About President Phil Roberts
Dr. R. Philip Roberts
President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary & College, SBC
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees unanimously elected Dr. R. Philip Roberts as the fourth president of the Kansas City-based Southern Baptist seminary in Jan. 2001. Roberts told trustees he accepted the position “as a trust from God, the Southern Baptist Convention and from you.”
Since arriving, Roberts has overseen steady growth in MBTS’s student population, assembled a top-tier faculty, launched Midwestern Baptist College, SBC, implemented a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program, and expanded the school’s campus by purchasing the Koehn-Myers building, constructing housing facilities and renovating many of the campus’ existing buildings.
Roberts began his duties in Feb. 2001, after a seven-year tenure with the North American Mission Board, where he served as vice president for the Strategic Cities Strategies Group.
The president brings to the job broad experience in training ministerial students. As director of the Interfaith Evangelism Department of the North American Mission Board and later as vice president for urban evangelism and church planting, Roberts often taught seminary students to understand the perspective of other religious groups in order to witness more effectively. He served as professor of missions and evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1990 – 1994 and co-directed the Lewis Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies. Roberts has been honored to speak and preach at a wide array of churches, conferences and seminaries throughout his ministry.
In addition to pastoring international churches in England, Germany and Belgium, Roberts has extensive experience leading and teaching evangelism and discipleship courses throughout Europe. Presently, he serves on the board of trustees for two theological institutes there. Roberts received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Amsterdam, conducted post-graduate research at Oxford University, received the M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and the B.A. from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky. He is the author of several books, including Mormonism Unmasked and The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism, as well as having served as executive director of the Mormonism Unmasked and The Cross and the Crescent interfaith videos. He has also contributed to numerous theological journals, opinion pages and Christian publications.
Roberts and his wife, Anna, have two children, Naomi and Mark.
