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: Taylor Holbrook

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: Mark Mast

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: Randall Prentiss

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: John Barach

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 earned her B.S. in Business Administration  and Accounting from Marist College.

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: Birgit Chisholm

Pam Hansen: 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 Counselors.

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: Pam Hansen

Wesley Joseph: Organist / Choir Director

E-Mail: Wesley Joseph

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: Sheryle Silvern

Lisa Ruvo: Bookkeeper

Lisa Ruvo, Hopewell Reformed Church’s energetic bookkeeper for the past four years, loves what she does.

“I’m so grateful to have a job in this economy. I like to learn; I like a challenge,” she says.

Ruvo first met youth pastor Randy Prentiss and volunteered to help him with some administrative tasks. That led to a job offer at HRC. She’s been at work here ever since.

Ruvo lived her early life in Shrub Oak, New York with her mom, dad, and two brothers. Today, she and husband Ron reside on Lake Walton Road in Hopewell with 14 year old son Tyler and 19 year old daughter Sarah. Sarah currently goes to Dutchess Community College and gets involved at HRC leading a Bible study and joining mission trips. The whole family enjoys downtime together at home, sometimes playing games together, as well as traveling in their camper. Despite having two kids and two dogs along on their trips, Ruvo claims, “I really relax then.”

After high school, Ruvo worked at Caldors then worked her way up from bank teller in the Bank of New York to branch manager. She worked there for 15 years then took ” a leap of faith” and quit. This self-taught lady next moved on to bookkeeping for a former client and currently has several bookkeeping clients, including HRC, that keep her busy.

Ruvo pursued her “passion” of being a mom by getting involved at her children’s schools while they were growing up and “loving every minute of it.” She was a PTA president and led the committee which built the playground at the Fishkill Plains School.

“I’m the most over-committed person in the world,” she laughs. If there were more hours in the day, she would love to play her piano again or walk the rail trail near her home or read more devotions.

For now–and the future–her primary goal is to stay healthy and financially stable. And someday, someday, she and Ron hope to follow through on their dream to open a Bed and Breakfast.

E-Mail: Lisa Ruvo