Portrait of Will J Roberts. IMB Photo

Will J Roberts, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Kenya and Tanzania, died July 20, 2025. He was 90.  

Will was born Jan. 25, 1935, in Sweetwater, Oklahoma, to the late Leonard H. Roberts and Grace Wilson Roberts. He graduated from Sweetwater High School, and received the Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee; the Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; and the Doctor of Ministry from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (now Gateway Seminary), Mill Valley, California. 

He came to saving faith in Christ at 9 years of age and surrendered to God’s call to preach in 1948. While seeking missionary appointment Will wrote, “It was during a revival meeting in 1953 in the church that has meant so much to my life, the First Baptist Church of Sweetwater, that I felt God was calling me to preach the gospel in a foreign land – that God wanted me to be a foreign missionary.” 

During college, he served as a summer missionary in Kansas and as pastor of the Rhea Baptist Church near Leedey, Oklahoma. He wrote, “While I was at Rhea, a missionary from Nigeria … preached a revival for our church. This experience convinced me more fully that God wanted me in Africa.”  

During college and seminary, he served as an evangelist in revival meetings in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and the Bahamas. His senior year in college, he met Marie Morgan. They were married on Sep. 5, 1957. A short time later, he entered seminary and worked part time in addition to preaching revivals and doing pulpit supply. He recalled the strong missionary emphasis of Southwestern served to strengthen his conviction that God was calling him to the mission field. In 1960, he accepted a call to pastor Jean Baptist Church in Texas. 

While seeking missionary appointment he wrote, “I can see the hand of God written upon the pages of my life – leading sometimes through closed doors, at other times through open doors of opportunities – but always leading me forward to that task which He has for me to do.” 

In 1962, the International Mission Board appointed Will and Marie missionaries to Kenya. According to his family, their early work in Kenya included building Nyeri Baptist High School, starting seminary extensions in four different locations in Kenya and working alongside local partners to start the Baptist Convention of Kenya, where Will served as treasurer for many years. He also served as co-director with a local partner for stewardship and evangelism. They later served in Tanzania, where he taught and was the principal of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Arusha (now Mount Meru University). 

Will was recently preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Frances Marie Roberts. 

He is survived by four daughters, two sons-in-law, one brother, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.  

A funeral service was held July 25 at Sayre (Oklahoma) First Baptist Church, with burial in Mulberry Cemetery, Sweetwater. 

Read an obituary here.