Ed Taylor

I was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. I was raised in a God-loving family and loved the Lord from a young age.

My family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where I started to get involved with the Youth Ministry by playing in the band in 2003. After school I became an Auto-Electrician at Imperial Logistics and after two years the Lord called me into the ministry. In 2010, I was employed by Alberton Lewensentrum (Life Centre) as the Full-time Worship Leader. At that time, I also studied music at the Campus of Performing Arts for two years.

My wife, Mandie, and I met at church and started dating in 2013. We were engaged in 2015 and married in 2017. Mandie also has a heart for ministry and has served on the Worship Team; worshipping together is a blessing. We are blessed with two children, a girl and a boy, named Leja and Ben. Our main focus as a family is to keep the Lord at the center of our daily life.

In 2022, I became the Worship Director of Alberton Lewensentrum but little did we know the plans God was about to put in motion. In March of 2022, we were blessed to meet Pastor Rich and visit Calvary Chapel Worship Cent in person.

My heart for the Young Adults Ministry is for our Young Adults to be servants of the Lord and not to be served. Our story has just begun and I am so excited to see what the Lord has planned for me, my family, and Calvary Chapel Worship Center.

I had the privilege to grow up in a home with parents who loved the Lord and were sold out to Jesus. I gave my life to Jesus when I was nine years old and was baptized when I was 13. I was very involved in our local church which had a vibrant youth ministry. I was involved in youth leadership and began leading worship in the church when I was 15 years old. Even from this young age, I knew that I was called to ministry and I was passionate about worship. After school, I went into IT – retail for three years, but all the time I had the nudge in my spirit that God would lead me into ministry. The opportunity opened three years later when my home church in Welkom, South Africa called me to be their worship leader. While working at the church I did my Pastoral Degree through distance learning and finished in 2002. In the same year, I was called to a church in Nelspruit as Worship Director. This is where I met my wonderful wife, Rhiete, and six months later we were married. After three years we were blessed with our firstborn, Jaden, and Mecayla and Owen followed in quick succession as we had all three of them between 2005-2009. We ministered at that church for twelve years where I eventually served as the Associate Pastor.

During this season, I was blessed to sign with a record label through which I released one solo worship album, “Saam met Engele” (“With the Angels”), and had the privilege to co-lead on two men’s conferences, “Duisend Daniels” and “Duisend Daniels Aanbid” that were recorded as live-worship recordings released nationally. This sparked a movement that toured South Africa and I was privileged to tour ad-hoc with this worship movement for three years while still serving full-time at the church.

In 2014, Rhiete and I started a children’s ministry with a mascot and children’s character, Ronnie the Rhino, which grew into a national ministry with programs airing on television and us doing outreaches to schools and pre-schools throughout South Africa. In 2017 I accepted the position at Alberton LewenSentrum where I served as Associate Pastor and Worship Director, and Rhiete as the Director of the Children’s Ministry.

In 2021, we moved to Hillsboro and I accepted the position of Associate Pastor at Calvary Chapel Worship Center. We are blessed to be part of this wonderful team and church and are excited to see what amazing things God has in store for the future.

I was born into a military family and consider Fairfax, VA my home. I graduated from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and it was there that I met the Lord in 1980. Three years later I met my wife, Sherri, at UNC and we were married in May of 1983. Sherri and I have been blessed with seven children, with grandchildren being added to their family every year.

We moved our family to Oregon in 1996 to continue my business executive life at Nike. In 2009, we started a local family business.

We began Cord-of-Three Ministry to “Young” Married Couples in 2008; focusing on couples married 7 years or less or engaged to be married. I was ordained as an Associate Pastor Calvary Chapel Hillsboro in 2011 and later ordained as an elder at Calvary Chapel in 2012.

I am passionate about mentoring and disciplining couples to be better together; with Christ central to their personal lives and marriages.

If you would like more information or to get involved with Cord of Three please email Shawn and Sherri Dean.

As a child and youth, I believed God existed and desired to be right with Him, but it was not until my senior year in high school that I asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior. Through the efforts of my dad and the outreach of my high school friends, I placed my faith in Jesus Christ in March of 1984.

I graduated from the University of Washington in 1989 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and was later accepted into law school, but I declined the offer because I felt the Lord had called me into pastoral ministry. I served as an assistant pastor of a church in a Seattle suburb for three years and then moved to Hillsboro, Oregon to attend Multnomah Biblical Seminary. While in Portland, I served at Calvary Chapel Worship Center (CCWC) for three years as an assistant pastor and then relocated to Dallas, Texas to continue my education at Dallas Theological Seminary. During my stay in Dallas, I started a Calvary Chapel and served as the senior pastor for eight years. In 2013, I returned to the staff at CCWC and currently serve as an associate pastor. I earned my Master of Arts in Religious Studies in 2018 and my Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics in 2022 from Southern Evangelical Seminary.

The Lord has blessed me with a beautiful wife, Heidi. We enjoy raising our daughter and working together in ministry. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord and His people at CCWC.

I accepted Jesus when I was 5 years old at Calvary Church on the Rock in Richland, WA. Throughout my life, God has continually made clear His calling. I began serving in church when I was 15 years old; serving as a greeter, on the adult worship team, in children’s ministry and as worship leader for my high school youth group. I realized at that point, God had a calling on my life to serve Him.

Throughout college I remained involved adult worship teams, worked with worship bands within the community and served within my church’s youth ministry. After college, I began working part-time as a worship leader, a month later I met my wife Kathy. As time went on, the part-time position transitioned into a full time position as worship and youth pastor. Throughout those five years, I began to realize the magnitude of God’s calling and that He was calling me to even more.

In the fall of 2013, I sat down with Pastor Rich Jones and we began to discuss what God had put on his heart, a new church campus in Beaverton.

It was perfect timing with what God was doing in my heart. We began talking and praying about this new Calvary Chapel campus in Beaverton, OR. It was clear to Kathy and me that God was leading us to step into this wonderful opportunity.

This story, our story, is still in the making! I am excited about what is in store for Calvary Beaverton and look forward with great anticipation to the impact this ministry will make in the city of Beaverton and the greater Portland area. I also look forward to remaining a part of God’s story for years to come.

Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is one of the scriptures that drive’s my life. I look forward to meeting you soon!

I was a born and raised on the south side of Detroit in Michigan. As a freshmen in high school, I felt God’s call on my life to become a youth pastor. My youth pastor was like a second father to me, and the church was a home away from home when I was a lost and troubled youth. God’s redemptive work in my early life led me to live out my calling in full-time youth ministry. My wife, Selena, and I met in high school as we both were volunteering together at in middle school youth ministry. After high school I went on to get a degree in Youth Ministry and Biblical Studies from Spring Arbor University. After college I served in full-time youth ministry and worship ministry until my wife and I felt God’s leading to move. God led us to CCWC and we were extremely excited to be able to work specifically with middle school students. We both love teenagers so much and have dedicated our entire lives to raising up a future generation of sold-out Jesus followers.

Selena and I have two boys named Elliot and Jude. Outside of playing and spending time with Elliot, I enjoy reading, playing music, playing kendama, being outdoors, and drinking coffee.