New kind of evangelist

Paula White is not your mom’s evangelist. Female preachers were typically like Kathryn Kuhlman, the Pittsburgh healer who would float onto the stage in an white, flouncy gown. Or they were in the

mode of Anne Graham Lotz, the Rev. Billy Graham’s second eldest daughter, who is known for her serious lectures on the Bible.

Not so with Mrs. White, 38, who showed up at a recent preaching engagement at the Jericho City of Praise congregation in Landover, Md., wearing a filmy black dress with a stylish jagged hem, a bright magenta jacket, black stockings and spiked heels.

Her high-decibel performance had the cadence of the black church service with the organ playing in the background for emphasis and the call-and-response of questions and answers to the congregation. The hundreds who turned out on a weeknight appeared enthralled.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to sit in the back of the bus anymore,” Mrs. White said to cheers. “I think we’re supposed to drive the bus, even own the bus.”

Citing Scripture from memory, Mrs. White declared with enthusiasm: “When you’re facing a crisis, you don’t need an opinion; you need a word from God.”

At times, she sprinted across the stage, pounding the air with one fist or waving a gigantic Bible.

“I preach myself to victory,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to tell the devil, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Mrs. White has had several run-ins with the devil. When she was 5, her father committed suicide. She was physically and sexually abused from ages 6 to 13. She moved frequently in her teens, spending one year at a high school in Gaithersburg. She was unmarried when she had her first child, and her first marriage failed.

Today, she is on her second marriage, a successful partnership with Randy White, a native of Frederick, Md. They co-pastor the 15,000-member Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla.

Although she is white, her foremost mentor is a black man: Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Pentecostal megachurch pastor from Dallas whom she calls her “spiritual father.” Nine networks, including Black Entertainment Television, air Mrs. White’s daily TV show.

She also visits with troubled celebrities, such as pop star Michael Jackson, who summoned her to his Neverland ranch in December for prayer.

“I didn’t counsel him,” she says. “I ministered to him. I spoke words of encouragement and hope to him. I ministered to the person, not the personality.”

Others who have sought out her ministry include professional athletes with roots in Tampa: Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Michael Pittman, Montreal Expos right fielder Carl Everett, New York Yankees right fielder Gary Sheffield and former baseball All-Star Darryl Strawberry. Strawberry, a member of her church, recently served prison time for cocaine possession.

“People tell me,” she says, “‘You’re real, you’re nonjudgmental.’ It’s all because I’ve overcome a lot in my life, and I give them answers from the word of God.”

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