OUR LEADERSHIP
Meet Our Team
Reverend Keys Pendleton
Senior Pastor
Born in Shelby, NC and raised in Polkville, NC. Pastor Keys is the son of a dairy farmer and dairyman in Upper Cleveland County.
Keys and his wife Becky have been married since 1970. Keys retired in 2010 so that he and Becky could return to the farmland that Keys grew up on. In 2013 Keys began to service churches on a part-time basis. In July 2021, he began serving Pleasant Grove as senior pastor.
They have 4 grown children, LaGair, who is married to Barry, Paula, who is married to Roger. DeeDee who is dating Evan, and Keys Jr who is dating Jenny. They have 10 grandchildren and 4 great children.
Keys graduated from Gardner Webb University in 1972 in Boiling Spring, NC where he majored in Psychology (Bachelor of Science) and Southeastern Baptist School of Theology ’72-‘75 (Master of Divinity).
He did a year’s Internship in Clinical Pastoral Care at Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem, NC ’79-’80. Keys’s primary ministry interests are preaching, leadership, equipping people to discover and use their spiritual gifts in ministry, spiritual formation, and making disciples.
Several themes at the core of Keys’ philosophy of ministry are sharing God’s love, grace, and mercy and the joy we have in Jesus while serving God and others.
Outside of Pleasant Grove, Keys enjoys traveling with friends and family, antique hunting, growing flowers, going to the local farmers markets, and photography of flowers and nature scenes. The family relationship has a great influence on Keys and Becky’s live.
Kathy Coldren
Lay Leader
Ron Hoover
Council Chairman
As chairman of the council, let me take a minute of your time to welcome you to our website, on behalf of the church. Visit with us at any time. If you are looking for a church home, you are Welcome. Please feel free to add a prayer to the prayer wall for you and your family and also your friends. Just go to the top of the page and click on Prayer Request. We may all have different names, but we are all the family of God called Pleasant Grove.
Cindy Simpson
Director of Music
Cindy has been blessed to serve as organist at Pleasant Grove since the autumn of 1987. Other duties have included/currently include: Children’s Choir Director, Pianist, and Adult Choir Director. Cindy is a retired music educator from Rutherford County Schools after 31 years. She enjoys having more time to devote to playing the new organ at Pleasant Grove and preparing for Sunday worship services.
Debbie Jones
Director of Finance
Debbie, has been our Financial Secretary for over 15 years, and strives to make sure your tithes and special donations go where they are needed.
She is a multi-generational member of Pleasant Grove, and considers all of our members as family. She is blessed to be a grandma to 3 wonderful boys.
Allison Jones
Administrative Assistant
As a 5th Generation member of Pleasant Grove, Allison has been active in our church from the very beginning of her life. Allison has grown a lot in Christ, and as a member of Pleasant Grove. She has many fond memories growing up in the Pleasant Grove family. She was one of “Cindy’s Kids” in our Children’s Choir.
Now, Allison serves as our Church & Council Secretary, where she enjoys attending our monthly meetings to assist in the process of making the decisions that we feel will best benefit our church, our members, and our community.
In her free time, Allison loves spoiling her “Fur Babies”, Moe, a rambunctious Border-Jack, and Milo, a Tubby Orange Tabby. She also loves spending time with her nephews.
Becky Pendleton, Ron Hoover and Peggy Thompson
Outreach Mission Coordinators
This is our go-to group who can answer questions on the current needs of our designated outreach missions. They are also responsible for taking up and delivering the donations to Forest City-Dunbar Elementary, Out of the Ashes and Hands of Hope.