Craig Sanborn was named Student Ministries Pastor at Wooddale Church’s Edina campus in 2024. He had served in the role on an interim basis since September 2023.
Craig brings more than three decades of experience into the role, having served in youth ministry since 1992. Before coming to Wooddale, he had been a youth pastor at three other churches.
Along with his role at Wooddale, Craig partners and supports other youth ministers through his post as the director of Student Ministries for Converge North Central, a movement of churches across Minnesota and Iowa, including Wooddale.
“I love working with teenagers because I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be one,” Craig said. “There’s nothing more rewarding than helping a teenager discover their identity in Christ and to help them make positive decisions that set them up to success in their adult years.”
He is also a youth communicator and speaker at Family Life Marriage conferences along with his wife, Molly.
Craig and Molly have two children “that make us smile every day,” he said. “Besides my love for Jesus, the most important thing people need to know is that I am married to the ‘Cheese Ball Chick,’ which means that life is an adventure and I never know what is going to happen from one moment to the next.”
He’s also a huge fan of everything having to do with 1980s Marvel comics and the Star Wars universe.
His favorite verses are Galatians 1:10, which says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ,” and 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”