Randall J. Craker was born to G. Donald & Lydia Craker in Pullman, Washington, where his dad was pastoring the Church of the Nazarene.  Following his High School years in Zillah, Washington, he enrolled as a Philosophy/Religion major at Northwest Nazarene University, graduating in 1973.  During his years at NNU he served in Student Government and as editor of the student newspaper, The Crusader.  In the fall of 1973 he married Robinette Powell, whom he met at NNU.

Following college graduation he spent 15 months in Longmont, Colorado, as a youth pastor.  Then it was on to Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.  While attending seminary he was editor of the newspaper, The Seminarian and also wrote for the denomination’s youth publication, Bread Magazine.  Craker graduated from Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 1978.  From there he moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, where he pastored for five years.  In 1983 the family moved to Leavenworth, Washington, to pastor the Nazarene Church.  Kirkland, Washington was the next stop on his pastoral journey, where he spent 16 years.  In 2004, Dr. Craker was appointed the District Superintendent of the Northwest District.  Randy and Robbie make their home in Spokane, Washington.

Craker has served the Church of the Nazarene in numerous roles:  District NYI President, District Advisory Board member, Ministerial Development Board leader, and District Work & Witness Coordinator.  He’s served the national church as a member of the General NYI Council from 1983-1991 and the General Board from 2001 until the present.  He joined the Board of Trustees at Northwest Nazarene University in 1994 and became a member of the Executive Committee three years later.  In 2006 he was elected chair of the Board, which gave him the major leadership role in the recent presidential search.

In 1991 Randy made his first Work & Witness trip to the Island nation of Haiti where his life was changed as his heart opened to the peoples of the world.  This was the beginning of 20 trips to either work or teach, traveling to Haiti, Venezuela, Trinidad, Romania, Mozambique, Russia, and Kazakhstan.  He had a role in the beginning of the work of the Church in post-communist Romania, committing to a 3-year involvement which included recruiting teams to go establish compassionate ministries, small business training, pastoral education, and building projects.  In 1996 he went to Mozambique, Africa, for the trip of a life-time.  That one trip turned into 9 visits and encompassed leading the “Mozambique Miracle” which established the Nazarene Seminary in the capitol city of Maputo.  The Miracle project also involved recruiting compassionate ministry teams, raising scholarship dollars, providing pastoral education and running youth camps.

Randy is an avid reader and sports fan.  One of his hobbies is to visit major league baseball parks.  To date he has visited 24.  The Crakers have 3 children Mick (Kimberly), Olivia Metcalf (Dustin), Craig (Veronica) and 4 grandchildren – Andrew and Ethan Metcalf, Eleanor and Emmett Craker.