We are excited to introduce you to the new pastor of FUMC Decatur, Rev. Dr. Nick McRae!
We look forward to this new chapter in the life of First United Methodist Church of Decatur and can’t wait to see how the Lord works through Nick in our church. Welcome Rev. McRae and family!
Rev. Dr. Nick McRae grew up on a farm outside of LaFayette, Georgia, and was raised by a family with deep roots in the evangelical Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. Intending to be an English professor, he earned a B.A. at the University of West Georgia, an M.F.A. at Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in English at the University of North Texas, where he taught English composition and creative writing courses.
Nick discerned a call to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church in 2016 and attended the North Texas Conference’s Local Pastor Licensing School in 2017. In 2018, he was appointed to FUMC Sachse as associate pastor. At Sachse, he served as a general associate with roles in many of the church’s ministries: preaching God’s Word, leading the church in worship, presiding at the Communion table, teaching a weekly Bible study, and providing pastoral guidance for various committees.
In 2020, Nick graduated with an M.Div. from Perkins School of Theology, was commissioned as a provisional Elder in the North Texas Conference, and was appointed to Trietsch Memorial UMC in Flower Mound as associate pastor for missions. In that role, he established new mission partnerships in the community, coordinated missional service opportunities for the congregation, and began the work of
revitalizing the church’s evangelistic ministries. He also provided the primary pastoral leadership and preaching ministry for the weekly Communion service, one of Trietsch’s three worshiping communities.
In 2022, Nick was appointed to FUMC Forney as senior pastor. At Forney, he has provided primary leadership in worship, administration, pastoral care, and most other aspects of church life in partnership with a staff of six and many caring and dedicated lay leaders. In addition to these pastoral duties, he faced the difficult challenge of walking the church through the affiliation discernment process. Though himself committed to remaining in the UMC, Nick aimed to serve the congregation as an objective, unbiased leader throughout the process. All along the way, his goal has been to minimize fear and broken relationships while encouraging confidence in the perfect will of God and Christian love among the sisters and brothers of FUMC Forney.
Nick has a passion for God’s Word and takes an expository, Christ-centered, theologically orthodox approach to biblical preaching and teaching. He also has a passion for evangelism—for reaching out to new people to introduce them, or re-introduce them, to the Savior of the world. He sees the pastoral role as a ministry of “equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). Nick believes that all Christians are ministers of the gospel and missionaries to the people in their communities, and he leads best in a collaborative, team-based environment. His prayer is that God will use him to inspire, equip, and empower the people of this church for the ministry to which God is already calling them.
Nick is married to Annie, a part-time audiologist and full-time Supermom. Together they have 15-month-old twin girls: big sister Eve and little sister Adah, named after the first two women called by name in the Bible (see Gen 3:20 and 4:19). When he’s not at church, Nick loves to read (recently lots of spiritual biographies), play music (especially guitar), and study languages. He’s also an avid collector of fine, unique, or otherwise interesting Bibles.
