Who the heck is Joshua Villines, anyway?

Thank you for stopping by. This is my personal website, so things are much more informal here than they are on the professional websites I also maintain. If you are looking for one of those, please go to:

The Human Intelligence Group - For my consulting, investigative, and training work.

Electric Tales - For my writing on computer gaming, fantasy, and science fiction.

Ecumenical Christian Union - For more on my chaplaincy and clergy work.

Those sites are my virtual offices. This is my virtual living room where you can find whatever bits of information amuse, interest, or challenge me. Many of my homilies and opinion pieces are here. There are some family photos (in desperate need of an update). You can also find an archive of the jokes that have made me laugh out-loud, and links to other sites I like.

So if you're looking to find out more about me personally, you're in the right place. As you might be able to tell from the links above, I've never felt the need to be wedded to one occupation. You will find references here to my work as an Army Interrogator (Airborne), a private investigator, a police academy instructor, a game journalist and commentator, a pastor, a social justice advocate, a professor, and as a Ph.D. candidate. Somehow, it has always made sense to me connect all of these different jobs, but I certainly understand if it seems like I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I do, in fact, know what I want to be...someone who is hard to label by their profession!

I am a member of the Christian clergy, but I am not currently serving a church (although I do supply work in the Atlanta area as-needed). I think, as church attendance continues to decline and as fundamentalism continues to render Christianity increasingly irrelevant in the minds of educated Westerners, more and more clergy with other marketable skills will work bi-vocationally. In many ways this is a good thing because it will encourage us to find ways to serve as priests and pastors to our neighbors in every setting, not just from 11 to noon on Sunday.

So, although being a clergyman is definitely a large part of my identity, it is not my sole vocation. Drawing on my intelligence training in the Army, and over two decades of work in investigations and security, I work as a consultant, trainer, and investigator - focusing specifically on human intelligence collection techniques and qualitative data/crime analysis.

In addition, I teach as an adjunct professor for Mercer University, and I write about computer games as well as high fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction novels. I got started writing in those fields working as a journalist while I was in seminary, and I never stopped.

If you still haven't learned enough, my results from various personality tests here.

Last Updated June 27, 2011
e-mail me if it's out-of-date