Ridgecrest Baptist Church sits at 1731 Zumbehl Road in St. Charles, Missouri, just north of the I-70 and Highway 94 interchange where the congregation worshipped for more than five decades. The church's stated purpose is to love Jesus and others by sharing the good news and connecting people with meaningful community, and the weekly rhythm of Life Groups, Sunday worship, Wednesday activities, choirs, and senior outings all flows out of that single sentence.
From a Living Room to Zumbehl Road
Ridgecrest was founded in 1955 as a Southern Baptist Church. The first worship service took place in a member's home, then the congregation moved to a site near the corner of I-70 and Highway 94, where it remained from 1955 to 2008. The current building on Zumbehl Road has been home since 2008.
Four pastors and one interim pastor shepherded the church through its first eighteen years. In 1973, Pat Campbell became pastor and led Ridgecrest for forty years until his retirement in 2013. Neal VanNatta began his ministry at Ridgecrest in 2017 and continues to serve as Lead Pastor today.
Ridgecrest helped three sister churches begin in St. Charles County: Orchard Farm Baptist in 1968, Cave Springs Baptist in 1973, and Bethesda Baptist in 1986. Since 2006 the church has followed an Acts 1:8 strategy, investing in missions on local, national, and overseas fields at the same time.
Sunday Morning: Life Groups and Blended Worship
Sunday morning at Ridgecrest opens at 9:00 AM with Life Groups, small gatherings where adults study the Bible, pray, and build relationships. Each group has its own emphasis, tone, and flavor. Some members have been in the same Life Group for a decade, while others switch periodically. Several Life Groups meet during the week in homes in addition to the Sunday morning offerings.
The corporate worship service begins at 10:15 AM. The dress code is intentionally casual. People arrive in everything from shorts to suits, and the focus stays on the heart rather than outward appearance. The music team mixes traditional hymns and contemporary songs as the Spirit leads, with people of every generation, race, and gender taking part in the singing. Pastor Neal teaches the Bible in a practical way, and every gathering is held as a passionate response to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Children are welcome in every service. RidgeKids programming serves children from six weeks old through sixth grade during the 9:00 AM Life Groups and children from six weeks old through fourth grade during the 10:15 AM worship service. Students in grades 7 through 12 have their own Life Groups at 9:00 AM.
A Four-Step Path to Belong
Ridgecrest has designed a four-step pathway for newcomers who want to go deeper. Each step takes place right after the worship service and is meant to help people meet others, learn about the church, and discover meaningful ways to serve.
- Hi-Five. On the first and fourth Sunday of every month, this five-minute gathering shares basic information and answers questions.
- Unearthed. On the second Sunday of the month, a ten-minute overview introduces Ridgecrest's mission.
- Rooted. On the third Sunday of the month, a thirty-minute walk-through explores Ridgecrest's ministries, Bible studies, and opportunities to get involved.
- Grow. Roughly once a quarter, on the occasional fifth Sunday, the Lead Pastor and one or two deacons host a luncheon with their families to explore what church membership means at Ridgecrest.
Wednesday Nights for Every Age
Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM bring the whole church together. Adult Bible studies, Kids activities, and Student activities all begin at the same hour and run until 7:30 PM. The programming pauses for a break during the summer and briefly over the holiday season.
Adult classes cover a rotating set of Bible studies led by teachers from within the congregation. The Student ministry gathers in The Loft for games, musical worship, teaching, and small-group breakouts. KIDmin programming fills both the first floor (preschool) and second floor (kindergarten through sixth grade) of the children's wing. The Wednesday night prayer meeting runs at 6:00 PM, and the Worship Choir rehearses in the Choir Room at the same hour. The Praise Band rehearses at 7:35 PM with a sound check each Sunday morning at 8:00 AM.
Tuesday mornings bring the prayer warriors together for heartfelt prayer for the church community, and everyone is welcome to join.
RidgeKids, KidZone, and Zone 56
Ridgecrest runs three distinct children's programs under the umbrella of RidgeKids, each tailored to a specific age range. Every volunteer and leader is screened and background-checked, and a strict check-in and check-out system keeps children safe.
R-Kids Preschool Ministries serves children from six weeks old through five years. Preschoolers hear the gospel of Jesus Christ through hands-on learning and an age-appropriate worship service. As volunteers hold, cuddle, change, feed, talk to, and play with each child, they seek to be a picture of God's love. The ministry believes the foundations for salvation begin in the cradle.
KidZone gathers children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Sunday and Wednesday sessions move from games and fellowship to community worship and then into small-group Bible study designed for the grade level. Drop-off and pickup guidelines are available for families.
Zone 56 is the preteen ministry for students in grades 5 and 6. The team believes preteens need a ministry structure that lets them be themselves and meets them where their faith and life are colliding head-on. Zone 56 offers music, games, fellowship, and small-group studies that mix guided Bible teaching with situational studies meant to connect faith with real-life decisions. A separate guest card is available for first-time families.
Students in Grades 7 Through 12
The Student ministry at Ridgecrest is built around a team of supportive adults who walk with teenagers through their questions and faith decisions. Students are encouraged to be honest about their questions, serious about their faith, and intentional about their involvement.
On Sundays at 9:00 AM the students gather for icebreaker games, breakfast, and separate girls' and boys' Bible study small groups. On Wednesdays at 6:00 PM they come together in The Loft for fellowship, games, musical worship, teaching, and small-group breakouts. A student calendar keeps parents and students current on upcoming events.
A Choir, a Band, and a Worship Team
The Music and Worship Ministry at Ridgecrest centers on three teams: the Worship Choir, the Praise Band, and the technical team. Worship and Connections Minister Aaron Decker oversees the ministry, and the philosophy is simple: everyday people, set free to worship God.
