As I explained in earlier newsletters, when EAPE ceases to exist as a legal entity on June 30th my own ministry will, by no means, end. I will continue my preaching ministry, speaking about 200 times a year. This is a cut back from speaking 300 times a year, which has been my schedule over the past several years, but it is certainly evidence that I’m not retiring.
In the foreseeable future I will spend a lot of time recruiting sponsors for needy children in Third World countries through the auspices of two Christian agencies, Compassion International and World Vision. I will also be taking every opportunity to speak and do fundraising on behalf of the various EAPE related mission organizations. (Perhaps your church or some up-coming conference would like to have me as a speaker.)
The primary focus of what I will do, however, will be to develop the Campolo Center for Ministry. This center is being established to do two things:
1st – To recruit young men and women for ministry as pastors, missionaries, youth workers, evangelists and Christian education directors.
2nd – To raise financial support for scholarships for those who are willing to commit to such ministries.
More than 70% of those who graduate from seminaries and Bible colleges never end up doing the kind of ministries that they believe God has called them to do because of the huge financial debts incurred due to tuition expenses. What a waste!
The Campolo Center for Ministry will do all that’s possible to enable dedicated young people to graduate debt free and, therefore, to live out their calling without hesitation.
But, hopefully, our partnership is not over! You can help me in this endeavor by becoming contributors to The Campolo Center for Ministry. Eastern University is providing me with free office space and secretarial help along with setting up a special fund to receive your gifts towards this program. If you believe in this endeavor you can send tax-deductible checks made payable to the Campolo Center for Ministry at Eastern University, P.O. Box 7238, St. Davids, PA 19087. You then will be investing in the lives of dedicated servants of God’s kingdomwork. Robert Gauthier, who has worked with me for the last 9 years, will help me in this endeavor and serve as the Director of Development for this new initiative.
Finally, I want to stay connected to you and that can be done in the following ways:
1st – By keeping up with my speaking schedule. If you use a computer you can do that by logging on to www.TonyCampolo.org. Or you can write to me at Eastern University and ask for a monthly print out of where I’ll be speaking.
2nd – You can listen to my weekly radio show at http://www.redletterchristians.org/podcast/
3rd – You can write to me. I always personally answer letters.
I hope you do these things because I really meant it when I said that I need your prayerful support.
There are some tears running down my cheeks as I sign off on this last EAPE newsletter, but that time has come. “May God be with you, ‘til we meet again.”
Sincerely,
Tony Campolo
P.S. Over the years several of you have listed EAPE in your wills. Would you be willing to change the beneficiary from EAPE to The Campolo Center for Ministry? To say I would be grateful is a gigantic understatement.
by Dr. Tony Campolo
THE CHALLENGE
We’re not doing it right! Some of the brightest and best young men and women fail to be called into church vocations. It’s no secret that churches grow or decline, depending on the preaching and leadership skills of their pastors. Yet we’re letting many of the best possible candidates slip away from us. That is largely because we are not following the Biblically prescribed way of calling young people into the ministries of our churches.
We’re reactive rather than being proactive. Typically, a church waits for some young person to present himself or herself to the pastor or a deacon or announce that he or she “feels a call.” There is little or no confirmation of such a subjective sense of calling, and hardly ever is there a questioning of such a call. It is no wonder that so many of those who go into the pastorate, or other forms of church ministry, are likely to question their calling in the years that lie ahead. They often ask, “How do I know that the feeling I had was really a call from the Lord?”
There’s a better way. We find it in the Book of Acts. When choosing its leaders the early church watched potential candidates over a period of time, and when the people “were together and of one accord” (Acts 1.14; 2.1) they hand-selected them for special roles as preachers and ministers. After Paul became a spirit-filled Christian those in the Christian community watched and prayed for him for a couple of years before they designated him for preaching and missionary service. They prayerfully considered whether he had the gifts for preaching and teaching before they decided to ordain him. The same was true for Barnabas and Silas. It was the church that decided Matthias should take the place vacated by Judas. It was always the Church that did the calling into the vocations of leadership.
