Allen was born in Oregon and has been married to Carolyn for 50 years. They have three children and ten grandchildren. They have lived in Brooklyn, NY since 1986 after serving in Central America seven years. He has been involved in church planting, pastoring and missions leadership since 1978. He loves to read and try ethnic foods. Allen tries reaching out to local Bengali Muslims with the dream of seeing a group of followers of Jesus established among them.