Risen Stories: Meet The Wagners!

Rob and Debbie Wagner joined the Risen Church Core Team in December 2021. They knew the Kitchen family from Redeemer Community Church in Fuquay-Varina, where they had been members for a number of years. They moved to the greater Charlotte area in March 2022 and will be foundational for the future of Risen Church! Below is more of their story.

Debbie’s Testimony

My salvation story is one that began by attending Baptist Churches as a child with my parents and sisters. I thought that I was a Christian because I knew about God and His Son, Jesus. I probably missed the part about accepting Jesus as my Savior and developing a relationship with Him, because I just wasn’t paying attention.

I started going to Young Life meetings in high school and the weekly Campaigners Bible Study. I learned about God and how He wants to give us His ultimate gift, Eternal Life with Him, through Jesus. I accumulated a lot of head knowledge and continued to think that I was on the right track.

Then I went to New Orleans for my sophomore year of college. That spring, I started attending a local Baptist Church. During the invitation hymn one Sunday, I felt God speaking to me, emphatically nudging me to go down the aisle. So, I did, thinking that I wanted to rededicate my life to God, only to realize that I had never really given my life totally to God in the first place. I was baptized on Easter Sunday night and joined a loving discipleship group, whose relationships with God showed me what I had been missing.

Soon after that, my parents told me that I would no longer be able to stay in New Orleans to finish out my college studies. So, at the end of the spring semester, I reluctantly moved back home to GA. Just as unexpected was my move back home, there was also an unexpected, but clearly laid out ground rule: since my parents did not force their interests, like photography and crafts, on me and my sisters, I should not force my interest in Christ on them, or any other member of my family. I felt that Satan was immediately attacking the long-awaited revelation of my God. I had been taken away from my support group in New Orleans and I was a stranger in my own family.

Since then, my life has had its challenges, but I’ve learned that God is greater than life’s highs and lows! He is always with me. His love is so comforting. His patience is infinite. His Plans are divine. He meets my every need. He has only my best interests at heart. If I do not get to experience His best for me, it’s because I get in the way.

Rob’s Testimony

Growing up, Roman Catholicism was the source of my introduction to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I was baptized as an infant, and later received the sacraments of reconciliation (confession), communion and confirmation. Confirmation, as I understood it, is the process of reaffirming the promise that my parents had made for me at baptism, to remain in the Catholic faith and to follow the teachings of the church in following Jesus as God. This is the point where I started to have questions, but was too afraid to go against the flow of all my middle school classmates who were going through the same process.  Because of my fear of eternal damnation, excommunication and most importantly, at the time, disappointing my parents, I was “confirmed”. But this was in word only - it was not accompanied by a change in heart through the Holy Spirit. 

After that, I started to live for myself and what could I get out of life. During this time, God was still at work in my life. I was married (which I also was taught was a sacrament), but then was divorced. Still, God waited patiently for me. It was at the lowest point in my life when I reached out in prayer to give my life to Him. Still not knowing Jesus, I made a promise to Him to try new things and follow Him, not knowing what that meant.

Immediately God responded! He didn’t take away the consequences of the decisions I had made, but He forgave me of the condemnation I deserved for those decisions. The Holy Spirit led me to be a waiter at a nice restaurant to help supplement my income. God wove all these things together for me to meet Debbie. We started dating, and she asked me to go to church with her. (Of course, I wanted to be anywhere she was!) God used that for me to open the Bible and read it for the first time with new eyes. I found that Jesus was in his early 30’s when He took all my sins! At the time, I was also in my early 30’s but, had lived a very different life! Jesus was a man I wanted to know more about. It wasn’t long before I wanted to dedicate my life to Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I shared this with Debbie, and we prayed together. I felt a change in my heart, a weight lifted from me. It was a freedom that I had never felt before. God had used every twist, turn and failing on my part for His glory! 

How Did You Meet?

God used a variety of circumstances to bring us together. Rob worked a second job at a restaurant to help with the cost of a home he had purchased that was bigger than his budget. Debbie was out with one of her neighbors, Ann, for dinner and a movie. They came to the restaurant and sat in Rob’s section for the dinner. We spoke briefly that evening and then later on the phone. We started dating soon after and married in 2001, 10 months later! God brought us together and we are excited each day to spend it with God and each other.

Why do You Feel Church Planting is Important?

We often take churches for granted, as we drive through town and see them located in populated areas. But, in reality, someone had to take a step of faith to start the church – to invite people to come hear the gospel, to grow God’s family of believers. Without church plants, there would be street corners without churches and many people may never know of the greatest gift available to them!

Why did You Choose to Join Risen Church?

God chose us to join Risen Church. Rob felt God calling him after Ian shared with our church that he, Kristina, and family were feeling led to plant a church in the Concord, NC area. Debbie later felt God calling her one Saturday morning as we were praying and asking for gospel opportunities when we left the house for the day to run errands. Debbie felt God’s drawing to leave behind the comfort of that house and begin a new adventure, one where we would find comfort in God. We chose to join Risen Church because God called both of us, at separate times, and put us on the same path to be a part of spreading His gospel in the Concord area.  Risen is God’s choosing, His leading, our following.

Why Should Someone Consider Joining a Church Plant?

God has a perfect plan for your life.  He asks that you trust Him.  He promises to care for you and provide for your needs.  God may want you to step outside of your comfort zone.  He may want you to leave the familiarity of worshipping with your church family to be a part of a new church plant.  Even though this would be a challenging, and possibly scary, step to take, it would be a step of faith.  Put your trust in God into action, based on your belief that God loves everyone and that He can use YOU to reach others.