Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9411020042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
His wife, Ann, librarian at Belview Elementary School in Montgomery County, also will retire at the end of the current school year.
"We plan to become full-time RVers the next year and hit the road," Allen said Thursday from his office at the church, among the largest in the New River Valley.
Since coming to Blacksburg in 1974, Allen has presided over an era of growth in parishioners, programs, stewardship and bricks and mortar. Membership has jumped from 800 to 1,100 while the annual budget swelled from $72,000 to almost $600,000, said Allen, who now has four associate pastors to help shoulder the larger workload.
The church also has expanded its building three times and undergone one major renovation in the past two decades.
But Allen's proudest accomplishment is his church's involvement in worldwide ministry. Blacksburg Baptist has "led the way" in setting up two dozen Baptist congregations in India, he said. The church also is supporting plans to build a Baptist seminary there, and Allen said he sees a possible second-career role in international mission work or seminary teaching.
The author of two well-received books - "How to be a Christian, Happy and Successful" and "Our Common Faith" - Allen said he thinks he has "another book or two" in him.
Starting next spring, he said he and his wife just plan to "take it easy and recharge our batteries." He said the couple probably will head to Alaska for the summer and then Florida for the winter, both places where Allen can indulge his passion for fishing, his favorite pastime. "Jesus had a lot of fishermen on the first team," he said.
Board of Deacons Chairman Ike Eller praised Allen's leadership and said Allen's announcement caught many members by surprise. "We don't know how we're going to operate without Ray Allen around," Eller said. "We're glad to have had him for 20 years."
Eller said he has especially enjoyed Allen's preaching and his knack for aiming his message "at a level where folks live."
Allen was well-known throughout the Southern Baptist Convention. He was a spokesman and leader for the moderate camp in its budget battles and debates with the convention's conservative, fundamentalist majority over the past several years.
\ Shorter version ran on Religion Page October 29, 1994.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***