What if we followed the way that the early Church did it? Instead of leaving it up to the subjective feelings of individuals, what if the Church designated who is called to be preachers, teachers, and evangelists?
What we are proposing is that the deacons, or elders, or whoever makes up the spiritual leaders of a local congregation commit to carefully observe the young people that are part of their community of faith. They should then meet regularly for prayer and discussion over several months and seek out the young people who have “the gifts” for preaching and leading and then plan to extend the call to such person or persons.
Imagine that perhaps on some Saturday morning a couple of the deacons or elders took a “chosen” young person to breakfast, and after the meal, explained that they, along with the other spiritual leaders of the church had been seeking God’s will and had decided that particular young person should accept a call to the ministry. A given candidate would then have a frame of reference for his or her calling that transcended subjective feelings.
THE CHURCH’S RESPONSIBILITY
After extending the call the promise should be made that if the answer is “yes,” the church will stand behind the candidate with prayer and financial support. Many of those who go through college and seminary to prepare for the ministries of the Church do not get to live out their calling. After paying for years of training, upon graduation they are so deeply in debt that they cannot afford to serve in church vocations that usually provide very low salaries.
When a church calls someone to pastoral ministry or to do missionary work the church should do its best to provide the financial aid so that the candidate can graduate debt free.
If a church is struggling financially The Campolo Center for Ministry will join up with that church and seek to raise the needed funds to provide for that “called” young person. That’s why we need your help! Would you become a contributor to the Campolo Center for Ministry so that we can make all of this happen?
While the student is studying here at Eastern we will provide the spiritual support that will nurture zeal for spreading the Gospel and building up the Church. We will seek to get the home church regularly involved with prayer.
The statistical studies of religion in America show that many churches are dying. We believe we can provide new life for our churches with the right kind of ministerial leaders, and the Campolo Center for Ministry will help make this happen.
These are the worst of times for me because, as you know, the date of June 30th, when EAPE legally shuts down, is quickly approaching. I will miss the joy that goes with our mission of launching new ministries, and the gratification of watching young people that we (EAPE) have recruited, trained and spiritually nurtured emerge as Christian leaders. Some have become pastors and youth ministers in local churches and others, who had entrepreneurial skills, have become founders of their own ministries in Third World countries and in “at risk” neighborhoods in cities across North America. I’m enclosing a brochure which will remind you of a few of the twenty-two ministries that have been part of EAPE’s gospel spreading efforts over the past forty years, and in which so many young people gained their vision for Christian service.
These are also the best of times, because I am realizing that you are continuing to financially support EAPE during these difficult days, enabling us to fulfill obligations to our fledgling spin off ministries, each of which has moved progressively toward being self-supporting.
Please keep giving to EAPE because we continue to use your gifts to do the good work God has called us to do. Your giving made it possible for us to support one of our affiliated programs, The Simple Way. This ministry, located in a derelict neighborhood in Philadelphia, is restoring dilapidated houses and selling them to low-income families at cost with no down payment and long term mortgages with no interest. This is part of the mission not only to bring the good news of God’s salvation to individuals, but also to bring people together to change this neighborhood into the kind of community that God wants it to be. In response one single mother of three children said, “I’m so grateful that my God cares about what kind of house we live in!”
Another reason these are the best of times is that I feel myself being freed up to develop The Campolo Center for Ministry here at Eastern University, where I’ll still have my office. This center will undergird the preaching and teaching ministries through which I will continue to challenge young men and women to commit themselves to full-time Christian vocations.
As I move into this new stage of my life, I hope you will keep up with what I will be doing. You can do that by visiting www.TonyCampolo.org where you’ll find a calendar of my speaking engagements. There you can also log on to the weekly pod-casts of my radio program “Across the Pond.” If you want a hard copy of when and where I will be speaking, write to:
Robert Gauthier
c/o The Campolo Center for Ministry
Eastern University
1300 Eagle Road
St. Davids, PA 19010
I’m counting on your prayers and your continued financial support for EAPE, right up through June 30th.
