2011 Presenters and Topics
Plenary Speakers:
Skip down to see Workshop Presenters
Keynote:
TOPIC: “Cultural Apologetics”
Dr. Gene Edward Veith Jr.
Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, and columnist for World Magazine.
He was a Professor of English at Concordia University Wisconsin, where he was also a Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. He is the author of Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals, and God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life.
Postmodern Times received a Christianity Today Book Award as one of the top 25 religious books of 1994. He was named Concordia’s Adult Learning Teacher of the Year in 1993 and received the Faculty Laureate Award as outstanding faculty member in 1994. He was a Salvatori Fellow with the Heritage Foundation in 1994-1995 and is a Senior Fellow with the Capital Research Center. He was given the layman’s 2002 Robert D. Preus Award by the Association of Confessional Lutherans as “Confessional Lutheran of the Year.”
Dr. Veith was born in Oklahoma in 1951 and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1973. In 1979, he received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas. He has taught at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and was a Visiting Professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Estonian Institute of Humanities in Tallinn, Estonia. He and his wife Jackquelyn have three grown children and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Among the books written by Dr. Veith are Why God’s Word Is All We Need and Christians in a .com World.
TOPIC: “Creating a Culture of Life, Love, and Beauty Through Film.”
Jason Jones
Co-executive producer of the award winning Bella and president of the Bella Hero Project and humanitarian project, I Am Whole Life
Jason was born on October 9, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois. He is a film producer who began his film production career with documentaries promoting human rights around the world. 2006 saw the release of the Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award winner, “Bella.” Jones is a producer at Metanoia Films. It has several films in production.
He is the founder of HERO (Human-Rights Education and Relief Organization), a non-profit that promotes human dignity in all stages of life through international education and relief programs. In March 2009, Jones travelled to Sudan and visited refugees in Northern Aweil, on the Darfur border and inspected 26 new water wells. In addition, he distributed $2 million in food, medicine, and other aid. This visit was undertaken despite the expulsion of all non-governmental organizations and a warning of unsafe travel from the U.S. State Department.
Jones has worked, since the age of 17, in various capacities and positions as an on the ground promoter of human rights. He began his activism by going door to door and since then has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows; he has delivered hundreds of speeches from coffee shops to stadiums; and has worked on campaigns from the state house to the White House. A few highlights from Jones’ 20 year career in community service include working as field director for PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) in Hawaii, as Chief-of-Staff for Hawaii State Representative Mark Moses, and as the national grassroots director for Brownback for President 2008.
Jones was the host of The Facts of Life radio show heard throughout the United States and worldwide. He has appeared on ABC’s Politically Incorrect, EWTN, Fox and CNN.
TOPIC: “How to Convey the Christian Worldview To a Skeptical Audience”
Dallas Jenkins
Producer/Director of Jenkins Entertainment (eg, What If and Though None Go With Me)
Dallas Jenkins started Jenkins Entertainment with his father, Jerry B. Jenkins, at the age of 25. Within a year, they developed, financed, and produced the feature Hometown Legend, which was picked up for distribution by Warner Brothers. Dallas made his directing debut with the short film Cliché, which FilmThreat.com called “Fast and funny…ingenious,” and his latest short film, Midnight Clear, starring Stephen Baldwin, won a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival and was the opening night selection of the San Diego Film Festival. He is the co-executive producer of Though None Go With Me, a feature that aired on The Hallmark Channel in April 2006, and he just finished directing a feature based on the Midnight Clear short, also entitled Midnight Clear, which was recently released by Lionsgate. He has acting cameos and performs a song in all of his films.
He attended Northwestern Biblical and Liberal Arts College in Roseville, Minnesota. In 2009, Dallas directed his 2nd feature film, entitled “What If…,” starring Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, John Ratzenberger, and Debby Ryan. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in Fall 2010. He recently accepted a position as Director of Visual Media at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, where he’ll produce and direct multiple films starting in 2011.
He and his wife Amanda have three lovely children named Sam, Maya and Elle.
TOPIC: “C.S. Lewis on Domesticated Living”
Dr. Angus Menuge , Concordia University Wisconsin
Dr. Angus Menuge joined Concordia University Wisconsin in 1991. He earned his BA from the University of Warwick, England, and his MA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied philosophy, computer science and psychology. Menuge’s dissertation was on the philosophy of action explanation, and his current research interests include philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and Christian apologetics.
In 2003, he earned a Diploma in Christian Apologetics from the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, which meets each July in Strasbourg, France. His thesis, a critique of scientific materialism, went on to become the book Agents Under Fire: Materialism and the Rationality of Science (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004). He has also edited volumes on C. S. Lewis, Christ and culture and the vocation of scientist, and has written several Bible studies.
