Pastor Craig Stanford became Pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran on January 17, 1993. He graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, in 1984 with a B.A. in Religion and a B.S. in Philosophy. He grew up in a congregation of the American Lutheran Church, attended Carthage College, WI (LCA), Concordia College, MN (ALC), and Luther-Northwestern Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN (ELCA) before transferring to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to attend seminary at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN. He graduated with a Masters of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary, in 1991. He has lectured and written widely on religious thought and Lutheranism and has a book (The Death of the Lutheran Reformation) on the decline of Lutheran theology in the Lutheran Church.

    Pastor Craig Stanford is also an adjunct instructor at Illinois Central College (ICC), where he teaches part-time in the Philosophy Department. He teaches Introduction Into Philosophy, Comparative Religions, Social Ethics, and Business Ethics.

    Over the past ten years Pastor Craig Stanford has become widely known in the Peoria area as a conservative commentator on religious, educational, and ethical issues confronting our culture. He is the chief spokesman in this area for the restoration of classical education, particularly within the Lutheran tradition.

    At present he is the Acting Headmaster of The Robert D. Preus Evangelical Lutheran High School Project.

    Pastor Craig Stanford married his wife Dawn in 1982 and together they are raising six children, three boys and three girls. The family of eight resides in East Peoria.