KANSAS CITY—The process of healing for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) has begun under Robin Hadaway, acting president and associate professor of missions.
On Feb. 14, four days after the resignation of MBTS President R. Philip Roberts, Hadaway made a few brief remarks in chapel.
“With the transition that happened Friday, and some administrative things I was doing on Monday, last night I got to go back to teaching,” he said. “I realized the reason we’re here is to teach the Word and to train you, the next generation of ministers. So, even though we’re in transition, our mission has not changed.
“We appreciate the 11 years Dr. Roberts gave here to this seminary, and for the great things that he did. But we’re turning the page and will be about some different things now. I may only be in this position nine weeks until the next trustee meeting, and then they may go with another interim. I’m the acting president. I’ve instructed my title to be first, associate professor of missions, and secondly acting president, because I see being a missions professor as more important than being president. So I’ll happily return to that duty. During the meantime, the vice presidents and I will enjoy this time of working together and serving you.”
Hadaway, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., who has been an MBTS professor since October 2003, said he was “surprised, honored and humbled” by being chosen to lead the seminary through the initial stages of transition. He and his wife, Kathy, served as missionaries with the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for 18 years. They have three grown children.
He is now over 123 total employees at the seminary, both full-time and part-time. He will serve in his current capacity until at least April 26, which is the next scheduled meeting of the MBTS Board of Trustees. At one time with the IMB he supervised many more people as he was over eastern South America, a region that included more than 300 missionaries in Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
His other IMB roles were as strategy coordinator, cluster leader and church planter in a closed country in North Africa, as well as church planter in Tanzania.
He also was a senior pastor for churches in California and Arizona, and he held the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Alaska and Nevada. He earned a Master’s of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, a Doctor of Ministry from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, Calif., and a Doctor of Theology from the University of South Africa. His undergraduate degree is from Memphis State University.