E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiThat blessing includes huge savings in medical costs, because Seth's treatments are now covered by the Army's medical insurance. The Taylors' previous insurance didn't cover them. Taylor estimated his family spent more than $10,000 on Seth's care in 2002.
"Of course, we would have spent whatever it cost," he said. "Also, we have talked to each therapist, and each accepts the Army coverage, so now maybe we can even increase the therapy Seth gets."
Taylor is excited about joining the Army because he said it "has an outstanding model of ministry. Its model says that for every battalion, there is a chaplain. So, instead of working out of a chapel every day, for instance, whatever the unit is doing, I'm doing. Whether it's in the field, doing maintenance, or in the chow hall.
"That's one of the main reasons I really wanted to go back into the Army. Their model of ministry, I think, is very incarnational. As an Army chaplain, I'll be with the unit all the time. When they're training, they'll see the chaplain right there with them. That's what really hooked my heart; wherever these guys are, I am too. When they're sleeping on the ground, I'm sleeping on the ground."
While excited about his new career in the Army, Taylor understandably found it hard to leave Trinity Baptist Church where he had previously pastored.
"I had been here almost six years in this church, and we have done quite well reaching out to people," he said. "Our attendance is double from where we started; the budget is more than doubled. We recently moved into our new multi-purpose facility, thanks to a lot of hard work by a lot of wonderful laypeople who gave and gave and gave.
"When I came six years ago, they told me we have to reach young people. At that time, the youngest active members were in their mid-40s. So, it was a predominantly senior adult church, which is very good, but they really wanted us to reach young adults.
"I started casting a vision for that -- now the church is doing some innovative things, using multi-media and a full band to do music, for example."
Trinity averages about 120 in Sunday School and 150-200 in worship, Taylor said, adding that "the spirit of the church is so much more alive now; more than I've ever seen it."
Trinity recently voted to hire music minister Scott Guthrie fulltime and also approved its largest budget in recent history. Laypeople staff the church's youth and children's ministries. The church is in the growing section of Chickasha, as evidenced by a new 300-unit apartment complex being built just a couple of blocks away.
"The south side of Chickasha is where the growth is," Taylor said. "Strategically, Trinity is poised to be in the middle of that growth for the next decade. That's why we built our new facility.
"The laity has caught the vision of recognizing that we have to reach families. Our church motto is 'Helping Families in Their Journey with God, Themselves and Others.'"
Taylor said he feels assured that God will bring the right man to lead the church.
"That's the greatest confidence that I have," he said. "That's what allows me to leave with great confidence.
"It's going to be hard to walk away from, but I'm so confident that God has done this thing with the Army in my life that it gives me great confidence that he will continue to do his work in this church. The fruit that has been born here will be the fruit that lasts.
"I have spent the last five years emphasizing two things -- lay ministry and leadership, by that to mean that people need to find their own ministry. I always told them to "find your God-given purpose and your God-given dream and then pursue it."
"Now, the preacher is practicing what he preaches."
By Pauline C.
