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Resolutions Passed of the Bible Presbyterian Church
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Resolution 71:1
Memorial Resolution for The Rev. Earle R. White
The Rev. Earle R.White was born on January 4, 1914, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. While a young boy, he also lived in several other New England states. When he was 12 years old, the family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey. They attended the Collingswood Presbyterian Church, where he became a member. In 1933, he felt the call to full-time service on the mission field and began taking night classes at a Bible institute in Philadelphia.
Rev. White graduated from Columbia Bible College and entered Faith Theological Seminary. In 1944, he graduated from Faith Seminary with the master of divinity degree. The same year, he was ordained a minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church. He served one year as pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Ohio.
In June 1945, he married Dorothy Shipman, who was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a science and mathematics high school teacher. Amonth previous to that date, they were appointed as missionaries under The Independent Board for Presbyterian ForeignMissions to go to Chile. After attending the course of the Summer Institute of Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma, they left for Chile in November of that same year. They have six children, all born in Chile: Judith, James, David, Elizabeth, Timothy and Rebekah.During several of his early years in Chile, Dr. White served as a circuit pastor on horseback to several churches in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. The Whites were missionaries in Chile from 1945 until 1971. During that period, Dr. White served as pastor, evangelist, Bible teacher and president of the Bible institute. He strongly supported the position of the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) and for many years served as a director and treasurer of the Latin American Alliance of Christian Churches (ALADIC). He also organized a print shop for printing Christian literature in Spanish. He published a paper, Cruzada Evangélica, that became the forerunner of the Faro Cristiano (Spanish Christian Beacon).
When the Whites left Chile, they drove in their truck from Santiago to Philadelphia, PA—a dis- tance of 10,000 miles. In 1972, they replaced the Rev. and Mrs. Harold Ricker in Guatemala during the Rickers’furlough. Then, in December of that same year, Rev. White was appointed assistant general secretary of The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. In May 1976, he became the associate general secretary. He had visited all of the Independent Board’s mission fields except Arabia in representation of the Board.
Faith Theological Seminary conferred on him the degree of doctor of divinity in 1973. He served as moderator of the New Jersey Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church and twice as vice-moderator of the Bible Presbyterian Synod. In 1976, he was elected to the membership of The Independent Board for Presbyterian Home Missions.
Dr. White faithfully served the Lord at the IBPFM headquarters in various capacities: associate general secretary (1973-1983), general secretary (1984 -1990), assistant secretary (1991-1994), presi- dent (1995-2005), and vice president (2006-2007). He joyously served on various SOME (Student Overseas Missionary Endeavor) teams, including trips to Peru, Chile and the Holy Land, and was always burdened to see young people challenged to missions. Dr. White served for many years on the executive committee of the ICCC; and he and Dr. William Le Roy were also appointed as honorary co- presidents of ALADIC in 2003. Dr. and Mrs. White attended the last ICCC Congress in Seoul, Korea, in 2005.
Earle White was called into the presence of his Lord on May 22, 2007.
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them" (Revelation 14:13).
Adopted by the 71th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church,
meeting in Cape Canaveral, FL, August 2-7, 2007.
