When Grace Taylor moved to Johnson City, she wanted to work as a teacher; now she is the director of campus activities at Milligan.
“I applied for it, and I interviewed here, and I got the job,” she said. “It’s not what I’m classically trained to do, but I do love planning events. I love creating space for people to have fun and to make connections and create community.”
This change took Taylor some time to come to terms with.
“We have this idea of what we think we should do, and God, oftentimes, surprises us in the most unexpected ways. Like, we come across opportunities that, you know, we weren’t originally intending to, but God blesses us in that anyways.”
After moving to Johnson City and being away from her family, Taylor felt hopeless but found strength in her faith.
“I felt like the Holy Spirit was very much a part of my journey to get here and not necessarily that staying in Knoxville would have been a bad thing, but it was one of those things where staying put felt worse than moving into something new with the hope that God was going to provide something beautiful. But in the in-between and in the waiting of figuring out what God was doing, um, I felt very confused.”
Although the uncertainty of that season left her feeling confused and unsure of what God was doing, she found hope in remembering that God was still working beyond what she could see and that her journey was part of something much bigger than herself.
“What gives me the most hope in times like that is the reminder that God is always doing something bigger than exactly what’s going on in my life. And whatever the next step is in my life, it’s going to impact other people in the kingdom around me. And God is orchestrating. God has orchestrated the good for everyone. At all times, because God is good. And we are just a small puzzle piece in the larger puzzle.”
Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Taylor is a dog mom; she loves hiking as well as good beach days, plants, window shopping and crocheting. She recently joined a book club that her friends founded. “The Gift of Being Yourself” by David G. Benner and “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt are her favorite books.
“Moving to Johnson City has been a really sweet thing, and there are just lots of new things to do here as well,” she said. “So, these are things I’d historically like to do, but I’m always open to trying new things as well.”
While Taylor has embraced the opportunity to explore in Johnson City, she has also been learning to approach life with a different perspective, one that is less focused on performance. As a “recovering perfectionist,” Taylor often defined her own value based on results and numbers.
“I’m trying to let go of the pressure that being perfect puts on you. And so, I’d say now, to me, results look like, well, did I do my best? And did I give everything I could to that thing? And if the answer is yes, then I did the best that I could with the information that I had. Then I would say that’s successful.”
She tries to integrate that mindset into her work at Milligan.
“There is the very present reality that there are lots of options of things to do. And so, you know, a big turnout at an event is not necessarily what makes an event successful,” she said. “But are people smiling? Are people laughing? Are people creating memories? That’s how I feel like I would measure success now, rather than how many people are able to come.”
Creating memories as well as building community and friendship are what Taylor learned to value during her time in undergraduate school at Johnson University in Knoxville, and something she wants to help build at Milligan through campus events.
“My vision for campus activities at Milligan is that students would have the option and feel welcomed and invited to come, to just be with people, and to come have fun,” she said. “I guess something that I really want students to know is that there’s something for everybody, and that even if you don’t like to play pickleball at Chicken and Pickle, you can come eat chicken wings. So, there’s a space for everybody to bring whatever skills and gifts they have, to come have fun and be with their friends.”
A usual day in the office for Taylor consists of emails, meetings, lunch at the cafeteria, social media work and hosting campus events. After work, she can often be found attending Adoration in Hopwood or ministries and small groups at Grandview Christian Church.
Looking back on the semester so far, Taylor’s favorite campus activity has been the bonfire on freshman move-in day.
“It was so good because a lot of the freshmen and transfer students came, because that was who had just moved in that day,” she said. “And so, they all came and got to meet new people and create memories on their first night of being on campus.”
Her desire to create community extends even beyond campus events, as she says that her office is always a place where students can hang out and have conversations.
“My door is always open. I love to drink coffee, and I love to talk about all kinds of things, and if there’s ever anything pressing that you ever need to talk to anyone about, my office is open.”
Photo: Grace Taylor stands in front of Buffalo Mountain at the Greer pavilion, Milligan University on Sep. 23(Photo Credit: Emily Haas).
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