The late, Ron Wilson, left, and Roger Vassey, right, pose at a "Truth & Tea Time" dinner last spring.

It all started as a women's Bible study at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church in January of 2008. Organizers came up with the idea of providing tea and desserts, asking the participants to bring their favorite tea cups. The meeting was soon dubbed "Truth & Tea Time." With other Bible study opportunities available at the church, the ladies in charge decided to change the meetings to offer various inspirational speakers for the ladies who attended. Soon dinner was being served in addition to the tea.
For eight years now, Pleasant Ridge has offered this current form of Truth & Tea Time to community women, and hundreds of local ladies have enjoyed hearing words of encouragement, inspiration and humor and have relished the time to have a "girls' night out" with their church friends.
"We actually have more that attend from outside of the church than from Pleasant Ridge's congregation," says organizer Teresa Davis. "A lot of smaller churches appreciate this ministry, and they will reserve several tables and drive over together to the dinners."
A team of around 18 women at Pleasant Ridge assist in the ministry, and each year's program brings a new slate of speakers and performers. This year's lineup, which begins Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, includes locals as well as speakers from other parts of the state. Amy Boone, who serves as executive-director/treasurer of the Women's Missionary Union of North Carolina, is speaker for the September event, followed in October by Pleasant Ridge member Norma Mott performing as the character "Maudine." The November session is called "A Night of Gifts" and will feature a devotional by Davis on God-inspired gifts, followed by a gift gallery of various vendors from the area so participants can "either finish up or get started on their Christmas shopping," Davis says. The program breaks for the busy December holiday season, then resumes in January with Hickory resident Judith Isom. Gardner-Webb University's Cindy Wallace is slated as the February speaker, and the praise band "When Stars Fall" will cap off the program's season in March.
Each Truth & Tea Time program is held on a Tuesday evening in Pleasant Ridge's Family Life Building. The meal begins at 6 p.m., and the program follows. Child care is provided for each event. Tickets are $12 for individual programs, or season tickets can be purchased for $62 for all six programs.
One sad note for this year's dinners will be the absence of long-time chef and Pleasant Ridge member Ron Wilson. "Ron loves to cook, loves to serve and has been such a vital part of these programs for the past four years," says Davis. Wilson, who was the principal at Burns High School before his retirement, suffered a recurrence of cancer in the spring of this year and will be unable to participate in the upcoming Truth & Tea Time season. "He is going to be so missed," says Davis.
For more information about the Truth & Tea Time programs, visit the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church web site at www.prbcshelby.org/truth-tea or call Davis at 704-477-0002.

By April Hoyle Shauf

Special to Shelby Shopper & Info