Media Communicators

2013 European Media Communicators Network

In today's world, journalism, film, television, and the Internet dominate the way we, as an increasingly global community, understand and relate to the world and each other. If Christians wish to continue making a meaningful impact upon the world, gifted communicators who want to relate biblical Christian faith to contemporary culture through these media platforms will be greatly needed.

This Network seeks to encourage and equip such existing or emerging leaders who can speak with authenticity and relevance from within these influential cultural arenas. It will also focus on biblical foundations and models, worldview analysis of media and popular culture, and critical reflections on creative communication in contemporary media contexts.

Applicants should be current or potential leaders who are gifted communicators in the media (in such creative fields as journalism, film, TV or Internet), media commentators, media critics, media teachers or media scholars. Whatever the role, the common missional vision should be the wish to relate biblical Christian faith to contemporary media in a way that is authentic, appropriate, and relevant.

This Network will be co-led by Lars Dahle and Margunn Serigstad Dahle. Also speaking in the 2013 Network will be Os Guinness, Nola Leach, Stephen Meyer, David Robertson, Glenn Sunshine, Sandra Sykes, and Ádám Szabados. A number of the sessions will be interactive with open discussions where participants will be encouraged to share perspectives and experiences. Prior preparation will be set for all applicants.

NETWORK SPEAKERS

Os Guinness is an author and social critic. He was educated in England, receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of London and a DPhil from Oriel College, Oxford. He was a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 1986-1989 he was the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation, one of the drafters of the Williamsburg Charter. He is the founder and was the Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum and most recently was Senior Fellow of the East West Institute in New York. Some of his influential books include The Dust of Death; In Two Minds; The Gravedigger File; The American Hour; Dining with the Devil: The Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity; Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think; The Call; and Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies.

Nola Leach is the Chief Executive Officer of CARE,(Christian Action Research and Education) one of Europe’s leading Christian Charities which provides resources and helps bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy and practical caring initiatives. CARE undertakes a variety of social caring and educational programmes as well as research. It is represented in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies, at the EU in Brussels and at the UN at Geneva and New York. As Head of the Public Affairs team Nola leads campaigns on topics such as human trafficking, internet pornography and the value of life from its beginning to its natural end. Nola is in increasing demand as a writer public speaker and broadcaster.

Steve Lowisz is a widely renowned and trusted entrepreneurial business expert. A highly-rated speaker, author and educator, Steve has served as a consultant across the globe for many Fortune 500 organizations. Having started and led multiple businesses in the field of Human Resources, in 1999 Steve founded Qualigence International, a recruitment research and professional search firm headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, of which continues to serve as CEO.   In addition, Steve is also the principal consultant for Lowisz Consulting, which provides both group and individual leadership development consulting and individualized goal planning .  Steve’s business philosophy has always been to put the best interests of his clients first. His continual goal is to spread the word of successful business practices to fellow partners, associates and colleagues.

Stephen Meyer is director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and a founder both of the intelligent design movement and of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, intelligent design’s primary intellectual and scientific headquarters. He earned his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University for a dissertation on the history of origin of life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences. Previously he worked as a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company after earning his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology. He has co-written or edited two books: Darwinism, Design, and Public Education  (Michigan State University Press) and Science and Evidence of Design in the Universe (Ignatius). He has also authored numerous technical articles, as well as editorials in magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, First Things, and National Review.

David Robertson is the minister of St Peter's Free Church in Dundee, Scotland (a church that is best known for being the church of Robert Murray McCheyne). He is the author of Awakening (a contemporary account of McCheyne's life) and The Dawkins Letters. The latter has resulted in him being invited to debate and discuss all over the UK and elsewhere in Europe. This has been done in cafes, bars, libraries, universities, pubs, restaurants, village halls, and even occasionally in churches! David is a chaplain at the University of Dundee and Chairman of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity. He is married to Annabel, and they have three children: Andrew, Becky, and Emma Jane.

Glenn Sunshine (PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison) is professor of history at the Central Connecticut State University, a Research Fellow of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and a faculty member of the Centurions Program at Breakpoint, the worldview training ministry of PFM. An award winning author, Glenn has published several books and numerous articles on history, theology, and culture online and on both sides of the Atlantic, and is a regular columnist for the Worldview Journal of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Glenn has taught a variety of Bible, history, and worldview seminars and courses to churches around the U.S. and in Europe, as well as leading church retreats, seminars, and renewal weekends. He was the content consultant for Wide Angle and for Walk the Talk, worldview training curricula featuring Chuck Colson, Rick Warren, and Gerard Long. He is featured with Chuck Colson on Worldview and Why It Matters: An Introduction to Christian Worldview, a leadership training course produced by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and appears on Acton Media’s The Birth of Freedom, a documentary released on DVD in 2008, and on Doing the Right Thing, an ethics curriculum released in 2011.

Sandra Sykes, after a decade at the BBC Natural History Unit as a Radio 4 producer and presenter, is currently the Director of Changing Views Ltd, a production house providing promotional films which enhance the marketing or fund-raising potential of businesses and  organisations throughout the UK.  Previously she spent over twenty five years in the media, in her Natural History Unit days devising the very popular strand Changing Places, moving on to BBC Birmingham where she worked on BBC TV’s Countryfile and produced Radio 4 classics such as Open Country, Ramblings and Farming Today, winning the 2006 British Environment and Media Award for the best radio news/current affairs programme for Costing the Earth. She won three national Andrew Cross Awards for religious broadcasting while a presenter of live current affairs programmes on BBC local radio. She is a highly experienced media trainer for TV and radio, coaching household names from several central government departments, including the Cabinet Office. She is a B.Sc. Honours Zoology graduate of St Aidan’s College, Durham and holds a  Post Graduate Certificate in Education from Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

Ádám Szabados has been the Pastor at Evangelical Christian Church, Veszprém, since 1999. He is married to Dóra, and has two boys. He studied English literature and linguistics at the University of Veszprém (MA equivalent, with honours), and theology at Schloss Mittersill Study Center (Diploma in Biblical Studies and Culture) and at Covenant Theological Seminary (ThM in Exegetical Theology). He helped start the Hungarian Evangelical Forum and is a member of its Steering Committee. He often lectures at MEKDSZ (Hungarian IFES) conferences. He is also involved in the work of the Hungarian Evangelical (Free) Church. He has published many articles in various magazines and journals in the area of culture, theology, and spirituality. His study on the Reformational understanding of sin has been published by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by ProPhilosophia. He wrote a book on Eros (Erosz nyomában, Harmat Publishing House, 2008), which aims to address both Christians and non-Christians in their search for the good, the true, and the beautiful. Ádám also has a popular theological-apologetic website (divinity.szabadosadam.hu).