Rev. Taylor Johnson

"If I had to sum up [my call story] in one word, I would say opportunities – opportunities to engage in the church in a bigger setting than just my local church, and to experience things that, on my own, I would have never chosen," said Rev. Taylor Johnson. He is one of the pastors commissioned as an elder at the 2025 Dakotas Annual Conference.

Some of those opportunities came through participation in the Dakotas Conference Council on Youth Ministries during high school and in campus ministry at South Dakota State University, attending Exploration and the United Methodist Student Forum as a young adult, and being elected to serve on the steering committee for the United Methodist Student Movement through the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

"Connecting with folks and making friendships where there's something that connects us in terms of our mission and our connectionalism – it's unique," explained Taylor. "I've been in other fields and other occupations, and none of them have that kind of collegiality or connection beyond just the one location."

The relationships developed through those experiences have been a source of continued encouragement for Taylor in his ministry journey. Looking back, he also sees how they became the catalyst for taking steps toward pastoral ministry.

"It was the people willing to pour into those experiences and to say, 'Hey, I think you would be good for this. Come try it out," recalled Johnson.

Pastor Taylor began his vocational ministry journey as the worship leader and high school youth director at First United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota – the church he had been a part of since 5th grade. He then took steps to become a licensed local pastor and moved into an appointed pastoral role at Sioux Falls First. Taylor and his wife, Kjersten, and their two children currently live in Moorhead, Minnesota, where Taylor serves on loan to the Minnesota Annual Conference as the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church.

Pastor Taylor with 2024 confirmands at Grace UMC.

"One of the interesting things about this appointment that I wasn't anticipating has been my time with the youth," shared Taylor. While he had previously done youth ministry in Sioux Falls, he thought that season was done since he wasn't the "cool, hip 20-year-old" anymore. A need for leadership in the youth ministry at Grace prompted him to return to that sphere.

"It's been so fun to be able to connect with these students, and it just feels different than it did the first time. Whether that's experience on my part or knowledge, I just feel more prepared to engage in harder conversations," explained Taylor.

Pastor Taylor has also discovered a passion for making confirmation an experience that youth walk through, not simply because it's a checklist or because their parents are making them do it, but rather a time of learning and exploration that may or may not culminate with a step of faith affirmation and/or church membership.

"I think it has given them some freedom to actually say yes," he said. "So that's been great."

It isn't just youth who are being inspired to say yes to the movement of God in their lives.

"One of the cool things that's been happening here in my local context has been empowering new leaders to step up and take on new things," shared Taylor excitedly. "One of my favorite things about this church is that I haven't done anything new. We've done lots of new things, but we've really just been drawing out the gifts that have always been present within this congregation."

Pastor Taylor sharing his gift of music.

"From that, we're seeing new leaders step up. We have the first youth delegate on our church council in 30 years. We had a new certified lay speaker come through. We have folks stepping up in new areas all across the church. That's been so cool to watch happen," he added.

Beyond just involvement in church leadership, Pastor Taylor also sees hope in the ways that relationships are expanding and discipleship is becoming more holistic and not simply confined to one hour a week within the four walls of the church.

"I think people are becoming more aware of the community and the relationships within the church – that we have to connect beyond just the Sunday morning gathering," he said. "How are we taking care of one another on Tuesday nights when the schedule is full or on Thursday mornings when the really crappy diagnosis comes through because we had a doctor's appointment at 9:00? How are we engaging one another in those moments?"

Pastor Taylor has discovered the importance of intentionality in all aspects of ministry and leadership – not simply doing things because "they've always been done that way" but understanding the deeper purpose and connection to the mission. He has seen the shifts in culture within the congregation due to this intentionality.

"It's opened up opportunities for ministry that maybe had not been possible before," he explained.

Several of those opportunities have led to increased engagement with their community.

Pop-up Food Pantry distribution partnership that began with Great Plains Food Bank in 2025.

"We're now a monthly food distribution site for our community, and we are beginning a partnership with an addiction recovery and harm reduction organization, knowing the great need within our local neighborhood for recovery resources," shared Pastor Taylor. "Bits and pieces have been put into place for that over the last couple of years – subtle nudges – and then they came to us and asked if we would partner with them.

"It was a big, 'OK God, you've been opening the doors the whole time, and now you just slammed it open and said 'get going.' So that's been really cool," he added.

Even as these doors to ministry within and with the community have opened, Pastor Taylor is aware of the challenging realities of serving as a pastor of a congregation in such a polarizing time in the world.

"I serve a politically purple congregation and so how do you discuss these issues that are happening without it becoming a political statement, knowing that we can't shy away from the conversation but being mindful that I don't want to alienate a congregation member because I have a different political stance," explained Taylor. "How do you preach and live in hope when everything else around the world says otherwise?"

Even amidst these challenges, Pastor Taylor is committed to providing people with the deep theological foundations needed to weather these cultural and political storms.

"I really appreciated Dr. Eberhardt's conversations [at Annual Conference] about the fireseeds and all of the revival and opportunity for renewal," he shared. "It's not just about getting out of it in order for that to happen. It might need to happen within it."

The Johnson family

Pastor Taylor sees hope for that renewal and revival emerging from the difficulties of the past several years.

"Between COVID and the denominational realignment or reconfiguring, I think it's caused us to be intentional about everything – intentional eyes looking at what works and what doesn't, and if it doesn't work, why are we keeping it?" reflected Taylor. "We see it on the local church level in how we do ministry and how we exist. We see it on the conference level in the shift in superintendents. What does it look like to not just do things the way that we've always done it and try to live into that? It's not that anything's wrong with the way that we've done things, but it might not be our reality now."

"I think that's given people license to think, 'We can try new things and if it fails, it does. It's not a disaster. It just means it didn't work, but we can try something else," he added.

When asked how his Dakotas Conference family can pray for him, Taylor said, as parents of young kids, they always welcome prayers for their family.