James Emery White, Mega-Church Pastor-Scholar, Named New President of Gordon-Conwell

From the Gordon-Conwell website:

South Hamilton, MA—Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary today announced the appointment of Dr. James Emery White as president, effective July 1, 2006.

Dr. White succeeds Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., who will retire on June 30, 2006.
Dr. White has also been appointed professor of Theology and Culture.

Dr. White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, founder of Serious Times ( www.serioustimes.com ), and an adjunct professor of Christian theology, culture and apologetics at the Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte campus. With over 3,000 families in attendance, Mecklenburg continues to experience more than 80 percent of its growth from the unchurched, and has been cited in a study by the Lilly Endowment as one of the top 300 Protestant churches in the United States.

Dr. White also served in pastoral capacities at churches in North Carolina and Indiana, and was Pastoral Leadership Consultant for Preaching and Worship with the Southern Baptist Convention. He holds Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees in theology, history and biblical studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has pursued advanced study at Vanderbilt University and postdoctoral studies at Oxford University, Oxford, England. Dr. White is the author of 10 books, including Serious Times, Embracing the Mysterious God, The Prayer God Longs For, Rethinking the Church and A Search for the Spiritual.

Commenting on his appointment, Richard A. Armstrong, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, notes, “We are thrilled and grateful to God for raising up a leader of Dr. White’s caliber to be the fourth president of Gordon-Conwell. Dr. White brings a strong record of successful accomplishment in scholarship and pastoral leadership. His gifts and experience as scholar, theologian, educator, author, speaker and pastor uniquely qualify him to lead Gordon-Conwell for the next generation, following in the tradition of its former Board Chair and founder, Dr. Billy Graham; Board Chair and preeminent theologian Dr. Harold Lindsell; and our three distinguished presidents, Dr. Harold John Ockenga, Dr. Robert E. Cooley and Dr. Kaiser.”

“I am delighted at being selected president,” Dr. White comments. “Gordon-Conwell is one of the leading evangelical seminaries in the world, with a rich history and an international reputation of rigorous academic standards in classical theological education. I look forward to building on this foundation of academic excellence as we prepare men and women for the new challenges of ministry to the local church in the twenty-first century.”

A check of his website, www.serioustimes.com, finds that Dr. White has done some fine work on a broad array of issues, including homosexuality (http://www.serioustimes.com/pdf/Homosexuality.pdf). Also check out his church's website (http://www.mecklenburg.org/). I'm glad that my old seminary is making such wise choices.