Craig Sturm
Lead Pastor
The most important thing you can know about me is that I am a sinner saved by the grace of God. By that same grace, my holy ambition is to be serving the Lord faithfully in a vibrant church that has a passion for being God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-led, Bible-based, prayer-saturated, joy-filled, theologically-driven, gospel-advancing, disciple-making, missional-living, hope-giving, justice-pursuing, holistically-minded, and abounding in grace and mercy.
After the blessing of God’s presence and his salvation, I would consider my wife and my children to be his greatest gifts to me. I love Kathy more now after over 22 years of marriage than I ever have. I love the honor of being a dad to five great kids. Being with them is my favorite way to spend free time — a close second would be reading!
My other great love in life is the bride whom Jesus Christ has purchased with his own blood. I consider it an immense privilege and honor to serve his church at Water’s Edge. After all these years, I can’t imagine myself in any other vocation. My heart is energized to serve faithfully for the remainder of my days.
I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. There I grew up until I moved off to college at Indiana University. My beautiful bride Kathy was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska. We met, dated and were married while I was in seminary in Dallas, Texas. God has been good to give me a wide swath of ministry experience including 12 years in the Chicago area, church planting in the Philippines, a season on staff at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and even a stint preaching on the prairies in Alberta, Canada. Most recently I completed a Masters in Leadership in Seattle and was serving as an interim preaching pastor. We are excited to be back in the Chicago area. I am a reserved sports fan but will cheer for the White Sox in baseball season, the Colts in football season, and the Bulls (and I.U.) in basketball season.
