Called back to Vermont

In 2006, Trey Cates, along with his wife, Robyn, and children, Rachel and Joshua, moved to Vermont to serve with the former Green Mountain Baptist Association in planting a church in Central Vermont. Nine years later, after successfully launching New Life Community Church in Northfield, Vt., Trey and his family were called to Huntsville, Ala., to serve with another ministry. By God’s providence, Trey was able to keep his employment with the Central Vermont Supervisory Union, working remotely to serve the district’s technology needs for six years.

A town with no Gospel presence

A few years ago, Faith Community Church in Barre, Vt., began to consider planting a church in Williamstown. This town of more than 8,500 people has no Gospel presence, leaving families from the Williamstown area to drive to other locations to attend church.

As pastor Chris Autry met and prayed with his elders about starting a work in Williamstown, Trey was brought up as a possible planter. During one of his on-site work trips to Vermont, Trey was approached about considering a return to plant in Williamstown, but the timing was not right. Trey and his family were still heavily involved in their ministry in Alabama, and God had not released them.

God opened the doors

However, God was at work, putting pieces together and preparing Trey and his family to return to Vermont. As Trey kept in contact with co-workers in the school system, God continued to lay their names on Trey’s heart, and he prayed for them to hear the Gospel and turn to Christ for salvation.

God soon began to remove obstacles to a return to Vermont for the Cates family, reminding them of His provision and assurance of His plan for their lives. God was making it clear to Trey and his family that the time was right to start making plans to return to Vermont and work with Faith Community Church to plant a church in Williamstown.

“About a year ago, we started thinking more seriously about this possible return. There was a family that was interested in partnering with us in our target area. We began conversations with them. The pastor who had reached out to Trey the previous year started having more regular conversations with Trey. Pieces started falling into place. We saw God do some miraculous things in our lives. We saw Him work out our concerns. We saw Him clearly marking the way,” said Robyn Cates.

Future plans

This summer Trey, Robyn and Joshua will be living at the Calef House, a retreat center in Washington, Vt., that houses mission teams and other groups. They will maintain the center and host groups, while also assisting two area churches, prayerwalking and developing relationships with potential core group members for the plant. In the fall, the family will return to Huntsville to complete ther assessments with the North American Mission Board and prepare their house and family for the long-term transition to Vermont during the summer of 2022. If you want to subscribe to their newsletter and read about how you can be praying for them, go to https://tinyletter.com/catesinvermont.