Hawkinson is executive secretary emeritus of Covenant Publications, from which he retired in 1994 after 24 years in that office and 28 years as executive editor of all Covenant Publications.

A graduate of North Park Academy (1947) and Junior College (1949), he completed his undergraduate work at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois (1951), graduated from North Park Theological Seminary (1955), was ordained by the Covenant Church (1956), and received his Master of Divinity degree from North Park in 1972. He has pursued additional graduate studies in Old Testament at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

Pastorates served over the years have included student internships in Middletown, Connecticut, and Bethany, Chicago; associate work, including youth, at Redeemer Covenant Church (now Beverly) in Chicago; and senior positions at Paxton, Illinois, and Hilmar, California. Hawkinson returned to Chicago to become executive editor of all Covenant publications and editor of The Covenant Companion in 1966. During his years in office he shared in the publication of two hymnals, two confirmation curriculae, and a Covenant Book of Worship (1981) as well as numerous books and occasional papers. In addition, Hawkinson guided the entire department of publications, superintended the work of the Covenant Commission on Church Music and Worship, and shared in wider denominational responsibilities as a member of the Council of Administrators.

Since retiring in 1994, Hawkinson and his wife, Alyce, assisted in the publication of The Covenant Hymnal: A Worshipbook (1996) and have served interim pastorates in Winnetka, Illinois, Bethany (Richfield), Roseville (Seniors), Bloomington, and Salem, New Brighton, Minnesota, where they have been serving since September, 2005. Through five of his retirement years, Hawkinson also compiled and edited Glad Hearts (Covenant Publications, 2003), drawing together in a single source more than 700 readings out of Covenant literature from the mid-19th century to the present.

Hawkinson and his wife, the former Alyce Larson of Kansas City, now lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. They have five children, 15 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren with a fourth expected in mid-2006.