Eric Metaxas, an award-winning author and radio commentator, will be the principal speaker at the 70th anniversary celebration for AMG International, a Chattanooga-based evangelical mission and relief agency serving over 30 countries.  

The dinner will be held Nov. 15, at 6:30 p.m., at the Chattanooga Convention Center.  

Mr. Metaxas was the keynote speaker at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D. C., where many critics felt he upstaged President Barack Obama with his wit and courage to speak up on controversial issues. 

The Yale-educated Mr. Metaxas is a prolific author. Two of his most recent books were on the New York Times Best Seller list: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy (which also won the Christian Book of the Year award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. He also has written dozens of other books including over 20 children’s books, some of which have won awards from the American Booksellers Association and Amazon. 

A former writer for Chuck Colson on his popular radio show, BreakPoint, Mr. Metaxas has recently become the co-host for the Christian political/cultural commentary program with John Stonestreet. BreakPoint is heard on over 1,400 radio stations with an estimated daily audience of 8 million. 

“We are very excited to have Eric here as the speaker for our anniversary celebration,” said Pat Ragan, AMG’s vice-president of development. “We appreciated how transparent Eric was in his speech at the national prayer breakfast, and we look forward to his speaking on our behalf here in Chattanooga.” 

AMG was founded by two Greek immigrants, George Georgakis and Nicholas Lambrides in New York City. At that time, AMG stood for American Mission to the Greeks. Dr. Spiros Zodhiates joined Mr. Georgakis and Mr. Lambrides in 1946. Dr. Zodhiates succeeded Mr. Lambrides as president in 1966 and served in that role until his retirement in 2005. 

AMG, today known as Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel International, moved to Chattanooga in 1978. Paul Jenks succeeded Dr. Zodhiates as president in 2005. Dr. Zodhiates passed away in 2009.

AMG International serves in many countries through childcare, medical care, education, church planting, and media evangelism ministries. AMG has also acted as a relief agency on many fronts throughout the world, most recently in Haiti, Thailand, Myanmar and the U.S. last year when tornadoes devastated much of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. 

“From the beginning, our message has always been the Gospel,” said Mr. Ragan. “We do a lot of humanitarian work, but our central focus is sharing the Gospel in ways that show the love of Christ.” 

The AMG fund-raiser is focused on an expansion of a radio station on Cyprus that will enable the Christian station to reach the entire island of Cyprus, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. 

Tickets for the fund-raiser are $250 per table or $30 individually. They are available through AMG’s website (www.amginternational.org/70th), or by calling 423 894-6060, extension 245.  

For more information, contact Mr. Ragan at patrickr@amginternational.org.