About Us

MISSION AND HISTORY

As an institution of the Southern Baptist Convention, the seminary is guided by a board of trustees elected by the convention in its annual sessions. The trustees, in turn, elect faculty members and administrative officers. Upon election to the faculty, each professor subscribes to the Baptist Faith and Message statement adopted by the SBC in 2000.

Each faculty member participates in a local Southern Baptist church teaching classes, serving as a deacon or occasionally as an interim pastor.

The faculty is dedicated to equipping men and women in a variety of Christian ministries and committed to the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The students at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary come from a wide variety of cultural, economic and geographical backgrounds. The students, like the faculty and staff, are committed to theological education in preparation for the practice of ministry. About 3,500 have received theological degrees from Midwestern Seminary.

The seminary derives the majority of its financial support from the SBC Cooperative Program. In addition to Cooperative Program funds and student fees, alumni gifts and endowments from special friends enable the school to further its far-reaching ministry.

During the 1950s, a special committee on theological education reviewed the need for establishing a sixth Southern Baptist Convention seminary. Feeling that a new school, especially one located near the so-called pioneer areas of Southern Baptist work, would be of great value to convention ministry, this committee recommended that a seminary be established and that it be placed in Kansas City, Missouri. Thus, on May 29, 1957, during its annual convention in Chicago, the SBC founded Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri, and elected a board of trustees for the new school.

The school began its educational training in rented facilities in Kansas City's Calvary Baptist Church. However, during the first academic session, Midwestern began constructing permanent facilities. By September 1959, the facility consisted of an administration and classroom building, an auditorium and a library. Two years later, another classroom building was added. The seminary then began to answer the need for student housing, completing a residence hall in May 1963. From 1965 to 1973, a complex of 103 student apartments and modular homes was constructed. In 1983, 12 additional apartment units were built and in 1988, 28 two- and three-bedroom apartments were constructed, raising the total to 143 housing units.

New faculty offices were constructed and the classroom building was renovated in 1977.

Dr. Millard J. Berquist, former pastor of the First Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida, served as the school's first president. Dr. Berquist presided 15 years, retiring in 1972. The trustees then elected Dr. Milton Ferguson, former faculty member at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, as president of Midwestern.

In September 1958, the school began its educational training with a nucleus of six outstanding faculty members and 136 students from 21 states and Mexico. The seminary has experienced gratifying growth in both physical numbers and in its ministerial outreach ever since. By its second year, Midwestern had 10 faculty members, 275 students, and an enlarged staff. Currently, 26 faculty members, several adjunct professors, 50-member staff and more than 500 students make up what the seminary community warmly refers to as "the Midwestern family."

In August 1995, Milton Ferguson retired. The Midwestern Seminary board of trustees elected Dr. Mark T. Coppenger as Midwestern's third seminary president, and he began serving August of 1995 until September of 1999.