• Award amount: $1,500
• No purchase necessary
• Deadline: ACM’s discretion

Athanatos Publishing is seeking to create a movie out of one of the books it publishes, Dr. Jamie Greening’s “The Little Girl Waits.”

‘The little girl’ in question is a young, American girl, kidnapped off the streets of the United States by human traffickers.  A pastor feels drawn to the case and enlists the help of people that are not exactly his ‘sort,’ but the ‘sort’ who are capable of giving human traffickers exactly what they deserve.

In order to make the movie, a screenplay is needed.  To that end, Athanatos Publishing is hosting this screen play writing contest.  The best screenplay will be selected and used for developing a movie version of the book.

More info:  the book is 212 pages long, does not have exotic settings or need for extensive special effects.

There is NO entry fee to enter the contest.  However, obviously if you are going to make a screen play from the book, you will somehow have to lay your hands on the book–your local library, used book store, etc is fine, but you might find it simpler to just acquire the book from Amazon: [Link].

There IS a cash award for being selected:  $1,500 USD.  This will purchase the screen play from the winner, with all rights being assigned at that time to Athanatos Publishing.  The winning writer will of course be included in the movie credits, should the movie be produced and released.

While there is NO entry fee to enter the contest, in order to obtain the rights to create a derivative from the book, you must at least register for the contest by sending an email to the publisher at athanatospublishing @ gmail.com.

Use the subject line: LGW Screenplay Contest

You may use this text, updating as necessary:

To Athanatos Publishing,

This is to inform you that I will be participating in your screenplay writing contest.  I acknowledge that the book, “The Little Girl Waits” by Jamie Greening is fully copyrighted, and while I have permission to adapt it for the purposes of the contest, I do not have the right to re-distribute it to any other party.  I understand that my rights to the screen play will be turned over to ACM when I receive the cash award, unless other terms are mutually agreed to.  It is understood that ACM cannot use my screenplay until those rights have been transferred.  But, I fully understand that ACM has disallowed my use of the screenplay beyond the parameters of this contest.

Yours sincerely,

[Insert your name here]

This will inform us that you are going to be creating a screen play from the work and serve as confirmation that we have given you the right to create a derivative work from the book, which is otherwise FULLY COPYRIGHTED.

Under the rules of this contest, you are not allowed to share your screenplay based on this movie with ANYONE except for representatives of Athanatos Publishing, WHETHER YOU WIN the contest OR NOT.

The contest will go on for as long as necessary to acquire a screenplay that Athanatos is satisfied with.  Athanatos reserves the right to end the contest without warning at its full discretion for ANY reason.  As there is no contest entry fee, there is NOTHING to be refunded to contest participants.

Thanks for your interest and involvement in this contest!

The post Athanatos Screenplay Writing Contest appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

Athanatos Ministries is hiring a salesperson.

ACM is a small publishing firm with a distinctly Christian mission.  Candidates should be thoroughly comfortable working for an organization that is boldly Christian in its outlook.

This is a ‘contract’ position, using upwork.com to facilitate payment.

Duties:

The salesperson will,

• on their own time and at their own expense, familiarize themselves with the particular product that they have been tasked to sell.
• assist in the developing of a sales/marketing program for that product.
• be prepared to generate their own leads.
• expect to be the one to follow up, by phone, with the decision makers identified via those leads.
• expect to be well compensated via commissions on sales, rather than relying on hourly wages.

The salesperson will not,

• depend on social media to make sales; we already have someone to manage our social media.  We do not need another!
• Consider this a ‘marketing’ position, so much as a ‘direct sales’ position.

While obviously the salesperson will work in coordination with our social media manager and other members of our team, I hope it is sufficiently clear that we do NOT want the salesperson to rely on social media to generate sales.

