The history of our church begins in 1949. Rev. David Easter from Winston-Salem, NC was led by God to begin tent services in the Preston community.  Joe and Louise Hill gave permission for him to set up his tent for services on their property on Route 687.  He brought his tent (big enough for 20 people) setting their first service for June 27, 1949.  The original plan was to hold services for two weeks, but God blessed and the meetings continues for six weeks.  Rev. Easter traveled back and forth from Winston-Salem.

The congregation organized under the name of The Jesus Saves Tabernacle (non-denominational) Early members included Joe & Louise Hill, Pearl Morris, Charlie and Annie Arnold, Bertha George, Tom George, and Dorothy Stanley.  In those early years, Sunday School was held at 1 PM and worship services at 2 PM.

On November 12, 1949 at a prayer meeting, $51 was received to start the present building.  Additional money was collected from offerings, penny marches and large donations.  The dedication service for the new building was May 21, 1950.  In 1959, Rev. Albert Massey, the District Superintendent, and Rev. Pendergrast worked with the church membership and organized then as the Preston Pilgrim Holiness Church.

In 1968, the Pilgrim Holiness Church merged with the Wesleyan Methodist Church.  Thus another name change for our church.  We then became the Preston Wesleyan Church.

In the 1970's the church began to outgrow its original facility, so plans were made to add classrooms and a future fellowship hall.  At the time the original exterior stucco was bricked over.  This included bricking over all the exterior sanctuary windows.

In 1995, Rev. Ricardo Rodriguez became the pastor for Preston Wesleyan, and Rev. Dale Reynolds, Virginia District Superintendent at the time, held our mortgage burning service for the additional educational space and fellowship hall.  While Rev. Rodriguez was our pastor, we renovated the sanctuary, including hanging new chandeliers, replacing carpet, and installing beautiful new stained glass windows to replace the bricked over windows.  During this time, we also renewed our commitment to reaching others through our van ministry and a new van was purchased.

In the spring of 2005, we called Rev. Dale Argot to be our pastor and shepherd.  While Pastor Dale has been here we have had several major remodeling projects -- new windows for the parsonage, remodeled bathrooms in the basement of our original facility, several rooms have received new carpet, and a permanent library/conference room was established.  This spring Pastor Dale accepted a call to be the Student Ministries and Worship Arts Pastor at Parkway Wesleyan Church in Staunton, VA.

Rev. Martin Furrow is our current pastor.  Pastor Marty and wife Iris joined us July 12th, 2009.  

We are looking forward to the great things that are ahead of us at Preston Wesleyan.  We rejoice in the Lord for all the wonderful things he has done for Preston Wesleyan Church over the past 60 years and look forward to the future.

Pastors That Have Served Preston Wesleyan Church

1949-1955   Rev. David Easter (Deceased)
1955-1956   Rev. Levi Robertson
1956-1959   Rev. Richard Pendergrast
1959-1960   Rev. James Crews
1960-1963   Rev. Kenneth Taylor (Deceased)
1963-1966   Rev. David Kipfinger
1966-1973   Rev. Jesse Garman
1973-1976   Rev. David Clark
1976-1980   Rev. Tom Pullin
1980-1982   Rev. Ralph Campbell
1982-1992   Rev. Alvin Wooters
1992-1994   Rev. Tom Pullin
1995-2004   Rev. Ricardo Rodriguez
2004-2005   Rev. John Bowman - Interim
2005-2009   Rev. Dale Argot
2009-          Rev. Martin Furrow