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Get to know the family the Lord has sent to plant Risen Church in Concord, NC
The Kitchen Family (Ian, Kristina, Reese, Leo & Canaan)
Ian grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and moved with his family to Concord, NC in 2005. Kristina was born in North Carolina, and after her family spent several years in Minnesota and Grand Cayman, she moved to Concord in 2004. Ian and Kristina met at their high school in Concord, began dating in senior year, and went to college together at UNC Greensboro. They graduated in 2012, were married shortly after, and now have three children: Reese (9), Leo (7) & Canaan (5).
Both Ian and Kristina spent time in church growing up, but they began to actively follow Jesus and own their faith as college freshmen. Through the college ministry of Daystar Church (now Definition Church) in Greensboro, they gained a new understanding of God’s grace, freely given through faith alone - in the sinless life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus. In 2013, Ian became a campus pastor at Daystar, and gained invaluable experience in ministry and leadership for more than four years.
In 2017, Ian and Kristina moved to the Raleigh area so that Ian could complete his Master of Divinity at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They spent two years as members of Open Door Church in Raleigh, where Ian was a Pastoral Intern. After an unexpected opportunity to move across the county to Fuquay-Varina, they became members of Redeemer Community Church, their primary sending church, where Ian is a Church Planting Resident.
Since their marriage in 2012, Ian and Kristina have been compelled to plant a healthy, multiplying church that treasures God’s glory, proclaims Christ’s gospel, and exhibits the Spirit’s transformative power. The last decade of training in both the church and the classroom has prepared them as a family to bring this back to the town in which they met, to see Christ’s Kingdom advance in Concord and beyond.