Randy and Paula White announce divorce

TAMPA — Megachurch pastors Randy and Paula White stood before their congregation Thursday night and made the announcement that many in their flock feared had been coming for months.

They are divorcing.

“It is the most difficult decision that I have had to make in my entire life,” said the Rev. Randy White, 49. “I take full responsibility for a failed marriage -100 percent. I don’t blame Paula, and I don’t blame other parties. But as the man of the house, I take full responsibility for that.”

He praised his wife, calling her an exceptional woman and a great preacher and wife.

Standing by his side and appearing to fight back tears, the Rev. Paula White called the decision to divorce “one of the most painful of our lives.”

– Article continues after this advertisement –

“But God always comes to you in the dark places of life,” White said, standing beside her husband in the pulpit.

White, 41, also offered a note of optimism.

“It’s not the end of the story for Randy or Paula or maybe even Randy and Paula,” she said.

The couple, who have both been married and divorced before, did not say what caused their breakup. They also did not detail if they had filed for divorce. They have grown children from previous relationships but none together.

Word about trouble in the couple’s marriage has circulated for months. The Whites’ disparate ministry paths have fueled much of the concern. Randy White, a bishop at Without Walls International Church, has been spending time in Malibu, Calif., in hopes of establishing a ministry on the West Coast. Paula White, the church’s senior pastor and a sought-after televangelist, keeps an apartment in New York City, where she recently opened a new ministry and self-help center in July.
[…more…]
– Source: Megachurch founding pastors Randy and Paula White to seek divorce, St. Petersburg Times, USA, Aug. 24, 2007