Additional expectations:

• As this is a ‘contract’ position, it is expected that the candidates will provide for themselves certain essential tools for the job, such as a telephone or some other way to make calls.
• While an hourly stipend is negotiable, the right candidate will have this attitude:  “I will make much more on commission than I would make on a stipend!  Thanks for offering the stipend, but my goal is to make it irrelevant, ASAP!”
• The right candidate will have this attitude: “I don’t need anyone to hold my hand, guiding me through the sales process. I’m insulted you had to ask.  No, I’m not going to bill you for figuring out how to do X and Y.  I understand that learning how to do that is something that I do on my own time, and frankly I want to do that, because its in my own self-interest to broaden my skill set.”
• The right candidate will have this attitude:  “I can sell ice to an Eskimo.”
• The right candidate will not have to be told that it can take quite a few ‘misses’ before there is a ‘hit,’ and has the understanding that that is just part of the job.

Furthermore:

• The right candidate will not need to be told what to do.  The right candidate will see what needs to be done, and do it.
• While there is some measure of coordination with the rest of the ACM staff, it is not only expected that the candidate will be comfortable picking up the ball and running on his own, it is strongly desired.
• The right candidate will revel in the freedom of being able to work on his or her own schedule, and relishes the idea that whether or not money is earned is tied to their own efforts, rather than just ‘punching a clock.’

Due to the nature of the products to be sold and the general strategy we have for selling those products, there is good reason for the right candidate to believe that this could be full time position, making very good money.  However, we do not expect the right candidate to be full time.  Part time is sufficient, provided that the sales generated sufficiently surpass whatever labor and expenses ACM pays to sustain the position.

Interested candidates will send an email to Anthony Horvath at athanatosgroup @ gmail dot com.

The post Sales Person Needed appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

The winners!

Grand Prize: Sophie Neville for Makorongo’s War
-$2,500 first prize!
Runner up: Preston Shires for Knight Time for Paris
-$1,000 award!
Honorable Mention: Ben Strycker for Concerning Young Werther
-$100 award!
Honorable Mention: Denise Griffon for The Bahraini Pearls
-$100 award!

Download Contest Winners Catalog!

The semi-finalists in our 2017 contests are:

Those making the second round of judging were:

The post 2017 Christian Novel Contest Results appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

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Athanatos Festival

2016 Athanatos Festival Debt: $8,000 — new total: 7,800.

2017 Athanatos Festival Budget (with Passion Experience): $15,000 to $20,000

• $3,000 – tent rental *****
• $5,000 – honorariums
• $1,000 – porta-potties
• $1,000 – insurance
• $5,000 – advertising and promotion
• $5,000 – Passion Experience: set construction, costumes, etc. *****

***** Potentially a ‘one time’ expense.� For example, purchasing the tents outright would pay for itself very quickly. But they cost between� $10,000 and $20,000.

Pro-life Activism

$2,500 /yr – Each year, Anthony visits churches and legislators, primarily within Wisconsin, advocating for life issues.� Materials are distributed, which must first be printed.� Materials are mailed–which requires postage. Some amount of promotion takes place as well (press releases, etc.)

Building

ACM presently rents a portion of a building on main street in Greenwood, WI.� This building is for sale.� Acquiring it would allow ACM to collect the rent on the other units in the building, creating a revenue stream.� Some of the units can be set aside for housing ACM’s guests and visitors, or provide emergency housing for those in need. — $85,000.

Office needs:

• High quality video camera: $750
• Computer that can process large video files: $2,500
• Software for editing large video files: $750.

Staffing

ACM is busting at the seams when it comes to the workload.� Funding for the following positions would be clutch.

• Sales — we need a real go-getter who can do the traditional ‘sales’ type job of doing cold calls, generating leads, etc.
• Publicist — This could also be the sales person, but the nature of the ‘sales’ being done is unique enough a traditional publicist is justified.
• Office manager / Accountant — A bigger organization needs more coordinating.
• Another Anthony Horvath. — There are number of apologetic/programming/ministry projects that have had to be put on hold for lack of time and resources.� Another person with Horvath’s passions and skillset could bring these into existence and sustain them properly.