Currently, he is working with Joel Heck (Concordia Texas) on a collection of essays defining Lutheran education for the 21st century, entitled Learning at the Foot of the Cross (Concordia University Press, forthcoming). He is a frequent speaker and has given presentations on Christianity and culture, science and vocation, philosophy of mind, C. S. Lewis, Intelligent Design and the case against scientific materialism. He is a member of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
TOPIC: “Biblical Model of Marriage”
Dr. Ryan MacPherson, Bethany Lutheran College, President of the Hausvater Project.
MacPherson teaches courses in American history, history of science, and bioethics and is interested in American religious history as it relates both to science and to politics. He developed two new courses at Bethany Lutheran College to assist students in understanding the relationship between religion and politics. One course surveys the history of American religion. The other course examines transformations in the judicial philosophies of Supreme Court justices, with particular attention on the declining role of natural law in public policy. His current research deals with religious liberty in relation to the politics of abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and homosexual “marriage.”
He has a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science from the University Of Notre Dame (2003), B.A., Integrative Studies from the Arizona State University West (1997), A.A., Liberal Arts, Bethany Lutheran College (1995) and a M.Div., Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary which is in progress.
TOPIC: “Using Hollywood to Win the World.”
Richard “Dick” Rolfe
Co-Founder, CEO The Dove Foundation
In 1991, Dick Rolfe launched The Dove Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy organization committed to moving Hollywood in a more family-friendly direction. He has made Hollywood the focus of his work, building relationships with studio executives, producers, directors, and writers; encouraging them to create more movies and television shows that are suitable for family viewing. He also directed The Dove Foundation’s landmark, multi-year studies examining the correlations between film ratings and profitability.
He is a frequent guest commentator on Focus on the Family’s “Family News in Focus” and has been interviewed by a number of leading national radio hosts, including Michael Reagan, Michael Medved, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and G. Gordon Liddy. Rolfe’s many television appearances include NBC NEWS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS LIVE, Hollywood Insider, Entertainment Tonight, and PBS’ Freedom Speaks. He has been quoted extensively in national media, including the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Variety, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Premiere Magazine, Forbes, Washington Post, New York Times and Financial Times.
He has appeared as a panelist with such noted liberals as John Frohnmayer, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and playwright Neil Simon. Rolfe also addresses civic groups and churches around the country. Prior to his work with Dove Foundation, Rolfe held senior management positions in radio, television and magazine publishing. In 1993, he produced “Hollywood’s Impact on Family Values,” a television special hosted by entertainment legend Steve Allen.
Rolfe has served on advisory boards for FoxFaith, Mott Children’s Hospital at The University of Michigan Medical Center; Prime Time Today, a media literacy organization. He is also a member of Biola University’s Studio Taskforce.
Dick and his wife Mary reside in western Michigan, near their three grown children and their families.
The Dove Foundation supports a service called ‘Sky Angel‘ which brings family friendly programming streaming directly to your television (much like Netflix does).
TOPIC: “Storytelling Apologetics and Subversion”
Award-winning Hollywood writer/director Brian Godawa will explain how the Bible engages in apologetics through storytelling in both Old and New Testaments. He concludes with film clips of examples related to pro-life issues in the movies.
Brian Godawa, writer and director
Brian Godawa is the screenwriter for the award-winning feature film, To End All Wars, starring Kiefer Sutherland. It was awarded The Best Picture of the Heartland Film Festival, the Commander in Chief Medal of Service, Honor and Pride by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and showcased the 2003 Cannes Film Festival Cinema for Peace.
Mr. Godawa’s scripts have won multiple awards in such screenplay competitions as Carl Sautter, The Nicholl Fellowship, Austin Heart of Film, Fade-In, Worldfest, Writer’s Network, Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project, Columbus Discovery Awards and Reader’s Digest Screenplay Competition.
Most recently, Mr. Godawa wrote and directed the documentaries Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate, and Wall of Separation for PBS, which was nominated for a Silver Gavel award from the American Bar Association for educating the public on the Constitution. He also adapted The Visitation by best-selling author Frank Peretti for Ralph Winter (X-Men, Wolverine ), and was previously hired to rewrite the ABC/Touchstone mini-series, Ghost Soldiers, based on the best-selling book by Hampton Sides.
TOPIC: “Families Under Fire: Defending a Biblical view of Marriage and the Family through Visual Arts”
Mikel Del Rosario, Apologeticsguy.com
In 1999 he completed his B.A. in Communications with an minor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. He went on to study under some of the best apologists in the world, earning his M.A. in Christian Apologetics with highest honors from Biola University(2003). He was ordained as a minister by his local church in the year 2005.
