Brett has been University Baptist’s Pastor since December of 2000, and the Baptist Housing Ministry’s Director since February of 2007. Prior to that, he was an Associate Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Champaign, and Director of the United Campus Ministry of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. A native of Rantoul, Illinois, and an alumnus of the University of Illinois (B.S., Finance), he earned theology degrees at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Northwestern University (Ph.D.). Along with his pastoral, teaching and administrative ministry for UBC-BHM, Brett studies the intersection of Christianity with American higher education. He’s the author of Labor’s Millennium: Christianity, Industrial Education, and the Founding of the University of Illinois (Wipf & Stock, 2010), and has published articles and reviews in American Baptist Quarterly,The Christian Century, Church History, and Fides et Historia. He is a Lecturer in Practical Ministry for the Urbana Theological Seminary, a Trustee of Judson University, a past President of the Religious Workers Association at the University of Illinois, and a recipient of the American Baptist Churches’ Newton C. Fetter Higher Education and Campus Ministry Award for significant innovation in campus ministry. He and his wife are the parents of two college-aged sons.