I heard Dr. Gardner C. Taylor speak at Gillfield Baptist Church's 205th anniversary yesterday in Petersburg, Va. A few years ago, Dr. Taylor was listed in Ebony magazine as one of the top black preachers in America. This is the second time in two years that I have had the privilege of hearing him preach. I was even more delighted when I read his resume in the program which described his ministry. He is pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn,New York which was started in 1847.

During Dr. Gardner's ministry, 9,000 members joined the church, they paid for a 1.4 million dollar plus church construction project in 4 years, they established a Concord Elementary School, a Concord Baptist Church Credit Union, Concord Baptist Church Nursing Home, and a Concord Christ 1 million dollar endowment fund. I was particularly impressed with this man's faith in God which inspired him to do all these things. I was sharing this information with an associate down the hall. He is a counselor and an ordained baptist minister. He told me that the Allen AME church in Jamaica, New York which he visits yearly as a member of Richmond's male chorus known as "Celebration" also has a church endowment of 2 plus million dollars. I was delighted to discover that there are some of black churches which have a vision and plans for the economic development of the African-American community. Thank you God for these ministers who have great faith!!!

Jazzman

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2002

Answers

In addition to being the "Dean of Black Preachers", Gardner C. Taylor is also leading the charge to bring about reconcilliation between the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC) and the National Baptist Convention, USA. This is significant because Taylor was one of the founders of PNBC along with MLK, Jr., Wyatt T. Walker, Fred Shuttlesworth, etc. during the early 1960s. At the 2001 National Baptist Convention Taylor was one of the keynote speakers and he stressed the importance for both Baptist groups to move beyond denominational and historical boundaries which separated the groups, and begin looking to the future as equal partners in the struggle to win souls for Christ and achieve true social justice. Bishop R.C. Ransom, George Champion, myself and other iconoclastic thinkers have been pushing a similar cause within black Methodism concerning reconcilliation of AME, AME-Z and CME. When I attended the 24th Quadrennial Christian Education Congress last June the opening speaker was none other than the Senior AME-Z Bishop, The Rte. Rev. Cecil Bishop. On more than one occassion he emphasized the importance of black Methodist reconcilliation. While reconcilliation did not occur during Bishop Ransom's lifetime and will problably not occur with mine, I'm convinced that the current form of spiritual apartheid embraced by many will eventually disappear. Our young members, like my 7 & 9 year old kids, will not be as tolerant of separist thinking like their ancestors. QED

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2002