Sincerely,
Tony Campolo
Founder and President, EAPE
P.S. Over the years several of you have listed EAPE in your wills. Would you be willing to change the beneficiary from EAPE to The Campolo Center for Ministry? I would be forever grateful to have your support in this special way. If this is a change you’re willing to make or if you have any questions, please call Robert Gauthier at 610-341-1715.
]]> https://eape.org/it-was-the-worst-of-times-it-was-the-best-of-times/feed/ 0Remember, “It’s only Friday… but Sunday is coming!”
“It’s Friday… Jesus was nailed dead on a cross.
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… Mary’s crying her eyes out ‘cause her Jesus is dead.
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… The disciples are running around like sheep without a shepherd.
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… Pilate’s strutting around washing his hands ‘cause he thinks he’s got all the power and victory.
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… People are saying “as things have been so they shall be – you can’t change anything in this world.”
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… Satan’s doing a jig saying, “I control the whole world.”
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Friday… The temple veil ripped from top to bottom -the earth shook- the rocks split and tombs opened. The centurion screamed in fear, “Truly, He is the Son of God!”
But it’s only Friday; Sunday is coming!
It’s Sunday- “The angel, like dazzling lightening, rolled the stone away exclaiming,
“He is not here! He is risen!
It’s Sunday! It’s Sunday! It is Sunday!” – Dr. Anthony Campolo
Happy Easter, from Tony and all of us at EAPE.
]]> https://eape.org/its-friday-but-sundays-comin/feed/ 0The purpose of the Center will be to recruit young women and men to serve the Church as ministers, youth workers, and missionaries. Over the years through EAPE’s ministries, more than 1,000 young people have committed themselves to these kinds of vocations for God’s kingdom. I want to do more of that!
Through preaching and teaching I will work hard to urge college-aged Christians to give themselves to full evangelistic and social justice ministries. With offices at Eastern University, the Campolo Center will nurture and help these young people through both their undergraduate and graduate studies.
High on my list of priorities will be raising funds to help finance the education of these committed Christians. That way when they finish their studies they won’t graduate with a heavy debt load. The cost of higher education is so high that many of those who planned to go into Christian ministries have had to spend years earning enough to pay off their college loans. Too often their debts have kept some of the brightest and best of them from ever living out their hope for full time vocations in ministry. The Center will try to keep that from happening.
At the core of what we do will be the proclamation of a wholistic gospel. We will combine evangelism and social justice so that our graduates will be challenged to win people to Christ who, in turn, will endeavor to change the world from what it is into what God wants it to be. That is what EAPE has been all about, and the Center will seek to propagate that kind of gospel.
You will be hearing more about all I’ll be doing in the future, but for now I just wanted you to know that there won’t be any grass growing under my feet. In the meantime, keep up your support for EAPE. We still have a lot of work to do between now and June 30th, and I’m depending on you.
Sincerely,
Tony Campolo
Founder and President, EAPE
P.S. You can listen to podcasts of the radio show I do in the U.K. by visiting http://www.redletterchristians.org/podcast/.
]]> https://eape.org/tonys-vision-for-the-campolo-center-for-ministry/feed/ 0MORE GOOD NEWS! There are twenty young adults, Micah Scholars, who have been recruited, and are being supported by our EAPE ministry in Haiti. They are now studying at various seminaries in and around Port-au-Prince. When they graduate they will serve as pastors, church planters, and Christian education directors for churches throughout their country.
And another thing – Recently Brian Ballard of Red Letter Christians, another of our EAPE programs, spent several days in Haiti teaching these Micah Scholars how to use the Internet. I love it when our separately incorporated ministries network and find ways to help each other. Brian is a wiz with computers and an outstanding teacher. He did much to make the Micah Scholars more effective servants for God’s Kingdom.
Please note that we will continue to support all of EAPE’s ministries until the end of June. Between now and then we are hoping you will transfer your monthly support to one or more of the EAPE ministries which best focus on your heartfelt concerns. If you have not already done so, please contact my office to let us know which of EAPE’s ministries you would like to direct your future giving.
