Brett H. Smith
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 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010), and has published articles and reviews in The Christian Century, Church History, and Fides et Historia. He is a lecturer in Practical Ministry for the Urbana Theological Seminary, and is active with various ministry groups at the University of Illinois and within the American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region. Brett passes the remainder of his time with his wife and two sons. They like to play music, read, enjoy the outdoors, travel, cheer for Illini athletic teams, and relax together around the house.
