At 21, Ryland Hughes leads Pleasant Hill Baptist through season of growth By JASON QUEEN, The Christian Index Wednesday, October 28, 2026 CORNELIA, Ga. — Ryland Hughes is a busy man these days. He’s a construction worker, a university student, a husband to his wife, Kassidee, and, since January, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Cornelia, where he is seeing substantial growth. He gives all the glory to God. “The hardest thing is just trying to find where I can put myself in this Ferris wheel of all different things,” Hughes said of finding time for himself these days. He manages to do just fine with prayer and organization. Prayer and organization have also been instrumental in the growth of Pleasant Hill. Attendance had dropped to five people when Hughes, 21, first arrived in October 2025. By January 2026, when he officially started as pastor, attendance had grown to around 16. The church now consistently has 30 to 40 people each week. Pleasant Hill historically had close to 100 people attending in the early 2000s, when there were no empty seats. Hughes believes attendance today would be even higher if not for health issues affecting some church members. The church’s growth accelerated after an April 2026 revival, its first in roughly 15 years. Around 200 people attended, making it the largest revival in church history. “God already started dealing with me about doing a revival there before they even asked me to come back,” Hughes said. There was a good mixture of age groups, and roughly 30% to 40% of those attending were unchurched or uninvolved in a church, Hughes said. There were no recorded professions of faith, but he described the revival as a major spiritual turning point. “It revived that church,” he said. “It was a definite huge spirit booster to that church. There was a total difference in the church from before revival to after revival.” Hughes describes the people as happy again. “You could tell there was a fire there,” he said. “It was there, but it just needed to be rekindled.” Pleasant Hill has an unusual demographic mix. Hughes said the congregation skews toward people ages 65 to 90 and 18 to 35, with fewer in the 40-to-60 age range. He said older members are explicitly mission-minded and want to position the church for the next generation. They are willing to change the way they do some things if it helps reach people who are not currently attending church. “A lot of times people, over tradition and over whatever it might be, will close that door because it doesn’t seem right in their eyes,” Hughes said. One way Pleasant Hill hopes to close that age gap is by launching a youth ministry in January 2027. The church plans to target families along Pea Ridge Road whose children currently have no church home. Several young couples have already told Hughes they would return if a children’s program existed. The church’s online presence has also helped its growth. Pleasant Hill has more than 600 Facebook followers and about 10 regular online viewers per service. The church is also planning a Pea Ridge Community Fall Festival. Hughes’ path to the pastorate began in Habersham County, where he was born and raised. He accepted Christ as Savior at age 14. Raised Independent Fundamental Baptist, Hughes said he had heard plenty of fire-and-brimstone sermons but had not heard as much about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. “I knew about being saved, but I thought this whole salvation experience was supposed to be something grand when it happened,” he said. “And it is, but I thought it was going to be some kind of supernatural experience.” That struggle came to a head shortly after he returned from a church youth trip to Pigeon Forge. Hughes was working on his mom’s new truck when he said the Holy Spirit began dealing with him. “I was in the truck vacuuming it, and the Holy Spirit just hit me so strong,” he said. “I ran to the only place I knew I could get away from everybody, and that was the bathroom. I just cried out to the Lord and I said, ‘I just can't take this no more.’” Hughes said he had reached rock bottom. “And so I told the Lord, I said, ‘Lord, please save me. Lord, I accept You.’ A peace came over me. And that’s when I gave my heart to the Lord.” A call to ministry followed about a month later, though Hughes initially ran from it. His dream was to work in law enforcement like other family members, and he held a couple of law enforcement jobs before becoming convinced that was not the path God had for him. Later, Hughes and Kassidee began realizing together that pastoral ministry was in their future. “She and I were having a conversation one night, and I said, ‘I don't know when and I don't know how long, but the Lord is going to place me and you at a church somewhere for me to pastor.’ And she looked and she said, ‘The Lord's been on me about the same thing, about us going somewhere.’” Due to theological differences, Hughes eventually left the IFB world and began attending Georgia Baptist churches, where he said his beliefs more closely aligned. He credits his friend and mentor Michael Wilkes, pastor of Center Baptist Church in Helen, with introducing him to Georgia Baptist. “He taught me that we are way more powerful together than we are apart and that there is also so much support and help from the Georgia Baptists,” Hughes said. Shortly afterward, Hughes enrolled at Truett McConnell University. He works full time in construction with his father, making online studies appealing. He expects to graduate in 2029 with a degree in Christian studies and plans to attend a Southern Baptist seminary afterward. Hughes said attending Truett has helped shape him as a pastor. “I've really learned a lot about the Holy Spirit and how to help Him lead me more and how to connect with my spirit more,” he said. “That's been very important to me, to let myself get out of the way and let the Spirit of God work through me.” He has also learned to rely on grace when he feels inadequate. “There's been some times that I've been worn down, and I felt bad because I don't feel like that I'm the Christian that I ought to be, and I still struggle with sin from day to day,” Hughes said. “It brings me back to the world will never be perfect. There's only ever one perfect man. It's not us. It's through the Holy Spirit where we gain our power.” That dependence was tested late last year when Hughes became seriously ill. He said he contracted COVID, influenza A, and influenza B at the same time and later developed debilitating anxiety, including six to 10 panic attacks a day. “The only time that I was OK was when I got behind that pulpit and preached,” he said. “And as soon as I got done with my message, my anxiety would come right back and my problems would start again.” Hughes said prayer, medical care, and medication helped him improve. “Through the grace of God and through the help of doctors and getting on the right medication, I still struggle with anxiety, but my five panic attacks a day aren’t happening,” he said. “The Lord got me through it.” Hughes said he knew some people around Pleasant Hill because the church is not far from where he was raised. A friend who grew up at Pleasant Hill repeatedly told him he would pastor there one day. “I'm like, ‘I don't know about all that,’” Hughes said. Eventually, the church called. After preaching there for a month, Hughes said he knew immediately that Pleasant Hill was where he was supposed to be. Today, Hughes organizes his schedule around construction work, school, ministry, prayer, and time with his wife. He works construction Tuesday through Thursday and tries to leave at least two other days open for schoolwork, sermon preparation, prayer, visiting people, and work around the church. “The Lord has helped organize” it all, Hughes said. For the future, Hughes said he simply wants to do whatever God wants him to do. Watching Pleasant Hill grow and regain its excitement has made him optimistic about what is ahead. He hopes people see a church on fire for God. “People’s lives are being changed at the church,” Hughes said. “We're very welcoming. We have open arms. Come as you are. Christ does the rest.” --- PHOTOS --- File: 20261007-094259-749-PHBC.jpg Caption: (Photo/Everett Huffman) File: 20261007-094300-28c-Hughes.jpg Caption: Ryland Hughes and his wife Kassidee. (Photo/Janie Beth Webb)