What’s up everyone?! If you know me very well at all, you know that I am not much of a writer and have never done a blog like this before. But I am excited about learning how to write better and share about what is going on in this season of my life and what God is teaching me.
In case you don’t know me, here is a quick summary about who I am and a little bit of my story:
First, I have to tell you about one of the most important things to me: my family. I was raised by the best parents I could have ever asked for and I have an older sister and younger brother who I like to call my best friends. My dad (Lee) is my hero and is disciplined, humble, hard working, and always putting others before himself. My Mom (Ginny) is the finest mother in all the land. She is caring, loving, supportive, and kind. My older sister (Jordan) is encouraging, compassionate, and always there for you no matter what. My younger brother (Austin) is funny, disciplined, a super star tennis player, and always down to do something fun and exciting. Needless to say, I am blessed with an incredible family that I wouldn’t trade for the world!
I was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia and lived in a pretty sheltered home. I was homeschooled and then attended a small private Christian school until 8th grade. Then I made a tough adjustment to a large public high school. I did my best to blend in with the crowd and became really involved at my church’s youth group, which is where most of my friends were, and at the time the place I found my identity.
It was around the time I moved to college that I began to “jump off the deep end.” I joined a fraternity my first semester at the University of West Georgia and that became the new place that I found my identity. As a part of the fraternity, I developed a lot as a leader and I learned many valuable lessons, but I also dove deeper into a party lifestyle.
The summer after my junior year I went on the Summer Beach Project with a college ministry called Campus Outreach. That’s when I started questioning whether or not I was a Christian because I knew that I had not been living a life that was a reflection of Christ. Returning to school in the fall, I decided I could do the ‘easy fix’ and ‘be a better Christian’ by going to church regularly, praying more, reading my Bible, and continuing to be involved in the ministry on campus. In reality I was really just wearing a mask everywhere I went—depending on who I was around, I’d blend in with that particular crowd.
The next summer I was a part of a Christian internship program through the Navigators ministry in Atlanta and was paired with a mentor named Rob. The first time we met he asked me, “Preston, who is Jesus to you personally?” I gave every Sunday school answer I could think of, none of which satisfied him. Rob was very blunt and told me that he thought I had never truly experienced Christ’s love and that I was not a Christian. After dealing with a lot of anger and resentment, I came to the conclusion that Rob was right. The rest of the summer I started from square one trying to figure out who this Jesus guy really was that I thought I had believed in my whole life.
On August 12, 2015, through conversations with my old youth director, the Holy Spirit worked in my heart, allowing me to truly understand God’s grace. That night I surrendered my life to Christ and started my personal relationship with Him! Since then I have been seeking deeper relationship Him and trying to glorify Him with all that I do. As you can imagine, my last semester of college looked dramatically different than all the others: I had a new purpose and most importantly an incredible and loving God to find my identity in!
After college graduation in December 2015, I moved to Sarasota, Florida to work for Aflac. I enjoyed my job and was pumped to be living only an hour away from my brother Austin and in the same town as my sister Jordan!
This past summer I went on a 6-week mission trip to New Zealand with a team of 9 others from Campus Outreach. While I was there, God did a huge work in my heart and life (be on the lookout for another post with more details from that trip). When I returned to the US, I was not very excited about continuing my job with Aflac, so I quit and began seriously considering and praying about applying to go on the World Race. I ended up applying and started looking for a job in the meantime. Through a strange series of events I now work at a plasma donation center and I absolutely love what I do, because I get to help people in need and do it alongside a group of fun and crazy people.
It was only few weeks after I started working at the plasma donation center that I was accepted to be a part of this amazing journey of going on the World Race! I don’t think I have ever been so excited about anything in my entire life! I am so thrilled about getting to travel to 11 countries in the 10/40 window and live out the great commission by bringing the gospel and the Light of Jesus to many!
