The Black Church Should Remember The Words Of Our Dean…

As long as we ignore the voices of our Spirit-led sages and powerful predecessors, the Black Church will continue to lose credibility.

I once heard a popular preacher say, "There’s nothing a dead man can teach me.” Sadly, this same preacher subsequently experienced a crisis, which led to the deterioration of his ministry and influence. Now, I’m not suggesting this preacher experienced hardship because of his flippant attitude toward the past. But, I’m certain that as he navigated the choppy waters of suffering, he would’ve been helped along by the testimonies of those who went before him.

I strongly believe that dilemmas deepen when we fail to be reflective. A crisis can become more calamitous when we ignore the voices and wisdom of the past. Forging into a promising future cannot happen without the light of history illuminating the way.  

We live in interesting times. We have Generative AI, 5G, algorithms, and Quantan computing, yet we are still lacking something. There’s a gap that technology cannot fill. We lack the homespun common sense that grandma possessed. We lack the battle-tested sagacity that grandad possessed. Thankfully, what we lack has been archived and preserved for our consumption. We have books and recorded lectures that can be accessed on-demand.

Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor is arguably the best preacher to ever live. He was also a towering intellectual and public theologian. He was a close friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a teacher to preachers across the globe. His legacy is respected across faith traditions and denominations. We have so much to learn from him. On my podcast, he will teach us. He will challenge us. And he will point us forward. Join me as we hear from one of God’s best.

Catch the conversation here.