LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Tom Taylor, a Southern California pastor, touted by colleagues as a bridge-builder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has been named deputy executive director for mission by General Assembly Council (GAC) Executive Director Linda Valentine.
His appointment needed confirmation by the GAC’s executive committee at its meeting Dec. 7; his expected date to begin work was Jan. 8.
Taylor, currently pastor of the 1,400-member Glenkirk Church in Glendora, Calif., will oversee all of the GAC’s mission activities including supervision of six program directors who were to be named after Taylor to manage the council’s six restructured program areas.
The position, a new one, was created in May when the council trimmed $9.15 million and 75 staff positions from the GAC’s 2007-2008 budget and work plan and launched a restructuring of both the council and its mission program. Two layers of management were eliminated and the mission programs have since been realigned into six program areas.
“Tom brings a respect for polity and tradition and combines them with forward-looking, modern ideas for expanding the mission and outreach of the denomination,” Valentine said, in announcing Taylor’s appointment Nov. 20.
“Anyone would be either crazy or arrogant to assume that this will be an easy task,” Taylor noted. “This can only be done with God’s direction and a Holy Spirit-driven energy and creativity, but I am still more excited than daunted by the challenge,” he said. “I see it as an opportunity for hope, growth and healing in our denomination.”
Valentine described Taylor as “a bridge-builder between young and old, traditional and contemporary, evangelical and progressive.” Taylor, she added, “is a good listener and learner who blends great intellect with great people skills, and is a peacemaker who is not only comfortable with diversity, but seeks out diverse viewpoints.”
Other PC(USA) leaders agreed.
“Having served on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity , and Purity of the Church, I am encouraged by Tom’s emphasis on building collaborative relationships,” said Gary Demarest, who was Glenkirk’s interim pastor prior to Taylor’s call there. “I believe Tom’s gifts and skills bring a remarkable match to the position,” Demarest added. “He has the ability to embrace brothers and sisters in Christ in the midst of disagreements.”
Steve Yamaguchi, executive presbyter for Los Ranchos Presbytery, praised Taylor as “genuinely open-minded in the best sense of our Presbyterian tradition … a truly multi-cultural and multi-lingual leader who understands the mindset of young postmodern people … and who is able to communicate effectively the depth of our Reformed theology with both traditional church folks and with non-Christian, postmodern young people.”
Taylor, a member of San Gabriel Presbytery, was ordained to the ministry in 1995. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, where he also earned a law degree. He received his M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School and is a Ph.D. candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he also teaches a social justice course.
Earlier this year, Fuller’s faculty honored him with its annual Theology Award for his doctoral studies on how concepts of modern jurisprudence affect the church at large.
Prior to Glenkirk, Taylor served as associate pastor at First Church of Salt Lake City, and as pastor of the Church of the Valley in Apple Valley, Calif. He practiced law in Salt Lake City for five years and has taught at Fuller seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Salt Lake Seminary, and the University of Illinois.
Taylor is the second of three deputies to be appointed by Valentine in the newly restructured GAC staff. Joey Bailey was confirmed in September as deputy executive director for shared services. The search for the third deputy — deputy executive director for communication and funds development — will begin soon, Valentine said.
