Craig has considerable skill as a worship leader, preacher, group leader, and leadership coach. He is an empathic and helpful listener with great integrity, compassion, and understanding of others. Craig's greatest strength is his interpersonal skill set-- empathy, friendliness, openness to others, enthusiasm for working (and playing) with others, compassion, respect for others, creating community, helping people see options and better understand the group process.
We at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo were interested in developing our Dungeons & Dragons programming here due to its popularity in the past. We called Craig in to create and lead a half-day workshop to give us an overview on appropriate gaming with youth and keeping the focus on UU values and principles. Craig’s knowledge and expertise in this field gave our group the confidence we needed to move forward with our D&D programming plans. He was wonderful!
Craig has learned the delicate ministerial art of "speaking the truth with love." Craig will always work to bring truth into the room with every message he offers. And that message will always be framed through compassion and a forward-looking love. When I have invited him to preach at the congregation I serve, the members tell me after how much they received from his preaching. His collegiality is dependable, his wisdom is imbued with kindness, and his humor is uplifting.”
Rev. Schwalenberg helps people experience gladness. His personal enjoyment is infectious, and he helps his players to learn and grow through gaming. Craig has taught me numerous games, and I've watched him teach others. He meets people where they are, and helps them embrace the game and its mechanics. Children, retirees, new folks and experienced gamers--he helps everyone feel comfortable and develop competency. As Your Game Minister, Rev. Schwalenberg helps you build cross-cultural, cross-generational community while demonstrating values such as fairness, accountability, and co-operation.
Craig relates well to persons of all ages, from babies and young children up through elders. On one occasion, I listened as Craig engaged in a meaningful theological conversation with a seven year old girl who wanted to know who made God. While she was ultimately unsatisfied with Craig's ideas on the topic, what was most important was that Craig treated her with the same respect he would give an adult
I have had the pleasure of playing games at SUUSI since it first started, and getting to know Craig Schwalenberg in the process. It is truly a labor of love for him, and it shows. It is a huge effort on his part to pull it together each year. There are dozens of games for all types of players. If you ask him, he seems to know the right kind of game for you and can efficiently explain the rules and help when you run into trouble. Of course, it isn’t just the space and the games – he sets up tournaments and game nights for those who are interested. There was clearly a void for this type of service- it has grown to be one of the most popular offerings at SUUSI!
Craig is a superb game master and storyteller. Having enjoyed playing all types of games for 30 years, I have shared the game table with hundreds of people from many different social backgrounds, levels of experience in gaming, and ages from children to adults. However, until Craig game-mastered a home-brew role-playing adventure at a special family event, I had never had the opportunity to witness the joy of my mom role-playing for her very first time in her late 60’s. My mom smiled and laughed as Craig led the table with a light-hearted home-brew story of animals with superpowers. Craig balanced his whimsical adventure with just enough rules to make the game engaging and fun for all players— from those with decades of experience to those with none, like my mom. All of Craig’s games are well planned and run with excellent pacing. There is no lag time and the adventures are wrapped up nicely and on time by the end of the session. Craig possesses a special gift as an expert storyteller— his ability to conjure a unique, fantastical adventure that keeps the attention and excitement of all players.
I enjoyed playing Dungeons and Dragons. It was my first time experiencing it and I had a lot of fun.
Family joined from across the globe - ten or eleven of us from three generations-- it was such a diverse group age- and game experience-wise, I wasn't clear how, or if, it would go. Within 45 minutes, Your Game Minister had inspired us into co-creating a rollicking story of madcap mystery. He got the three under-15s to lead the show almost effortlessly, and got us all hamming up our parts, happily lost in the encounter. It was brilliant.
— Rev. Bob Janis