The Rev. Romeo K. Dabee
Biographical Information
Current Position:
JFK Airport Community Minister/Chaplain and Intermin Pastor
Congregation Membership:
St. James-St. Matthew's - South Ozone Park
Date and Year of Birth:
September 29 1975
Date and Year of Ordination:
2005
Previous Positions:
Associate Pastor, Pastor, Interim Pastor
Education and Earned Degrees (with institutions and years, most recent first):
Berlin and Wittenberg, Germany (2023) – Independent Study: Martin Luther’s influence on the Holocaust and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance to the SS/Nazism.
Master of Sacred Theology, LTSP 2012 - Greed: The Slayer of Creation and Community
Master of Divinity, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia 2005
Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, University of Guyana 2000
Diploma in Public Management, University of Guyana 1996.
Queen's College (High School) Guyana 1990.
List up to five (5) current or past community-related activities that would inform your
service as bishop of this synod:
1. Currently establishing the framework for a new "Care Initiative" for intergenerational families in and around the church community. This initiative is in partnership with the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica - a Lily Foundation Project.
2. Launched a Food Program at St. James-St. Matthew's in South Ozone Park, NY in March 2022 to assist families with food insecurities.
3. Contributing member of the Advisory Council of the Queens District Attorney.
4. Community Board 10 participation and engagement with the 106 Precinct.
5. Executive Member (Treasurer) of the International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains - a support network of airport chaplains around the world.
What do you see as the principal challenge to this synod in the next six (6) years, and how
would you address it? (1,000 characters maximum):
In the next six (6) years I see that the volatile geo-political climate would cause further economic instability for us as synod. I have the distinct privilege to serve as pastor and as an airport chaplain and I would confess that being a pastor helps me to be a better chaplain and vice versa. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve among God's people and for the gift of such a diverse synod - we have a lot to offer the rest of the church and the world over.
Fiscal responsibility or stewardship of resources is also a calling through the Word of God, so further strengthening our resolve to care for the creation and each other and neighbor would be paramount. How we manage the current resources is a witness to being faithful with few having the potential to do better, with more. To those that have been given much, much is expected expected of them, and I do believe that the planet has sufficient for everyone's needs and not for everyone's greeds (Mahatma Gandhi). The church is a resource by itself, we have hope that does not disappoints despite the challenges and suffering being endured by our siblings in Christ. The apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians said, "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." It is God's work, we are called to be the hands, feet, voice, face and body of Christ in the world, now more than ever. Amen.
List up to five (5) current or past synod or churchwide activities that would inform your
service as bishop of this synod:
1. Serving as JFK Airport Community Minister/Chaplain offers me the opportunity to engage a very unique setting amongst a variety of God's people. Everyone of them play a critical role ensure the aviation industry achieves it goal of transporting people and goods safely to their destinations. Sometimes, we only have a moment - not even a minute to impact a life or families who need the care in that moment of a lifetime. We are called to comfort not just the terrified consciences but souls with our words, but more importantly through our actions.
2. In the summer of 1994, through the Global Mission Partnership between the Florida-Bahamas Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana (my home church) I was a youth representative to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in Atlanta, Georgia. I was already serving the church as a youth leader, but the words of Dr. Tony Campolo that summer cemented my call: "After what Jesus did for me, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him!" Over the year, after being rostered, I served as an Adult Leader, a Planning Team Member and Advisor to the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event and in 2024, I work as a Servant Volunteer, enduring some 18 hour days.
3. As part of my seminary training, I benefited in visiting the Churchwide offices in the winter of 2002. Thanks to Professor Rich Stewart, we were able to see the wider church at work. This experience helped my pastoral formation and understanding of my role and later, better equipped to serve on the Candidacy Committee of our Synod.
4. In July and August, 2005, I was a leader of an experiment between the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod and the Metro New York Synod. It was intended to engage our youth and plant seeds of care and resiliency in the aftermath of tragedies - 1994 in Oklahoma City and 2001 in New York's Ground Zero. I still share stories of that exchange and experience among our youth some of whom are clergy today.
5. In January, 2025, I participate in the 12th Asian Lutheran International Conference in Malaysia. It was an opportunity to journey alongside our colleagues with the Asian and Pacific Islander and learn how to better serve that demographic here in the United States.
Describe your leadership style. (1,000 characters maximum):
I do my best to listen rather than speaking. I am insightful and very calculating and hedge on being over analytical. My late mother shared with me a pearl of wisdom she received from a retired school principal as she stepped into the same role: You have to rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove.
What gifts would you bring to the office of bishop of this synod? (1,000 characters
maximum):
I am a grateful child of God who was nurtured in a christian household. I am humbled to serve God in this fashion, for now more than ever we have to be the "little Christs" in the world. I have blessed with the gift of discernment, an unwavering sense of call to ministry, administrative, budgeting, motivating abilities and overall, inspirational and lead by example. We've got work to do - God's work, here and now!