HLS 15RS-1850 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 50
BY REPRESENTATIVE JAMES
CONDOLENCES: Expresses condolences upon the death of Reverend Doctor Gardner
Calvin Taylor
1 A RESOLUTION
2To express the condolences of the House of Representatives upon the death of the Reverend
3 Doctor Gardner Calvin Taylor.
4 WHEREAS, the Lord God Almighty reassigned a spiritual general in His Army, the
5Reverend Doctor Gardner Calvin Taylor, from Earth to eternal rest, fittingly on Resurrection
6Sunday, April 5, 2015, at the age of ninety-six; and
7 WHEREAS, born to Washington Monroe Taylor and Selina Taylor in Baton Rouge
8on June 18, 1918, Gardner C. Taylor was baptized into the fellowship of Mount Zion First
9Baptist Church, pastored by his father, and where he also served as pastor from 1943-1947;
10and
11 WHEREAS, a 1937 Leland College graduate, Gardner C. Taylor was granted a
12bachelor of divinity degree at the Oberlin School of Theology and was awarded fifteen
13honorary doctorate degrees throughout his ministry; in 1948, Dr. Taylor was called to pastor
14The Concord Baptist Church of Christ in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn,
15New York, where he served the eight thousand member congregation, now numbering ten
16thousand members, for forty-two years until his retirement in 1990; and
17 WHEREAS, under his leadership, The Concord Baptist Church of Christ established
18a credit union to provide loans denied to blacks by commercial banks; the church also
19established a one hundred twenty-one bed nursing home, a center for the elderly, and an
20elementary school; Dr. Taylor was termed "the dean of black preachers in America" by Time
21magazine in 1980; and
Page 1 of 3 HLS 15RS-1850 ORIGINAL
HR NO. 50
1 WHEREAS, Dr. Taylor not only espoused the Word of God, he was a mentor and
2close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a prominent figure in civil rights in the
31960s; and
4 WHEREAS, in 1961, Dr. Taylor and Dr. King separated from the National Baptist
5Convention, U.S.A., the nation's largest black Christian denomination, and founded the
6Progressive National Baptist Convention, which was and continues to be committed to social
7justice, desegregation, and affirmative action; Dr. Taylor served as its president from 1967
8to 1969; and
9 WHEREAS, although arrested three times during civil rights protests in the 1960s,
10Dr. Taylor was best known for his quiet, effective activism: he was a director of the Urban
11League of Greater New York, a member of the New York City Commission on Intergroup
12Relations, and a leader in the Kings County Democratic organization; and
13 WHEREAS, his resounding timbre and the wisdom expressed in his sermons earned
14Dr. Taylor the privilege of lecturing and preaching in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi,
15Denmark, England, Scotland, Australia, China, and Japan and at universities and churches
16throughout the United States; he also preached the pre-inaugural sermon for President
17William Jefferson Clinton in 1993; President Clinton awarded Dr. Taylor the nation's highest
18civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2000; and
19 WHEREAS, more than two thousand of Dr. Taylor's sermons have been archived at
20the Robert W. Woodruff Library in Atlanta, many of which are included in a collection of
21his sermons in the tome, The Words of Gardner Taylor: 50 Years of Timeless Treasures; and
22 WHEREAS, the conclusion of the life of Dr. Taylor is aptly described in the holy
23book upon which he founded his faith, in II Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have
24finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
25righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
26only, but unto all them also that love his appearing".
27 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
28Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express deepest condolences to the family, friends, and
29former congregations of the Reverend Doctor Gardner Calvin Taylor upon his passing; does
30hereby extend sincerest sympathies to those whose lives were touched and transformed by
Page 2 of 3 HLS 15RS-1850 ORIGINAL
HR NO. 50
1this man of God, powerful in word and deed; and do hereby offer prayers and hopes for
2comfort in the knowledge that Dr. Taylor's close, personal relationship with his Savior and
3Lord brings full truth to John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life: the one that believes
4in me, though dead, shall live again".
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
6to the family of Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 50 Original 2015 Regular Session James
Expresses condolences upon the death of Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor.
Page 3 of 3