Senior Pastor of North Decatur

Nanci Hicks has served the North Georgia and Oregon Idaho Annual Conferences as an elder since 1999. Her first appointment following seminary was as an associate pastor of Roswell United Methodist Church. She served as director of the Alton-Collins Retreat Center and pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, senior pastor of Mossy Creek in White county Georgia, Briarcliff in Atlanta, East Cobb in Marietta, and Trinity in Rome. Nanci worked. Her husband, Steve is currently on staff at St James United Methodist in Atlanta, having served many years in facilities management for the United Methodist Church and its agencies. Nanci and Steve have two children. Atticus is married and has 2 boys. Annie is married and has two boys. They all live in the Atlanta area.

Spiritual Director in Residence

Kimberly Broerman is the creator and spiritual director of Deep Waters Center for Prayer and Exploration, a sacred place for deepening one’s relationship with God though one-on-on conversations, small groups, retreats, workshops, and contemplative prayer. A graduate of Candler School of Theology, former UMC pastor, and associate at Green Bough House of Prayer, Kimberly has a passion for helping folks grow in their sense of God’s love and movement in their lives. She has been trained in spiritual formation through Upper Room’s Companions in Ministry program, Contemplative Living and Centering Prayer courses at Atlanta’s Julian of Norwich Center, Enneagram Studies in the Narrative Tradition, and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM.

Kimberly loves the sacred privilege of companioning people on their spiritual journeys, creating safe space for people to show up and share their real, messy, beautiful selves, to ask the deeper questions of life, to awaken to the gift and challenge of being fully alive and human, to know a deep and abiding Presence within and around us, and to discern more joyful and meaningful ways to live and serve. She is excited to move her practice to NDUMC, and looks forward to being in a creative, collaborative partnership with this congregation, while continuing to serve the greater Atlanta spiritual community.

Kimberly enjoys long, lingering meals, the Enneagram, books, jigsaw puzzles, digging in the dirt, journaling and pickleball. She shares life and home with her husband Michael and two boys, Theo and Luca; they worship as a family at North Decatur Presbyterian Church.

To learn more about Kimberly and Deep Waters, and sign up for her newsletter, you can visit www.kimberlybroerman.com. Deep Waters is a self-sustaining ministry. supported by program fees and donations of those coming for spiritual direction and nourishment.

Director of Operations

Laura has joined the staff of North Decautur Janauary 2025. Raised between Texas and Georgia, she now lives in Tucker with her husband, Jimmy, their two children, Ashton & Briar, and a horde of rescued cats. She’s spent more than 17 years working in different churches within the Atlanta area and has grown to love the ever-changing pace of United Methodist churches. When not working, she can be found hanging out with family and friends, working as a freelance makeup artist, reading, listening to true-crime podcasts, or hiking, foraging, and camping with her family. You can reach Laura at laura@ndumc.org.

Director of SAND Preschool

Emily Howard is the Director of SAND - the School At North Decatur. She came to us in 2011 as a teacher and has over 15 years experience teaching preschool. Emily grew up in Atlanta but spent some time as an organic farmer and instructor at UMN in New Mexico. Emily has a B.A. in English and in History and loves the Reggio Emilia approach to education. Her own creativity, coupled with an enthusiasm for a Reggio-inspired approach to teaching, provides an exciting foundation for the programs at SAND. In her spare time, Emily quilts, raises chickens and loves gardening. 

Facilities Manager

Alfred has been a member of the North Decatur staff since October 1980. Alfred grew up in the city of Lithonia, Georgia along with seven other siblings. He has previously served as youth minister at The Druid Hills Church of God in Christ in Lithonia, and now serves as an assoiate minister and worship leader at The Temple of Faith Church of God in Christ in East Atlanta. He enjoys sharing the good news of Jesus Christ by giving of his Time, Talents and Treasures.

Director of Worship Arts Ministry

As the Director of Worship and Arts, Sandra serves as Organist and Director of our Chancel Choir, Men’s Chorus, Contemporary Ensemble, and Handbell Choir. The Worship & Arts ministry seeks to support and create opportunities for using creative gifts in Worship for the purpose of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Sandra Kirton has served as accompanist for several local, district, conference, and jurisdictional events and was recently selected to serve as Organist and as one of six House Musicians at the 2012 United Methodist Church General Conference in Tampa, Florida. Sandra is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Fellowship of United Methodist in Music and Worship Arts. She has previously served as Director of Music at several Atlanta-area United Methodist churches and most recently served at St. Mark’s UMC in Brooklyn, New York where her husband, the late Rev. Dr. F. Allan Kirton (former GBGM Staff Member) was Senior Pastor. She welcomes all who wish to share their creative gifts in Worship. 

Youth Minister

Dan was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and grew up in the Church of the Nazarene. Prior to moving to Atlanta, he attended Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN and graduated with a BA in religion. Dan also graduated with a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology in May 2024. Dan has been deeply involved in youth ministry throughout his adolescent and young adult years. He has had a calling and passion for youth ministry for many years and has loved being a part of the community and work of North Decatur UMC since becoming a member in December 2021 and the Youth Minister in August 2022. Dan is currently pursuing ordination as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church. In his free time, Dan enjoys climbing, spending time with friends, being outdoors, playing and watching sports, playing board games, watching comedy, traveling, and trying new restaurants and foods!

Children's Minister

Jon is an MDiv student at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Raised in the Church of the Nazarene, he grew up in Lenoir City, TN and developed a passion for children’s ministries. He earned his BS in biology from Trevecca Nazarene University before moving to Atlanta for Candler (the road to seminary is a long story that he would love to share over coffee). In his spare time, Jon enjoys reading/writing poetry, studying church history, karaoke car rides, and hunting down new coffee shops with good chai. 

Communications Director

Stephen is a MDiv Student at Candler School of Theology, and a lifelong United Methodist. He is originally from Mobile, Alabama and is the child of a UMC Pastor in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. In 2021, he earned a Bachelors of Arts in Biblical Studies from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, with a focus in Mission and Cross-Cultural Communications. During his time at Belhaven, he also had the opportunity to study Music, Social Media Outreach, and Graphic Design as part of his undergraduate education. He enjoys talking theology, being outdoors in an eno, and local coffee.

Apart from his role as Communications Director, Stephen is also serving as a Contextual Education Intern at NDUMC for the 23-24 school year. His role in this centers around new service formation, worship planning,  and small group studies.

Director of Adult Discipleship

Connor is a second year student at Candler School of Theology and is serving as our contextual education intern for the 23-24 School Year! His role for this year will be in organizing our adult faith formation programs, leading traditional Sunday School classes and considering how we can build a sustainable system for spiritual growth here at North Decatur. Within the church, he identifies as a Hebrew Bible-nerd and loves working with folks who are willing to ask difficult questions about faith and the Bible. When he isn’t here at North Decatur, you’ll probably find him watching reality television with his Formation Community mates or playing video games.