A Southern Baptist Church at the Heart of Matthews
On a quiet stretch of Pleasant Plains Road in Matthews, North Carolina, Pleasant Plains Baptist Church has welcomed generations of families through its doors. The congregation has been gathering for Bible study on this site since 1882, making it one of the older continuing congregations in the Matthews and Stallings area of eastern Mecklenburg County. The church sits on a campus that includes a newly renovated Worship Center with movable chairs, a separate Welcome Center, and the Family Life Center on the back side of the property that houses the gym and the weekday preschool.
Pastor Ron Riddley leads the church with a team that includes Associate Pastor Drew Stables, who oversees family ministries, and Worship Leader James Thomas. The church's mission is to reach every person in the community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to help believers grow to Christian maturity through the preaching and teaching of God's Word.
A Bible Study Tradition Since 1882
Pleasant Plains traces its Bible study ministry, often called Sunday School, back to 1882. That nearly century-and-a-half of continuous teaching shapes the rhythm of the church today. Sunday morning at 9:00 AM is the church's primary hour of Bible study, with classes for every age and stage of life meeting across the campus at the same time. Visitors can pick up a list of classes at the Welcome Center and find a group that fits where they are.
The adult classes include College/Career for ages 18 to 29, The Great Commission for adults in their thirties and forties, Disciple Makers for parents of young children, The Inspirations and Footprints for mixed ages, and The New Covenant for adults sixty and older. Children's classes run alongside the adults, with nursery care for babies and toddlers, Next Steps for fours and kindergartners, and PPBC Kids for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Youth in grades six through twelve meet in Room 209 under the leadership of Pastor Drew Stables.
Sunday Mornings at the Worship Center
Sunday morning worship begins at 10:00 AM and runs until about 11:15 AM. The service is centered on the Word of God. Scripture is read, prayed, sung and taught, and most Sundays the music is led by the church's praise teams and choir. Song selections are a Christ-centered blend spanning multiple generations, paired with a freshly updated Worship Center that uses movable chairs rather than pews so that the room can flex with the size of the gathering. Members are known for singing with enthusiasm, and visitors are warmly invited to add their voice to the congregation.
About halfway through the service, children in kindergarten through fifth grade are dismissed to Children's Church, held in the Family Life Center just a short walk away. There they enjoy music, games, crafts and an age-appropriate Bible lesson while parents remain in worship. Nursery care is available during both the 9:00 Bible study hour and the 10:00 worship hour for babies and toddlers.
Recorded services are posted on the church's YouTube channel, where recent sermons from Pastor Riddley, Pastor Stables and Pastor Thomas can be watched or revisited throughout the week.
Coming Through the Welcome Center
First-time visitors are treated as honored guests from the moment they pull into the parking lot. Reserved Guest Parking spaces sit at the front of the Worship Center and Welcome Center, marked by blue feather flags and sidewalk signs. Welcome Team members in name badges and lanyards often stand outside to help with parking, unloading or simply pointing the way in.
The Welcome Center sits just to the side of the Worship Center and serves as the front door of the church for newcomers. A coffee station is set up there, the day's events and announcements scroll on a screen, and volunteers are ready to answer questions about ministries, classes and programs. From the Welcome Center, guests can be guided to a Bible study class, to a seat in the worship service, or to the nursery.
New Connections is the church's six-week introductory course designed especially for newcomers. It meets Sundays at 9:00 AM in the church office conference room area, with classes beginning several times each year. Led by Pastor Ron and the ministerial staff, the course covers what the church believes, who the staff are, and how to get connected and serve. At the end of the six weeks, the class gathers with Sunday School leaders for a special lunch to help each participant find the right ongoing Bible study group. To register, contact Pastor Drew Stables.
Dress and Giving
Clothing at Pleasant Plains runs the full range. Some men wear polos and khakis, others wear blazers and ties, and others show up in jeans and a t-shirt. Ladies similarly choose between dresses and casual wear. The church's clear teaching on the matter is not to worry about it; the clothing chosen for the morning will not affect the visit.
Giving is not expected from visitors. The church teaches that giving should flow from a willing heart rather than obligation. For members and others who want to give, the church offers an in-person offering during Sunday worship, secure online giving through Church Center, and a mail option to the church's address.
Children and Students at PPBC
Children's ministry is built around three weekly touchpoints. Sunday School at 9:00 AM walks K through fifth graders through the weekly Bible story in age-appropriate small groups. Children's Church during the 10:00 AM worship hour gives those same students their own time of music, games and Bible teaching in a fun setting. On Wednesday evenings during the school year, AWANA clubs meet from 6:30 to 7:45 PM in the Family Life Center gym, with Cubbies for ages three through pre-K, Sparks for kindergarten through second grade, and Truth and Training for third through fifth grade. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, from 2 Timothy 2:15, and centers on Scripture memorization, games, and a high-energy approach to Bible teaching. There is a $25 per child registration fee, with a $75 family maximum, but the church welcomes children regardless of ability to pay.
A summer midweek program called B.I.G. F.I.S.H., short for Believers In God, Faithful In Serving Him, runs on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 PM with games and Bible lessons for K through fifth graders.
Every volunteer who works with children or students submits to a nationwide criminal and sex offender registry background check and must be cleared before serving. No volunteer is ever left alone with a child.
Student ministry for grades six through twelve is led by Pastor Drew Stables. Youth meet for Sunday School at 9:00 AM in Room 209 and again on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM, beginning with games in the gym before moving upstairs to the youth room for Bible study. The youth calendar includes retreats such as ski trips and Disciple NOW weekends, camps at Camp Caswell, Camp Willow Run and TVR Camp, the FEARLESS Youth Conference, and mission trips including World Changers, Spring Break Mission Projects and Blanket Appalachia.
