G. Porter Taylor served as the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina from Sept. 18, 2004 - October 1, 2016. He grew up in Asheville North Carolina, earning his B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.A. in English from the University of South Carolina, and his Ph.D. in theology and literature from Emory University. He received his M.Div. from The School of Theology at Sewanee and served at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Franklin, Tennessee. I

For the past three years he has taught at  Wake Forest University Divinity School as a Visiting Professor for Episcopal Studies.

From 2020-2022 he was the Assisting Bishop in the Diocese of Virginia.

Before his call to the Holy and Sacred Order of Bishops, he served seven years as rector of St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia. He is the author of To Dream as God Dreams: Sermons of Hope, Conversion, and Community, From Anger to Zion: An Alphabet of Faith, and his new memoir: Are You Persuaded? In and Out of Being A Bishop. He is married to Jo Taylor, an artist and research nurse. They have two children, Arthur & Marie.