Editor's note: This interview is part of a series.

Editor's note: The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor died on April 5, 2015.

The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor served as senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1948 to 1990 and is now retired and living in Raleigh, N.C. Widely recognized as one of the nation’s most talented and influential preachers, he is a former president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 2000. He is the author of “How Shall They Preach,” “The Scarlet Thread,” “Chariots Aflame,” “We Have This Ministry” and “Words of Gardner Taylor.”