Christ Redeemer Church
A Church Plant in Grand Forks, ND
About Christ Redeemer
Mission Statement: To Glorify God by making disciples through declaring and displaying the Gospel
Our Team
Jackson Hankey - Planting Pastor
Jackson Hankey grew up on a family farm in Park River, ND. After High School he attended North Dakota State University to study Agricultural Economics and to play football. Although Jackson had grown up going to church, it wasn’t until he began reading the Bible in college that he truly understood the gospel and experienced the saving grace of God. Almost immediately after being saved, Jackson felt a strong burden to preach the gospel, make disciples of Jesus, and pursue Pastoral Ministry.
By God’s grace, Jackson was quickly led to join River City Church in Fargo, ND, where he served for several years as a member and a Pastoral Resident. It was also during this time that Jackson received his formal theological education, gained much of his ministry experience, and learned to deeply love the local church. In June of 2026, River City is sending Jackson, his family, and several others to Grand Forks in order to plant Christ Redeemer Church.
Since April of 2022 Jackson has been married to his lovely wife, Mikayla, and together they have a one-year old son named Theodore.
James Kaczor - Pastoral Resident
James grew up in Saint Cloud, MN, and came to faith in Christ while attending NDSU through the ministry of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Since then, James married his bride Gracie and has had two precious children, Lydia and Silas. James spent the last 3.5 years serving the Lord with FCA but is excited to join Christ Redeemer Church to make the name of Christ known in Grand Forks!
James will be serving the church as a Pastoral Resident with a focus on Campus Ministry at UND.
Why Plant in Grand Forks?
There are many ways that we could answer this question! The simplest answer is that more faithful churches = more faithful disciples. As Christians, we long to see more people experience the inexpressible joy that comes from knowing and following Jesus, and we believe that the greatest way to see this happen is through planting churches that preach the gospel, make disciples, and then plant more churches. In fact, in the New Testament itself we see that the primary means of fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations is through the planting of gospel-preaching, disciple-making churches.
While we know there are already faithful churches in Grand Forks that are preaching the gospel and making disciples, we believe that there is room for more churches to do the same. Grand Forks is a growing city, with a growing university, and with many people that don’t yet truly know Jesus and are not connected to any local church. These are the types of people that we hope to reach with the gospel and bring into Christ Redeemer.