KANSAS CITY – Jason K. Allen has been named the fifth president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) during a trustees meeting Oct. 15 here.
After a three-hour closed session during their bi-annual meeting, the trustees voted 29-2 to call the 35-year-old Allen following an official nomination, questions from trustees and discussion.
Currently the vice president for institutional advancement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Allen was announced on Sept. 5 as the Presidential Search Team’s nominee for the position after seven months of searching. Allen will begin his duties immediately and will be inaugurated in April, hopefully in the seminary’s new chapel.
Robin Hadaway, associate professor of missions at the seminary, has been serving as interim president of Midwestern since Feb. 10 when former president Phil Roberts resigned.
In addition to his duties as vice president for institutional advancement at Southern, Allen has served as executive director of the Southern Seminary Foundation, and has concurrently pastored Carlisle Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville. In other ministerial roles, he pastored Muldraugh Baptist Church in Muldraugh, Ky., and worked in varying positions at churches in Alabama and Kentucky since 1998. He earned Ph.D. and master of divinity degrees from Southern Seminary and an undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala.
Allen and his wife, Karen, have five children: Anne-Marie, age 9; Caroline, 8; William, 7; Alden, 5; Elizabeth, 4.