The Worship Choir rehearses on Wednesday nights at 6:00 PM in the Choir Room. No music degree, no audition, no vocal acrobatics are required, only a heart of worship. The band leads worship in weekend services and special events and rehearses on Wednesday nights at 7:35 PM, with a sound check each Sunday at 8:00 AM. The band does require a degree of musical experience and proficiency.
Services are livestreamed on Sundays, and an archive of past sermons is available for those who want to follow along during the week.
Women, Men, and PrimeTimers
Women's Ministry at Ridgecrest organizes Bible studies, outreach projects, and social events aimed at building relationships, growing in grace, serving cheerfully, and cultivating each woman's uniqueness. Highlights include Breakfast Crunch, a continental breakfast with a craft and a devotional, a Women's Book Club that reads Christian fiction from Bible times to the present, and short-term Bible studies such as the four-session Advent study held on Thursday mornings in Room 204.
Men's Ministry gathers men of all ages for fellowship and service. The signature event is a monthly men's breakfast, joined by other informal gatherings through the year.
PrimeTimers is the church's ministry for adults aged fifty and older. On the first Tuesday of every month at 10:30 AM, the group meets in the Choir Room and Gym for hymn-singing, a short devotional, and a potluck lunch. Game time follows the meal, and the day wraps near 1:00 PM.
From St. Charles County to the Ends of the Earth
Ridgecrest has organized its 2026 missions around five major areas of focus: Gospel Outreach and Community Engagement, Service Projects and Food Ministries, a Missions Conference, Evangelism Training, and International Missions.
Locally, the church partners with FISH of St. Charles County, a volunteer-run nonprofit serving St. Charles, Lincoln, and Warren Counties with food, clothing, and housewares since 1969, and with the Powell Terrace Food Pantry operated by Bogey Hills Baptist Church, which assists roughly 2,000 people each month with groceries, produce, dairy, meats, and baked goods.
Nationally, Ridgecrest supports Matt and Kim Clark, co-founders of All Nations, a ministry that helps neighborhoods engage foreign-born neighbors with the love and message of Christ. The church also partners with Nathan Sneller, Youth Director at Anthem Church, who disciples college students through the Salt Company at Mizzou, and with the Missouri Baptist Children's Home (MBCH), which provides foster care, adoption services, therapeutic group homes, pregnancy care, and services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Missouri.
On campus, Stefan and Beth Helm serve with CRU, building gospel communities at colleges and universities across America.
Internationally, Ridgecrest supports Bob and Tessa Yeater, who minister in the villages of San Jose Poaquil and Pachimulin in Guatemala through children's feeding and Bible programs, home-building, and pastor training. In Guatemala City, the church partners with In the Gap, a ministry that runs a church and an English school where students learn language skills and the gospel. Across the Atlantic, Ridgecrest partners with the Baptist Union of Hungary to lead English Bible camps and support outreach in Budapest and throughout the country.
What Ridgecrest Believes
Ridgecrest holds to a confessional list of thirteen beliefs rooted in the Baptist and evangelical tradition.
The Bible alone is the Word of God, without error and completely reliable. There is one God in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), co-equal, co-eternal, and worthy of worship. God is the creator of everything and rules over all.
People are made in the image of God and are of infinite worth and value to Him. All people are separated from God by their sins, being sinners by nature and choice. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, fully human and fully God, who lived the perfect life we should live, died the death we deserve as the substitute for sinful humanity, absorbed God's holy wrath, and rose again.
Salvation is a gift, by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Holy Spirit lives in and through believers, empowering them to live holy lives in service to Him. The local church is God's plan for carrying out His redemptive work in the world, displaying His wisdom and bringing Him glory. Jesus is coming again to judge all people on the basis of what they have done. All people will spend eternity somewhere, either with God in His glory or experiencing His wrath in Hell.
Pastors and Staff
Neal VanNatta has served as Lead Pastor since 2017. Neal grew up in Florida, earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Science Education from the University of Central Florida, and a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Biblical Languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Before coming to Ridgecrest, Neal served as a Youth Pastor at two churches in Georgia and Florida. Neal and his wife Laura have four sons: Joshua, Gideon, Caleb, and Micah.
Aaron Decker joined Ridgecrest in 2024 as Worship and Connections Minister, bringing sixteen years of ministry experience from a church in southwest Missouri. Aaron holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Missouri Southern State University and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is proficient in vocals, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. He and his wife Joanna have three boys: Joseph, Jaxon, and Jonas.
Jennifer Smith became a member of Ridgecrest in 2013 and was called in 2024 to serve as Administration and Children's Director. She is pursuing an Associate of Divinity Degree at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her son Holden joins her in ministry at Ridgecrest.
Giving, RightNow Media, and the Leadership Team
Online giving is handled through Church Center, with options for one-time gifts, recurring tithes and offerings, payments for activities and events, and designated gifts to specific ministries. Ridgecrest also provides a free RightNow Media subscription to anyone connected with the church, giving members access to thousands of Bible studies, conference sessions, and children's videos on Roku, Android, Apple, and PC devices.
A Leadership Team of godly men and women represents the congregation and serves as the Board of Trustees for the church corporation. Working in partnership with the Lead Pastor, the Leadership Team reviews major financial decisions, approves the annual budget and strategic plan, and provides financial, legal, and fiduciary oversight for the church.
Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located at 1731 Zumbehl Road, St. Charles, Missouri 63303. The church office can be reached at 636-724-3359 or info@ridgecrest.org.