Paula White

Paula Michelle White-Cain (née Furr; born April 20, 1966) is an American televangelist, apostolic leader in the Independent Charismatic movement, and a proponent of prosperity theology.

[3] In November 2019, Trump appointed her special advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the Office of Public Liaison.

[4][5] From 2014 until May 2019,[6][7][8] White was senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center, in Apopka, Florida, a nondenominational, multicultural megachurch.

Her family moved to the Washington, D.C. area when her stepfather was stationed at the National Naval Medical Center.

[16] Without Walls International Church purchased the property next door, at 3860 West Columbus Drive, to expand its Tampa campus.

The property acquired was a Canada Dry warehouse, which was remodeled and became the church's main sanctuary until September 2014.

At the time, the church reported 14,000 members and 200 ministries, including job training, evangelism for public housing projects, and a teen club.

[20] An audit later made public by a United States Senate committee chaired by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley showed that Without Walls received $150 million from 2004 to 2006.

[21] The Senate report found the church White operated with her now ex-husband spent tax-exempt ministry funds one year to pay nearly $900,000 for the couple's waterfront mansion, over a million dollars in salaries to family members and paid for the Whites' private jet.

[26] By 2008, three years after purchasing the Lakeland property, Without Walls International put both locations up for sale due to financial difficulties.

Selling two parcels of land to the city of Lakeland allowed for a settlement with the credit union in 2009, modifying the mortgage through 2013.

[25] By October 2012, the Tampa property was under foreclosure proceedings by the Evangelical Christian Credit Union after failure to pay loans.

[27] On March 4, 2014, when White was the senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Without Walls International Church filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection.

Charisse Strawberry, Darryl's wife at the time, worked as an assistant to White, accompanying her on speaking engagements.

[30] On December 31, 2011, the New Destiny Christian Church board in Apopka, Florida, announced it had appointed White to succeed Zachery Tims as the new senior pastor.

[36] Tims' ex-wife Riva filed a lawsuit against the board of directors but quickly dropped it, citing a hold harmless clause in her 2009 marital settlement agreement.

[22] After widespread criticism of an Arizona event scheduled for April 9, 2020, for which she had promised "supernatural protection," White withdrew from the fundraiser.

[42] He brought her to Atlantic City on multiple occasions for private Bible studies, and has appeared on her television show.

[50] In 2015, Black pastors called for then-presidential candidate Trump to apologize for unfair treatment of the African American community, and "also to Mexicans for his inflammatory rhetoric".

[50] White, with assistance from her ministry board advisor, Jack Graham, has had an ongoing spiritual collaboration with Trump.

"[52] In response, William Barber II called White a "Christian nationalist" and said that "Jesus was a refugee & did break the law.

[54] Additionally, White said that "the deplorable conditions reported by opportunistic journalists and immigration lawyers just are not there" because youth were "crowded" but in a facility that was "deep cleaned" daily and housed "smiling and laughing children" who played games.

"[59] On November 4, 2020, one day after the election, when election results showed Trump was losing to Joe Biden, White appeared in a prayer service, streamed via Facebook Live, in which she spoke in tongues and repeatedly called on "angelic reinforcement" from "angels" from Africa and South America to secure Trump's reelection, as well as "an abundance of rain".

[60] On January 6, 2021, at the pro-Trump rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol, White offered an opening prayer before Trump's speech.

[70][71] André Gagné, scholar of American evangelicalism and the New Apostolic Reformation, states White's "words were misinterpreted" given the context of her spiritual warfare prayer and the cryptic language used.

"[73] Along with other televangelists, her ministry Without Walls International Church was the subject of an inconclusive 2007–2011 Senate Finance Committee investigation.

[87][88] At the close of 2014, musician Jonathan Cain of the rock band Journey finalized his divorce from his second wife and became engaged to White, whom he had seen during his marriage.

[89] White has one child, a son named Bradley Knight, from her first marriage, whom she installed as her church senior leader in 2019.