Phil Taylor, a director of missions in Tennessee since 1999, died June 23 after an extended illness. He was 64.
Taylor became the DOM in Bradley County Baptist Association in 1999 after serving for 14 years as a pastor in Georgia, Ohio and Virginia.
‘Missional heartbeat’
During his 25-year tenure, Taylor led the association to change its name to CrossNet Baptist Network to accommodate the growing influence of the association beyond just Bradley County. Churches from neighboring counties joined CrossNet primarily due to Taylor’s missional heartbeat for reaching people not only in southeast Tennessee but around the world as well, according to his obituary.
He led mission teams to destinations worldwide while also leading the association’s churches to be involved in Ocoee Outreach, a local ministry, and in partnerships with church planters in several states and Washington, D.C.
Taylor had a passion for church planters and church revitalization. He served from 2017 until May of this year as a part-time church revitalization specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. In that role, he assisted struggling churches in East Tennessee to embrace a plan for revitalization.
“Phil was one of the most strategic thinking, pure-hearted, kingdom-focused leaders I have ever had the privilege and joy of knowing,” noted Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of TBMB.
Taylor served the churches of CrossNet Baptist Network, Davis noted, “with his whole heart and was a tremendous help to TBMB in bringing his expertise and experience to church revitalization and church health.
“Tennessee Baptists have lost a champion for the Great Commission,” Davis said.
‘Something I needed’
Larry Murphy, director of missions for Madision-Chester Baptist Association and Crockett Baptist Association and a TBMB church revitalization specialist, was a longtime colleague of Taylor.
“His kind demeanor and slow to speak wisdom was something I needed,” he said. Murphy described Taylor as a “giant” to him personally in their work together for so many years.
“I will miss his calls and his answers to my many questions,” Murphy said. “Phil finished well as a faithful servant of the Lord.”
Jamie Work, now associational missions mobilizer for the International Mission Board, was Taylor’s pastor for 18 years at Candies Creek Baptist Church in Cleveland.
“We shared a similar passion for churches to be fully engaged in the Acts 1:18 mandate to be Christ’s witnesses not only in our own Jerusalem but in Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth,” Work recalled.
He noted that while their friendship originally revolved among that common passion, it grew stronger over time as they were involved together in the ministry of the local association/network. “Phil was well known and liked in Tennessee and beyond,” added Work, who also is interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Athens.
Taylor is survived by his wife, Peggy, two children and three grandchildren.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
