Education
D.Min. (Luther Seminary, 2011)
M.A. in Theological Studies (Nazarene Theological Seminary, 2004)
Biography
Adam White is Director of the Compelling Word Initiative and Adjunct Instructor of Preaching at Luther Seminary, where he has taught as an adjunct since 2018. He also serves as Lead Pastor of Normandale Lutheran Church in Edina, Minnesota. Before joining Normandale, White served for twelve years as Campus Pastor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and taught as an adjunct in the religion departments at both the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Hastings College.
An ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), White’s research and teaching interests include biblical preaching, lay proclamation, preaching pedagogy, campus ministry, and congregational renewal. His work explores how listening, theological imagination, play, and group improvisation cultivate more compelling proclamation and more resilient Christian communities. Shaped by years of ministry alongside college students, he is particularly interested in what campus ministry can teach the wider church about leadership, vocation, community, and the practice of Christian faith.
As director of the Compelling Word Initiative, White leads a five-year Lilly Endowment–funded initiative exploring how faithful listening cultivates more compelling preaching. Through research, preaching camps, and continuing education, the initiative equips preachers while investigating the relationship between proclamation, formation, and congregational life.
White holds degrees from Hastings College (B.A.), Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.A. in Theological Studies), and Luther Seminary (D.Min.). He teaches and leads workshops for pastors, congregations, and church leaders throughout North America on preaching, worship, leadership, and congregational renewal.
Featured Work
“Dispatches from Campus: Insights from College Ministry for the Broader Church”
Edited by Adam White and Michael Chan
Fortress Press (January 2027)
Congregations and denominational leaders often ask how to reverse decline. Dispatches from Campus begins with a different question: What can the wider church learn from ministries where new forms of Christian community are already taking shape? Co-edited with Michael Chan, the volume gathers fourteen campus ministers from a variety of Christian traditions to reflect on what ministry alongside college students has taught them about the future of the church. Their essays offer theological insight and practical wisdom, inviting the wider church to listen more deeply for where God is already at work and to imagine the future with hope.