Ministry News

From White to White

Details: Tuesday, 14 July 2009 11:18

Evangelist Paula White is returning to Tampa, Fla., to lead the charismatic megachurch she and her now ex-husband, Randy White, founded 18 years ago. On Sunday, Paula White officially began her role as senior pastor of Without Walls International Church. The service paid special tribute to Randy White, who resigned last month citing ongoing health challenges.

The church once drew nearly 20,000 attendees each week, but had experienced declining membership since the Whites divorced in 2007. In November, the church faced foreclosure when their bank demanded immediate repayment of a $12 million loan on the property. In March the church had negotiated a modified loan agreement with its lender, the Evangelical Christian Credit Union, based in California. But as recently as June 23, Randy White said the church needed a "financial miracle."

"We are at a critical juncture where we must have a financial blessing," he said in a video e-blast. "[God] spoke to me at the beginning of this year and said 2009 would be our greatest year, and isn't it like the devil to cause confusion, to bring discouragement just before our greatest breakthrough," he added.

White announced Paula White's return the following week through another video e-blast. In interviews with Tampa-area media, he refused to name the illness, calling it a private matter, but added that six doctors had advised him to take the stress out of his life. Addressing the Without Walls congregation on Sunday, he said he had prayed about a successor who could continue Without Walls' legacy "so when I am gone it continues. Immediately my mind came to Paula."

Although she spoke at the church occasionally after the divorce, Paula White spent most of her time preaching and doing missions work through her Paula White Ministries. She said she felt it was her "mantle and mandate," according to a statement on her ministry Web site. "I prayed seriously," Paula White told WFTS Sunday. "I did not take it lightly. I sought counsel and felt it was absolutely the right decision."

She added that her leadership style differs from Randy White's, but they both have the same goals for the ministry. "We have different leadership styles and management styles," she said. "So some of those will be different but the fundamentals of this church will remain."

Randy White told the St. Petersburg Times that he would make a "clean break" from the church, not even attending services unless Paula White gave him her blessing. Both Whites have been upbeat about the leadership change. Randy White said the transition would take the church "to the entire next level."

"Pastor Paula is very excited about this wonderful assignment and opportunity from the Lord and covets your prayers during this time of transition for herself and the congregation," her ministry reported. "We know this is the divine plan of God and that great things are in store." [charismamag.com, 7/13/09]

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Comments

0 #4 Soblessed 2009-07-22 01:47

I am so happy that Paula White is leading the churhc. It wouldn't have made much sense to get an "outsider" to lead.
God bless them both.

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+1 #3 Charles P. Allen 2009-07-17 10:01

"Christian divorce". - Humbug. Love is not simply an emotion. It's a biblical command and an attribute that is often at enmity with our natural thinking and fleshly selfishness. Love is a verb, boys n' girls. Something you deliberate to operate in. God's love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. When you get saved, you receive copious amounts of Love ammo. It's a standing order so 'fire at will'. Just because you don't "feel" love, you don't stop loving - You especially don't stop loving your spouse. If your spouse is unsaved and trollops on you, or chooses to depart, you're called to peace. Otherwise, you're an adulterer/adulteress. Don't like it? Take it up with the Lord while you're standing before him in judgment. No adulterer, murderer, etc., shall enter in.

So many so-called christians here in North America want a gospel of mercy and forgiveness and blessing. Where's the holiness and travailing for the lost and unsaved?

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0 #2 Charles P. Allen 2009-07-17 09:55

Doesn't the Lord emphatically state that he HATES DIVORCE within CHRISTIAN marriages? It doesn't sound like anyone stood on the word, to the very end, in this situation. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, FAITHFULNESS, gentleness, and self-control. Not giving nor receiving offense. Bearing all things, believing all things, enduring all things, etc., etc. . . When a so-called Christian marriage, one in which both partners are so-called five-fold ministers, can't survive, I say, "Even so, Come Lord Jesus." The bride is lallygagging behind with no oil in her lamp. - Praise the Lord, Hooah!

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-1 #1 Charles P. Allen 2009-07-17 09:51

RE: "he refused to name the illness, calling it a private matter, but added that six doctors had advised him to take the stress out of his life."

Me wonders, then, how does a man-of-God condescend to natural-minded medical advice when the the Word of God instructs us to bring our prayers and petitions, with Thanks giving, to the Lord. Knowing, by faith, in advance, that the Peace of GOD, which surpasses "natural-minded" understanding, will GUARD (thinking as a soldier) our heart and mind, in Christ Jesus. I don't recall the Word encouraging us to graciously bow out, citing anxiety (stress) as a just cause.
-->> Continued

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