Meet a Colleague: Michael Rhodes Michael Rhodes is the manager of copying services.

W&L News Office
February 7, 2024

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I started in June 2011 as a part-time employee. I was just going to work for a few months until my wife and I moved to Asia. That was 12 and a half years ago.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
We have a really nice campus, but I think the walkway between the parking deck and Marketplace is my favorite. It feels like you are away from everything and in nature.

Q. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Buena Vista, Virginia.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
I am a missionary who has lived and been in countries where Christianity is illegal. I have smuggled Bibles into different areas of Asia closed to the gospel and I have assisted refugees with food and medicine and sometimes facilitate for them to travel to safer countries.

Q. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
I love studying and practicing martial arts. I also like to go for long walks or sometimes just sit by the fire pit on a cool evening. I love spending time in church with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Q. If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?
I would love to return to Asia as a full-time missionary. It probably wouldn’t be a dream home, but I could continue to spread the message of the Gospel.

Q. Who most inspires you?
I guess that would be a friend of mine that most people know as Brother Yun. He has faced great persecution and even been imprisoned for his faith but still stands tall for his beliefs and is full of love and compassion for others.

Q. What book are you reading now?
Other than the reading and studying the Bible, I am reading “The Life of Watchman Nee.”

Q. What music are you listening to these days?
Mostly I listen to Contemporary Christian but sometimes Southern Rock.

Q. What is your favorite film (movie) of all time?
“It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Q. What is the website you visit most often and why?
I guess it would be Facebook Messenger and Wechat. I have a lot of personal friends in other countries that I like to chat with.

Q. If they made a movie about your life, who would play you?
Neal McDonough or Kirk Cameron. Both of them have been blacklisted in Hollywood because of their faith.

Q. Which historical figure do you most identify with and why?
Hudson Taylor. His heart was for the Asian people and risked his life there many times.

Q. If you could have coffee with one person, who would it be and why?
My Dad. When you are young you think your Dad doesn’t know much but when you are older you realize he was a wealth of knowledge.

Q. What is your desert island food?
Sushi with some wasabi and pickled ginger.

Q. Tell us something most people don’t know about you.
I have been studying karate for 43 years and the sochi (master instructor) for Seishin-Do Karate Seishoku-Kai. I am also an ordained minister of the gospel.

Q. What is your secret talent?
I play guitar a little and I like woodworking. I have a wood shop at home that I don’t get to spend much time working in.

Q. Anything else you’d like to share?
As I get older, I realize that things get harder to do but every morning I think of a quote from Clint Eastwood, who said “Don’t let the old man in.”