Note: Horvath does not presently take a salary, himself.� If you’d like to fund his salary, contact him at director@athanatosministries.org

The post ACM Ministry Needs appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

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The post Protected: 2016 ACM Annual Report appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

9:00 AM to 10:20 AM — �Who Moved the Stone�
10:20 AM to 10:40 AM — Coffee Break
10:40 AM to Noon — �Tracking the Culture of Death�

For more information, call or email St. Martin Lutheran Church:
920-849-4421 smlcpastor@frontier.com

Download the flyer: Who Moved the Stone – Flyer-ACM

The post “Who Moved the Stone?” Presentation in Chilton, WI appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

DOWNLOAD FULL PROPOSAL:� legislative-proposal-2016e

�Contact:� Anthony Horvath, PhD

director@policyintersections.org | 608-526-9196 | 202-697-4623 | 715-937-6067

Amend Section 69.186 of the Wisconsin Statutes[1] (“Induced abortion reporting”) to also require the reporting of

(k) the gender of the aborted child

(l) whether or not the child had a fetal anomaly, and the nature of that anomaly.

Rationale:

�Abortion providers are already required under Wisconsin law to provide certain demographic information about the women obtaining abortions within the state.� There is no requirement, however, to report anything about the unborn child.

The political winds are blowing in favor of �pro-life� positions, with a number of important victories since 2010.� It seems reasonable to believe that Wisconsin might enjoy similar victories in the near future such as prohibitions against sex-selective abortions. �It would be impossible to discern whether or not the law was being complied with, however, because Wisconsin�s abortion requirements do not solicit any information about the gender of the unborn child.

Or anything else about it, for that matter.

Other successes seem likely, but if the national pattern holds, restrictions on abortions will still allow exceptions to be made for �fetal abnormalities.�� Numerous studies indicate a high likelihood that many children with defects are being aborted.� Estimates range between 60% to 95%, depending on the condition.� It is important to emphasize that these are estimates.� Since most reports focus on the mother and not the child, very little is known about how many children are targeted for abortion because of its gender or the presence of a birth defect.

Since Wisconsin already requires abortion providers to file a report for each abortion, it would not be a significant burden on them to ask that they also record the gender of the child or if it had a birth defect.

Amending the reporting requirements would not by itself increase or decrease abortions.� However, instead of having to work with estimates, having actual data, even if only at the state level, would allow exploration of other important issues, such as the state’s role in fostering attitudes that reflect values consistent with a high value of human life.

This is where the real work is to be done.� Abortion would not be an option in most minds if not for the low value ascribed to the unborn human.� Similarly, the rate of abortion for children diagnosed with birth defects is connected to attitudes cultivated through family planning clinics, public school curriculum, genetic counseling services, and so on;� some of these programs may indeed be financed in part by the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

Thus, with reliable information in hand, policies could be formulated that help cultivate a �culture of life� and ensure that Wisconsin citizens do not help subsidize policies and/or programs that fuel an opposite perspective.

It is worth noting that many of the arguments offered to justify (or even encourage) aborting children with �fetal abnormalities� are very similar to arguments used to justify (or even encourage?) physician assisted suicide, and euthanasia (both active and passive).� For example, in both areas the assertion is made that the lives are not worth living due to the suffering of the person involved and the costs associated with continuing care.

Addressing the attitudes relating to this issue creates bridges to other issues, including the supposed �life of suffering� the �unwanted child� or his or her mother is expected to have.

Up until recently, very few states sought information about the child that is being aborted.[2] However, due to the support the pro-life cause has, some states have even gone so far as to prohibit �selective� abortions.[3]� The time seems right to press the advantage.

Ultimately, until Roe vs. Wade is overturned, the will of the people will be thwarted.� In the meantime, in Wisconsin we can at least give the unborn the dignity of being counted, even if it is only after they are dead.

