Engaging, Equipping, and Sending from Sycamore Tree Road
Willow Ridge Church sits on Sycamore Tree Road in Lexington, South Carolina, just off Highway 1 between Lexington and West Columbia and minutes from I-20 and I-26. The Southern Baptist congregation has organized its entire ministry around a three-word statement that appears throughout its communications: engage, equip, and send people to make known the truth of the gospel. Worship gatherings, small groups, mission trips, and a Spanish-language ministry all serve that single purpose, and the church describes itself as one family with one ministry and one calling.
Sunday mornings on the campus follow a predictable rhythm. A security team meets guests at the curb with a golf cart. Welcome Team members in green badges answer questions. Discipleship classes for adults, students, and children all run at the same hour so that families move from class to fellowship to one combined worship service together. Behind that flow is a congregation that partners with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, the North American Mission Board, and the International Mission Board, and that sends teams and resources to places as far apart as India, the Philippines, and Utah.
A Sunday at Willow Ridge
The Sunday morning schedule is structured so that adults, students, and children are all in age-appropriate teaching at the same time, then come together for one combined worship gathering.
- 9:00 AM - Discipleship Studies. Adults gather in the auditorium for a rotating set of classes designed for intentional growth, while Willow Ridge Kids offers parallel discipleship classes for children and the Student Ministry meets upstairs on the left side of the auditorium for middle and high school Bible study. Discipleship Studies are open to anyone 16 and older.
- 9:50 AM - Fellowship. Coffee, drinks, and snacks are set out in the auditorium for a brief break before the service.
- 10:15 AM - Worship. The congregation gathers for a single combined worship service.
- 12:30 PM - Hispanic Worship. A Spanish-language service hosted by the church's Hispanic Ministry.
On Sunday evenings, students gather from 4:00 to 6:00 PM in Building 2 for games, worship, a teaching time, and small groups. Small groups also meet at various times throughout the week in homes and on campus.
What to Expect on Your First Visit
The church has built its first-time experience around practical hospitality. A member of the Security Team will meet you at the curb with a golf cart, rain or shine, to help anyone who needs assistance from the parking lot up to the buildings. The building closest to the lot, Building 2, houses the Kids Ministry for preschool and elementary children during the service and serves as the meeting place for the Student Ministry and several small groups on Sunday evenings. Continuing down the sidewalk brings visitors to Building 1, where the nursery and the main auditorium are located. Once inside, the auditorium is to the right and the kids check-in and nursery are to the left.
Welcome Team members, wearing large green badges with a question mark, are stationed around the building to answer questions. After the service, guests are invited to stop by the Connection space at the back of the auditorium to meet a pastor, and a Digital Connect Card is available for anyone who wants the church to know they came.
A typical worship gathering centers on two things: worship through music and the teaching of Scripture. The church describes its services as a creative, compelling, and challenging presentation of God's truth, aimed at engaging everyone who attends and equipping them to share the gospel in their own settings.
Willow Ridge Kids
Willow Ridge Kids exists to partner with parents in engaging, equipping, and sending the next generation. The ministry operates during both the 9:00 AM Discipleship hour and the 10:15 AM worship service, with classes for babies and toddlers, preschool, and elementary-age children. A separate nursery is available in Building 1 for children who are not yet preschool age, so parents can keep little ones close during the service.
Safety is a centerpiece of the program. Every volunteer goes through an extensive background check and ongoing training in both procedures and gospel-centered teaching. On Sundays, each family and child receives a name tag with a unique alphanumeric code at check-in, and parents must present the matching tag to pick up their child. Teaching is built around Bible-centered video, games, Scripture memorization, and creative lessons aimed at helping kids develop a love for God's Word.
First-time guests who only plan to attend the 10:15 AM service are asked to arrive by 10:00 AM so that they can provide basic household information for the secure check-in system, including family contact details, the child's age and grade, and any allergies or special needs.
Student Ministry
Willow Ridge Students serves 6th through 12th graders with a stated conviction that students do not have to wait until adulthood to make an impact for Christ. The ministry gathers in three places each week:
- Sunday morning Bible study at 9:00 AM, upstairs on the left side of the auditorium.
- Sunday evenings from 4:00 to 6:00 PM in Building 2, with games, worship, a teaching time, and small groups.
- A bi-weekly high school Bible study in a home on Wednesdays at 7:00 AM.
Throughout the year, the student ministry hosts events such as laser tag, skiing, and lock-ins, and it organizes both local mission projects and trips farther afield, including summer service trips.
Young Adults
Willow Ridge's young adult ministry exists for people navigating college, early career, and the transition into independent adulthood. Through biblical teaching and authentic community, the ministry seeks to help young adults build a faith grounded in Scripture and ready for whatever comes next.
Ministerio Hispano / Hispanic Ministry
Willow Ridge's Hispanic Ministry works alongside the rest of the church staff and offers a full weekly rhythm in Spanish for the Lexington area:
- Sunday, 12:30 PM - Worship service.
- Wednesday, 7:00 PM - Prayer service.
- Friday, 7:00 PM - Life groups.
- Saturday, 6:00 PM - Youth gathering.
