Until There Is No Strength In Me

We rolled into Wilmington, VT 18 days ago with the intention of starting Valley Town Church. Interestingly enough, We were not the only one with a game plan.

We have an enemy here in Wilmington. He has been here longer than us. He has been here for generations. He has much invested here. He has a team on his side. This enemy is unseen but real.

We have plans to start a church here. Still this is a means and not an end. One day when we look back on our efforts we hope that we see more than just “a church” here in Wilmington. It is our desire that people in Wilmington become worshipers of the one true GOD. It is our desire that people who live here who are not worshiping God would learn who Jesus is, and would give their lives to worshiping him.

Our unseen enemy is real, he is cunning, and he has definite plans to put a stop to what we are doing. We have felt his efforts. We’ve heard his discouraging words. We’ve shed tears.

But I do not fear him.

I fear the prospect of not carrying out my calling. I would do anything to see this area they call “the valley” become a place that the name of Jesus is magnified.

He is worthy of my life. He gave his very life to redeem souls here in the valley. They are the reward for his suffering. They are the reward.

But when he gave his life he did not stay in the grave. He rose from the grave. HE IS ALIVE!

So this is a declaration. I will not stop. By the grace of God, I will press on! I hope that my unseen enemy is reading this. HEAR THIS, “I WILL NOT STOP”!

I will give my life to glorify my Lord. I will move forward in his strength until there is no strength in me. I can do nothing on my own, but the Spirit in me makes me a threat to the forces of darkness here in the valley. There is a silent army waiting to rise up.

Dry bones are rattling. Oh Sovereign Lord, can these bones live? Breathe on them breath of God. Raise up laborers here in this place who will proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the valley and throughout New England. Raise up soldiers who will march with me with the banner of Jesus held high above us. Advance your kingdom. Raise up voices who will shout from the rooftops,

“ARISE! LIVE IN JESUS NAME! 

RECEIVE FORGIVENESS AND FREEDOM!

WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE!

BEHOLD YOUR MAKER!

EMBRACE YOUR SAVIOR AND KING, JESUS!”

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.