Midweek: AWANA, Youth, and Adult Bible Study
Wednesday evenings during the school year are one of the busiest times on the Pleasant Plains campus. From 6:30 to 7:45 PM the Family Life Center gym fills with AWANA clubbers, youth gather to play games and study Scripture, and adults meet in two upstairs classes. Pastor Ron leads a study in Room 204, while Worship Leader James Thomas leads an adult small group in Room 201. The midweek rhythm gives the whole church a shared night to step away from the week's demands and gather around the Bible.
Adult Ministries
Beyond the Sunday and Wednesday Bible studies, the church offers several ongoing adult ministries. The Ladies' Ministry meets the second Tuesday of every month at 11:30 AM in Room 204. Each meeting opens with a shared dinner on a rotating cooking schedule, moves into prayer, and then takes on a hands-on outreach project for that month. Recent projects have included winter coats for a battered women's shelter in Monroe, school supplies for Indian Trail Elementary, full Easter baskets for Angel Tree families, Mother's Day gift bags for a women's shelter, shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse, and Christmas gift baskets for shut-ins.
The Men's Ministry gathers for fellowship meals and service projects such as yard work, tree removal and ramp building for elderly members and neighbors. The group is in a season of rebuilding and looking for new participants, with plans to launch a small group discipleship focused on selected Bible study topics.
GriefShare meets Wednesdays at 10:00 AM in Room 207 when a session is in progress. It is a thirteen-week, video-based program that walks participants through topics common to grief and loss. The church typically offers a fall session and a spring session, and newcomers can join anytime. More information is available through the griefshare@pleasantplains.org address or the church office.
The Agape Ministry sends a team of volunteers into local nursing homes every Monday at 9:00 AM. They sing hymns, share special guitar music, and offer a short devotional to residents who look forward to the visits. Anyone is welcome to join.
What Pleasant Plains Believes
The church holds to a classic Baptist doctrinal statement. Members believe that the Bible is the Word of God, supernaturally inspired and inerrant in the original manuscripts, and that it stands as a divinely authoritative standard for every age and every life. They affirm the Trinity, that God exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that He is the absolute and sole Creator of the universe by divine action rather than through evolutionary process.
Members believe that God in love sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners, that Christ in the flesh was both God and man, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as the penalty for sin, was bodily raised on the third day, ascended to the Father's right hand, and will return personally, bodily and visibly to set up His millennial kingdom. Salvation, with its forgiveness of sins, its new nature and its hope of eternal life, is received by grace through faith entirely apart from good works, baptism or church membership.
The church teaches that believers are sealed and baptized by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation and are to grow to spiritual maturity through obedience to the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit.
Pleasant Plains is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, and the Metrolina Baptist Association.
Missions at Home and Around the World
Missions work runs through the life of the church. The annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering supports international missions through the SBC's International Mission Board, while the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering funds North American missions through the North American Mission Board. Each summer the youth participate in World Changers, traveling to cities such as Oxford, Alabama for home repair and construction projects, sharing their faith as they serve.
Locally, the Backpack Ministry partners with a nearby elementary school, delivering more than thirty backpacks each week filled with food so that students who receive breakfast and lunch at school can eat over the weekend. The Matthews Help Center, a local nonprofit offering food, transportation, clothing and financial help, receives financial support each year. At Christmas, Sunday School classes collect food for the White Christmas food drive and the Angel Tree program provides wrapped gifts to identified families in need through a local school.
The church participates in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse, with recent efforts including the Cuba Backpacks ministry that has sent over 250 backpacks of school supplies and treats to children reached by VBS programs in Cuba. Disaster relief is also part of the church's DNA; teams have been sent to Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, with chainsaw, construction, cook, laundry and medical teams rallying to help.
Internationally, the church gives monthly to missionaries and ministries in Paraguay, Slovenia, Sweden, and through organizations such as Advancing Native Missions, ABWE Global, and Training Pastors Internationally.
Pleasant Plains Preschool and PPCS
The church operates a weekday preschool and a Christian school on the same campus. Pleasant Plains Preschool, directed by Robin Pruette, has been a part of the church's ministry for decades and now serves twos, threes, fours, pre-K and Transitional Kindergarten, with classrooms housed in the Family Life Center and use of the church gym. The Pre-K curriculum is built around guidelines used by local and regional school systems.
Pleasant Plains Christian School, or PPCS, extends the church's Christian education through seventh grade, sharing the campus with the preschool and the broader church family.
Life Together in Matthews
Beyond Sunday and Wednesday, Pleasant Plains fills its calendar with seasonal touches that draw the wider community. Spring Fest fills the first Saturday in May with carnival rides, inflatables, obstacle courses, lunch and free Pelican's Snoballs for every registered family. The Easter Eggstravaganza turns the softball field into an egg hunt. Vacation Bible School runs for four days in late June. Trunk or Treat lights up the parking lot in the fall, and the Live Nativity returns in early December with live animals, Scripture readings, traditional hymns and festive treats. A monthly Caregiver's Connections gathering serves family care partners supporting a loved one experiencing cognitive changes due to dementia.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM and on Fridays from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM. Visitors and newcomers are encouraged to call ahead or simply stop by the Welcome Center on a Sunday morning. Whether someone is exploring faith, looking for community, or wanting to learn more about Jesus, Pleasant Plains Baptist Church invites them to come as they are and find a place to belong.