December 4, 2000
Phil Roberts nominated to lead Midwestern Seminary
___KANSAS CITY, Mo.--After a year of searching for a successor to Mark Coppenger, trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be asked next month to elect Phil Roberts as the school's president.
___Roberts, vice president for strategic cities with the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board, previously taught missions and evangelism at SoutheasternBaptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
PHIL ROBERTS
___He served five years as director of interfaith evangelism for NAMB and the former Home Mission Board, which became part of NAMB at its creation.
___"The committee believes they are recommending God's man for Midwestern," said search committee Chairman Carl Weiser.
___The seminary's presidential search was launched after trustees fired Coppenger, citing concerns about his ability to deal properly with anger. Since that time, the seminary has reported that some earlier enrollment figures that determined Cooperative Program allocations were overstated during Coppenger's tenure. Trustees also have dealt with suggestions by some that the seminary should move out of Kansas City or perhaps even merge with another SBC seminary.
___Trustees recently announced their determination to keep the seminary in Kansas City but to relocate within the city.
___Leading that relocation and building support for one of the SBC's smallest seminaries amid a sea of change will be among Roberts' most-pressing demands.
___Trustees said from the outset they hoped to find a president who would continue the vision for Midwestern as having "a heart for the Midwest," who would exhibit strong pastoral leanings, have academic credentials and be supportive of the new conservative direction of the SBC.
___"Roberts fits the description on all counts, having been raised in the Midwest, having pastored international Baptist congregations in Belgium, England and Germany, receiving his doctorate from a prestigious university and theological training in Southern Baptist institutions," proclaimed a Baptist Press release written by a seminary spokeswoman. "His defense of conservative theology has been well-known in a wide range of settings among Catholic, Mormon and secular audiences."
___Roberts, 50, said he feels a "definite sense of God's leading" to the position. "I believe the Lord has a wonderful and exciting future for this institution as it continues to contribute to ministerial training and thus the fulfillment of the Great Commission."
___He is the son of the late Ray Roberts, first executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.
___He earned the doctor of philosophy degree from the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the master of divinity degree from Southern Seminary and a bachelor's degree from Georgetown College in Kentucky.
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