Todd Morikawa

I was born and raised in Hawaii. And since 2009, I have been serving as a pastor at Kailua Baptist Church. I met Chris Bruno in 2011 and we have always agreed that theological education built on reformed convictions was needed here in the islands. Since then, we partnered together in a variety of ways and kept in touch over the years, still hoping and praying for a local and reformed seminary. And in response, God has opened the way for Oahu Theological Seminary to become a reality. Knowing my happy support with the OTS vision and deep interests in Church History, Chris invited me to teach in the area of Historical Theology. 

Let me tell you why I am excited about OTS. First, I have seen many potential church leaders in Hawaii move away to go to seminary, never to return to bless Hawaii with their training. I have also seen many faithful men come to the islands to work in churches, only to move away after a little while. Often, these mainland transplants move away, understandably, because their roots are not here. I believe a local seminary is needed to help us raise up church leaders from within our own local Hawaiian churches. Second, while there are some local schools training ministers, to my knowledge, there is no other school that is so committed to the reformed tradition, which I believe to be the most biblically faithful. Third, I am excited about the Reformed catholicity of the school, involving Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Though we have secondary disagreements, we agree on all the essentials of Reformed Protestantism, and all our dialogue really helps us sharpen one another. Finally, I am thrilled to be a part of raising up church leaders from my church and from other churches. In God’s providence, we have had relatively few men in our church desiring to be pastors, but my church is supportive of me investing in the next generation of leaders from our church or not.