Robert L. Alderman was born in South Carolina, April 23, 1937, the first of five children born to Ben and Mary Alderman.  He spent his early years in Alcolu, South Carolina, and was graduated from Manning High School, Manning, South Carolina, in 1955.  He is married to the former Amelia Burke of Alcolu, South Carolina, and they have four children and nine grandchildren.

Pastor Alderman received his college education at the University of South Carolina where he earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the College of Business Administration.

He studied in the Graduate School of Bible and Missions at Columbia International University, Columbia, South Carolina, (1957-1960), and was graduated in 1964 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas, with a Master of Divinity degree.  In 1987, he received the Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.  His doctoral study concerned the issue of establishing credibility in the world mission ministry of the local church.

Pastor Alderman has served in the pastoral ministry since 1959 with exception of time given to seminary studies.  He has pastored three affiliate churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and, from 1971 - 2004, pastored the Shenandoah Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia, which is a non-affiliated church. In June 2004, Pastor Alderman assumed the position as Shenandoah’s “Minister-at-Large,” a title that allows him to travel and minister throughout the United States and around the world.

In 1973, he led in the establishment of the Roanoke Valley Christian Schools, a ministry of Shenandoah Baptist Church.  The school currently provides training for over four hundred students in kindergarten 2 through grade twelve.

As a pastor vitally involved in world missions and evangelism, Pastor Alderman has ministered in church and campus ministries and with mission agencies in the United States and abroad.  His foreign work has been primarily with student groups, local churches, and mission agencies.  These foreign ministries have been in the Caribbean, British West Indies, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, San Andreas, Paraguay, Guyana, South Africa, Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, China, Japan, Jordan, Iraq and several countries in Eastern and Western Europe.

He has served on the boards of several Christian organizations.