The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) has announced that Edward W. "Chipps" Tayor III is the 2016 recipient of the Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund Award. This fund was created to support individuals who are becoming involved in the deliberative democracy movement for the first time and who have the passion, vision and commitment to create opportunities for deliberative dialogue in their organizations and communities. Read more about this year's award recipient:

 
ELDER EDWARD W. “CHIPPS” TAYLOR III
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CHAIRMAN
OF
LA. STATE CONFERENCE & Region VI NAACP

Elder Chipps Taylor has been “pursuing liberty in the face of injustice” for the NAACP for more than 28 years, and he is not tired yet. It all started in Arizona, in 1987, when all the states except Arizona were celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday. Governor Evan Mecham rescinded MLK Day as his first act in office, setting off boycotts of the state. That was when Elder Taylor got on the battlefield for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was also a member of the MLK Committee, which protested for 13 years until it became a state holiday.

Elder Taylor has served the Lord for many years. In 1996, he answered the call of God into the Ministry and delivered his first message in Hawaii at the Regional Conference of the NAACP. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1999 under the leadership of Pastor Willie Gable, Jr., of Macedonia MBC in Hammond, Louisiana. He was ordained on November 4, 2005.

Elder Taylor presently serves as an Elder at the Morning Star Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Regional Bishop Gregory Cooper, Sr., where he serves as the Regional Director of Evangelism. He is also State Director of Evangelism and Director of Reaching on the International level of the FGBCFI. He also serves as the Religious Affairs Director for the Louisiana State Conference and Region VI NAACP. He has delivered numerous messages at NAACP conferences on the local, regional, and national levels, most notably at the national headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. Elder Taylor has been a driving force in helping to get people out to vote since 2000 in Louisiana.

Elder Taylor served in the United States Army as a Specialist 4, Legal Clerk from 1974 to 1977. He received a degree in mass communication from Phoenix College in 1980 and also attended Arizona State University. He returned to college at the age of 56 and graduated with a bachelor of theology degree from Christian Bible College in 2011.

God has blessed him with his beautiful wife, Omega LuCretia Taylor, whom he met at an NAACP banquet in 2013. Elder Taylor and Omega have five children.

His greatest desire is to serve God by serving God’s people through preaching and teaching of God’s Holy Word. Finally, whenever one meets Elder Taylor, you will hear him say emphatically,
“You Are Blessed by the Best.”