While born in Dothan, AL, Wayne Bray spent most of his life in Georgia, where his dad pastored churches for 40 years. Wayne, and his wife of 27 years, Amy, have 5 children between the ages of 13 and 25.

Wayne and Amy spent the first 15 years of marriage attending college and seminary, earning 8 degrees collectively. That season ended when Wayne completed his Doctorate in Leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2010.

For the first 20 years of ministry, Dr. Bray served small to medium-sized churches, both rural and suburban, in Georgia and Louisiana. Then in 2015, God brought the Brays to First Baptist Simpsonville. God has richly blessed the church over the years, but they have experienced much recent growth. First Baptist Simpsonville / Upstate Church now has 7,000 members who gather in 15 distinct worship services across 6 different campuses.

Dr. Bray has authored several books, including Inside Out: Christian Hope in a World of Contradiction – Rainer Publishing (2019). In addition to serving as Lead Pastor at FBS/UC, Wayne enjoys teaching as Adjunct Faculty at Anderson University, and recently served as the President of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.