Karen Whitaker - Senior Pastor

Karen joined the Genesis family as Senior Pastor in 1995, after serving as the senior pastor at Avent Ferry UMC in Raleigh for nine years. After completing her BA in Christian Education at High Point University, she earned a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School in 1981 and is an Ordained Elder in the North Carolina Annual Conference.

Karen's caring nature and strong spirit have allowed her to lead Genesis to new heights of nurture and fellowship among the congregation and within the community.  She believes strongly that a fellowship must reach out and share the love of Christ throughout the community and the world.  She supports and encourages the membership in a myriad of mission and outreach opportunities. 

She has a great family history in the United Methodist Church as her father, Carlton F. Hirschi, served 40 years in the North Carolina Annual Conference. 

She is married to Alan J. Whitaker.  They have three children: Megan (17), Kristen (13) and Justin (4).

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Trip has been on staff as the Youth Pastor since October of 1999.  He graduated from The Divinity School at Duke University in May of 2002 and is currently a Probationary Member of the SC Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Trip currently leads weekly youth Bible studies, the Untied Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF), and helps lead confirmation.

He is a member of the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  A native of Myrtle Beach, SC, Trip played professional soccer while teaching High School sciences and coaching the varsity, JV, and girl’s soccer teams before coming to the Raleigh area.

Surfing, snowboarding, soccer, paper football, and memorizing dialogue from Star Wars are some of his hobbies.

He has been married to his beautiful bride, Eileen, since June of 1999.  They have no children and 1 dog, Maedchen.
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