James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry which explores the intersection of faith and culture; and ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president.
Mecklenburg Community Church began with a single family and has grown to over 3,000 families, with over 5,000 active attenders. Mecklenburg experiences over seventy-percent of its growth from those who were previously unchurched and during its formative years was often cited as one of the fastest growing church starts in the United States.
Dr. White holds a B.S. degree in public relations and business from Appalachian State University, and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was awarded a Garrett Teaching Fellowship in both New Testament and Theology. He has also done advanced university study at Vanderbilt University in American religious history, and continuing education at Oxford University in England, including participation in Oxford’s Summer Programme in Theology. He has served as a visiting professor at such institutions as New Orleans Seminary, Southern Seminary, Southeastern Seminary, and the Moscow Theological Institute. He currently serves on the Board of Reference at Union University and previously served on the Board of the Boston Theological Institute, which includes such schools as Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard.
James Emery White is the author of over a dozen books, including such Gold Medallion nominees as
Serious Times and
A Search for the Spiritual, Christianity Today book-of-the-year award winner
Embracing the Mysterious God, as well as
The Prayer God Longs For and
Rethinking the Church. His most recent publications include
The Da Vinci Question and
A Mind for God. Collectively, his books have also been translated into ten languages. Dr. White is also the founder of Serious Times (
www.serioustimes.com), which offers resources on the intersection of church and culture, and sponsors the annual Serious Times Church and Culture Conference.
Though his family's roots have been tied to North Carolina for generations, he was born in Chicago, and then lived in California, Utah, and Washington during his childhood. His family returned to North Carolina during his teen years. Dr. White and his wife, Susan, live in Charlotte with their four children, Rebecca, Rachel, Jonathan and Zachary.
Additional Information:
Ms. Glynn Goble
Executive Assistant
