Gregg Kretschmer

My passion for ministry began after I gave my life to Christ in May of 1998. Prior to that, I grew up in Wisconsin, joined the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force and separated from service in 1997. I settled here in Massachusetts after almost 19 years of service. I began my new life as a civilian by managing property in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke until 1999, at which point I started a new career repairing machinery for the U.S. Postal Service.  I did that until my retirement in January 2022.

 

I met my wife Maria in May 1998.  Maria invited me to church at Bethany Assembly of God in Agawam. It was there on the first visit that God got ahold of me.  I gave my heart to Him that very night and my life has never been the same.  Maria and I married in 1999.  I also have a son, Kyle, and a daughter-in-law, Carolina.

I then completed several classes online trying to get to know God better, and I enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the fall of 2005 for in-class studies.  I attended classes while working full time at the USPS and leading the men’s ministries at Bethany.  I graduated with a graduate degree in urban ministry leadership. While pursuing my degree, I also became a licensed and credentialed minister in the Assembly of God Fellowship in 2011.  I was then ordained in 2018.  I am presently the Pastor of Men’s Ministry at Bethany. Over the years at Bethany, I have been very involved, serving on several mission trips and in many capacities, including as a board member, men’s ministry leader, choir member, and membership class teacher.

 

My desire to see others grow in their walk has led to my involvement in many areas of church life.  I started a ministry at Bethany called Warriors for Christ.  I want to see men answer the call placed on their lives by God to be the priests of their homes, their workplaces, their churches, and their communities.  I believe that if men answered that calling, our world would change into the place God originally intended it to be. I am also on the leadership team of a ministry called Strong Enough Men’s Ministry.  It is a ministry where men have an encounter with God during a three-day retreat. The retreat, if approached and participated in fully, will change a man’s walk forever. I have also been blessed to speak at the Ludlow Correctional Center during their chapel services in order to draw men closer to God.  I want to see men grow in Christ.  To that end, I will do everything possible to make that happen.

 

CCS seeks not only to impart educational knowledge, but also to intentionally encourage and challenge the heart of each student in the areas of character and spiritual development.  I am committed to do everything I possibly can to teach the young people of this school the Word, fully and undivided.  My goal is to have them leave here with a firm foundation and a firm understanding of the Word.

The verse I stand on is found in 2 Timothy 2:15: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."