Do not think that I will stop doing ministry. I will go on preaching, recruiting young people for Christian ministries, and carrying on missionary work. But after June 30th, I’ll be doing my ministry work under the umbrella of the Campolo Center for Ministry (CCM) at Eastern University. I’ll tell you more about that later. Each of our ongoing EAPE ministries needs your continued giving. Pray for them! Pray for me! Transitions are hard to handle. Thanks for all you continue to do for EAPE.
Tony Campolo
Founder and President, EAPE
P.S. If you missed the Philadelphia Inquirer’s article about Tony and the future of EAPE, you can read the online version here: http://articles.philly.com/2022-02-01/news/46874064_1_campolo-eape-evangelical-association
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For four decades EAPE provided “seed money” and/or did the organizing for 16 missionary organizations. EAPE also provided essential undergirding for several existing ministries that needed our help. Just for the record let me list them for you.
Over the years we also have partnered with several ministries that needed help with funding and/or recruiting mission workers.
Among the several thousand young men and women we recruited to serve in these ministries over the years, there are those we were able to challenge and nurture into serving in church vocations across North America and in an array of Third World countries. Almost anywhere my travels take me these days, I meet up with former EAPE mission workers who tell me that they are in Christian ministry today because of the training and experiences they had while serving with us.
In my previous newsletter I pointed out that each of our affiliated mission organizations has become independently incorporated with its own governing board, executive director, and sustaining financial base. However, there are ten of these ministries upon which we are especially focused – and need ongoing support. They are listed here. If you haven’t done so earlier, we would very much appreciate it if you would identify which of them you wish to transfer your financial support that you previously gave to EAPE. Please call or email us to let us know and we will pass on that information to the organization(s) you have chosen.
While we want you as soon as possible to transfer your financial support to one of these EAPE affiliated organizations, we nevertheless want you to know that EAPE will continue staying active and doing what we’ve always done right up to June 30th. We hope that we’ll have enough funding to keep us going until then – so if you have a few extra dollars please send them our way.
Keep praying for us, especially during this wonderful time of transition.
Tony Campolo
Founder and President, EAPE
(On behalf of EAPE’s Board of Directors)
P.S. If you missed the Philadelphia Inquirer’s article about Tony and the future of EAPE, you can read the online version here: http://articles.philly.com/2022-02-01/news/46874064_1_campolo-eape-evangelical-association
]]> https://eape.org/40-years-of-ministry/feed/ 0http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20220131_Campolo_to_slow__but_not_stop__Christian_outreach.html
If you missed Tony’s announcment in our January newsletter, you can learn more about his plans and the future of EAPE here: https://eape.org/mission-accomplished/
Blessings,
Rev. John T. Galloway, Jr.
Executive Director, EAPE
Next month I will be 79 years old, and this decision will allow me to retire gracefully as president of EAPE. After June 30, 2022, I will go on preaching and teaching from my base at Eastern University. The president of Eastern, Dr. Robert Duffett, has agreed to provide me with the assistance and office space I need to continue the work that I believe God has called me to do.
Sometimes Christian organizations become self-perpetuating and continue long after they have fulfilled their mission. Not so with us! I, along with the EAPE board, believe in accord with Scripture that “for everything there is a season,” and that the season has arrived for EAPE to come to an end.
The ministries you and I have founded and nurtured together will continue to do outstanding work for God and His Kingdom, and the hundreds of men and women whom we have challenged to serve Christ in missionary work around the world will carry on our visions and commitments.
I need your help and your prayers as EAPE and I make this transition. In the past, your gifts have been sent to the EAPE office here in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. We then distributed those precious resources with maximum efficiency to our various ministries as we recognized needs. Now I am asking you to choose the EAPE program that most represents your own heartfelt concerns and interests, and to begin sending your gifts directly to that particular ministry. You may even want to support more than one of them. Here they are, along with websites should you want more information about any of them.
