilled.

Then he spoke.

“WILMINGTON”

Wilmington? I’d never even heard of a Wilmington before.

“Lord, are you telling me where we are to go? WILMINGTON? Lord, where in the world is Wilmington?”

My eyes were closed, my head bowed, my heart racing. Then I saw very clearly a city in a valley. I was nearly in a state of shock. The God of the universe was speaking to me! He was fulfilling his promise in Psalm 32:8.

“Lord, you want me to go to a place called Wilmington in a valley?” I sat there for just a moment repeating the word “Wilmington” out loud over and over again. If anyone had walked in on me right then they would have thought I was crazy. I was very curious to find out just where this Wilmington in a valley was located. I made my way over to the offices so I could do some research. I googled “Wilmington”. A few cities named Wilmington popped up as first on the list that were not located in a valley or in New England. Then as I got to the next Wilmington on the list my stomach sank as I saw that it was located in Vermont. My mind was spinning.

I had to find out if Wilmington, Vermont was located in a valley. I clicked on one of the search results. The first sentence almost knocked me out of my chair. “The town of Wilmington, Vermont nestled in the heart of the Deerfield Valley…” My eyes were fixed on that sentence. Now I knew where I was going. I spent the next half hour researching Wilmington, Vermont. If the story ended here it would be an incredible story… but it doesn’t end here.

It was almost time for bed, and my shift wouldn’t end until 7:00 the next morning. I called my wife and told her that the Lord had given me the name of the city where we would start a church. She was dying to know what I’d learned. However, I decided not to tell her right away. Instead I asked her if she would be willing to wait and pray and ask the Lord to reveal it to her as well. She agreed and we said our ‘goodnights’ and got off the phone. The next morning my drive home seemed to take an eternity. I was talking to the Lord about Wilmington and asking him to tell Tiffany just as he had told me.

As soon as I walked in the door I asked her if she felt like the Lord had revealed anything to her. She looked discouraged when I asked and explained that after we got off the phone she was praying and really thought that the Lord had impressed the name of a random city on her heart. Excited and hopeful she immediately looked the city up online. She was discouraged when she found that the city she believed the Lord put on her heart was not located in New England and assumed that she was just confused and had not actually heard from the Lord. Curious, I asked her what the name of the city was that she’d thought she heard. “Wilmington,” she said awkwardly, and looked at me with a look that said, “how random is that?”. I fell on my knees and tried catching my breath. I felt like someone had just hit me from behind. Tiffany stared at me with her eyes opened wide and her mouth open. “What?” she asked. “It’s Wilmington?” I could only nod as my eyes filled with tears.

I went on to explain to her that there was in fact a Wilmington in New England, and that it was a small town in southern Vermont. We tried to soak in the wonder of what had just taken place. We worshipped. We cried. We surrendered afresh to this calling to a town in a valley, 1,000 miles from home.

Out of Ur (part 1)

In case you have discovered this blog recently and have not read our first post telling our calling story, I’m reposting it now:

Post by: Tiffany Presten

We have often wondered how to discern God’s calling on our lives. We know that God’s greater calling to all believers is to proclaim His name and make disciples of all nations. But what does this look like specifically for us?

God saved both Ben and myself in 2004, our junior year at the University of Georgia. We both immediately had a passion to teach and see others come to know the Lord. At Passion 2006 God told Ben that he would one day be a pastor. At the time, Ben had a paralyzing fear of public speaking, but he surrendered this to the Lord. Not long after, he had a dream in which he was preaching at a candle light service with hundreds of people seated on a hill. When he awoke he knew that this was not an ordinary dream, but that it was from the Lord. In the meantime, we both graduated, began working and got married. Ben was building houses and I was teaching. We had really good, comfortable jobs. But we couldn’t shake the sense that one day we would go into “full time” ministry. We got involved and started serving at a local church and the pastor began discipling Ben.

By early 2008 Ben expressed to his father that he would soon step down from the family business of building houses and begin to pursue pastoral ministry. Ben’s desire to preach and lead young adults was increasing. So in August we started a college and singles ministry at our church. It was really exciting and grew quickly. People came to know the Lord and several that already knew him decided to go into ministry themselves. However, this did not turn into a paid position and Ben’s convictions to provide for his family outweighed his passion for preaching. We did a lot of dreaming about moving to Athens, GA where we attended UGA and starting a church there, but no doors ever opened. We contacted people, tried to sell our house, and spent way too many hours looking for a home there! I became pregnant with our second baby boy and Ben got a job with the fire department. Daniel was born in March of 2009. In June, roughly a year after we began the college ministry Ben stepped down as the college pastor. Ben’s fire and EMS training was becoming more and more intense and we had a newborn baby at home.

