Faculty Directory

Education

BA, Mississippi State University

MDiv, Asbury Theological Seminary

MA, Claremont School of Theology, 1996, Religious Education

PhD, Claremont School of Theology, 1996, Religious Education, Dissertation: “Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice of Youth: A Liberative Pedagogy for Youth”

Bio

David F. White joined the faculty of Austin Seminary in 2005. Prior to his appointment, he was visiting assistant professor of youth and education and associate director of research for the Youth Theological Initiative at Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1997-2002 he was executive director of the Youth Discipleship Project at Claremont School of Theology, a research project exploring alternative approaches to work with youth and with congregational discernment. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Bethany Theological Seminary, the Claremont School of Theology, and Columbia Theological Seminary. Ordained in the United Methodist Church, White served the church in positions including minister of youth, Upland United Methodist Church, Upland, California; co-pastor, Anchor Park United Methodist Church, Anchorage, Alaska; conference coordinator of youth ministries, Alaska Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church; and associate pastor, Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church, Jackson, Mississippi, and First United Methodist Church, Pascagoula, Mississippi.

White has garnered grants for his research on youth and spiritual discernment, including "Shared Mission Focus on Young People," a one-year research grant to explore practices of drama at the campus ministry of Vanderbilt University in 2003; the Valparaiso Project one-year research grant to explore the practice of discernment among local congregations in 2001; and a three-year Lilly Endowment research grant to explore alternate youth ministry. His publications include Awakening Youth Discipleship in a Consumer Culture (Cascade, 2007, coauthored with Brian Mahan and Michael Warren), Practicing Discernment with Youth (Pilgrim Press, 2005), and "A Decade of the Youth Theological Initiative: An Experiment in the Pedagogy of Communion," in the Journal of Youth and Theology (May 2004).