wfn.org | ABCUSA: Allbee Named Executive Minister for ABC of Connecticut

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Rich.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 11/24/04)--The Rev. Judy G.
Allbee, resource minister for the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and
Kentucky since 1992 who also has served as a regional area minister and
church pastor, has been named executive minister for American Baptist
Churches of Connecticut.

The Revs. Hopeton Scott and Peg Lewis served as co-chairs of the search
committee that recommended Allbee, who was elected Nov. 9 by the ABCCONN
Board of Managers.  The Rev. Sarah L. Hallstrand has been serving as interim
executive minister since the retirement of Dr. Lowell Fewster in late 2003. 
Allbee will begin her new responsibilities Jan. 18, 2005.

In announcing the appointment, Scott said, "I believe that Judy is the ideal
person for us at this time."

As resource minister in Indiana/Kentucky Allbee is staff person both to 50
churches in northeast Indiana and to the region's Women in Ministry
Committee.  She also provides leadership for the region's Church Alive
Transformation project.

Allbee previously served on the ABCCONN staff as area minister from 1987 to
1992.  In that position she was responsible for 66 churches in three
associations, was staff to the Department of Local Church Ministry, assisted
in the formation of the Women in Ministry Group and led the development of a
Code of Ethics for Congregations.

As pastor of Main Street Baptist Church in Meriden, Conn., from 1983 to 1992,
Allbee was responsible for coordinating an ecumenical soup kitchen and for
helping start an Hispanic Baptist congregation, both housed in the church.

Among other regional work she has served on the ABCCONN Ministers Council
Executive Committee as well as the Council's vice president, and on the Board
of Directors and Development Committee of Connecticut Baptist Homes.  She was
chair of the American Baptist Evangelism Team and Evangelism Council from
1996 to 2002.  She also has held numerous community and ecumenical
responsibilities, including volunteer work as a hospice chaplain and at a
shelter for battered women.  

Allbee holds an M.Div. degree from Bangor Theological Seminary and a B.A.
degree in history from the University of Maine/Orono.  She currently is
working on her D.Min. degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

Allbee and her husband, Stephen, are parents of two adult children.

The American Baptist Churches of Connecticut, one of 35 regions within
American Baptist Churches USA, includes approximately 119 churches and 35,125
members.

K/2004ABNS/04ABN133

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org