About
William D. Taylor, Global Ambassador and Senior Mentor
Editor, Connections: the Journal of the WEA Mission Commission
Mission Commission, World Evangelical Alliance
Bill Taylor, a “Third Culture Person”, was born in Costa Rica of missionary parents and lived 30 years in Latin America. He went to the USA for his last year of high school, and returned to Latin America after too many years of college, seminary and graduate school (Moody Bible Institute—certificate; University of North Texas—B.A; Dallas Theological Seminary–Th.M.; University of Texas, Austin–Ph.D. in Latin American studies). A former Texas staff member of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, he taught for 17 years at the Seminario Teológico Centroamericano (CAM Int.). He was on the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for two years in its school of world mission. He serves today as a visiting professor in seminaries and missionary training schools internationally. He also has broad experience in church planting and pastoral ministry. He and Yvonne were married in 1967 and have three Third Culture adult children born in Guatemala.
From 1986-2006 he served as Executive Director of the Mission Commission of World Evangelical Alliance. He currently serves as Ambassador to both WEA and senior mentor to the Mission Commission. He is publications coordinator for the MC and co-leader of the global missiology task force. WEA is a network of churches in 128 nations that have joined to serve and provide a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 420 million evangelical Christians.
He has authored and edited a number of publications, among them: Co-author with Emilio Antonio Núñez, Crisis and Hope in Latin America, An Evangelical Perspective (revised edition), WCL, 1996. Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition, (Spanish and Portuguese editions) WCL, 1997, (Spanish, Portuguese, Korean editions). Global Missiology for the 21st Century: The Iguassu Dialogue, Baker, 2000. (Korean, Spanish Portuguese editions). Co-author with Sergio E. Mijangos of La Familia Autenticamente Cristiana, (revised edition) Portavóz, 2002.
Global Mission Handbook: A Guide to Cross-cultural Mission, (with Steve Hoke), Inter-Varsity Press, 2009. He edits the global missional roundtable magazine, “Connections: the Journal of the WEA Missions Commission”. http://www.weaconnections.com/
In South Africa, 2006, Bill modeled a healthy leadership transition after serving as the Executive Director of the WEA Mission Commission for 20 years and continues to serve as catalyst to help both emerged and emerging global leaders innovate in mission.
Bill’s wife, Yvonne, an Italian/Irish 4th generation Texan from Dallas, has ministered together with Bill in cross-cultural mission since 1967. With a degree in liberal arts/music from the University of North Texas, Yvonne is Bill’s full partner, serving him as a critical thinker and sounding board, editing his writings, and ministering with him locally and internationally. A long-time student of Christian spirituality in the various historic streams of Christianity, God’s calling on Yvonne has for many years been to minister in the areas of spiritual formation, spiritual direction and intercession. She and Bill are patrons of the arts and young artists, enjoy Irish dancing, all things Italian, reading, photography, and travel. Most of all, she loves her role as a mother and grandmother and being able to serve/love/pray for them in every way possible.
Bill and Yvonne have three adult children and six grand children. Their eldest, Christine, is married to Cliff, an Evangelical/Anglican pastor of Christ Church—Austin, and they are parents of four children; their son, David, an arts pastor, now doing a doctorate in theology and the arts at Duke, is married to Phaedra; their younger daughter, Stephanie, is married to Scranton Twohey and they have two children, living also in Austin.
April 2010
¡Enhorabuena! Buen comienzo – con los deseos de más, abrazos en Cristo.
Bueno Gerardo, ¿qué se puede decir que sea nuevo? Tal vez reflexiones que surgen de la vida, del peregrinaje, de las décadas…. Estoy contigo. Guillermo
So good to get caught up on news of you and Yvonne. Ahhh….such fond memories of Costa Rica and Guatemala. Me–I have two grandsons, Kyle and Corey. Kyle and his wife Amanda both received their PhD’s in May from Virginia Tech. Corey and his wife Jennifer live and work nearby and are the partents of our great grandaughter, Lily. Where has the time gone???
Kay
Hi Bill and Yvonne,
Enjoyed very much meeting and hosting you in Nazareth. Now I do understand what an Arts Pastor is about. Enjoy the rest of your visit to the Holy Land. Our home is open for you to visit and stay.
nabih
And thank you SO much, good brother. We owe you an incalculable debt for your unprecedented generosity to us that Sunday as we visited and spent such a rich time together. Forgive the tardy response but I only now have discovered a long series of responses that I did not know had come in.
The blessing of the High Three upon you and your wife,
Bill
Dear Kay,
Wow!!! What a historical memory waterfall that just hit me. SO many memories from Central America. I have attempted to get back to the blog and update things. But only tonight did I discover your words to me as they were never sent. I messed up.
Blessings, and soon with more.
Bill
Happy Father’s Day, Bill!!!
As one of your spiritual sons in the faith, I wanted you to know how much I thank God for you and for your role in my life as a living prod to live authentically before the Lord, willing to follow wherever He may lead.
Thank you for your example as a husband & father. More than 25 years later, without knowing it you continue to speak into my life!
Love to you & Yvonne!
b/c HE lives,
Greg Haroutunian
And thanks to you, my good friend. It is great to know you are alive and there, and faithful to Vows and vows. Together. Bill–the elder, the sage
Miss you, Bill and Yvonne! I’ve enjoyed (ironically) reading about attrition, since I can hear your heart, mind & even voice speaking. Your passion for reaching the lost!
The discussion of attrition causes a little hurt, since H. and I never made it to the field long-term. Would we have been toxic to other M’s, or cause other harm somehow, perhaps to the Church? God knows.
Good friends, please help me remember you to put you in context. I just don’t recognize the email address, but vaguely there is a story I can’t bring to mind. Thanks much.
Am about to bring the blog back to life this month!