Hamilton Bible Fellowship is an Elder-led church with a lot of member participation. We are a church with a ethos of collaborative leadership and active engagement. Everyone is invited to actively engage in ministry both within and outside the church, either by starting something or participating in a ministry that already exists. The pastor is one of the elders, and is charged with the primary responsibilities of teaching, preaching, and discipleship. Along with the pastor, there are two to three lay elders who act as “shepherds” and “overseers.” The elders are charged with the responsibility of encouraging Christians toward maturity, and of building bridges of communication and outreach to the larger community, locally, nationally and globally.
This is done in close relationship with the people of the fellowship, who participate in the leadership of the church through membership on various Boards, which oversee areas such as worship, events, education, outreach, and so on. They also initiate and run ministries as God inspires them. (Examples would be Cinderella’s Closet our missions ministry in Mexico.)
HBF is governed by the Articles contained in its By-Laws, which are available to anyone upon request.
L. Taylor Jackson has been pastor of HBF since July, 2016. Before that he served as senior pastor and associate pastor at the Park Bible Baptist Church in Pennsville, NJ for 11 years. He was ordained in April of 2008 and holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Cairn University. Before going into pastoral ministry, Taylor taught high school social studies at the Emmanuel Christian School in Manassas, Virginia from 2001-2005, advising the student council and coaching the varsity girls basketball team. Before moving to Central New York, Taylor and his family had prior connection to the area, having camped in the Adirondack for many years, often stopping to eat at Gilligan’s Island in Sherburne.
Taylor and his wife Rachel have four children: Henry, Luke , Maggie, and Thomas. Taylor can be reached at pltjackson6@gmail.com or 315-824-3628.
Lay Leadership
Michael Hayes
Michael is a professor of political science at Colgate University. He and his wife Candace have lived in Hamilton since 1984 and have two grown sons. Michael served two or three terms as an elder a decade or so ago, and he is even more elderly now.His current term started in 2016.
Contact Michael at mhayes@colgate.edu
Carolyn Hsu
Carolyn is a sociology professor at Colgate University who does research on China. She has lived in Hamilton since 2000 with her husband Chris Henke and her daughter Lin. She has been an elder since 2014.
Contact Carolyn at chsu@colgate.edu
John Reed
John has lived in the Bouckville area for his whole life. He is retired now from both of his professions, as a dairy farmer and as an employee of Stickley, Audi & Co. He has been married to his wife, Marsha, for over 40 years.He has been an elder since 2017.
Contact John at jpreed@gmail.com
Barb Hipsley
Barb has lived in Hamilton since 1983 and has been a part of HBF since it started in 1985. She retired from teaching at Hamilton Central in 2009. She has two daughters Christine and Jennifer. Barb has served two terms previously as an Elder. She has the distinction of being the eldest elder! This is her third term as elder, and it began in 2017.
Contact Barb at bbhipsley@gmail.com
James “Putter” Cox founded HBF in 1985 and served as its pastor till 2016. He grew up in suburban Philadelphia and earned a BA in Architecture from Princeton University in 1974. Though he grew up going to church he never really heard the gospel until he was introduced to Jesus Christ by friends during college. Following graduation he attended Clinton Baptist Church in northern New Jersey, where he met and subsequently married his wife, Linda. He earned a ThM degree from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1984. Two sons were born, Geoffrey in 1979 (in New Jersey) and Jordan (in Hamilton) in 1985. Growing up playing in bands from junior high school through seminary, Putter is a guitarist, mandolinist, and singer-songwriter. From 2009 to 2015 he served as the adjunct Protestant Chaplain at Colgate University. In 2016, Putter and Linda retired to Virginia.