Rev. Dr. Frank M. McCracken (Mike) was called as pastor of our church in May 2025 and will arrive this summer. He tells his faith journey:
On Palm Sunday of 1971 I was born into a family of Presbyterians and Tar Heels. The Session of White Memorial Presbyterian Church (Raleigh, NC) met that evening and my father, an active Ruling Elder, was excused from the meeting as he was at the hospital awaiting my birth. Our family believes the minutes of that meeting were the first time my name was ever written down.
Throughout my childhood the church often felt like an extension of my home. The faith examples set by my mother and father were constant and comforting to me. During middle or high school there was always a retreat, mission trip or expedition to Montreat to attend. These years were formative spiritually for me and cultivated my relationship with God and my love for the church. Raleigh was home, but my family had deep roots in the mountains and most weekends of the summer were spent in Boone and surrounding areas exploring and enjoying God’s creation.
Following high school I attended Birmingham-Southern College, leading me away from the security of home to a completely new community. Following college, I accepted a job with the Boy Scouts of America in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Success in fundraising for the BSA led to opportunities in nonprofit and financial management positions over the course of the next 16 years in Birmingham. In 2009 I began sensing a call to ministry and began the Inquirer process under the care of the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley in Alabama. Our family moved to Decatur, Georgia, in 2010 where I began work at Columbia Theological Seminary and completed my Master of Divinity in 2013. In 2019 I completed my Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary through the Association of Chicago Theological Seminaries Doctorate in Preaching Program.
I am married to Jennifer, who is accomplished, beautiful, and judging by the last 26 years, very patient. We are parents to Lane Frances (20), who is a sophomore at Wofford College, Hayes (16), who is an amazing photographer and Ren (11), who loves acting and seems to be working on some form of mostly benevolent global domination. As a parent, I have become much more aware and understanding of the love and disposition of God. I now know where love and patience must intersect – and how joy can always be just around the corner.
I was ordained following seminary at Wynne Presbyterian Church in Wynne, AR. After five years, I was called to the First Presbyterian Church of Laurens, SC, where I have served since 2018. Both calls have been fruitful and wonder-filled experiences as I continue to learn to share in the joys and tears that come with shepherding a congregation. As a second career pastor, I try to bring my work and life experience to my ministry and have found my years spent in the pew – as a Ruling Elder, committee member and beneficiary of the care and love of a congregation – to be of great assistance to my work. I often tell people “I can still see the pew where I used to sit from the pulpit,” and this perspective informs how I preach every Sunday.
As one who has come to ministry later in life, I continue to marvel at what it means to be called to this particular work as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. Some days are hard, and some days are pure joy, but I am constantly humbled that God has called me to this work and amazed at the sacred places – such as pulpits, hospital rooms and gravesides – where I am able to serve. I am thankful each day for God’s providence and care that have called and sustained me along the way.