Maxie D. Dunnam (1934-) is a

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

minister, evangelist, Bible commentator and writer. He is a past president of

World Methodist Council The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people; this ...

. He is currently President Emeritus of

Asbury Theological Seminary Asbury Theological Seminary is a Christian Wesleyan seminary in the historical Methodist tradition located in Wilmore, Kentucky. It is the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. It is known for its advocacy of egalitarianism, giving ...

Biography

Dunnam was born in Deemer, Mississippi (12 Aug. 1934). He was educated at the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

and gained a B.Sc. in 1955 then a M.Th. from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 1958. In 1977 he was conferred a D.D. from

. Dunnam's extensive pastoral experience includes church planting, rural churches, and suburban and regional congregations in Mississippi, Georgia, California. He created the Upper Room

Cursillo ''Cursillos in Christianity'' ( es, Cursillos de Cristiandad, "Short courses of Christianity") is an apostolic movement of the Catholic Church. It was conceived in Spain between 1940 and 1949 and began with the celebration of the so-called "first c ...

that later became the

Walk to Emmaus The Walk to Emmaus or Emmaus Walk is a three day movement that came out of the Roman Catholic Cursillo Movement. It started in the 1960s and 1970s when Episcopalians and Lutherans, and offered Cursillo. In 1978, The Upper Room of the General Boa ...

. Dunnam is one of the founders and leaders of the

Confessing Movement The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to ret ...

within the United Methodist Church.He became the world editor of

The Upper Room The Cenacle (from the Latin , "dining room"), also known as the Upper Room (from the Koine Greek and , both meaning "upper room"), is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally held to be the site of t ...

Fellowship. From 1982 to 1994, he served twelve fruitful years as senior minister of the six-thousand-member Christ United Methodist Church in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He served as president and chancellor of

Wilmore, Kentucky Wilmore is a home rule-class city in Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 3,686 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the United States Census Bureau ...

, from 1994 through 2004. He is currently president Emeritus there. He has served as president of the

and is currently on its executive committee. He also served as chairman of the Methodist World Evangelism Committee. He is a director of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church and a member of the executive committee of the Association of Theological Schools. He has authored more than forty books, most notably ''The Workbook of Living Prayer'', which sold over one million copies, ''Alive in Christ'', ''This Is Christianity'', and two volumes in ''The Communicator’s Commentary'' series. He is also well known for his radio series "Perceptions."

Theology

Dunnam, along with many other visionaries within the church, were influenced by the teachings and leadership of the Rev. Sam S. Barefield, Jr,

Wesley Foundation {{methodism A Wesley Foundation is a United Methodist campus ministry sponsored in full or in part (depending on the congregation) by the United Methodist Church on a non-church owned and operated campus. Wesley Foundations claim ancestry in the ...

Director at Mississippi Southern from 1950 - 1957. He is recognized as a representative of the

Wesleyan-Arminian Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

tradition.

Awards

In October 1989, Dunnam was inducted into Evangelism's “Hall of Fame” by the Foundation for Evangelism as one of Forty Distinguished Evangelists of the Methodist world. In 1991 he received the

Chair of Honor. He received The Philip Award for Distinguished Service in Evangelism, presented by the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists in 1993.

Publications

Books

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Notes and references

Citations

Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunnam, Maxie 1934 births American evangelicals American United Methodist clergy Arminian ministers Arminian theologians Asbury Theological Seminary alumni Bible commentators Christian writers Emory University alumni Living people University of Southern Mississippi alumni