KANSAS CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Leaders of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary are reportedly squaring off in a struggle over the school's president, Phil Roberts.
Roberts' stewardship of the Kansas City, Mo.-based institution is the subject of a tug-of-war between seminary leaders, according to a Sept. 28 Kansas City Star story. The newspaper said members of the school's trustee board and its board of regents are choosing whether to back Roberts amid ongoing questions about his management style.
The public dispute began Sept. 21, when Associated Baptist Press first reported on the resignation of the college's chief financial officer, David Hodge, after a disagreement with Roberts.
Gene Downing, an Oklahoma City businessman who is chairman of the seminary's trustee board, said at the time that he and other trustees were concerned about Roberts' “leadership” and the reasons Hodge resigned.
BP Photo by Cat McDonald
Phil Roberts gave the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary report to messengers at last June's SBC Annual meeting in San Antonio.
According to Downing and other sources close to the seminary, Roberts placed Hodge on administrative leave Sept. 20 after Hodge declined to give Roberts a copy of a confidential financial analysis. Hodge, who had left a bank presidency in Wichita, Kan., just six months earlier in order to take the position at Midwestern, prepared the analysis at Downing's request.
In the most recent Star story, Downing said the analysis “substantiated the lack of administrative skills on Dr. Roberts' part.”
Downing continued, “I'll put it this way. He's a great preacher, a great family man. He represents the seminary well. But he's lacking in administration and people skills. And in order for the seminary to grow, you have to have these things.”
Roberts and his trustees have been in behind-the-scenes conflict in recent months over his leadership style as well as alleged financial “irregularities,” according to sources close to the seminary. Those issues, and Hodge's resignation, are expected to be addressed by trustees at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 15-16. However, Downing told the Star, the trustees' executive committee was to discuss them earlier, at a meeting Oct. 1.
But the Star reported that members of the seminary's board of regents — a non-governing advisory board tasked mainly with fundraising — are mounting a campaign to back Roberts. One also criticized Downing's handling of the affair.
“This is the most irresponsible act of a board chair that I have ever come in contact with during my 33-some years in corporate life,” Richard Hastings, a Midwestern regent and CEO of a Kansas City hospital system, told the Star. “You handle problems internally until you get to a point where you can't handle it. And that's not what has happened in this case.”
He added, “It's implied that somehow Dr. Roberts has not been fiduciarily sound, but there's no evidence to demonstrate that. Phil Roberts is a good man. I would support him to the end.”
Hastings did not return messages requesting further comment by press time for this story.
Roberts has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the issue, and a seminary spokesperson said Sept. 28 that it is unlikely he will have anything to say to the press in light of the Star report.
However, the seminary released a statement Sept. 21, shortly after the ABP story was published, denouncing the piece. The statement said the story “needlessly attempts to undermine public confidence in our institution. This article consistently puts the least charitable construction upon neutral facts and thus creates an atmosphere of suspicion regarding our motives and procedures. Additionally, the president and executive staff were not consulted with or by any of the other parties mentioned in the ABP story regarding the health and status of the seminary.”
Hodge, while declining to speak about the specifics of his dispute with Roberts, emphasized Sept. 20 that the seminary is on firm financial footing. He repeatedly expressed his confidence in the school, adding he had nothing but praise for the students, faculty and staff. He said there were no financial improprieties at the school and that Southern Baptists can have full confidence in the seminary.
Hodge said he would do “everything in his power” to support the school — including going back to work there if asked. “I would go back if the [management] team wanted me there,” he said — even if Roberts remains president.