We have a dedicated staff working to serve you and our church community. Get to know them here, and be sure to introduce yourself when you see them!
Taylor Holbrook: Lead Pastor
Taylor W. Holbrook, the pastor of the Hopewell Reformed Church since 1998, is a 1986 graduate of Western Theological Seminary and a 1980 graduate of Hope College, both in Holland, Michigan. He was born in Cicero, Illinois, and has lived in Brooklyn; Denver; Holland, Michigan; Sierra Leone, West Africa; Troy, New York and Silverton, Colorado. He served for 12 years as the pastor of the Middlebush Reformed Church in Somerset, New Jersey from 1986-1998 before coming to HRC.
Pastor Holbrook has been married for 25 years and has three children.
E-Mail: T.Holbrook (at) hrcrca.org
Mark E. Mast: Director of Outreach and Church Planting
Mark E. Mast was born in Holland, Michigan and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. After earning a BA in psychology at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Mark entered Western Theological Seminary graduating in 1996 with a Master of Divinity.
After graduation he served 4½ years as pastor of a small RCA church in Kalamazoo, MI where he discovered the importance of learning about grace from one’s congregation. Mark then became Senior Pastor at Trinity Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. After serving for almost 7 years, Mark realized his call to bring the grace of Christ to those outside the church walls. In response, Mark accepted a call to be the Pastor of Outreach and Church Planting at Hopewell Reformed Church.
Mark is presently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry degree with a focus on individual and corporate living out of the Missional Life.
Mark’s partner in ministry, his wife Jill, is a Hope College graduate. with degrees in Communication and Special Education. She also obtained a Master’s degree in Learning Disabilities from Grand Valley State University.
The Mast family is made complete with three children,Courtney, Alyssa, and Kyle, and a mutt named Ellie.
E-Mail: M.Mast (at) hrcrca.org
Randy Prentiss: Youth Pastor
Randy Prentiss is married to Lisa, and they have two sons. Randy received his Masters of Divinity from the Alliance Theological Seminary in 1989. Prior to coming to HRC in 2001, Randy was a volunteer youth leader, and then on staff with Mid Hudson Young Life. He is currently working part time as the HRC youth pastor, and part time as the pastor of Arlington Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie.
E:Mail: R.Prentiss (at) hrcrca.org
John Barach: Sexton
John Barach, sexton at Hopewell Reformed Church, has been on staff since April of 1993. He has been an area resident for most of his life, and started Sunday School at HRC in 1948. After an enlistment in the Navy, John went to work for IBM. There he worked in many areas, including customer engineer, mechanical and electrical engineering, and programmer. John retired from IBM in 1994.
As sexton, John is responsible for cleaning and setup of the church and education wing, no small task in our busy church. As the church calendar shows, the church is the center of many weekly activities: not only the worship services in the sanctuary, but also fellowship and community events: Alanon, AA, the Bright Beginnings Nursery School, Potluck Suppers, Consistory and committee meetings, music practices—the list goes on and on. John makes sure that things are tidy, operating and secure for the next day’s events.
John and his wife Lisa, were married in HRC in 1970. They have two children and currently four grandchildren.
E-Mail: J.Barach(at) hrcrca.org
Birgit Chisholm: Church Administrator
Birgit came to be the Church Administrator in the Fall of 1996. She had been working doing medical transcription from her home and caring for her two daughters, Sarah who was 16 and Meghan who was 11. After prayerful consideration, and talking it over with her husband, Duncan, she decided it was time to once again work outside the home. The fact that her new commute was less than 5 minutes door-to-door also helped her make the decision!
As Church Administrator, Birgit is responsible for the church office. This includes building a team of volunteers to help in the office, overseeing all church publications, and maintaining church records. She also coordinates the assignment of rooms by church ministries and outside groups, and maintains the church calendar. She leads the Communications Team which meets quarterly to review church events and how they are communicated.
Besides her work in the office, Birgit is also a trained ChristCare leader and a trained ChristCare Equipper. She is very passionate about our ChristCare ministry and thinks everyone at HRC should be in a ChristCare group!
Birgit is in the office Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM and Friday 8:00 AM until noon. You can reach her there at 221-9542 or by emailing her.
E-Mail: B.Chisholm (at) hrcrca.org
Pam Hansen: Pastoral Care Coordinator
Almost two decades ago, Pam, her husband, and their children moved to Hopewell Junction from Rockland County. Getting acclimated in the community meant looking for a church to call home and HRC was the first church they attended. Finding a warm and welcoming atmosphere, they never went anywhere else! Within a few months Pam learned that the church was hiring a part time person to welcome newcomers, helping them become involved in the life of the church. She applied for the job and was hired on a 6-month trial basis. That was 17 years ago. Though her title has changed a few times, Pam has used her spiritual gifts of Shepherding, Compassion, and Discipleship to minister to all people of the church.
Pam has worked in the field of Mental Health for more than thirty years including Program Coordinator at Rockland County Department of Social Services, and case manager at Phelps Mental Health Clinic. In 2008 Pam graduated with a Masters of Arts in Counseling from the Nyack Theological Seminary, and is a Board Certified Christian Counselor (BCCC) by the International Board of Christian Couselors.
Through education and personal life experiences, Pam believes that emotional healing comes from living out a relationship with Christ, and by applying biblical principles to everyday situations. People are her passion. She counsels children, adolescents, teens, adults, couples, and families. Other strengths include crisis intervention and leading support groups that focus on specific needs such as Divorce Recovery, Grief, Marriage Enrichment, and Parenting Teens.
