Paula White

Paula White (born April 20, 1966, Tupelo, Mississippi) is an American Pentecostal pastor, speaker, and author associated with the controversial prosperity gospel message, which teaches that faith—expressed through positive thoughts, positive declarations, and donations to the church—draws health, wealth, and happiness into believers’ lives. She rose to prominence as cofounder of Without Walls International Church, a Florida-based megachurch, and later as head of Paula White Ministries and host of her own television program, Paula Today. She is also known for her long-standing relationship with U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, serving as an informal spiritual adviser during his 2016 presidential campaign and later in official advisory roles in the White House.

Early life

White was born Paula Michelle Furr, the daughter of business owners Donald Paul Furr III and Myra Joanelle Furr. When she was five years old the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and, shortly thereafter, her father died by suicide. She has stated that her childhood was marked by financial and personal difficulties, including her mother’s struggles with alcohol. She has also said that she experienced sexual and physical abuse by caregivers and developed eating disorders.

When Paula Furr was nine years old, her mother married a U.S. Navy officer, and the family relocated to the Orlando, Florida, area. She attended Liberty Middle School and Oak Ridge High School before later moving to the Washington, D.C., area, where she graduated from Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, Maryland, in 1984. That same year she converted to Christianity at the Damascus Church of God in Maryland, after which she has said she received a vision from God.

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At 18 Furr became pregnant by musician Dean Knight. The couple married in 1985 and had a son, Bradley Knight, before divorcing in 1989. The following year she married Randy White, a youth pastor at her Pentecostal church, and the couple moved to Tampa, Florida.

Rise in ministry

In 1991 Paula and Randy White started a storefront church called the South Tampa Christian Center. The church grew quickly during the 1990s and was later renamed Without Walls International Church. The Whites notably excelled at reaching racially and ethnically diverse churchgoers; in 1999 its 5,000 congregants were almost equally composed of non-Hispanic Caucasians, Latinos, and African Americans.

She started Paula White Ministries in the 1990s, and her national profile increased in 2000 when she was invited by megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes to speak at his Woman, Thou Art Loosed! conference, a prominent gathering that attracted thousands of attendees. The appearance introduced her to a wider audience, particularly among African American women, and helped establish her reputation as a dynamic speaker. White would later credit her appearance at that conference with her rise and has called Jakes her spiritual father.

Building on this exposure, she launched her first television program, Paula White Today (later retitled Paula Today), in 2001. The show, which featured sermons and interviews, expanded her reach beyond her congregation and contributed to her emergence as a televangelist. By 2006 her show appeared on a number of television networks, including Trinity Broadcasting Network and Black Entertainment Television, where she continued to resonate with Black audiences. Her preaching emphasized themes of personal transformation, faith, health, and financial blessing, aligning her with the prosperity gospel movement.

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The 2000s were banner years for White and her ministry. Without Walls International Church experienced substantial growth, and by 2007 it reported more than 22,000 members, making it one of the largest megachurches in the United States. At the same time, White developed a broader media and publishing presence. She authored numerous books on spirituality and personal development and expanded Paula White Ministries into an international organization, with her television program broadcast in dozens of countries. She also owned multiple side businesses, such as a real estate acquisition company.

Financial scrutiny, divorce, and fall of Without Walls

However, the period was not without its troubles; Without Walls International Church and its leaders came under increasing financial scrutiny in the 2000s. In 2004 the Internal Revenue Service launched a seven-year investigation into the Whites’ personal finances. This was followed in 2007 by an inquiry from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee into Paula White and several other televangelists concerning potential abuses of their organizations’ nonprofit status. (Other Christian figures investigated by the Senate panel included Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Eddie L. Long, Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland.) The committee’s report, issued in 2011, was inconclusive as to legal wrongdoing but raised concerns about the organizations’ governance and reported substantial and lavish expenditures that benefited the Whites and their family members.

During this period White also faced personal challenges, including marital difficulties and family health issues. In 2007 the Whites announced their decision to divorce. Without Walls shrank severely in the aftermath, with declining membership and mounting debt putting the church in trouble with its creditors. In 2009 Paula White assumed the role of senior pastor after her former husband’s departure from the church, but its financial difficulties continued and the church faced foreclosure. A second campus, Without Walls Central, ceased to hold services in 2011 after missed payments. White’s leadership at Without Walls failed to stop the church’s financial decline, and in 2012 White’s former husband returned to the role of senior pastor. The church filed for bankruptcy in 2014.

A new church

By the early 2010s White had begun a new phase of her ministry as pastor of New Destiny Christian Center (NDCC) in the Orlando suburb of Apopka, Florida, a congregation cofounded by minister Zachery Tims and his then-wife Riva Tims. Following Zachery Tims’s death in 2011, White was appointed senior pastor. Her selection was controversial among the Black church’s leadership and laity. Nevertheless, the church initially enjoyed moderate growth under White’s leadership, though membership later declined with her increasing involvement with Pres. Donald Trump. In 2019 she stepped down as senior pastor and passed her role onto her son, Bradley Knight, and his wife, Rachel Joy Knight. The church was subsequently renamed City of Destiny and later rebranded as StoryLife Church. White remained a pastor at the church while also continuing her broader ministry and media work.

In 2015 White married Jonathan Cain, famous keyboardist and songwriter for the rock band Journey, and changed her legal name to White-Cain.

Relationship with Donald Trump

White’s association with Trump began in the early 2000s, when he contacted her after seeing her television program. The two developed an ongoing relationship, and Trump later appeared as a guest on her show and endorsed her work. White became one of his most visible religious supporters, particularly among evangelical Christians.

During Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, White served on his evangelical advisory board, helping coordinate outreach to religious voters. Following Trump’s election, White gained new attention as the first clergywoman to deliver an invocation at a U.S. presidential inauguration, praying at Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. She continued to act as a spiritual adviser to the president during his first term in office. She was also his vocal defender, calling him “raised up by God” and accusing his opponents of attempting to hinder God’s work. In 2019 White joined the White House as a special adviser to the Office of Public Liaison’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, created to give religious groups a greater voice in government programs.

During the presidential campaign of 2020, White publicly endorsed Trump, claiming that any Christian who did not vote for the president would “stand accountable before God.” When Trump lost the election, she prayed at the Save America March in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021; the rally preceded that day’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. After leaving the White House, White continued her involvement in faith-based political advocacy. In September 2021 she founded the National Faith Advisory Board to “protect religious freedom,” “promote a strong America,” “defend life at all stages,” and “honor family values.”

Following Trump’s reelection in 2024, he established a White House Faith Office in 2025 and appointed White to lead it.