Van Taylor

We all have people who have impacted our lives deeply, but who are not always recognized widely on earth for their contribution. One such person in my life is Van Taylor. Van hired me as a too-often-lazy thirteen-year-old to work for Kirk’s Popcorn, which Van and his wife, Becky, owned and operated. Working at Kirk’s for Van is still the longest job I’ve ever held – and it was probably the most dramatic time of change in my life as I learned what life is all about.

Over the five-plus years that I worked for Van, he became a great friend. Beyond my family, he was without a doubt the most influential person in my life through my high school years as we spent hours working together. He gave me opportunities, I know now I could never have had anywhere else. His patience with me was more than I will ever fully appreciate. He provided and environment for me to grow, make mistakes, learn, contribute, take responsibility, learn about agriculture, creation, people, machines, marketing, humor, story telling, warehouse management, product distribution, teamwork, theology (though we did not always agree :)), family, community, informal debate, evangelism, and fun. He afforded me the opportunity to work with people from my own age all the way up to those in retirement. The stories we could tell together – mostly about people – would take at least as much time as the five years we worked together.

Recently, Van Taylor was appointed as the Executive Director of the Kokomo Rescue Mission. The Sycamore RPC in Kokomo has a long history of working with the Mission, even going back to the early nineties when I was a member there. Currently two members of that congregation minister on a full-time basis at the Mission and others have either come to the church through it or volunteer there – and Pastor Barry York has been big part of these long-standing relationships. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I learned of Van’s new leadership position. The Lord has well-equipped him to take this new role. Though I’m not geographically close enough to actually co-labor on the ground with Van, it is a great joy to know that we are still co-laboring in the gospel with a closer connection than I ever expected when I went to college. And, if God can use Van to develop men in Kokomo in the way the he helped me to develop, I have no doubt but that we will see changed men come out of the Kokomo Rescue Mission in the coming years. I praise the Lord for Van and commend him to you as a faithful man in the Lord.