KANSAS CITY, Mo. (MBTS) – Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College celebrated the beginning of the academic year during its 2026 Fall Convocation on Sept. 1. The service featured an address from President Jason K. Allen, the signing of the institution’s confessional book by four faculty members, the installation of Jared C. Wilson in the Steve and Mary Dighton Endowed Chair of Pastoral Ministry, and the introduction of five new trustees.
Preaching from 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, Allen urged students, faculty, and staff to pursue the Christian life and ministry with discipline, purpose, and an awareness of the stewardship entrusted to them.
Run in Such a Way That You May Win
Allen titled his message “Run to Win,” drawing from the athletic imagery used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9.
Allen noted that athletic competition was woven into the culture of Paul’s original audience. The Greeks would have known the Olympic Games, while the Corinthians would have been familiar with the Isthmian Games held near Corinth.
“Most likely, it’s these Isthmian Games that the apostle has in mind when he writes to this church,” Allen said. “He gives them this image, this metaphor of competing, of running, and of doing so in a way so as to win, a metaphor his audience could understand quite clearly, just as this audience can today.”
Allen divided the passage into two movements, beginning with Paul’s personal plea to run to win in verses 24–25.
“The purpose of competing is to win,” Allen said. “The purpose of running is to win. The athlete enters the arena. Those who run in a race, they all run.”
Allen explained that, in the immediate context, Paul was speaking about winning others to Christ through Christian life and ministry. Ultimately, the imagery also points toward the crown of glory awaiting those who finish faithfully.
Unlike earthly athletic competition, however, the Christian race is not a zero-sum contest in which only one person can succeed.
“The beautiful reality in the Kingdom—and what then stretches the sports metaphor here—is in the spiritual and ministerial realm, we all can win,” Allen said. “In fact, we all should win. We all must win.”
Allen applied this distinction to the work of Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College and its service to students and churches.
“As an institution, we win when our students win for Christ,” Allen said. “As an institution, we win when our faculty wins for Christ. As an institution, we win when the churches we serve are winning for Christ, which is to say, winning others to Christ.”
Turning to verse 25, Allen considered the self-control exercised by athletes seeking a perishable wreath. Athletes regulate their diets, sleep, and training to pursue an earthly prize, he said, but Christians pursue an imperishable one.
“The body breaks down. The wreath perishes. The human glory fades,” Allen said. “Paul is saying here, ‘We have to keep this in mind.’”
Running with Purpose and Discipline
In the second movement of the passage, Allen considered Paul’s personal example of running to win in verses 26–27. Paul did not run aimlessly or fight without striking his intended target. Instead, he approached his life and ministry with focus and discipline.
Allen pointed to Paul’s journeys and hardships recorded in the Book of Acts as evidence of the apostle’s commitment to the race before him.
“It’s an exhilarating thing to see all that he endured along the way yet never losing sight of the race that he was running,” Allen said.
Allen explained that Paul disciplined his body and resisted both sinful temptations and morally neutral distractions that might hinder his calling.
“He’s talking about narrowing and limiting the impulses of the flesh, narrowing and limiting even extracurricular things that may be morally neutral but, taken to extremes and displacing God’s primary call on one’s life, are hindrances,” Allen said.
The Christian life and ministry are competitive, Allen continued, but other Christian institutions and ministries are not the competition.
“Our competition here is not a sister seminary,” Allen said. “It’s not the church plant down the street. It’s not the preacher down the road whose ministry the Lord seems to be blessing. No, the great competition is the evil one and the sinful nature within us.”
Concluding his message, Allen reminded the seminary community that the responsibility to carry the gospel forward in this generation has been entrusted to them—not faithful Christians in the past who have passed away.
“Martin Luther’s not walking in the room. Charles Spurgeon is not walking in the room. Lottie Moon is not walking in the room. William Carey is not walking in the room. Billy Graham is not walking in the room,” Allen said. “We have walked in the room, and the gospel entrustment has been given to us, and it’s our call to take it and to run to win.”
Faculty Members and Trustees Recognized
During the service, four recently elected faculty members signed Midwestern Seminary’s confessional book: Marshall Adkins, assistant professor of biblical counseling; Patrick Hudson, associate professor of communications and history; Jared Kathcart, assistant professor of Christian education; and Jared C. Wilson, associate professor of pastoral ministry. Wilson also serves as author in residence and general editor of For the Church and has served as the primary preaching pastor at Liberty Baptist Church for the past three years.
Following Wilson’s signing, Allen formally installed him in the Steve and Mary Dighton Endowed Chair of Pastoral Ministry.
Allen reflected on the Dightons’ longstanding investment in Midwestern Seminary. Steve Dighton is the founding pastor of Lenexa Baptist Church—where he served for 25 years—and a longtime friend of the seminary.
“Steve and Mary as a couple, and Lenexa Baptist Church, have invested themselves in this institution really in an unparalleled way over the years,” Allen said.
Midwestern Seminary established the endowed chair in honor of Steve and Mary Dighton following a fundraising initiative completed in recent years. Allen explained that Wilson was a natural choice for the chair because of his commitment to pastoral ministry and to preparing others for it.
“As we began to see Jared’s dissertation coming to a conclusion, we began to think, ‘Who better to be this endowed chair of pastoral ministry than Jared Wilson, who has given his life not just to serving in pastoral ministry, but to strengthening and serving those training for pastoral ministry?’” Allen said.
The convocation service concluded with a benediction by Samuel Parkison, assistant professor of systematic theology, church history, and philosophy.
To watch the convocation service online, click here.
