PASTOR

Dr. Fran Bragan has been the pastor at Lake Wateree Presbyterian Church since 2006. Initially, she came to temporarily supply the pulpit for ten weeks while the current pastor was on maternity leave. When the current minister decided to become a stay-at-home mom, Fran agreed to stay until another pastor was called. The weeks turned into months and the months into years. In 1997 she was ordained and installed as the chaplain and Director of Pastoral Services of the Columbia Community of the Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina where she served before retiring in 2023.

Fran is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. A sixth-generation Presbyterian, Fran has always been involved in the life of the church. She is active in Presbyterian Women and has attended the churchwide gathering of that group twice. Once as chaplain and once as a member of the plenary team where she, her daughter-in-law, Ellie, and her then five-month-old granddaughter, Sarah, gave the opening session benediction to an auditorium of hundreds of women (and a few men) from around the world.

She loves lively faithful worship and empowering people to take the love of God into a hurting world. She lives in West Columbia with her husband, Michael, who pastored Providence Presbyterian Church in West Columbia until 2023. She is the mother of four and grandmother of eight.