Staff Member

Herbie Newell

Herbie is the President & Executive Director of Lifeline Children’s Services and its ministry arms. He holds a Master’s of Business Administration in Accounting from Samford University. He worked with WAKM Companies, LLC, a prominent accounting firm, for several years as an independent auditor before being led to Lifeline in 2003 as Executive Director. From January 2004 to December 2008, he served as the president of the Alabama Adoption Coalition and was chosen as a Hague Intercountry Adoption evaluator and team leader by the Council of Accreditation. Under Herbie’s leadership, Lifeline has increased international outreach to 25 countries through adoption and strategic orphan care, obtained licensure in 17 states, attained membership into the ECFA (Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability), and established the foster care arm at Lifeline. Herbie has spoken at many events concerning adoption and the Church’s response to orphan care, including the National Council for Adoption, Christian Alliance for Orphans, Together for Adoption, Care Net and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Having witnessed the plight of older orphans on many international trips, Herbie’s burden for the fatherless was a catalyst for forming (un)adopted in 2009, Lifeline’s strategic orphan care ministry focused on equipping orphaned and vulnerable children with life skills needed to bring about community transformation. During Summer 2013, Herbie and his family traveled for seven weeks throughout China, working with (un)adopted and orphanage partners. In Summer 2018, he and his family served for five weeks in Colombia with Lifeline’s adoption and orphan care partners.

Herbie and his wife, Ashley, live in Birmingham, Alabama, and are parents to son, Caleb, and daughters, Adelynn and Emily. Following her graduation from Samford, Ashley worked as Assistant Director of Sav-A-life, a Birmingham-based crisis pregnancy center, where she counseled hundreds of women on life-giving options for their babies.

Herbie and Ashley share a passion for the unborn, life, and adoption and desire to spend their lives advocating for the least of these.