Associate Pastor
pastor.phil@seektobefamily.org
Phil White, a native of the Pacific Northwest was born in Spokane, Washington. He sensed his calling to serve the Lord at an early age and pursued ministerial training at Walla Walla University, graduating in 1981, with degrees in Theology and Communication. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in 1983. Pastor Phil interned at the Denver South Seventh-day Adventist Church in Denver, Colorado. His first post-seminary pastoral assignment was in Rock Springs, Wyoming in the Rocky Mountain Conference, where he served for more than five years. In 1988, he joined the Washington Conference as pastor of the North Cascade Seventh-day Adventist Church where he served for 11 years.
Pastor Phil then served as Assistant to the President for the Washington Conference for five years. Sensing his calling back to the trenches of pastoral ministry, in June 2003, he began an eight-year ministry as senior pastor of the Calhoun Seventh-day Adventist Church in Calhoun, Georgia. In June 2011, he became senior pastor of the Simi Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Simi Valley, California, where he pastored along with his wife Jan through 2023. Pastor Jan is currently the pastor of the Ventura, California Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The Whites have two adult children, and three grandchildren. Their daughter Elizabeth Carlson is a registered nurse, and lives with her husband and two children in Walla Walla, Washington. The White’s son Anthony and his wife and son live in Battle Ground, Washington where Anthony serves as Associate Communication Director of the North Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Pastor Phil has been involved in several short-term mission experiences in Russia, the Philippines, and Central America. His greatest passion is sharing the Good News about Jesus with others and leading them to spiritual renewal.