Dr. Tony Campolo braved the recent winter storms to present an energetic, uplifting and challenging set of presentations at Raleigh Court Presbyterian church last week. He worked with the church’s officers and staff as well as members of the congregation in two separate seminars on Saturday and then closed with a sermon on Sunday that was well attended given the area’s icy road conditions.
Campolo is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University and a media commentator on religious, social and political matters. He has been a guest on a variety of television programs including The Colbert Report, Nightline, Crossfire, Politically Incorrect, The Charlie Rose Show, Larry King Live, CNN News and MSNBC News. He is also a highly sought-after guest on radio stations across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He previously served for ten years on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Eastern College and Temple University where he earned his Ph.D.
Campolo is also the Founder and President of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and focused much of his talk on Sunday on their ongoing efforts in Haiti where the group has had a ministry for some time. He told a poignant story of being approached by teenage girls in Port-au-Prince who sought to sell themselves for sex outside of his hotel. Campolo told them they were hired and to report to his room on the 3rd floor. He then went and rented every Disney movie in the hotel and they spent the night watching the movies and ordering pizza and ice cream.
Campolo remarked that while he felt good that he had been able to give them back their childhood for at least one night, he also mourned the fact that such efforts often seem to make so little real difference in changing the world. But he added that in the end we are all called to simply “do what we can” when faced with the trials and brokenness of the world and that, “we must trust the God of creation with the rest.”
The story supported Campolo’s overriding theme in which he used a variety of scriptural references to implore his audience to allow God to “live out his Love through us,” by choosing “Love over power” in all circumstances of life. Campolo made the point that the two are mutually exclusive – that Love and power are never found operating together in the same moment – and that God’s way in the world is the way of Love. But Compolo did remind listeners that scripture says, “Christ will return in power” and then added in his fiery style, “that was likely to be something else entirely . . .”
The author of 38 books, Compolo’s latest release covers the theme he presented in Roanoke – “Choose Love Not Power” (Regal) which is scheduled to come out in 2 weeks. Other upcoming publications include: “Connecting Like Jesus” (Jossey-Bass) due out in May 2010, co-authored with Mary Albert Darling and “Stories That Feed Your Soul “(Regal) which will be published in September 2010.
For more information on Dr. Campolo, see www.TonyCampolo.org.
By Stuart Revercomb [email protected]
Tony’s got some powerful messages. He’s featured in a documentary called The Ordinary Radicals — http://www.theordinaryradicals.com. Definitely a must-see.