The church notes that anyone looking for a church home is welcome, and inquiries can be sent through the church's Hispanic Ministry page.
Discipleship Studies and Small Groups
Beyond the Sunday morning Discipleship Studies, Willow Ridge is home to a network of small groups that meet throughout the week in homes and on the church campus. Small groups are designed to help members thrive in community and grow in faith, and the church notes that some of the best discipleship happens in the context of relationship. Groups meet at a variety of times for different ages and stages of life.
Discipleship Studies rotate by session, meeting on Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 9:50 AM, and are open to anyone 16 and older. Separate classes and programming are available for kids and students during the same hour.
Members of small groups regularly use RightNow Media, a large library of Bible study videos and resources available free of charge through the church. The library is accessible on phones, tablets, smart TVs, and the web.
Missions: Local, National, and International
Willow Ridge treats missions as central to its identity, not a department on the side. The ultimate purpose for the church is missions. The church's partners fall into three geographic categories.
Local
- 153 Project - A Columbia ministry that serves an average of 150 plates of food each week to homeless men and women while sharing prayer, worship, and Bible teaching.
- White Knoll Elementary (Snack Pack) - Each week during the school year, Willow Ridge volunteers purchase, sort, pack, and pray over hundreds of bags of food that go home with children who need them. The church also mentors students, sponsors school events, and hosts teacher luncheons.
Domestic
- Black Mountain Home for Children - A North Carolina ministry serving youth from birth through college graduation through foster care, residential care, and transitional and independent living. Begun in 1904 as Mountain Orphanage, the home has been serving children for more than a century. Willow Ridge sends middle school students on a summer service trip, and the men's ministry has served there as well. The church has also hosted a family mission trip to the home.
- HopeValley Church in West Jordan, Utah - A church plant in a heavily LDS area where Willow Ridge sends mission teams. The Stottmann family moved there in 2020 to begin the work, and the church notes the surrounding Copper Hills area has more than fifty LDS congregations and only one other non-LDS church.
- Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Canada) - Willow Ridge partners with FCA Canada, where Hans Ostrem serves as Regional Vice President and Executive Director, equipping coaches and athletes across the country.
International
- Samaritan's Feet - The Cheeks family serves in the Philippines as National Directors, distributing shoes and sharing the gospel, including ministry to the Mangyan tribe.
- Bible Fellowship of India - A partnership that supports Bible Chapel Society Church, Maranatha Bible College, a Fellowship Mission School, a women's prison ministry, and a girls' home in southern India.
Organizational Partners
Willow Ridge gives through the South Carolina Baptist Convention, contributes annually to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering through the North American Mission Board for church planting in North America, and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering through the International Mission Board for international missions. The church also supports the Woman's Missionary Union, including South Carolina's annual Janie Chapman State Missions Offering.
Care Ministry
Willow Ridge's Care Ministry is built around the conviction that being a healthy church is about more than Sunday morning. Staff and volunteers offer counseling and prayer for a wide range of subjects, including spiritual direction, spiritual discouragement, marital relationships, family relationships, communication, intimacy, parenting, grief and loss, anger and bitterness, inner personal struggles, finances, and premarital counseling.
In addition to scheduled conversations, Prayer Encouragers are available at the end of Sunday services for anyone who would like to pray with someone in person. A Prayer Wall also allows the congregation to share prayer requests and praise reports with one another.
What Willow Ridge Believes
Willow Ridge's beliefs page presents a confessional statement taken directly from The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention. The church affirms the full authority and trustworthiness of Scripture, one God eternally existent in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the deity, incarnation, virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, and promised return of Jesus Christ. The church teaches that salvation comes only through personal faith in Jesus Christ and includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
Baptism is practiced as the immersion of a believer and is described as a prerequisite to church membership and to participation in the Lord's Supper, which is observed as a memorial of Christ's death. The church teaches that the local congregation is autonomous, governed by the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes, with pastors and deacons as its scriptural officers, and that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The statement also covers God's purpose of grace, including election and the perseverance of the saved, the Kingdom, last things, evangelism and missions, education, stewardship, cooperation, the Christian and the social order, religious liberty, and the family, including the conviction that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.
Giving, Media, and Staying Connected
Worship services are streamed online, and the 12:30 PM Hispanic worship service is also available online. The church produces an audio archive of recent messages and posts sermon content through its podcast on Spotify and other platforms.
Giving can be done in person at the giving basket at the entrance to the auditorium, by mail to the church office, or online through Planning Center Online Giving or InFellowship. Recurring gifts can be set up through either online platform, and the church encourages givers not to use credit cards unless they can pay them off in full each month.
Members and regular attenders are encouraged to take several next steps after a first visit, including attending a Discovering Baptism class, attending a Discovering Willow class to learn about church membership, joining a small group, and finding a place to serve. Volunteer roles span Kids Ministry, Student Ministry, worship and production (including instruments, vocals, sound, presentation, and cameras), first impressions, encouragement, cooking, security, baptism and communion, and the Snack Pack food packing ministry.
Willow Ridge Church continues to gather each Sunday at 104 Sycamore Tree Road in Lexington, organizing its life around a single commitment: to engage, equip, and send people to make known the truth of the gospel.