Training for the fire department started in April and ended nearly 9 months later in December of 2009. In January 2010 the Lord started lighting a fire under us. We were both immersing ourselves in the Word and renewed vision started welling up inside us. God totally set both of us on fire for him and gave us an unquenchable desire for his Word. The call and desire to pastor a church became stronger and stronger. We spoke often of what our church would look like and jotted notes of the things we saw as being crucial. We even talked of just starting a church right then in our home! We had always said we were willing to do anything for the Lord and the gospel, but during this season of life that really became true. We were ready for God to do something dramatic. It wasn’t just words anymore, the desire to live in total abandon and forsake the American dream was from the heart. I began praying for God to do something radical with us. In February we felt the Lord pulling us away from our church to pursue more training. We had felt this before, but this time it was strong and urgent. We started praying hard and specifically for the Lord to confirm this. In March we knew it was time to go; we just weren’t sure where. At this point, we knew the Lord was telling us that church planting was in our future, but we also knew we needed to be prepared by seasoned church planters. Leaving our church was very hard. We had served at this church for almost four years and were very close to the pastor. It was hard and confusing to tell someone that you need to leave, but you don’t know where you are going.

Another local church was planting a church about 20 minutes down the road from us, so we thought it made sense to get involved there. We started to visit this church and really liked the people and their passion for the Lord. But after about two months of trying to get involved we realized that we weren’t really needed. The church was very large and already had tons of people on board for the church plant. So, we were back to square one. We start praying that the Lord would show us where he wanted us, “anywhere in the world,” we would pray. We were really seeking direction. After a time of prayer and surrender together, Ben looked at me with confused eyes. He said he thought the Lord impressed a place on his heart… “Vermont”. What?! I said, “Okay… I’m willing to do whatever but that seems random”. So we start doing a little research and found out that Vermont is the least churched state in the nation. It ranks 50th in people likely to attend church. So Vermont started to make more sense. We had both always loved the New England states because it’s beautiful and I’m a huge history nerd, but this day the Lord really started to give us compassion for these people. Still, after a full day of research we moved on. We were confused and didn’t understand what the Lord was doing in us. We decided to visit a church that is less than five minutes from our home and loved it! After the service we both had a strange sense that we could do ministry there. This was the main thing that brought us back. By now the desire for church planting was consuming and we knew we needed to be somewhere that we could serve and lead as we learned whatever it was that God wanted to teach us before he sent us out.

We met with the executive pastor, Jim, and shared our testimonies and our heart for church planting. We learned a lot about the church and discovered that we have very similar theology and methodology. But the most encouraging thing we learned out of that meeting was that the head pastor’s vision for the church is to be a launching pad for church planters! We were sold. So, we met with the head pastor, Jonathan. We shared our testimonies with him and our background in ministry. He shared his heart and vision for the church. The meeting went on for hours. He told us of his vision to have a church planting internship at Graystone. This would raise up leadership and provide people an opportunity to be trained for full time ministry. We were fully on board. By the end of the meeting he told us that if we felt called to plant a church, Graystone was behind us! We left floating. To top it off, the next Sunday we met his wife Jennifer and she said that Jonathan had come home and told her about us and that he’s been praying for church planters and we just might be the ones he’s been praying for! We felt we were really starting to see God’s plan for us unfold and were unbelievably excited! Plans were put in place for me to be mentored by Jennifer, and for Ben to be discipled by Jonathan. We also signed up to lead a small group wanting to serve in any way the Lord led us. Ben became the church planting intern at the church and underwent an intense church planter assessment process led by international church planting expert, John Worcester. Ben’s calling was confirmed and the training began.

On August 12th something incredible happened. I was in the kitchen and Ben called me over to the computer to read a blog on theResurgence.com. I didn’t think anything of this because it’s a blog we regularly read. As I was walking over I saw the title of the blog… “New England”. I’m paralyzed. I can’t think or move or talk. I can’t even explain what’s happening, but I know it’s the presence of the holy spirit. I made my way to the computer and slowly sat down to begin reading the article, but I couldn’t. My eyes hadn’t left the title. My stomach was in my throat and I had the strangest feeling. I turned my head to look at Ben and saw that he was crying. I just smiled. I started to read the article, but began to weep. The article explained that the New England states have become almost entirely unchurched. Less than 3% of the population would claim to be protestant Christians and many of the churches left are embracing liberal theology such as universalism and homosexuality. At this point we were both staring at the computer crying. We gained a little composure and continued reading. Then we both started laughing out of pure joy! We were both crying and laughing at the same time. It was the most surreal moment. We knew the Holy Spirit was THERE, in our midst, affecting change in our hearts! I felt the strangest mix of emotions, and it was the most joyful feeling in the world! We both finished reading and looked at each other. We knew without a doubt that we were supposed to one day go to New England. All the memories from a couple months before came flooding back and made sense. We immediately got on our faces and submitted to the Lord. We confessed our fears and hesitations and God gave us an amazing peace and excitement and faith.

This tells the story of how God called us into the journey church planting. However there is much more to our story. Four months later, God would give us a very specific calling to a remote town in a valley. We will tell this portion of our story very soon. We hope it will be an encouragement to you!

~Tiffany

Part 2 of our story

Hold On Tight

Wow, everything is happening FAST! Tuesday was my last day as a career firefighter.

Yesterday we had the appraiser come in the morning, the home inspector in the afternoon, relatives swung by to see us before we go, I had a meeting at the church, I washed my truck, I SOLD my truck, we packed a bunch of stuff, I loaded a trailer with furniture that we aren’t taking to VT, we researched moving trucks, booked airline tickets… oh yeah and we had to take care of 3 kids in the mean time.

