Noah Hartsfield
Handbell Director
Noah has been attending First Baptist Church since his undergraduate days at MU in the mid-2000's. He began his tenure as Director of the Handbell Program in 2019 after having rung in the ensemble for over a decade. Noah began playing handbells in 2nd grade at First United Methodist Church of Kirksville, Missouri and has played in a handbell choir every year since then, save for one. He has played with multiple church choirs as well as with the Columbia Handbell Ensemble (CHE), a community handbell ensemble that performs high caliber, concert level music. Over his 13 years of ringing with CHE; he performed with the ensemble at multiple high profile concert engagements; including as the featured ensemble for the regional handbell conferences of Area 8 (Midwest States) and Area 1 (New England) as well as the 2011 National Director's Seminar for the Handbell Musicians of America. Noah received his BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Missouri where he concentrated in psychology, sociology, and music.
Noah and his wife were married in the First Baptist sanctuary in January 2010 and they have 3 young kids who can often be found running around the building and enjoying the Children's Ministry. In his "other" professional life he is a career coach and talent development professional having worked in human resources, collegiate career services, and executive career coaching. In his free time he enjoys cooking, strategy board games, and dabbles in composing.