Skip Allen
Lead Pastor
Lead Pastoral Team
Life Story
I was born and raised right here in Shelby, NC. As cliche as it sounds, I was raised in a Christian home, and had the privilege of growing up at Putnam Baptist church. At age 13, while in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on a youth trip with Putnam, I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. It was at that point that I realized I had just been good at playing the part of a Christian, and had never given my life to Christ. From that point, I stayed very involved with the youth ministry at the warehouse 247, and was later baptized at one of Putnam’s “Beach House” summer camps. After graduating from Crest High School, I started my undergraduate studies at Liberty University ( I attended Liberty because Jeff Marburger, our Lead Shepherding Pastor, invited me to a college for a weekend event). Going into college, I thought that I was going to go into the medical field. That was my plan, not God’s. Through a series of events during my freshman year, I accepted the call to ministry and changed my major to Biblical Studies. After graduating from Liberty University I received a Masters degree, in Religion, from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Once I was finished with school and returned to Shelby, I served as the youth pastor at Westview Baptist Church. Then in 2012 became the campus pastor for the Shelby campus of Element Church. My primary role now at HCC is teaching on Sunday mornings. I love sports. Especially the Panthers and the Tar Heels. I married Jena Huitt on November 6th of 2009 and we have 5 beautiful children: Haiden, Harrisen, Hadleigh, Hayes, and Halle Rose.
My Hope for HCC
My hope for HCC is that we would live out our name. That in everything we do we would strive to Give Hope, Create Community and Be the Church. As the old hymn says: "My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name." My hope is that we would not only sing that with our mouths, but show it with our lives.