I’m so thankful for our family helping us with our kids through this. They have been incredible.

Zac Caudell, Tony Motes, Dave Hammack, and myself are leaving out Saturday morning (the 4th) and driving for 2 days and 1,100 miles to Wilmington. On Wednesday the 8th Tony and Dave will fly home as my wife and kids and Zac’s wife and kids and Melissa Russell arrive at the airport.

Then I guess we just relax. Haha hardly. Then we get to work planting Valley Town Church! Guess we’ll rest next year.

GOD DID IT!

Tuesday, January 3rd just 2 days after our commissioning service at Graystone Church a woman came and looked at our house with her agent. She said she loved it and would like to come back and look at it again. We were excited.

One day passed, then two, then three and no call back. We tried not to get disappointed. But come on… everything comes down to this! We can’t move to Wilmington unless the house sells!

Sunday the 8th rolled around and still no call. Blah… we were down. Tiff was sick and stayed home and I went to church. When I got home she had been trying to nap and catch up on some sleep. She got off the couch and stretched, and I was making coffee. Then she asked me if I’d checked my voicemail lately… ok hold on…

Let me explain something. My old phone was worthless (thank the Lord I got a new one last week). I had no way of knowing if I had voicemails… no notification, no beep noise, nothing. So I would just call my voicemail now and then and check it. Usually I tried to do this once a week or so, but it was common for me to go 2 weeks without checking it.

So back to the story. She asked me if I’d checked my voicemail lately and in fact I had! I told her this, wondering why she was asking me such a random question. Then she explained. She had just dreamed that the real estate agent of the lady who looked at our house January 3rd had tried calling us and left us a message, but in the dream we didn’t know she had left a message. In the dream her client wanted to come back and see the house again, but she was waiting for us to call her back.

I thought it was an interesting dream I guess but didn’t think much more. I looked at my phone. No missed calls. I leave my phone on all the time. I told Tiffany that I hadn’t missed any calls but that I would check my voicemail anyway.

I checked my voicemail and it said I had “one new voicemail”. As I listened, chills ran down my spine.

“Hi Ben. This is Tracy. I showed your house to a client on Tuesday and she loves the house. She wants to come look at the house again with her husband. I hate to bother you on a Sunday, but today is the only day they can come look until next Sunday. Let me know if they can come see your house this afternoon. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

I lost my breath. I could hardly speak. I looked at Tiffany and laughed.

I called the agent back and the couple came and looked at the house that afternoon. The agent called me that night and said they wanted to make an offer on the house! After a little more than a week of negotiations we have agreed on a price! We are signing the contract TODAY!

There has never been a more difficult time to sell a house. But God is God. He can do anything.

If the story ended there it would be quite amazing. But it doesn’t.

This morning I decided to see exactly where we were with our support raising. I was excited to see that the Lord had provided quite a bit more support since the last time I’d looked at it. With the new support that had been pledged we were $25,100 short of our goal for outside support for Valley Town Church. This was very exciting to us. I felt compelled to pray. I got alone and began to cry out to God for his will to be accomplished in our lives in every respect.

My phone rang.

It was Jim Hollandsworth up at Graystone asking me to come by the church. It sounded urgent, so I went straight there. Jim handed me a check for $200, then he handed me an envelope. I opened it to find a check to Valley Town Church for $25,000. My hands shook… my heart pounded. Once again I found myself speechless.

God had finished raising our financial support with an extra $100 to spare on the very same day that he gave us a contract on the house.

We are on this earth to be Jesus’ witnesses. That’s our heart in telling our story. It’s not about us. It’s all about Jesus. I hope our story increases your faith and will move you forward in courage to believe God to do huge things.

We plan to close on the house and move to Wilmington in about two weeks! We will have to wait on the appraisal and hopefully we can get the closing set up that quickly. Please pray for us. We have so much to get done in such a short time. We haven’t even found a place to live up there yet! We have a whole house full of stuff to pack. I have to quit my job. We need to get all the details worked out with the move up there… oh yeah and we still have 3 kids to take care of in the meantime. You get the idea. Thanks so much for praying.

God is faithful. To him be all the glory, praise, and honor!

New Year’s Revolution

Blog Post by: Tiffany Presten
For those of you who don’t attend Graystone, or weren’t able to be there, it was a very exciting Sunday for us! Graystone officially commissioned us, Zac and Dawn Caudell, and Chris Hunt to go and start Valley Town Church. Ben even got to preach the message! He preached on how all believers have been commissioned by Jesus. Here’s the link to the message for anyone who wants to watch it.

Valley Town Church Commissioning Service

Thank you for all of your support, prayers and encouragement. We are waiting expectantly to see God do big things in 2012!

A Reminder From Sam

GIVE NOW

Well there are only 4 days left to give in 2011 and we know that you are not thinking about that right now, so we wanted to give you a little reminder.  We are almost 2/3 of the way to our support goal thanks to you who have so generously given. Thank you.

For HIS fame in Vermont, New England and the nations!

Ben