The Baptist Church of West Chester
221 South High Street
West Chester, PA 19382
Phone: (610) 696-7466

Rev. Donna F.G. Hailson, Sr. Pastor
E-mail: pastor@bcwc.org

Anita Uhl, Office Administrator
E-mail: secretary@bcwc.org

Staff

The Rev. Donna F. G. Hailson, Senior Pastor, pastor@bcwc.org

Caron Cramer, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, youthdir@bcwc.org

Ann Supplee, Organist

Ryan and Emily Jeffries, Directors of the Worship Team, worshipteam@bcwc.org

Megan Barkley, Interim Director of the Chancel Choir

Anita Uhl, Office Administrator, secretary@bcwc.org

Norma Hashinger, Office Assistant, nhashinger@bcwc.org

THE REV. DONNA F. G. HAILSON, SENIOR PASTOR

            After exploring a range of spiritual and theological options, Donna came to faith at a Billy Graham Crusade in 1982. Her husband Gene also gave his life to Christ at that time and both were baptized and became members of a dually-aligned American Baptist/Baptist General Conference church.

            In 1985, Donna entered Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where she served as a teaching assistant in two seminary divisions: Ministry of the Church (with Carlyle Saylor) and Christian Thought (with J. Christy Wilson, Jr.). She worked with the latter on a book entitled, Bringing Christ to All the World, and is certain it was he who opened the door for her participation in the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Manila, the Philippines, in 1989. This was a watershed moment which the Lord used, in many ways, to shape Donna for ministry.

            While attending classes at Gordon-Conwell and continuing to work full-time as a newspaper reporter and editor, she served in an American Baptist church where she learned the many components of pastoral leadership. At the same time, she developed an itinerant ministry focusing on evangelism and apologetics. In 1989, she worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to create a film on ministering to those caught up in the occult. The BGEA also created a profile of her life and ministry that has been aired periodically during internationally-telecast Graham crusades. In addition, she contributed to two chapters in The Billy Graham Christian Workers’ Handbook.

            While in the process of completing her Master of Divinity degree at Gordon Conwell, she was called by the First Baptist Church of Hampton, New Hampshire where she was ordained to the pastoral ministry in 1990. After six years there, with her writing and traveling ministry burgeoning, she left to focus on that wider work.

            In 1996, The Goddess Revival, a book she co-authored was honored with a Christianity Today Book of the Year award. This led to even more radio and television interviews and speaking engagements.

            She began teaching courses in urban ministry and evangelism at Gordon-Conwell in 1997 and then, for a year, shuttled back and forth each week between Gordon-Conwell and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary where she’d also been invited to serve as a visiting professor. In 2000, she was called to join the faculty of Eastern as a professor of Evangelism and Renewal and as Director of the Doctor of Ministry in the Renewal of the Church for Mission. She completely overhauled the doctoral program and was recognized with awards for teaching excellence. Over these years, she was exposed to and learned from a spectrum of ethnicities, leadership styles and various approaches to ministry.

            Her work for the Lord is now focused on the proclamation of the Word and the interpretation of the faith; congregational and cultural analysis for mission; evangelism with other religions and new religious movements; individual, church and community renewal; and the development of believers in the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith.

            Donna has been recognized as a Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecturer and, in addition to receiving the Christianity Today Book of the Year award, has received a United Press International Award for news writing.

            Her articles, witnessing tips, columns and book reviews have appeared in magazines and journals read by pastors, scholars and lay folks. She is a member of the editorial board of Prism magazine and has served on the Missions and Evangelism Committee and the Worship and Spirituality Commission of the Baptist World Alliance; and has been active with the Evangelical Theological Society and the Confessing Theologians’ Commission.

            Donna has been a pastor of congregations and a pastor of pastors; a teacher of pastors, ministry professionals and congregations; and the director of those who are teaching and leading others in ministry. She has aided numerous churches, church leaders, pastors and laypeople in gaining insights into their callings, settings and ministries, helping them understand what is unique about where they are and who they are and helping them discern the Lord’s will for them in the places to which they’ve been called. 

            She currently serves on the Advisory Board and Executive Board of the Salvation Army West Chester Corps and on the Pastoral Care Committee of Chester County Hospital.

Donna and her husband, Gene, were called to serve the BCWC in 2005.

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