1. Cornerstone Christian Academy – This is an academically-rigorous Christian elementary school for low-income children. This school has various community-outreach programs, including a popular summer camp for neighborhood children, which has made a great impact in Southwest Philadelphia. www.cornerstonephiladelphia.com
2. UrbanPromise– With hundreds of children attending its after-school educational and cultural enrichment programs, its variety of extensive summer camps, leadership training internships, and its schools (k-12 grades), UrbanPromise, in Camden, NJ, has become what many consider one of the foremost inner-city evangelical ministries in America. www.urbanpromiseusa.org
3. UrbanPromise International – Presently UrbanPromise ministries now exist in other cities across North America: Wilmington, DE; Miami, FL; and Trenton, NJ. They also are in other countries: Toronto, ON; Vancouver, BC, in Canada and cities in Malawi, Honduras and Uganda. Plans are being made to expand UrbanPromise into additional cities. www.urbanpromiseinternational.org
4. Mission Year – Founded by EAPE in 1997, Mission Year has offered an amazing opportunity for hundreds of young adults to live and work together as full-time urban missionaries in inner-city neighborhoods throughout the United States. It has challenged scores of these young people to make missionary service a lifetime vocation. www.missionyear.org
5. Haiti Partners – This ministry grew out of EAPE’s early work in Haiti. It now focuses on developing schools, training teachers and community leaders, and promoting Christian discipleship opportunities in some of Haiti’s poorest communities and churches. www.haitipartners.org
6. Red Letter Christians – This is EAPE’s newest effort. It has become a movement with well over 2 million people around the world logging onto our website and becoming part of an effort to inspire Christians to embrace the radical lifestyle prescribed by Jesus as we find His teachings highlighted in red in many of the Bibles that we use. www.redletterchristians.org
7. Urban Mentors Network – EAPE has been the major funder for this outstanding outreach in Oakland, California, which is training women to be mentors to several hundred teenage girls, discipling and nurturing them into a lifestyle of Christian maturity. www.urbanmentors.com
8. Peace of the City – This program has served inner-city children in Buffalo, New York, with outstanding after-school and summer camp programs. Peace of the City touches the lives of hundreds of inner-city children and teenagers. www.peaceofthecity.org
9. Evangeline Ministries – Each year this ministry, directed by Wendy Ryan, provides between 30 and 40 South African women with their own sewing machines and teaches them how to use those machines to produce dresses and other items of clothing. This enables these women to set up micro businesses to support their families, and also serves as an effective means for evangelism and spiritual development. www.evangelineministriesonline.org
10. Yes! And… – Over the past decade in Philadelphia we have sponsored collaborative arts education and theatre opportunities that bring together urban and suburban children in learning experiences. Not only are these children culturally enriched, but they get to know each other in a loving environment. www.yesandcamp.org
Please send an email to [email protected] that includes your full name and all of your contact information and designates the ministry or ministries you have chosen to support.
Please email us no later than February 14, 2022.
When we learn which ministry you have chosen to receive your gifts, we will contact that ministry and transfer your name and address from our mailing list to that particular ministry. If you have any questions, feel free to call our office and talk with Robert Gauthier or James Warren.
Pray with me that He who has begun a good work in us and through us will continue it until the day of His coming.
Sincerely,
Tony Campolo
Founder and President, EAPE
Whether you made a contribution through EAPE or ordered a toy or gift from Urban Mentors Network’s Amazon wish list*, thank you for sharing your generosity with members of your extended EAPE family!
Below are some glimpses of the fun, fellowship and joy you helped provide at the Urban Mentors Network Christmas party last Saturday. Thank you!
*Please let us know if you gave directly to UMN through Amazon; we’d love to properly acknowledge your generosity.
Christmas crafts for the kids
A season to give thanks
The joy of Christmas
Christmas cupcakes
Rice and Beans, Jose Daniel Pinell and Jaime Taylor
Peace among siblings
ort this year and Merry Christmas!
UMN youth leader Ryan Dawson making crafts with Amanda
UMN youth leader Ty’Anna Ma’Na Sandifer with Diamond
When you give to EAPE, you invest in a network of innovative, holistic and effective ministries, such as Urban Mentors Network, that help to change lives and communities in Jesus’ name. Thank you for your support this year and Merry Christmas!
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