Author Archives: mhick255

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10 Ways to Become a Plastic Church

6. Care more about your agenda than about honoring and loving people. Push, push, push your church-centric agenda. Don’t respect and honor the role your people have in the community, in their neighborhoods, in their workplace, and in their families. Make it all about the four church walls. This has Plastic Church written all over it!

Not to mention their roles within the church. Ouch.

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Singing the praises of science fiction

My new post at ThinkChristian.

Earlier this summer, NPR asked listeners to select the top 100science fiction and fantasy novels of all time.

By some chance, the final list began and ended with the two most acclaimed Christian novelists of the twentieth century. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy came in at No. 1, while C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy rounded out the list at No. 100.

Read the whole thing and join the conversation.

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What I Wish I’d Known About Faculty Life: Teaching the Curriculum, Etc.

I remember when I was in graduate school, the best advice I was given was from a friend who had recently secured a tenure-track position. He said, “Kevin, it’s a big world out there, and most departments do not teach the sort of anthropology you’ve learned, and many places have people who are critical of it. You’ll need to learn more faster after becoming a professor than you ever have had to do in graduate school.”