A Tribute to Taylor Gardner

On December 29, 2024, the world lost a remarkable man, Taylor Gardner, who passed away at the age of 88. Taylor was more than just a mentor; he was a spiritual guide who profoundly shaped my journey of faith.

As the Christmas season wraps up, the film It’s a Wonderful Life lingers in my mind. The film poses the question, “What if George Bailey had never been born?” This question prompts me to ask myself: What if I had never met Taylor Gardner?

During my college years, God brought Taylor into my life at a time when I needed direction. As the Dean of Students, Taylor did something no one else had done—he pursued me. He truly listened, offering encouragement and empowerment. He saw in me a potential I couldn’t yet see in myself.

Taylor went beyond words; he created opportunities. Discipleship, as Jesus demonstrated, often requires personal sacrifice. Taylor exemplified this by creating a ministry position for me after graduation, even though it meant additional work for himself. He saw past my youth and inexperience and believed in the calling God had placed on my life.

For this, I’m eternally grateful. Taylor didn’t view my singleness as a disqualifier for kingdom service. Instead, he saw me as a man of God, deserving of value and inclusion. He was my Barnabas.

Barnabas was a pivotal figure in the early church, known for his encouragement and willingness to bridge gaps. When Saul, later known as Paul, converted to Christianity, the disciples in Jerusalem struggled to trust him due to his history as a persecutor. It was Barnabas who vouched for Saul, advocating for his acceptance among the apostles.

The account in Acts 9:26–28 illustrates this:

“When [Saul] came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles . . . So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.”

Later, Barnabas sought Saul out once again. Hearing of the gospel’s spread to Antioch, Barnabas recognized Saul’s potential to contribute to this growing ministry. He made the long journey to Tarsus to bring Saul to Antioch, where they spent a year teaching and building up the church (Acts 11:25–26).

Barnabas’s encouragement and willingness to act as a bridge enabled Saul to step fully into his God-given role. In many ways, Taylor Gardner was a Barnabas to me. He recognized my potential, encouraged me to step forward in faith, and provided a place for me in the work of the kingdom.

I shudder to think what my life might have been without Taylor’s influence. His example challenges us to be like Barnabas—to recognize, encourage, and uplift others, creating space for them to grow and serve.

May God raise up more men and women like Barnabas and Taylor Gardner, whose legacies remind us of the power of intentional discipleship and unwavering belief in others.

Disciple-Making and the Home

How do parents incorporate Jesus’s model of disciple-making into their home? Various ministries have followed Jesus’s approach but when it comes to our families we are not quite sure what discipling our children should look like.

Christianity in the West has known for years that 80% of our children are not becoming followers of Jesus.[1] Vast resources are given to children and youth ministries because we were told that it was vital to get our kids into children’s ministry and youth group, only to have our children leave God when they leave home. Parents feel spiritually inadequate and it is easier to leave the spiritual formation of their children to the professionals.

Recently I read the account of Jesus’s last evening with his disciples and I realized that I had looked at the question of disciple-making and parenting the wrong way.[2] Rather than trying to figure out how to fit our families into Jesus’s approach to disciple-making I saw that Jesus had patterned his disciple-making on a familial model so that our homes are the optimal place to make disciples of Jesus.

Jesus’s approach to disciple-making was based on the familial nature of the Trinity. He says to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” (John 15:9) Jesus assures them that their heavenly father has a home and in that home each disciple will have a place to belong. (John 14:2) Jesus goes on to promise them that he will not leave them as orphans (John 14:18) and that the heavenly father and Jesus will make their home with them, all familial language.

In closing:

  • Making disciples of Jesus should be in a familial way. (Jesus and the apostle Paul both used familial language to describe disciple-making.)

 

  • Our families can reflect the nature of the Trinity to the world.

 

  • Our homes can be a picture of the gospel to the world.

 

  • The family is a place for children to experience the nature of God and the wonder of the gospel.
  • No matter the age, create a familial environment to which your disciples can belong.

 

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/

[2] Gospel of John Chapters 13-17

Ecstatic Love

To be one of the twelve disciples of Jesus was an experience of love. Jesus had modeled his disciple-making after the mutual love between the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Kallistos Ware writes, “The circle of divine love however has not remained closed. God’s love is, in the literal sense of the word, “ecstatic”-a love that causes God to go out from himself and to create things other than himself. By voluntary choice God created the world in “ecstatic” love, so that there might be beside himself other beings to participate in the life and the love that are his.”[1]

This “ecstatic” love caused Jesus to come to earth and as John explained This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9 Jesus then formed a group of twelve men and for twenty-seven months he loved these disciples and he taught them how to love the other men in the group. One purpose of a disciple of Jesus is to be an image bearer of God to the world and a disciple cultivates this by learning to love other disciples. Jesus instructs his disciples, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34

The process of making disciples today should be little different than what Jesus first showed us. A discipler guides a group of men and women in how to receive love and how to love others. This discipling experience moves a person towards flourishing by being in mutual love with God and with fellow disciples because, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16

The evidence that disciples are maturing is their ability to love others and to receive love.

[1] Ware, Kallistos, The Orthodox Way (Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminar Press, 1979), p. 44.