Craig Nelson was born in California, but grew up with missionary parents in San Jose, Costa Rica.  He went to grade school and high school in Spanish.
Craig moved back to the US to go to college, going to a small Christian Liberal Arts school in Western New York called Houghton College.  There he met Janice, who is from that area.
After getting a Master’s Degree from Buffalo State, he chased Janice to Texas, where she was a Program Director for a large UMC, and he became the VP of Human Resources for a medium sized Finance company.
They came to Florida when Craig started working for the Missions Board of the United Methodist church, doing immigration work in Miami and the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC.  From there Craig felt called to serve the local church as a pastor.  He and Janice moved to Atlanta for him to attend Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  He served a small rural church as a student pastor, and she was the secretary for North Decatur UMC.
The most important acquisition in Atlanta was their first son, Peter.  The three of them moved to Coral Gables, FL, where Craig served as an associate.  The most important acquisition there was their second son Drew.  They stayed in the District to serve Perrine-Peters UMC in southern Dade County), where they served for eight years, moving on to East Naples UMC (Marcus Zillman’s home church).
Next the Nelsons were asked to move back to the Southeast District and Coral Gables, where Craig served as a District Superintendent, serving until 2015 when they moved to St. Petersburg.  Throughout those years Janice served as a Preschool Director, serving in Naples, Miami and St. Pete.  In the last couple of years she has returned to her first love, working with seniors.
The Nelsons are excited about moving back to the East Coast of Florida.  Craig has known about Boca from the Ken Roughton years, and is honored to be appointed there.  Craig has an Uncle and a cousin that live in Boca.  They look forward to crossing I-95.  Crossing it.
Besides serving the Lord, Craig enjoys travelling, mountain bike riding, and pretty much anything with an engine.