Donald S. Whitney is the Professor of Biblical Spirituality and John H. Powell Endowed Chair of Pastoral Ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served at Midwestern Seminary in a similar position from 1995 to 2005, and then as Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Associate Dean at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from 2005 to 2024. He has authored nine books, including Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Praying the Bible, and he is a popular conference speaker, especially on personal and congregational spirituality. Dr. Whitney also serves as the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality. He holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of the Free State in South Africa and a D.Min. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Prior to his ministry as a seminary professor, he was pastor of Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, for almost 15 years. Altogether, he has served local churches in pastoral ministry for 24 years. Dr. Whitney lives with his wife, Caffy, in Kansas City, Missouri. They have a married daughter, Laurelen, and five grandchildren.
MBTS: How did you come to pursue the field of biblical spirituality?
Donald S. Whitney: My dad was a wonderful example of consistent Christian living. Part of his example was that of a daily Bible reader. Moreover, my childhood church emphasized daily Bible reading. About a month or so after I went to college, I visited a Christian bookstore and bought a book on prayer. Though I did not know what they were called, the Lord was cultivating in me an interest in the spiritual disciplines.
I thrived spiritually in seminary. I read the biography of George Müller, and it revolutionized my prayer life. At the end of my first semester, I married Caffy. Only heaven will reveal how much her own devotion to the disciplines and support of my growing interest in the study of them contributed to me becoming a professor of biblical spirituality.
During those years, I connected with Dr. T.W. Hunt who remained a father in ministry to me until his death a few years ago. He was revered for his personal holiness and was the most prayerful man I’ve ever known.
In my last week at seminary, I stumbled across a new book that introduced me to the term “spiritual disciplines” and pulled together a lot of threads for me. I devoured books and recordings that related to the disciplines and Christian living, and my preaching reflected those emphases. I enrolled in a D.Min. program, and out of a project for a seminar came the outlines that resulted in my first book, Spiritual
Disciplines for the Christian Life.
MBTS: How does preaching relate to the spiritual disciplines?
Dr. Whitney: Preaching—along with teaching, discipling, and modeling—is one way God has revealed in Scripture for a pastor to communicate what the Bible says about the spiritual disciplines. Pastors should preach about the spiritual disciplines when they find them in the text and look for ways to make applications related to the spiritual disciplines when appropriate.
Although teaching, discipling, and modeling are other Scriptural ways of shepherding people regarding the disciplines, in preaching, pastors can do them all. Even a sermon illustration that begins, “In my personal Bible reading the other day,” teaches that Bible intake is an important practice for all Christians, implies that this is what disciples of Jesus should do, and fulfills the biblical mandate for pastors to be “examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:3).
MBTS: How has your time in pastoral ministry influenced your approach to teaching in seminary?
Dr. Whitney: Altogether I’ve spent 24 years in pastoral ministry. Some were part-time, but most were full-time, including almost 15 years as pastor of an SBC church in the Chicago area. This ministry experience, along with 70 years of active participation in local churches, has made it impossible for me to teach in a seminary classroom without applying the instruction to ministry in the church.
By God’s grace, I am a lifelong churchman. I was even taken to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night for nine months before I was born. The family of God is my family. My ministry as a seminary professor is, ultimately, for the glory of God and for my family—for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
MBTS: What encouragement would you offer to seminary students and pastors for cultivating healthy spiritual disciplines amid the demands of ministry life?
Dr. Whitney: It is essential that seminary students maintain a personal devotional life and not consider their classroom work a substitute. The same is true for pastors who can be tempted to let their sermon preparation function as a replacement for personal spiritual disciplines. Both students and pastors must remember they are Christians first and students or pastors second. As Christians, they need to feed their souls and commune with God in the ways that all Christians should.
The interpersonal spiritual disciplines mandate a student’s active involvement in a local church throughout their time in seminary. Pastors engage in most of the interpersonal disciplines simply as part of their job. But they must be careful to participate in them wholeheartedly and not merely as an obligation. Pastors may also find a group of other pastors with whom they can profit from the discipline of biblical koinonia, talking about God and the things of God, and discuss preaching and pastoral issues. Pastors can benefit from the right kinds of conferences where they can hear the Word preached and worship God as a part of the congregation, unburdened by the responsibilities of leadership. The biblical spiritual disciplines are the God-given means whereby all Christians are to experience and enjoy God and grow in Christlikeness. All believers, including seminary students and pastors, need both.
