Bret Gresham

“Being able to see students grow in their faith and in their understanding of who they are and who God is calling them is truly a blessing and a sacred space”

Bret Gresham is an ordained United Methodist elder and is the campus minister at Wesley at Virginia Tech where he leads students in the ministries of discipleship, worship, mission, fellowship, and outreach. He facilitates the Core Ministry Team and Discernment Team to the adaptive challenges of campus ministry. 

Bret is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he graduated with a degree in Human, Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise and was on the football team. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Bret attended Duke Divinity School and graduated in 2005 with a Master of Divinity. He was appointed to Enon UMC in Mechanicsville, VA where he served as the Senior Pastor for 3 years. During his time as an Associate Pastor at Asbury UMC in Harrisonburg, VA, Bret sensed a call into campus ministry while working with the Wesley Foundation at JMU. In 2009 Bret was able to return to his Alma Mater as the campus minister and has never looked back. Passionate about engaging young adults in such a formative time in their lives, Bret loves to help students work through vocation, leadership, and faith formation.

The true joy of his life is his family. He is married to Erin who is a nurse supervisor at New River Valley Community Services working in addiction. They have two daughters, Clara and Lawson, who keep them busy with all their sports activities and a dog (Daniff – Great Dane/English Mastiff mix) named Groot who weighs over 140lbs. Bret loves sports and is also known to coach football at the high school level.

Blacksburg, VA

Some of my Projects

I was introduced to SLI in 2016 as a member of the Virginia Conference Campus Ministry Team and I am still a part of that team. I believe the language, culture, and processes of SLI have helped to shape Wesley at Virginia Tech and the students who are engaged in its ministries.

Virginia Annual Conference Campus Ministry Team

This group of people was hoping to create an environment for campus ministers and ministries to more faithfully connect with the Annual Conference, each other, and with the local church. This team started out as a “train the trainer” and became an Operational Team working through some of the adaptive challenges with campus ministry in the Conference. Campus Ministers and Ministries were feeling isolated and that there was a lack of support. The team looked to establish opportunities for ministers and ministries to thrive and become more team based. The team worked through some dysfunction and they were able to provide processes and focus to the campus ministries. Personal growth of the team members was paramount and their formation led to leadership and organizational transformation through using the SLI process.

Roanoke District Clergy Area Team

Two of the Districts were asked on behalf of the Bishop’s Steering Team to pilot SLI projects within the Annual Conference to help them strengthen their ability to adapt to new challenges and opportunities and to implement the mission of the Conference. They wanted clergy people on the Annual Conference to be early adopters for change strategies using SLI’s L3 process. The team experienced challenges getting started due to a lack of clarity around purpose and payoff. As the apprentice coach during this project, I worked with the coach to make sure we stuck to the process and the team was able to learn the processes of SLI and begin to implement them in their own context. The entire project was done via Zoom during COVID, which produced its own challenges and opportunities. Members of the team were able to grow as spiritual leaders and in community with one another. They are still figuring out ways to use the SLI process in their contexts and are continuing the team for accountability and for the Loving time.​

Tyson House Campus Ministry Team

This team came out of a desire for their campus ministry to build a structure and process that was generative and transformational. The team consists of staff, students, and interns of the Episcopal and Lutheran Campus Ministry on the campus of the University of Tennessee. As the coach for this project, I am working with them through the SLI process to build and environment that adapts to the new challenges of campus ministry today. They were struggling with communication and structure while desiring to create a team-based approach to ministry so that they can grow capacity and leadership formation. The team is 3 months into the project, and they are thriving! The team members are super excited about the process and possibilities!

“Being able to see students grow in their faith and in their understanding of who they are and who God is calling them is truly a blessing and a sacred space”

Bret Gresham

Bret Gresham is an ordained United Methodist elder and is the campus minister at Wesley at Virginia Tech where he leads students in the ministries of discipleship, worship, mission, fellowship, and outreach. He facilitates the Core Ministry Team and Discernment Team to the adaptive challenges of campus ministry. 

Bret is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he graduated with a degree in Human, Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise and was on the football team. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Bret attended Duke Divinity School and graduated in 2005 with a Master of Divinity. He was appointed to Enon UMC in Mechanicsville, VA where he served as the Senior Pastor for 3 years. During his time as an Associate Pastor at Asbury UMC in Harrisonburg, VA, Bret sensed a call into campus ministry while working with the Wesley Foundation at JMU. In 2009 Bret was able to return to his Alma Mater as the campus minister and has never looked back. Passionate about engaging young adults in such a formative time in their lives, Bret loves to help students work through vocation, leadership, and faith formation.

The true joy of his life is his family. He is married to Erin who is a nurse supervisor at New River Valley Community Services working in addiction. They have two daughters, Clara and Lawson, who keep them busy with all their sports activities and a dog (Daniff – Great Dane/English Mastiff mix) named Groot who weighs over 140lbs. Bret loves sports and is also known to coach football at the high school level.

Blacksburg, VA

Some of my Projects

I was introduced to SLI in 2016 as a member of the Virginia Conference Campus Ministry Team and I am still a part of that team. I believe the language, culture, and processes of SLI have helped to shape Wesley at Virginia Tech and the students who are engaged in its ministries.

Virginia Annual Conference Campus Ministry Team

This group of people was hoping to create an environment for campus ministers and ministries to more faithfully connect with the Annual Conference, each other, and with the local church. This team started out as a “train the trainer” and became an Operational Team working through some of the adaptive challenges with campus ministry in the Conference. Campus Ministers and Ministries were feeling isolated and that there was a lack of support. The team looked to establish opportunities for ministers and ministries to thrive and become more team based. The team worked through some dysfunction and they were able to provide processes and focus to the campus ministries. Personal growth of the team members was paramount and their formation led to leadership and organizational transformation through using the SLI process.

Roanoke District Clergy Area Team

Two of the Districts were asked on behalf of the Bishop’s Steering Team to pilot SLI projects within the Annual Conference to help them strengthen their ability to adapt to new challenges and opportunities and to implement the mission of the Conference. They wanted clergy people on the Annual Conference to be early adopters for change strategies using SLI’s L3 process. The team experienced challenges getting started due to a lack of clarity around purpose and payoff. As the apprentice coach during this project, I worked with the coach to make sure we stuck to the process and the team was able to learn the processes of SLI and begin to implement them in their own context. The entire project was done via Zoom during COVID, which produced its own challenges and opportunities. Members of the team were able to grow as spiritual leaders and in community with one another. They are still figuring out ways to use the SLI process in their contexts and are continuing the team for accountability and for the Loving time.​

Tyson House Campus Ministry Team

This team came out of a desire for their campus ministry to build a structure and process that was generative and transformational. The team consists of staff, students, and interns of the Episcopal and Lutheran Campus Ministry on the campus of the University of Tennessee. As the coach for this project, I am working with them through the SLI process to build and environment that adapts to the new challenges of campus ministry today. They were struggling with communication and structure while desiring to create a team-based approach to ministry so that they can grow capacity and leadership formation. The team is 3 months into the project, and they are thriving! The team members are super excited about the process and possibilities!

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