RECTOR & STAFF
Click on a staff member below to read their bio and find their contact information. To find more information about our La Esperanza Latino Ministry leaders, visit our La Esperanza webpage. To get to know our vestry, visit Our Vestry page.
The Rev. David McNair
RECTOR
David McNair has been an Episcopal priest for fourteen years. He’s also a dad, a husband, a community builder, a peace and justice advocate, and a dedicated practitioner of centering prayer and yoga. He is young at heart and loves nothing more than connecting with people or tossing neighborhood children into the air. He begins and ends each day having a walk with his devoted canine companion, Sully. David enjoys the outdoors and being in a kayak or swimming hole on hot days.
David and his wife Lynn tend their front yard's organic garden and look forward to discovering what else will fill their empty nest. Their two children, Sadie and Simon, are now fledgling adults. Sadie, age 21, is a student at UNC-Charlotte majoring in Music Education and minoring in Spanish. Simon, age 19, is working with AmeriCorps in the Southwest region of the U.S. before entering North Carolina State University in the fall of 2022.
Prior to being ordained, David worked for nearly a decade as the Canon for Youth, College and Young Adult Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina and the Director of Camp Henry, the diocesan summer camp. Besides many years of experience working with young people, both teaching and designing programs, David has a reverence for ritual, liturgy and community building and is passionate about the work of racial healing and the many justice and outreach ministries in Madison County and Western North Carolina.
Son of Southern Baptist parents and a father who was also a minister, David was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and moved with his family to Bluefield, West Virginia, as a teenager. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1988 and received a M.Div. degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993. After graduating from Wake Forest, McNair worked as a Wilderness Therapeutic Camp Counselor, a Hospital Chaplain, and a Church Youth Minister. David earned a certificate in Anglican Studies from the University of the South School of Theology in 2008 and was ordained as an Episcopal priest that same year.
David began serving as the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in February, 2010. He describes Holy Spirit as a faithful and vibrant church, ever seeking to embody Christ’s love and mercy, justice and reconciliation, authenticity and hope in a world that is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.
Rev. David with wife Lynn, son Simon, and daughter Sadie.