Lead Pastor

The seeds of the beginning of The Ridge were planted in Darrel Schick's heart in the mid 90s.  Darrel and his wife, Ruth, were one of three couples that helped start the Ridge in the spring of 1998. A Christian from a very early age, Darrel spent much of his adult life leading a successful career in radio and television broadcasting. For the past decade plus, he has devoted himself to building The Ridge into a unique, straight-forward church focused on helping seekers and followers of Christ find truth and community. His gifts of communication are put to good use in making God’s words accessible to spiritual seekers and to those seeking God's will for their lives.

Rollie Rench and his wife, Terry, started attending The Ridge just a few months after the church was launched in 1998. God used a free car wash and a man named Bill Craig, who was The Ridge’s first Pastor to get their attention. Then through the outreach and friendship of a handful of men at the church, God set his hook. Rollie continued in his spiritual growth and within a few years accepted a position on The Ridge Leadership Team and began heading up the youth program. Finally, after almost 22 years in the business world Rollie felt God’s calling to serve Him. So in February of 2007 Rollie accepted an Executive Pastor position here at The Ridge. Rollie is responsible for Youth Ministries, Finance and Administration, and Membership.

Teaching Pastor

Gary Wilkins and his wife, Leigh, are the new faces at The Ridge.  
Gary joined staff in October 2009 as our Teaching Pastor with responsibilities for our LifeGroups and other classes. After graduating from seminary in 1998 Gary served in two churches in various roles.  Before coming to The Ridge Gary and Leigh worked in marketing communications as freelancers. Gary has experience in music and video production,  but his passion is to see the Word of God applied in our lives.  Gary and Leigh have three children -- Katherine (10), Claire (9) and Ryan (7).

Ryan Pace has been in the ministry for some time and brings a lot of experience to this position. He attended Louisiana Tech University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Ryan, and his wife of 12 years, Angela, have been coming to the Ridge in Brookville since early 2008 and they have been heavily involved in the ministries of the church. They both are part of the worship band, the tech team, and have served in vacation Bible school, among many other things. In 2009 Ryan became our “Site Coordinator” for the Ridge at Greenville – our new church campus in Darke County.

Worship Leader

Greg Jones has over seven years of experience leading worship. He keeps busy as an adjunct professor of guitar at Cedarville and as a private music teacher at McCutcheon music in addition to his full time job as system administrator at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Greg regularly writes and records music in his studio. Greg gave his heart to Christ at an early age of 7 years old and has walked with Him ever since. Greg has an avid interest in apologetics and philosophy. In his spare time, Greg likes to ride his unicycle, roller blade, snow ski, watch football and Nascar, read and enjoy the company of friends and family. Greg and his wife Angela, have been married for 15 years and live in Kettering.

Be sure to check out Greg's blog, the Pendulum Effect and his web site at www.gregjonesmusic.com