March 19, 2025
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — In June 2025, a group of missionaries will load up their cars and Bibles and follow God to a new mission field in the Johns Creek and Alpharetta areas of metro Atlanta to plant a new church called Christ Church.
“I don’t know what all He is going to do, but He will build a church and get all the credit for it,” said Snellville native Ben Presten, 41, who will serve as lead pastor.
The church is a collaboration between Presten, a church planter, and Lakewood Baptist Church of Gainesville’s missions ministry. Both desire to plant vibrant and healthy churches.
“Our mission team really felt like we wanted to intentionally invest in the Atlanta area. It aligned well with Ben’s vision also. It was just providential. God working on all fronts,” said Lakewood Senior Pastor Tyler Smiley.
Months of exploration, along with connections and conversations with pastors and churches in the area, led to Johns Creek and Alpharetta. No church location has been chosen, however, Presten said they are aiming to be on the line between the two cities.
Temporary locations will be used at first until a permanent location is found. “The Lord has always provided space for us to meet,” said Presten.
Currently, 20 members from Lakewood are committed to following Presten, including current Lakewood Associate Missions Paster Kevin Stradley and missions resident Hunter Clayton. Stradley and Clayton will serve as pastors at the new church.
“Lakewood hasn’t been stingy with their members or their staff,” said Presten. “They never said these people are off limits. They just said see who wants to go with you.”
Presten said, “They want to be a group gathering together every Sunday, worshiping the Lord, hearing the Word preached, living life together and living life on mission in Johns Creek. A sustainable work going at His pace.”
There will be challenges, just as with all new church plants. “The enemy certainly doesn’t like new churches being planted that exalt Christ. He comes against it in whatever ways he can,” Presten said.
The cost of living is a challenge also. The median income is $155,000, and the median age is 39.
“It’s a wonderful place to live. With any wealthy place, one of the great challenges that you face is that people are blind to their need. They have a lot, and so they think they are set. Obviously, that is not true.”
Keeping it simple and not complicated is the key to a successful church plant, said Presten. “To share with people what we are doing, invite them to hear more and teach the Bible.”
The church vision will have five priorities, said Presten.
This is not Presten’s first church plant. In 2012, he planted Valley Town Church in Wilmington, Vermont, and New King Church in South Burlington, Vermont, in 2017. Presten began feeling a call to plant another church in 2023. At first, he thought it would be international, but soon realized that it was to be in North America.
“One day, I became desperate to hear something from the Lord. We had been praying along with our pastors at New King for probably four months or so at that point. We weren’t sure what the Lord wanted us to do.”
In December 2023, he woke up one day burdened to hear from the Lord. He committed half a day to pray and asked if this was not good timing, then just tell him so he can stop thinking about it, but if it is, “Lord, please tell me.”
He asked God to tell him before the sun went down.
God answered with a phone call at 3:30 pm from Lakewood missions pastor Benji Lavender. The sun goes down in Vermont at 4:15 pm in winter. Lakewood had been in partnership with New King for some time, and Presten had shared with them his desire to plant again.
“He said, ‘Hey, I have a proposal for you.’ Lakewood has begun to get a burden for the metro Atlanta area. Just strategically, it’s not trending in the right direction. We really would love to plant real healthy churches in metro Atlanta. Just pray for that possibility. My first and real honest reaction to that was ‘that’s just not for us.’ That’s not our calling. That’s home for us. God called us away from home. And that just isn’t where he is calling us. That was my first reaction. As we were wrapping up the call, I noticed the time. There were only 10 minutes left till sunset, and I thought about the prayer that I prayed that the ‘Lord, give me an answer before the sun went down.’”
Presten told Lavender he didn’t feel this was their calling, but he couldn’t ignore the timing. So, he talked to his wife, Tiffany, that night about the call.
“I expected her to say the exact same thing I said, ‘Hey, that’s just not for us. That’s someone else’s calling. That’s not at all how she responded. She leaned in and started asking questions. We ended up talking about it all night over dinner. We prayed about it for a week.”
In June 2024, they came to Lakewood to start the church residency program. Lakewoods residency program includes Bible study, meeting with pastors, getting involved in serving at the church, and doing whatever specific preparations for the path the person is taking.
“I can’t imagine planting again at this age and stage of life without something like this. Without a pause in between. If we didn’t have this, we would have had to go full steam ahead from full-time pastoring to church planting, which is not the most relaxing thing in the world. I praise God for it. I don’t know how we would have done it.”
Lakewood, founded in 1956, began mission-minded, but started heavily church planting about 35 years ago. Lakewood’s budget for missions is 33.3%.
“The heart of our church is they love the Lord, they love His word, they love the gospel, and they want to see the gospel given to communities all around this world, and so it's good firsthand to be a part of that,” said Smiley.
Smiley hopes this church will see men and women and boys and girls come to faith in Jesus Christ. “We’re so excited about this new church plant.”
Presten agrees.
"I just really love to see a Christ-centered Christ-exalting church put in a place that didn’t previously have one or have enough of them for the population. I think that is the heart of it for me. I love seeing a body of believers living passionately together on mission. It’s incredible what God can do through a people who really walk with him and who love him and who want to see the lost come to know him.”
