Wherever he traveled, Taylor stirred up the flames of revival. His passion for evangelism and for responsible Christian living as a witness to those outside of the church changed the face of Australian Methodism, giving his services gratuitously. He received only what the Lord supplied from those moved to provide support and made no demands for specific financial returns. His ministry crossed denominational lines and led finally to a two week central city campaign in Sydney.

This was held in Hyde Park under elaborate lights erected around a large platform. It is estimated that as many as eleven thousand converts resulted from his Australian evangelistic labors, and his ministry there has been designated as an expression of true revival (Orr, 1976). He took to heart John Wesley's affirmation, "the world is my parish," and did more to expand the work of Methodism than any other in the nineteenth century.

He won thousands to personal faith in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as well as in the U.S.A., and in large measure is the one responsible for the breadth and energy of Methodist Worldwide Missions. He made a typical preacher's blunder when he saw the huge Eucalyptus trees in the Australian Forests and shipped thousands of seedlings to his wife in San Francisco to be planted for California's building industry. As that particular timber cannot be milled and dressed successfully, his herculean efforts were wasted. (He may be amused to find that, because of the planting of Eucalyptus as a result of his efforts, today the city zoos all over the West can house Australian Koala bears and feed them with their natural nutrition -- an achievement which zoos all over the nation envy!)

Bishop of Africa

Called to Liberia to rescue failing Methodist missions in that state, Taylor was elected Bishop of all Africa where he developed creative programs that centered on the use of indigenous personnel for ministry and endeavored to make missions self-supporting through the cultivation of coffee plantations and similar plans.

While not all of these ventures were as successful as he had hoped, Taylor's mark upon Africa remains as a pioneer who lifted Christian ministries here to new levels as a visionary who led with incredible energy and passion.

In retirement, as he resided in San Francisco from 1884 on, Taylor continued to make trips to Africa and to the Eastern United States and to be active with his virile evangelistic preaching until his decease in 1902.

In 1898 he published The Flaming Torch In Darkest Africa: The Story Of My Life, a 750 page autobiography. William Taylor is buried in Oakland's Mountain View cemetery where his grave is designated as an historic site.

His aggressive no-holds-barred approach to evangelism exactly fitted the needs for vital faith demanded on the Western frontier days although many in the East sought respectability and a return to a more restrained European-like religious practice. Accordingly, in 1890, Fort Wayne College (now of Upland, IN) was renamed Taylor University in honor of this famed Methodist evangelist and missionary pioneer. The original college, sponsored by the National Association of Lay Preachers, a company of men largely self-educated through a rigorous reading program outside of formal schooling, grouped a vigorous section of Methodists distinct from their then prevalent hierarchical structure, and one committed to the Wesleyan Holiness tradition. These rugged early Midwest Methodists saw Taylor as a figure whose energetic commitment to the Gospel made him tower over many others of his era and set him as a fit model for their evangelical school