Pam is the “go to” person for care and counseling needs. She can also help with referrals and resources that are available in the greater community.
In her free time, Pam enjoys reading, boating, and photography. She treasures time with her husband Chris and their three adult children. Lake George is a special place for their family and they go there often. A Southern girl at heart, Pam returns to North Carolina as often as possible where she grew up and where her folks still live.
Pam can be reached through the church office (221-9542) or via email.
E-Mail: P.Hansen (at) hrcrca.org
Sherri Hondorp: Worship Coordinator
Sherri hails from the great dairy farm state of Wisconsin, and as a matter of fact, was raised on a dairy farm in Evansville, Wisconsin. Her parents were dedicated Christians, bundling her off to church with them pretty much every Sunday. First it was a one room, Evangelical United Brethren Church; no plumbing, no bathrooms. Then later when she was in grade school, it was United Methodist and Lutheran.
For College she chose the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She told me her major was “football”, and I have an idea she sort of meant it! But besides that, she decided on music education (no real surprise) and fashion design (no surprise either for folks knowing her artistic capability).
“Fashion” took over, and she transferred to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, receiving an Associate of Applied Science in Fashion Design.
She was hired by the Liz Claiborne Company, spending four years in NYC; then onto Milwaukee and Boston designing for other women’s sportswear companies.
In 1986 she was working as a nanny for parents who happened to know the Conklin family of our church. She met Bev Conklin, who introduced her to HRC. She’s been with us for 21 years. She has a daughter, Gabrielle. Both she and Gabrielle have sung in the services many times.
Sherri has been a member of the Chancel Choir and of the “Witness” ensemble. She has directed the Disciples Choir, and currently directs the Cherubs Choir. She has contributed her time and talent to various church happenings. Several years ago she formed the “Loving Stitches” group, crocheters and knitters dedicated to providing needed blankets, sweaters, scarves, etc. for various charities around the world.
In 1998, Lousia Papaccio approached her with a request to try designing and making banners for the sanctuary; the opportunity of blending her creative gifts and love for God was born.
In 2005, Taylor approached her and asked if she would try her hand at planning worship for the coming Advent/Christmas Season; igniting her passion for planning worship.
In July 2007, Sherri was hired to plan and lead worship services for both the Foundations and the Gatherings services. She works to merge ideas and shape the service by adding elements of liturgy, prayer, music, drama and visual art. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve our loving God with the gifts He has blessed her.
E-Mail: S.Hondorp (at) hrcrca.org
Wesley Joseph: Organist / Choir Director
E-Mail: W.Joseph (at) hrcrca.org
Lourdes Kleid: Youth Worship and Missions Coordinator
Lourdes was born in Havana, Cuba. To escape Castro’s regime, when Lourdes was 10 years old, her family escaped Cuba. They left through Central America, and moved through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico on a six month journey that ended in the United States. They settled in Westchester County. Lourdes became a citizen in her junior year of high school.
Raised a Catholic, Lourdes attended Catholic schools through college. It was in Westchester County that Lourdes met and married Michael, her husband who is an arborist. They have two children; Amanda and Adam and grandson Max.
Lourdes will always be thankful to her friend Chris Wells for introducing her and her children to HRC in 1991. After a few visits, she immediately knew she wanted to be a part of the church. She immediately began the new member’s process. She loved HRC but was not very connected and felt like she was missing “something”. That “something” was the presence of Jesus Christ in her heart.
In 1997, Kevin Phillip, then our Youth Director, randomly approached Lourdes and suggested she go on the Mountain TOP Mission with the Youth Fellowship. Even though she was befuddled by this, she accepted. This changed her life. She had never been involved in mission work, and really wasn’t sure about a two week trip with a “bunch of crazy teenagers”. Within hours of the trip, Lourdes began to really enjoy spending time the kids.
Mountain TOP was a significant life change for her. She experienced the joy and reward of doing God’s work and became a Christian and accepted a life with Christ on a Thursday night in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. On her return to New York, she knew she wanted to continue the joy she experienced working with teems and became a volunteer youth leader at HRC. She was hired in 2001 and is currently the Minister for Youth Missions and Worship at Hopewell.
Her greatest desire is to guide young people to experience the same joy in a life with Christ as she discovered in 1997.
E-Mail: L.Kleid (at) hrcrca.org
Sheryle Silvern: Children’s Ministry Coordinator
Sheryle was born and brought up in Pawling, New York, the oldest of 4 children. The family was a church-going family; they went to Pawling Central Baptist Church and Sheryle attended Sunday School ever since she was 2 years old. At 10 she went to Vacation Bible School and was presented with her own Bible; she started reading it and this sparked her own faith.
After high school she attended college at Albany State and majored in math and computer science. There she joined the Inter-varsity Christian Fellowship and became one of its student leaders in her senior year.
After graduation she worked as a programmer for IBM for 10 years. During this time, in 1986, she met and married Stu, another IBmer, and they moved to Poughkeepsie. Her children, Kenny and Emily, were born there.
In 1997 the family moved to the East Fishkill area and immediately became involved with HRC. They became members in 2000.
Sheryle says she has been involved in children’s ministry for 23 years. She believes that it is the mission of both church and family to nurture children in the faith, and to this end she would like to provide more opportunities for family to become involved in their Christian education.
E-Mail: S.Silvern (at) hrcrca.org
Lisa Ruvo: Bookkeeper
Lisa joined the staff in 2007, and brought with her a wealth of experience. Not only has she been working as a bookkeeper for a number of years, she has also volunteered her time with many non-profit organizations.
E-Mail: L.Ruvo (at) hrcrca.org
