Learning from a Legend

In April 2015, America's last pulpit prince died. When Gardner C. Taylor (1918-2015), former senior pastor of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, departed this life at the age of ninety-six, the United States lost one of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, not enough preachers today know his name or why his preaching can enrich and bless the church today. Learning from a Legend: What Gardner C. Taylor Can Teach Us about Preaching provides Christian preachers with much-needed lessons, wisdom, and insights from Dr. Taylor, the dean of American preaching. It highlights six lessons that Dr. Taylor can teach preachers in the twenty-first century about pain, redemption, eloquence, apprenticeship, context, and holiness. Not only did Dr. Taylor teach and preach these lessons, he lived them. Those wanting to learn more about Dr. Taylor's preaching while also sharpening their own preaching ought to read this book. ""Rare it is that while blood is still running warm in the human body that a preacher already belongs to the ages. Only a few names belong in that pantheon of pulpit royalty. Spurgeon, MacLaren, Chrysostom and a small coterie of Christian preachers belong to those stamped with pulpit immortality while yet living. Alongside those names firmly fixed forever is that of Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor. Now he has joined that great cloud of witnesses up there somewhere. His name was already mentioned with their names. The man who loved to read MacLaren has now joined that Scott in heaven. Wouldn't you like to hear that conversation? Dr. Alcantara offers here not an encomium of praise only but also a way for us mere mortals to relate to this pulpit paragon. The mighty peal of the concerto that was Gardner C. Taylor's life can set chords vibrating in our own lives. Alcantara has let us into the concert hall so that somewhere in the gallery we feel the floorboards rattling in our lives with the thunder of Taylor's preaching."" --Joel C. Gregory, Professor of Preaching and Evangelism, Truett Theological Seminary, Waco, TX ""April 5, 2015 for me, like most preachers of the gospel; black or white, male or female, young or old was a difficult day as news began to spread throughout preaching circles and around the nation that on Resurrection Sunday Gardner C. Taylor had slipped into eternal life. It was hard then and it is hard now. For years, I have wondered what would become of the preaching methodologies of the great preaching giants whose pulpit habits and practices, preparation and delivery, should be replicated in every age. In this companion piece to Crossover Preaching, Jared E. Alcantara has provided a most valuable resource on Gardner C. Taylor for those unfamiliar with him and for those who knew him well. For those unfamiliar, you now have a most practical, fitting, and insightful introduction to the man, his message, ministry, and method. For those who were blessed to know him well, we now have a treasure that soothes the ache his passing caused and infuses our preaching with fresh information, inspiration, and insight. I will never forgetthe melody in that voice, the attention to 'lofty' pulpit language, the reverence for the sacred space of the pulpit whenever Dr. Taylor preached. As I read Dr. Alcantara's important work, I smiled and nodded my head and said to myself 'I remember' as I heard Dr. Taylor's voice on every page. I am sure you will as well. This volume will serve as an indispensable resource to the ongoing necessity to preserve the legacy of this preacher without peer: Gardner Calvin Taylor."" --Carolyn Ann Knight, Evangelist; Founder and President, Can Do! Ministries ""Gardner C. Taylor was the epitome of great preaching! This book is an instant classic that should be mandatory reading for all preachers.