Robin Hadaway, a seminary professor and former International Mission Board missionary, announced on Wednesday (March 23) that he will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, June 14–15.
Hadaway, senior professor of missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is the third candidate who plans to be nominated for president. Tom Ascol announced Tuesday his intentions to be nominated, which followed Willy Rice’s announcement on March 2.
“Robin Hadaway has a passion for missions, evangelism and church planting,” said Wade Akins, former International Mission Board missionary, who shared his plans to nominate Hadaway, Baptist Press reported. “He believes thousands of Southern Baptists — men and women, pastors and laypersons — need to drop what they are doing and seek a career in home and foreign missions.”
Akins also noted in the statement that if Hadaway is elected, he would seek to help Woman’s Missionary Union start 1,000 new WMU chapters. He added that WMU plays a critical role in “providing what’s often lacking – prayer and financial support.”
Hadaway served in the United States Air Force before becoming a pastor of churches in California and Arizona. He would then answer the call to missions and help church planting efforts in North Africa and Tanzania and serve in various IMB administrative leadership roles that included regional leader for South America, where he oversaw the work of 350 missionaries in Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, according to Midwestern Seminary’s website. Following 18 years with IMB, he joined the seminary in 2003. Since then, he has served in a variety of leadership roles at the Midwestern, which has included interim president and dean of students.
He graduated from the University of Memphis and received his master of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and doctorates from Gateway Seminary and the University of South Africa.
As senior professor, Hadaway now lives in Oceanside, California, with his wife, Kathy. They have three children and two grandchildren and are members of New Song Community Church.
