1918 - 2015 (Age 96)
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, who was widely regarded as the dean of American preaching and who played a key role in the civil rights movement, has died. He was 96.
Taylor died on Easter Sunday, according to the Progressive National Baptist Convention, a denomination he helped form and once led. Taylor was the longtime pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, but had retired to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Taylor was an ally and confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Around 1960, at a time when some black pastors considered King too politically liberal and rejected his approach to civil rights advocacy, Taylor sided with King. The two men were among a group who formed the Progressive National Baptist Convention, which became a platform for King's civil rights work. Taylor at one point served as president of the denomination.
The Rev. Tyrone S. Pitts, a former leader of the convention, said Taylor "was one of the people who helped frame the civil rights movement." In a 2007 interview with The Associated Press, Taylor described the Bible as a "document for the outcast" that "only an oppressed people can more easily grasp."
The grandson of slaves, Taylor grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and overcame the South's segregation in his childhood to earn a bachelor's degree at Oberlin College. He led Concord Baptist Church of Christ for more than four decades, building the congregation into one of the largest churches in New York.
His powerful voice and preaching influenced generations of preachers from all backgrounds. NBC radio broadcast his sermons starting in the 1950s. In 1996, he was named one of the 12 best preachers in the English-speaking world based on a survey of seminary professors and editors of religious journals.
Taylor retired as a pastor in 1990. In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Copyright © 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
I had the privilege of hearing him preach on a visit to Washington DC. I was stunned by his eloquence , hypnotized by his delivery of the gospel. I be never had an experience like that in all my 89 yrs. A remarkable Preacher.
Henry Arrington
June 04, 2021 | Friend
When this man preached, it was difficult to tell if he was coming from behind the pulpit or from glory. Although he would never say it, he was indeed a Man of God. He lifted Jesus high in every heart. Never preached a sermon that left Jesus out. Preach on brother, preach on.
B. Rowley
April 13, 2020 | KY | Student
Dr. Taylor was a magnificent preacher for The Lord who taught and inspired people of many faiths. He once told me "You're a Muslim on the outside, but a Baptist in spirit", and we both laughed. God bless him,
Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid
August 16, 2017 | New York, NY
Valenda Newell
December 02, 2016 | Indianapolis, IN
In light of this authentic Angels homecoming we were (Ministers in Training) given the assignment to exegesis the audio of Dr.Gardner Taylors funeral. What a honor and privilege to experience the life of such a true servant of the Lord through the eyes of others, and to begin to understand what being called by GOD to preach means to the world.
Sandra Kendell
April 04, 2016 | Baltimore, MD
"Dr. Taylor was a preachers preacher"!! His words were anointed by God, and his delivery was than of an "Angel speaking Truth"!! He's impacted my life in such a way that all I can say is, Thank God for such a man as Dr. Gardner C. Taylor. His living was not in vain!!
Freddie Jack
February 03, 2016 | Ville Platte, LA
May the depths of God's abiding love continue to be the source of your peace, strength and comfort as we remember the gift of Dr. Gardner Taylor to us as a friend of God and personally as a mentor of many dimensions.
On behalf of the Nixon Family,
Rev. Samuel Nixon, Jr.
John 17
November 02, 2015
Words of Dr. Taylor per se can say it best, which are,"I think, oh, not in such grand and comic terms, but I think that these last words may belong to all of us. They come by way of, "I must." We will never be able to say, "It is finished. FATHER, I give YOU now My Spirit," until we say, "I must. I must work the works of HIM that sent Me." A few more days shall roll and seasons come and in them, "I must. we must...must serve on, must FORGIVE on." We must go sometimes when we do not feel like...
Roger Vann Smith
April 19, 2015 | Gates, NC
I am so sorry for your family's loss. Taylor was a very influential man, who touched many hearts with his sermons. Remember and find strength in God's promise for his faithful ones. (Malachi 3:16). Please accept my deepest sympathies.
Elissa Bristol
April 18, 2015 | TX