Life Church hosts Midland Comic-Con this March

Here’s something you don’t hear everyday: a church hosting a comic-con! Turns out the event we founded in 2020 has grown to become the state’s largest free comic-con. We’re proud to be part of this event and can’t wait to see it all unfold this March…

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Midland Mall Comic Con Adds Kids' Night, Expands Cosplay Events

Originally published in the Midland Daily News on February 3, 2025.

Article by Dominic Sevilla.

Pick up your cape from the dry cleaners, start preparing your cosplays, and get your Pokemon cards ready to trade at the March 7-9 Midland Mall Comic-Con.

Midland Mall Event Coordinator Sarah Thomas is looking forward to this year’s event.

"One of the things we really wanted to concentrate on this year was making it a real Comic-Con," Thomas said. "So when you walk in, you see everything you would see at a Comic-Con—comic collectors, toy collectors, cosplay accessories. You name it, we've got it this year."

The Midland Mall Comic-Con is now being run directly by mall staff, with volunteers and event staff provided by Life Church Midland after a change in event organization in 2024. 

Life Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Herron and Thomas said the emphasis this year is on being a family-friendly event, with the introduction of Kids' Night on Friday, March 7.

"What I'm really looking forward to is Kids' Night on Friday," Herron said. "We have a lot of local businesses coming together to provide a free, fun, family event with contests, games, inflatables, lightsaber-making, and all kinds of stuff."

"The other thing we really concentrated on this year was making it family-friendly," Thomas said. "I have four children, and everywhere we go, it is ridiculously expensive. One thing we really wanted to do was make it so families could come in, not pay a ridiculous amount, and have a good time. This year, we put a lot of emphasis on Kids' Night, and there are tons of businesses that stepped up to do activities for kids for free."

Families and kids can expect to see the following at Kids' Night:

• Wand making

• Face painting

• Lightsaber making

• Free Pokémon cards

• Make-a-superhero-mask station

• Make-a-superhero-cape station

• Temporary tattoos

Additionally, there will be a free show on Saturday for kids on the main stage, presented by Neverland Entertainment, along with a free kids' cosplay contest to help introduce them to the world of cosplay.

Speaking of cosplay, Thomas and Herron said they hope to make this event feel like a full Comic-Con experience by offering different cosplay contests, cosplay vendors, and more.

"There are five cosplay contests over the course of the weekend," Herron said. "It's really exciting that we've been able to expand to categories like group, furry, and things like that."

Other vendors will be on-site selling items, such as:

• Chainwear

• Furry costumes and accessories

• Jewelry

• 3D toys/gadgets, dice towers, helmets, and resin figures

• Original work from artists and authors

• Cosplay designs

• Lego

• Tabletop games

• Pokémon, Tamagotchi, Splatoon, and Ghibli items

• Handmade horror, paranormal, true crime, and pop culture vinyl decal stickers

• Potion bottles themed around Harry Potter and Greek gods and goddesses

• Pins, stickers, and posters

• Hand-painted dragons

• Plushies

• Oddities

• Knives and swords

• Anime merch

"I'm a voracious collector of Funko Pops," Herron said. "I'm definitely in the community of loving pop culture. What I think it means to us (at Life Church) is that we get to serve with no agenda. That's been our heartbeat the whole time. It helps that I'm a bit of a nerd myself, and my son is excited about Pokémon cards being exchanged. It's kind of bringing all of these passions together."

More information and a full schedule can be found on the Midland Mall Comic Con Facebook page.

Lorne Michaels is the Real Star of "Saturday Night Live"

The New Yorker has a fascinating long-form piece on long-time SNL producer Lorne Michaels. I highlight this article here because there is a dichotomy between comedy and ministry: both require coming up with new material week after week and both can be lonely practices.

There is so much to learn from this article; a few highlights:

The kickoff to every episode, the weekly Writers’ Meeting, is at 6 P.M. on Monday, on the seventeenth floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, in Michaels’s Art Deco office, which overlooks the skating rink. Monday, Michaels says, is “a day of redemption,” a fresh start after spending Sunday brooding over Saturday night’s mistakes… The goal of the gathering, which Tina Fey compares to a “church ritual,” is to make the host feel like one of the gang.

Although Michaels has firm rules about sketch comedy, he is more flexible about the talent-management aspect of his producer role. Different personalities, he believes, require different approaches. To some, Michaels will bark, “Don’t f—- it up.” Bill Hader, who is prone to anxiety attacks, remembers Michaels coming to his dressing room when he hosted and snapping, “Calm the f—- down. Just have fun…” With others, he is warmer. Molly Shannon treasures the memory of how, when she was nervous just before going onstage, Michaels would “reassure me with his eyes.”

Read the full New Yorker article here.

Joe Rogan, Wesley Huff, and Connecting Through Humility

In what was an amazing display of gospel knowledge, Canadian apologist Wesley Huff’s appearance this week on the #1 Podcast on the planet may become one of the widest-reaching gospel presentations in history. Joe Rogan’s program reaches millions of listeners on top of his wide social media reach. Huff demonstrated apt skills in answering Rogan’s sincere questions and in posing his own toward the program’s end.

What I found most refreshing in Huff’s approach was his genuine humility. There was no ego or swagger on display as he answered complex inquiries into ancient Near-Eastern studies; instead Huff admitted what he did not know, was adequately self-deprecating and easy to talk to, and yet unleashed a sincere knowledge-base that overcomes objections to the historical gospel accounts.

My hope is that his methodology will inspire a new generation of Christian apologists to carefully study their craft and leverage debates and wide-reaching platforms in the same vein as Huff has. Truly this is a three hour interview that is well-worth your time to explore and enjoy!

PS - If 3 hours is too long for you, at the very least watch the clip below for the singular highlight of this program!