Taylor Wilkerson is an American pastor and the youngest son of Rich Wilkerson Sr. and Robyn Wilkerson, who lead Trinity Church in Miami.
He and his wife, Kristen, planted Trinity Church Harlem in New York City in 2016, turning a former Mike Tyson-owned nightclub into a growing congregation across from one of Manhattan’s largest public housing developments.
He is also a second cousin of the late evangelist David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade.
Taylor Wilkerson at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Taylor Wilkerson |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Kristen Wilkerson |
| Parents | Rich Wilkerson Sr. (father), Robyn Wilkerson (mother) |
| Siblings | Rich Wilkerson Jr., Graham Wilkerson, Jonfulton (JF) Wilkerson |
| Notable relative | David Wilkerson (second cousin) |
| Education | |
| Undergraduate | Southeastern University |
| Seminary | Princeton Theological Seminary (graduated 2016) |
| Ministry | |
| Title | Lead Pastor |
| Church | Trinity Church, Harlem, New York City (also known as Trinity New York) |
| Church planted | 2016 |
| Denomination | Assemblies of God-affiliated, Trinity ministry network |
Early Life and Family Background
Taylor Wilkerson grew up in Miami as the youngest of four sons born to Rich Wilkerson Sr. and Robyn Wilkerson, who built Trinity Church into one of the city’s best-known congregations.
His brothers are Rich Wilkerson Jr., the pastor of Vous Church who officiated Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 2014 wedding, along with Graham Wilkerson and Jonfulton (JF) Wilkerson.
Ministry runs deep on both sides of his family. His great-grandparents, D.N. and Kathleen Buntain, were missionaries, and his father’s cousin was David Wilkerson, the evangelist behind Teen Challenge and Times Square Church.
Taylor grew up watching that legacy up close, even though his own calling would take a different shape than either branch of the family expected.
Education and the Road Not Taken
Wilkerson studied at Southeastern University before enrolling at Princeton Theological Seminary. His plans after graduation had nothing to do with pastoring a church.
He and his fiancée, Kristen, intended to honeymoon in Cambodia and then settle there full time to work in environmental and humanitarian projects.
Those plans changed one week before his wedding, when his parents called with an unusual offer.
The Call to Harlem
Rich and Robyn Wilkerson had just been given a building in Harlem by the historic Glad Tidings Tabernacle, an Assemblies of God church that had struggled and eventually sold its midtown property.
The Harlem building sat a mile from Columbia University, five miles from Times Square, and ten miles from Wall Street. It had also spent years as a nightclub once owned by heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson.
Taylor’s parents needed someone willing to do the work of turning it into a church. They asked their youngest son.
He gave the answer most people give when they aren’t ready to say yes and aren’t ready to say no either. He said he would pray about it. What followed surprised him.
While reading an old prayer journal, he came across an entry written the day David Wilkerson died, asking God whether there were any of his cousin’s unfulfilled ministry dreams he might carry forward.
Not long after, he reopened The Cross and the Switchblade and noticed something he’d never registered before: David’s story had started in Harlem, in the very neighborhood the new church building sat in. David had walked those same streets in prayer decades earlier but never planted a church there himself.
Planting Trinity Church Harlem
Taylor and Kristen said yes. In 2015, while Taylor was still finishing his degree at Princeton, the couple gathered eight people on folding chairs inside the old club to talk about a relaunch.
They named the new congregation Trinity Church Harlem, honoring the site’s Glad Tidings history while building something new on top of it.
The location wasn’t chosen for convenience. The church sat directly across from St. Nicholas Houses, one of Manhattan’s largest public housing developments, spanning 13 buildings and roughly 1,500 apartments.
Early on, Wilkerson found bloodstains in the snow outside the church’s front door one morning. Police confirmed a homicide had taken place there overnight and told him cleanup of the sidewalk was the church’s responsibility. It was an early, unfiltered look at the neighborhood he had committed to serve.
He built a launch team the way most young plants do, through momentum rather than budget. Forty strangers packed into the Wilkersons’ apartment for an early gathering, and that group doubled through regular monthly meetings before the church officially launched in spring 2016
A year later, Easter Sunday attendance had climbed past 700, drawing a mix of single mothers from across the street and Wall Street commuters willing to travel uptown for church.
Ministry Philosophy
Wilkerson’s approach to Harlem has stayed consistent since the church’s earliest days: build something that reflects the whole neighborhood, not just one slice of it.
Harlem’s population is roughly two-thirds Black, with sizable Hispanic, white, and Asian communities, and Trinity’s congregation has aimed to reflect that same mix rather than settle into a single demographic lane.
He’s also been direct about how he sees the math of urban ministry. “There can never be enough churches,” he has said, pointing to the sheer number of people moving through Manhattan on any given day who have no connection to a faith community at all.
That framing shows up in how he talks about growth: not as competition with other churches, but as a shortage still waiting to be addressed.
Personal Life
Taylor is married to Kristen Wilkerson, and the two have co-led the church together since its earliest planning stages. They serve as co-pastors, a model consistent with the rest of the Wilkerson family’s churches, where husband-and-wife teams lead jointly rather than one spouse taking a purely supporting role.
Influence and Legacy
Trinity Church Harlem represents a distinct branch of the same ministry network that produced Trinity Church Miami and Vous Church, giving the Wilkerson family a footprint that now spans Florida and New York City with three active congregations across two generations.
Taylor’s decision to build in Harlem also created an unplanned link back to David Wilkerson’s own story, closing a loop that started with a Life magazine photo in 1958 and a mission David never got to finish in that specific neighborhood himself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Taylor Wilkerson?
Taylor Wilkerson is an American pastor and the youngest son of Rich and Robyn Wilkerson, who lead Trinity Church in Miami. He and his wife, Kristen, planted Trinity Church Harlem in New York City in 2016.
Is Taylor Wilkerson related to David Wilkerson?
Yes. Taylor’s father, Rich Wilkerson Sr., is a cousin of David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade. That makes Taylor David Wilkerson’s second cousin, not his direct descendant.
Who are Taylor Wilkerson’s siblings?
Taylor has three brothers: Rich Wilkerson Jr., pastor of Vous Church in Miami; Graham Wilkerson; and Jonfulton (JF) Wilkerson.
What church does Taylor Wilkerson pastor?
Taylor Wilkerson leads Trinity Church in Harlem, New York City, sometimes referred to as Trinity New York, which he and his wife Kristen planted in 2016.
Who is Taylor Wilkerson’s wife?
Taylor Wilkerson is married to Kristen Wilkerson. The couple co-pastors Trinity Church in Harlem, New York.
