A Tribute to Dr. Carol Taylor So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees. He told his servant, “Go on up and look in the direction of the sea.” So he went on up, looked, and reported, “There is nothing.” Seven times Elijah sent him to look. The seventh time the servant said, “Look, a small cloud, the size of the palm of a man’s hand, is rising up from the sea.” Elijah then said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up the chariots and go down, so that the rain won’t overtake you.’” Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. 1 Kings 18:42-45(NET)
hen Vanguard University
occurred to me that we had been given our
Now, as Dr. Taylor refects on her time leading
President Dr. Carol
own tiny cloud, and if God was in it, it would
Vanguard University, she has the occasion to
Taylor is asked which of
be enough. And it was.”
consider the people and the experiences here
her accomplishments she is most proud of during her tenure at the school, she promptly defers to this story about God’s vast provision, augured by the smallest of signs. Dr. Taylor was at the most diffcult part of a turbulent season in Vanguard’s long history and feeling the weight of what she and the rest of the community would have to achieve in order to endure. In prayerful
So when asked about her accomplishments, Dr. Taylor gives due credit to the providential intervention of God frst, and the numerous leaders, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, students, and friends of the University second. Above all, she sees herself as blessed to have followed the Lord’s guidance on a journey that so clearly demonstrated his power.
that have most profoundly inspired her. She recalls meeting alumni Esther ’03 and Camille Ntoto ’02, MA ’07 when Esther spoke at the 2010 Ensure Justice Conference. Esther and Camille serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ministering to women and children who endure unthinkable brutality as a result of the vicious warfare in the region. It was a particularly diffcult period of time in her
refection, she remembered that Elijah needed
This past March, Dr. Taylor made the decision
presidency, but Dr. Taylor remembers being
only to see a cloud the size of a man’s hand in
to again place her trust in the Lord and his
overwhelmed by how essential the work of
order to know that God was promising to meet
calling when she accepted the position of
the Ntotos was, and the crucial instruction
Elijah’s fervent petitions with the full measure
President-elect and Chief Executive Offcer
they received from Vanguard for their life of
of his mercy. Dr. Taylor recognized that
of the consolidated Evangel University in
service. She became convinced more than ever
Vanguard’s moment of crisis could actually be
Springfeld, Missouri. Evangel will be joined
that Vanguard’s mission was indispensable.
conceived of as a small but sure sign that God
with Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
“What struck me in a profound way was that
also meant to honor his promises to the school
and Central Bible College, forming one
Vanguard must survive because we produced
and its mission. “God was in Elijah’s tiny
institution of Pentecostal higher learning. It is a
men and women like Esther and Camille who
cloud, and it was enough to drench the land
post that Dr. Taylor prayerfully considered for
risked their lives to be the presence of Christ
and end the famine,” says Dr. Taylor. “It
months before accepting.
in the world,” says Dr. Taylor. “They embodied
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