Reflecting Upon the Life of Reverend Dr. Gardner C. Taylor

During his long career, The Reverend Dr. Gardner C. Taylor led Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, from obscurity to national prominence.

As recounted in a recent New York Times article, Dr. Taylor was one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s closest allies; he has served as teacher and muse for countless other pulpiteers; he received more than a dozen honorary doctoral degrees; and he has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton.

Some of Dr. Taylor’s protégés — the Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit; the Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, a national leader in the ministry to black men; and the Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, the United States ambassador at large for international religious freedom — became famous themselves.

Now, aging, feeble and at the twilight of his decades-long career, Dr. Taylor meets with a handful of preachers who have gathered at his bedside to receive what may be one of his final ministries.

They may know him as father, mentor, divine pundit and sage… But Dr. Taylor wants to be remembered as someone whose trail widened the influence for others who have devoted their lives to spreading all that is gospel and all that is good.

Read the full story here.