Lifegate Youth Pastor Falls 4 Stories From Balcony on First Day of Honeymoon, Denies Drinking
His family says it's a "miracle" he's alive or at least not paralyzed.
Taylor Foster, an associate youth pastor at the West Dodge campus of Lifegate megachurch in Omaha, Nebraska, fell four stories from his hotel balcony on the first day of his belated honeymoon in Mexico last week and survived.
"I suffered a fall from a four story building, about 60 feet," the recovering pastor told KETV from his hospital bed this week.
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Wiping tears from her eyes as she recounted finding her husband in the dirt outside the hotel, Foster's wife Kiley said she had feared the worst.
"I mean I just thought he was dead. He should be, it's by the grace of God that he isn't," she said in the report.
Taylor insisted to KETV that he wasn't drinking at the time of the fall but cannot explain how it happened.
"There are things that we don't understand, and one of those things that we don't understand is the reason why I fell," Foster told KETV. "I remember falling but after that I was unconscious."
Spencer Parish, a church planter with the North American Mission Board who knows both Taylor and his wife, noted in a Facebook post last Wednesday that Taylor accidentally fell backwards from the balcony and suggested that "spiritual forces" could have been at work.
"Taylor said he leaned forward to get off the ledge and felt like he was pushed backward. He's a youth pastor who loves the Lord passionately, so it would make sense if there were spiritual forces at work," Parish said.
MaKaya O'Neill, an associate director at Lifegate Church, explained that Taylor and his wife who both work for the church got married in 2013 but were only just able to go on their honeymoon "as Taylor just graduated from seminary last week."
"Pastor Taylor joined the Lifegate family as a Pastor for our youth and has done a great job leading and loving the youth all while being married and studying in seminary. Kiley is on our staff as a wonderful assistant to our Executive Pastor," she noted.
The fall resulted in "3 complex fractures" to Taylor's femur, according to a GoFundMe campaign and the family is now seeking to raise $40,000 to help pay for his medical bills. The campaign has already raised more than $30,000 in the last six days alone.
"He was rushed to the hospital where they struggled to figure out their medical insurance and how it works while out of the country. The hospital that they were at wanted $25,000 down to perform the surgery," the campaign explained.
"They finally decided to have Taylor transported back to the states where they could feel better about the delicate surgery that needs to be performed and performed quickly as blood clots and other long term damage could be a concern."
The campaign urged donors to support the couple who are expected to face out of pocket expenses of at least $40,000. They have already paid $25,000 to fly the pastor back from Mexico.
"For those that know Taylor and Kiley, they known how excited they were for this trip to Mexico, it was their honeymoon that they've been waiting for 4 years and it was cut short after just one day," the campaign, created by Turner J. Schenzel, noted.
"On top of the physical implications and the emotional trauma, the financial stress can be debilitating. This is a practical way that we can come together as a community around two people that are loved by so many. If you aren't able to give, please lift up the Foster's in your prayers!"
