Rev. Edward L. Taylor, PhD

The Reverend E. L. Taylor was reared in Louisiana’s Acadiana region. He currently serves as Teaching Pastor of Crosswalk Community Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic, mission-oriented congregation in Sunnyvale, CA and as President of Taylor Ministries. He is married to La Trice Taylor. The Taylors have one son, Paul.

Pastor Taylor received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and History from Louisiana College, Pineville, LA and a Master of Divinity degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, NJ,  the oldest independent Protestant seminary in the United States. He was appointed a Resident Graduate and a Resident Fellow at Harvard Divinity School in 2003 and 2009, respectively. Pastor Taylor received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from The University of London, London, England where he was advised by Dr. M. Gillson.  Dr.  Stephen Tuck,  Professor of Modern History, Pembroke College, Oxford  University and Director of the Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities at Oxford University served as one of his dissertation examiners. Pastor Taylor's other studies include Louisiana College's Bowman Program at Birbeck College, The University of London,  Princeton Theological Seminary, Rutgers University, Princeton University and New Brunswick Seminary’s program at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands.

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Dr. Taylor held senior pastorates in New Jersey, New York, and California and has also served in church staff positions, student pastorates and as a visiting seminary lecturer. Pastor Taylor served Baptist denominational life as Associate Dean of Christian Education for the General Baptist Convention of New Jersey; National Vice President and State President of Young Men for Christ and Chairman of the Louisiana  Youth Council. In civic life, Dr. Taylor served as Chairman of the Louisiana Governor’s Commission on Youth and as a member of the White House’s Religious Leadership Committee. Recently, Dr. Taylor was appointed to the Doctor of Ministry degree faculty at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.

Pastor Taylor is editor of The Words of Gardner Taylor, Volumes 1 – 6, the largest selling sermon collection authored by an African-American in American history; The Essential Taylor: Gardner C. Taylor Audio Collection, Volumes I and II;  and The Words of Gardner Taylor WordSearch 7.0 on CD-ROM, all published by Judson Press. His most recent edited publication, Faith in the Fire: Words of Wisdom from Gardner Taylor, was published by Tavis Smiley Books. Dr. Taylor is currently working on a biography of Dr. Gardner C. Taylor.  Dr. Taylor is not related to the late Dr. Gardner C. Taylor.  
 

Pastor Taylor has received many honors, including serving as Honorary Mayor of Ville Platte, LA; receiving the Outstanding Young Man in America Award; induction into Morehouse College’s Martin L. King, Jr. International Board of Preachers; and listing by Ebony Magazine as one of its 30 Leaders of the Future. Dr. Taylor is an active member of the American Academy of Religion, Southern Historical Association, National Urban League, NAACP, the National Baptist Convention, American Baptist Convention and the British Association of American Studies and the European Association of American Studies.
 

Dr. Taylor has ministered in numerous venues across the world to as few as two and as many as ten thousand. These speaking opportunities included house churches, megachurches,  Harvard Divinity School, American Baptist Seminary of the West, Southern University, Notre Dame de Namur University,  Interdenominational Theological Seminary, Dillard University, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Shaw University, The University of London, Princeton University, World Evangelism College in Dulag, Philippines, Progressive National Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance Youth Conference in both Leipzig, Germany and Singapore in 2009 and 2013, respectively. Dr. Taylor has ministered in and/or visited 41 countries and foreign territories on five continents.