Mikel is an Adjunct Professor of Religion at University of Phoenix and at William Jessup University . He is also a staff apologist with Apologetics.com and teaches Christian Apologetics classes at Bridgeway Christian Church.
He was a former missionary professor and student ministries pastor. Mikel is an active speaker at churches, schools and conferences. He has lectured alongside expert apologists like J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig and has presented for the Association of Christian Schools International, the Billy Graham Center‘s Mission America Network, and youth conferences at Azusa Pacific University and Biola University. He has also appeared in Focus on the Family’s CitizenMagazine.
Mikel lives in Roseville, California, with his wife and child. An interesting bit of trivia is that he also appeared as an extra in the 2002 film, Spiderman.
His ministry offers apologetics course curriculum which you can learn more about here.
Topic: “The Enduring Impact of the Scopes Monkey Trial on Marriage, Family, and Life Issues.”
Anthony Horvath , Athanatos Christian Ministries
Anthony Horvath is the Executive Director and founder of Athanatos Christian Ministries. A former junior and senior high school religion teacher and parish minister, he is now actively involved in Christian apologetics. ACM has a heavy emphasis on promoting the Christian world view and the Gospel through the arts and literature.
Anthony is the author of Birth Pangs series and Fidelis and Spero which are an example of literary apologetics as they contain discussions and events that provide an opportunity to explore The Deep Things. His columns have also been posted to Worldnetdaily.com and his ministries have been featured on numerous national and local radio stations. Anthony is a regular columnist for The Cypress Times and a blogger for the Christian Post.
He is married and a father of four. Currently, he is pursuing his MA in Christian Philosophy and Apologetics. As of the summer of 2010, he is the vice president of Wisconsin Lutherans for Life. He is a member of the national speaker’s bureau for Lutherans for Life. He speaks often on pro-life issues at schools, churches, and colleges.
Workshop Presenters
Family-Friendly Fantasy? Questions of Morality in Twilight and Harry Potter
Dr. Holly Ordway
Presenting 1:30 p.m. CST on Thursday, April 7th
The Harry Potter and Twilight books (and movies) are both popular and deeply engrossing. More than just being entertaining, however, these books, with their well-developed and engaging fantasy world, can deeply affect the worldview of young people – for good or for ill. The question for Christian parents, youth leaders, and teachers is this: Do these fantasy books help young people develop a healthy, biblical worldview, or do they undercut Christian values?
In this session, I will explore what these two series present in terms of family values, with particular attention to relationships, sexuality, marriage, respect for parents, and self-control.
Be prepared for surprises! Harry Potter, despite the presence of witches as positive characters, presents a fundamentally Christian, deeply family-friendly worldview, while Twilight, despite the overt theme of “save yourself for marriage,” presents a dangerous, un-biblical, destructive paradigm for relationships. In both cases, being aware of the themes and ideas will equip us to help young people think critically and Christianly about the vital issues of marriage, family, and relationships.
Dr. Ordway (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst) is a writer and a professor of English and literature. She lives near San Diego, California.
“Family in the Trenches… a Pastor’s Perspective.” (Topic may be revised)
Jamie Greening
Bio coming
“Hollywood, Lewis, and Planet Narnia: A Look At The First Three Films”
Glenn Jones, MA
Presenting at 6:30 p.m. CST, Thursday April 7th.
“The Family Culture vs. Pop Culture”
Israel Wayne
Presenting 7:30 p.m. CST, Thursday April 7
Since the mid-19th Century, Modernism, and more recently, Postmodernism, has contributed to a loss of “Folk Culture” in America and has hindered the successful transmission of family values from one generation to the next. Learn how Pop Culture wars against marriage and the family by creating an ethos of “Liberation” rather than one of healthy cultural restraint and moderation.
Israel is a regular columnist for Home School Digest and Brush Arbor Quarterly, published by Wisdom’s Gate, where he currently serves as the Marketing Director.
Tips and Secrets for Creating Apologetics Media Content
Brian Auten
Goals of the talk: 1) to outline a vision and mandate for using various media (internet, audio, video) for apologetics purposes. 2) to inspire and equip those who feel called in some way to create and propagate apologetics content. 3) to share methods, secrets, tips, and how-to’s for blogging, podcasting, making RSS feeds, audio recording and editing, graphic design, and more. If you want to know how to do anything, send your questions in advance to apologetics315@gmail.com and the answers will become part of the workshop. See you there.
Brian Auten is founder of Apologetics 315, a daily online resource helping to equip the next generation of Christian apologists. Apologetics 315 has been serving the apologetics community since 2007. Brian is also director of Reasonable Faith Belfast.
Brian is an American living in Northern Ireland, has been married to Judith for 10 years and has two daughters.
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