PHIL WHITE
Phil White, Senior Pastor of the Calhoun Adventist Church, is a native of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Spokane, Washington, Phil spent the first ten years of his life there. A 1981 graduate of Walla Walla University, Phil holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and Communication. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in 1983. Sensing his calling to ministry at an early age, Phil has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for more than 30 years.
He interned at the Denver South Seventh-day Adventist Church in Denver, Colorado. His first post-seminary pastoral assignment was in the Rock Springs, Wyoming district of the Rocky Mountain Conference, where he served for more than five years. He was ordained to the Gospel ministry in Rock Springs, Wyoming on June 28, 1986. In 1988, he joined the Washington Conference as pastor of the Sedro-Woolley Church in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Later the congregation became the North Cascade Church moving to Burlington, Washington. He served that church family for nearly 11 years. Before coming to the Calhoun Adventist Church in June 2003, White served as Assistant to the President for Communication and director of Men’s Ministries for the Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Phil says, “While the majestic mountain peaks of the Northwest will always be in my heart, I’m captivated by the South. The people here are warm and friendly. The best friendships of my life have been made here in Calhoun. We came here to minister, but we’ve been so blessed by the ministry, generosity and love of the Calhoun Church family.”
Phil’s wife Jan is also a Seventh-day Adventist minister. For nearly 12 years she worked by Phil's side in full-time ministry. She served for six and a half years as Pastor for Nurture and Outreach at the Calhoun Adventist Church. In January 2010, Jan began the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she is currently in residency until August 2011. Phil and Jan have been in love long before they said “I do” in July 1979. They have two children. Liz, and her husband Robert Carlson, live in Berrien Springs, Michigan where Robert is earning a Master of Divinity at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University under the sponsorship of the Dakota Conference. Liz and Robert made Phil and Jan grandparents in March 2010, when Harper James Carlson was born. The White's son Anthony, a student at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington, is currently serving this year in Student Missions on the Outdoor Education staff at Camp Wawona, the Seventh-day Adventist youth camp in Yosemite National Park.
Phil’s interests include photography, bird watching, traveling, hiking, bicycling, radio broadcast work and music. Phil has been involved in a number of short term mission experiences in Russia, the Philippines, and Central America. His greatest passion is sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ. One of his favorite scriptures is Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (NKJV)
Contact Phil White via e-mail at: kphilipwhite@gmail.com
