Dave Allen is North Church’s pastoral intern from Duke Divinity School for the summer of 2009. He recently completed his first year of study at Duke. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke in 2004, and joined the staff of Sojourners in Washington, D.C., for three years.

While at Sojourners, he planned and executed a program of direct mail, online, and automatic monthly donations that raised more than one million dollars annually for the organization. But Dave’s true home and passion are in the church, and by late 2006 he knew that it was time to move ahead with his seminary education.

Dave is a member of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and was recently selected as a Ministry Fellow by The Fund for Theological Education. He was also the 2003 Student Preacher at Duke University Chapel in Durham, North Carolina.

Dave is interested in the ways in which ecclesiology - the notion that we are all made into one new humanity in Christ (Eph. 2:11-22) - provides the theological underpinnings for both vibrant church growth and bold local missions. He’s very excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve at North Church this summer, and looks forward to the many things that he will learn from this community.