Maxie D. Dunnam is a minister, evangelist, Bible commentator and writer.

Maxie was born in Deemer, Mississippi (August 12, 1934). He was educated at the University of Southern Mississippi and gained a B.Sc. in 1955 then a M.Th. from Emory University in 1958. In 1977 he was conferred a D.D. from Asbury Theological Seminary.

During more than sixty years of ministry, he has served as pastor of rural, suburban and urban congregations in Mississippi, Georgia, and California. From 1982 to 1994, he served twelve fruitful years as senior minister of the six-thousand-member Christ Church Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently minister at large of the same church. In this role, he co-hosts a weekly television program; represents and champions the expansive missional outreach of the congregation, including his commitment to public education which he believes is the civil rights issue of this century.

Apart from pastoral assignments, he has served as president of World Methodist Council, world editor of the Upper Room and president of Asbury Theological Seminary (currently President Emeritus). During his tenure on staff of the Upper Room, he created the Upper Room Cursillo that later became the Walk to Emmaus, and began the Academy of Spiritual Formation. For the ten years (1994 through 2004) he served as president of Asbury in Wilmore, Kentucky, the school pioneered the use of technology establishing a virtual campus and a second geographical campus in Orlando, Florida.

He also served as chairman of the Methodist World Evangelism Committee. And was 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.

Maxie has a passion for assisting ministers in their spiritual growth and especially those that are planting faith communities among the underserved.

He is a prolific writer, having authored more than forty books, including The Workbook of Living Prayer which has sold more than a million copies and is printed in six languages, 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.”

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

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

Maxie and his wife, Jerry, an accomplished artist, were married in 1957. They have three children and four grandchildren.