Allen joined the staff at First in 2022.

Favorite Bible Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6

Favorite aspect of being the Director of Ministries at First:

I am thrilled with the opportunity to be able to serve God and the people here at First. It is exciting to see all the upcoming opportunities where I can serve and hopefully help further the work of the Kingdom that God is doing at First.

Allen's dream for First, no matter the cost or how complicated:

My dream would be to help equip every person here to be ministers themselves. One of my favorite sayings is that every Christian is a member and every member is a minister. That may not "technically" be the case, but I believe that is God's intent for His church. Every single one of us has a ministry.

Some of us are already engaging in our personal ministry. It may be a ministry here at the First, at your place of work, within your family, or even to the person next door. God has placed us all exactly where we are for a specific purpose. I would love to help foster an environment where everyone feels secure and able to step into that purpose.

One of the most important ways to accommodate that is through small groups. I love corporate worship and it is essential to the life of the church, but everyone being plugged into a smaller group to fellowship, learn, grow and support one another will be the key for us moving forward as a family of God. Whether it be joining a Sunday school class, ministry team or helping to start a bible study of your own, I am here to help.

I love the opportunities that technology provides for us to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and I plan on utilizing all that to the utmost (website, social media, live stream, podcast, blog, etc.), but I don't think that anything can replace face to face, personal interaction.

As much as our ministry should be focused on spreading the gospel to the world, we must remember that it starts by telling the person that we know next door.

Family info:

Kandi - spouse

Caedmon, Mia, Kenzie, Abby & Zeke - children

email Allen at: allen@marionfumc.org