[1] The current language is on page 5 of this document.� The state-provided form pertaining to this statute is on page 6.

[2] Since 2010, the number has increased to 15 states.� See attached table.

[3] Indiana and North Dakota; Indiana�s legislation was blocked by a court, but North Dakota�s is still in force.

The post Legislative Proposal for Abortion Reporting of Gender and Birth Defects (Wisconsin) appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

I have been analyzing trends related to the rise and decline of Christian faith for some time. My own apologetics ministry has roughly coincided with the dramatic drop in the number of Christians since 1990 and the astonishing ascent of the religiously unaffiliated in the same time (as of this writing, almost 25-30% of adults now say they have no religion, and an increasing share of these call themselves atheists).

About a year ago, I decided it was time to gather up my research and start drawing some conclusions from it. Not long after that, I was asked to give some presentations on apologetics at a pastor’s conference. The two ideas came together over the summer of 2016 as I delved more deeply into understanding why there appears to be a precise moment in time when the trend began (about 1992; see chart below). I realized I needed to write up a report calling attention to this trend and offering my own explanation for it.

I did not finish the report in time to distribute at the pastor’s conference, although I basically made the case that is in the report. I also made the case in a series of presentations at St. John’s Lutheran Church in West Bend, WI, but the actual report was not yet finished. Many people told me that my proposed explanation lined up very well with their own experiences. A draft of the report was read by Dr. Ryan MacPherson, a scholar who is knee-deep in data related to these issues who indicated that my findings are consistent with his own.

A summary of conclusion of the report:

The transmission of the faith from one generation to the next is intimately tied to one’s family life.This is borne out in the Scriptures and it is also borne out in sociological research. People growing up in broken homes are less likely to be receptive to the Gospel of Christ. The truth of Christianity, even when presented powerfully and persuasively, will struggle to overcome attitudes that are established while one is growing up. The highest quality Christian education is no match for the absence of godly parenting. The influence of the father, in particular, is decisive.

The reason the rise of the ‘religious nones’ begins so dramatically in the 1990s is because it is right about that time that the children born during the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s are themselves finally coming of age. The take away: any attempts to deal with this issue without making ‘family ministry’ the controlling context for those attempts will fail. Meanwhile, it must be understood that many of the factors that undermined happy, healthy, intact families during the ‘sexual revolution’ are still very much with us today. Christians must get their own house in order, or else, in America at least, there won’t be much ‘house’ left within a generation.

This report is hereby submitted.

In Christ,
Anthony Horvath, PhD

Because I consider this information to be very important, I am making the report available via download. Permission to re-distribute it is hereby granted. Bulk discounts on the print edition are available, as well. However, if you consider it so important that you want to share it widely, I hope you will also recognize how important it is to support the ministries of Athanatos Christian Ministries. Please take a moment to make a donation–not so much to pay for the download and the costs of producing such a report, but to help equip us to continue to carry out our work. This work includes calling attention to the findings included in this report! Click here to view donation options.

Download the report: FaithUnderFireReportAnthonyHorvath

The video below is ‘part 3’ in my series delivered at West Bend, where, having wrapped up my case in the previous two parts, am offering recommendations on how they ought to proceed. To have me present for your church or organization, email me at director@athanatosministries.org.

The ‘rise of the religious nones’ chart, mentioned above (and addressed in the report)

The post Faith and Family Under Fire: Why Apologetics is Failing in the 21st Century; a Front Line Report appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.

My topic:� how the transmission of the faith is intimately tied to happy, healthy families–the very thing that has been under attack in American society since the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

During the month of January I was compiling the research that informed these presentations into a report which had not been finished yet.� It is now finished and available.� Learn more about my Faith and Family Under Fire: Why Apologetics is Failing in the 21st Century.

�Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

The post Anthony Horvath Presents at St. John’s Lutheran in West Bend, WI appeared first on Athanatos Christian Ministries.