Pastor Taylor Smith was born in Memphis, TN but raised in McKinney, TX where he was an active member of Stonebridge UMC. From an early age, he was highly involved in the children and youth program, regularly attending Wednesday night youth group, mission trips, and church camps. He first felt a call to ministry at a young age while in worship at Bridgeport Church Camp, a grounding faith experience which has sustained him in his ministry all these years.

Taylor continued to ask hard questions about the faith, inspiring in him a passion for theological inquiry. This passion led him to McMurry University in Abilene, TX where he studied Religion, New Testament Greek, and Sociology. Throughout his undergraduate program, Taylor had several opportunities to explore vocational ministry, serving as: a youth intern at a UMC church camp in Alaska, an intern at his home congregation, and eventually as a Youth Director during his final year of college.

In 2013, Taylor’s life was changed when he met his (now) wife of 7 years, Katie May Smith. Ironically enough, the two met while serving as counselors at Bridgeport Church Camp. Katie received a degree in Psycho-social Rehabilitation from The University of North Texas. She has a background in and passion for the mental health field. Currently, Katie works as a fitness instructor at Pure Barre Preston Hollow and Pure Barre Plano.

In 2017, Katie and Taylor moved to Durham, NC where Taylor received his Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. While in seminary, Taylor served as the Student Associate Pastor at Pittsboro UMC; but he claims to have learned just as much about ministry in North Carolina through the Crossfit gym that he and Katie attended and at which he began coaching. Taylor got to share life with people from all different faith, race, ethnic, and cultural, and religious backgrounds in the Crossfit gym. And it was this experience in ministry beyond the church walls that lead Taylor to explore church-planting.

Upon completion of his MDiv., Taylor was appointed to Urban Village Church in downtown Chicago, IL as a Church Planting Fellow. He primarily served at the South Loop site of the multi-site urban congregation. There, Taylor was immersed in the wild world of church-planting before being appointed to Uptown, Dallas in 2018 as the Lead Church Planter for the Heart of Dallas mission field.

After wrapping up his ministry in Uptown, Taylor was then appointed to Flower Mound UMC where he has been serving as the Associate Pastor and Director of Adult Discipleship and Outreach Coordinator. His time at Flower Mound could be characterized as one of unsubstantiated growth. In three and a half years, he’s explored new leadership opportunities, launched new ministry programs, shut-down ministries, pastored people in all walks of life, preached and “teach-ed,” assisted in building renovation campaigns and, above all, experienced the grace of God through the congregation’s generous and loving spirit.

On April 21, 2020, Taylor and Katie welcomed new life into the world, Lachlan May Smith (pronounced Lock-Lin). Coming up on two, Lachlan remains a complete bundle of joy, full of laughter and smiles, and quite the adventurous soul! Together, with their dog Luna, The Smiths are a happy family of four who can be found taking walks, working out, watching Netflix, reading books, and enjoying good gourmet food and the company of friends.

Taylor has a deep passion for Christian theology and Biblical education. He’s enjoys exploring Scripture in a manner that invokes critical thought, a convicted spirit, and a challenging call for the Body of Christ to continue sharing the radical love of God in the world. He has a ton to learn and is thrilled to share his spirit of curiosity with the people called Methodists at First United Methodist Church the Colony.