“Where does God fit in to all of this?”

The seemingly simple question has had quite the transformative power for second year MDiv student Tommie Nell Taylor

With nearly eight decades behind her and having lived in multiple places around the United States, Tommie has experienced a lot in her life. Through it all the church has remained a constant focus and she has continually asked the question of how the Savior enters into our lives. Tommie asked the question as a child in the 50s, when churches were filled with people. She asked the question during the civil rights movement. Again she asked this question when working in education, in starting a doctorate degree, and as an executive director of an afterschool program. She asks this question as she serves as deacon-- the first female deacon in the church’s 116 years—in her Baptist church. And it was this question that led her to seminary.

“There is an echo in the church. People are falling away from the church, and when that was happening at my church, I started thinking about what I could do. What can I do to help with the lifting of Jesus again in the church?”

In the thinking, questioning, and praying Tommie got an answer. She heard God tell her to go. So, she went, not to be the solution but to gain skills and tools to help with the lifting of Jesus in worship and in our world. Tommie researched seminaries in Pittsburgh, and the community at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was where she felt God calling her to be.

Looking to the future, Tommie is open to the form her service to the church will be.

“I’d love to say that I know exactly what I am going to do or where I am going to go; however, what I can say is I will be helping churches grow. The only way they can grow and get their power back if we return to remembering who we are as Christians and as the Body of Christ. We need to be asking, ‘Where is God?’ That is where we need to be.”

“Where does God fit in to all of this?”

The seemingly simple question has had quite the transformative power for second year MDiv student Tommie Nell Taylor

With nearly eight decades behind her and having lived in multiple places around the United States, Tommie has experienced a lot in her life. Through it all the church has remained a constant focus and she has continually asked the question of how the Savior enters into our lives. Tommie asked the question as a child in the 50s, when churches were filled with people. She asked the question during the civil rights movement. Again she asked this question when working in education, in starting a doctorate degree, and as an executive director of an afterschool program. She asks this question as she serves as deacon-- the first female deacon in the church’s 116 years—in her Baptist church. And it was this question that led her to seminary.

“There is an echo in the church. People are falling away from the church, and when that was happening at my church, I started thinking about what I could do. What can I do to help with the lifting of Jesus again in the church?”

In the thinking, questioning, and praying Tommie got an answer. She heard God tell her to go. So, she went, not to be the solution but to gain skills and tools to help with the lifting of Jesus in worship and in our world. Tommie researched seminaries in Pittsburgh, and the community at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was where she felt God calling her to be.

Looking to the future, Tommie is open to the form her service to the church will be.

“I’d love to say that I know exactly what I am going to do or where I am going to go; however, what I can say is I will be helping churches grow. The only way they can grow and get their power back if we return to remembering who we are as Christians and as the Body of Christ. We need to be asking, ‘Where is God?’ That is where we need to be.”