Michael Hakmin Lee is Assistant Professor of Ministry and Leadership. Michael was born in Seoul, Korea, and immigrated with his family to the U.S., eventually settling in Houston, Texas. Michael became very involved in campus ministries during his junior and senior years of college at the University of Texas at Austin and sensed God’s calling to vocational Christian ministry as he neared graduation. After graduating with a degree in biochemistry, Michael returned home to Houston, where he worked as a full-time school teacher, planting and leading a youth ministry as a bi-vocational minister while pursuing seminary training.

An ordained minister, Michael continued to serve in pastoral ministries during and after completing his Th.M. in Systematic Theology and Intercultural Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. He earned a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has taught at several schools prior to coming to Wheaton College. He wrote his dissertation on Christian deconversion, specifically exploring the experiences of former evangelical missionaries and pastors who have abandoned the Christian faith.

Michael has been an active participant in several missiological societies, having presented and published papers in the areas of the theology/philosophy of religions, race and ethnicity, and religious mobility. Michael enjoys outdoor activities like fishing and is active in coaching and playing baseball and judo along with his three boys.  

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