Red Letter Christians

The Campolo Center for Ministry

EAPE , Featured Posts , Newsletters , Uncategorized

GREAT NEWS!! Cornerstone Christian Academy, the school EAPE started and supported achieved full accreditation from Middle States Association of Colleges and School Commission Elementary and Secondary Schools. This shows that our school, located in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Philadelphia, is not only helping “at risk” children get a good handle on what Christianity is all about, but is doing so while maintaining very high standards of education. We’re thrilled!

MORE 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

40 Years of Ministry!

EAPE , Evangeline Ministries , Featured Posts

If you read our January newsletter you know that as of June 30th, after more than 40 years of incredible ministry, EAPE will close down. We can say that because with your help and God’s blessings, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”

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.

Red Letter Christians
Mission Year
The National Evangelical University of the Dominican Republic (now with 15,000 students)
The Technical University of the South in the Dominican Republic (now with 4,000 students)
Cornerstone Christian Academy
Haiti Partners
Beyond Borders (in Haiti)
Urban Promise (Camden)
Connect Ministries (Toronto)
Plant with Purpose (formerly Floresta)
Eastern University’s graduate programs for micro-economic development in the Third World and in urban America
Kingdom Works
Nehemiah Youth Mission
Camden Printworks
The Walnut Hills Fellowship
The Urban Youth Workers Convention

Over the years we also have partnered with several ministries that needed help with funding and/or recruiting mission workers.

Aquila Way (in the UK)
Going Public (Wales, UK)
Signposts International (Scotland)
SPEAK (in the UK)
Evangeline Ministries (South Africa)
Peace of the City
REACH Ministries
Born to Serve
Urban Mentors Network
Urban Promise International (Malawi, Honduras, Canada)
The Palau Industrial School (in the South Pacific)
Oasis (in Zimbabwe)
Zero28

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

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Mission Accomplished!

EAPE , Featured Posts , Newsletters

2023 Christmas & Year End Giving Guide

EAPE , Newsletters

During this Christmas season you will be asked by us and other charities you support to give – and give generously – to make a difference in the lives of the “least of these.” As you prayerfully consider your Christmas and end-of-year gift to EAPE, we want you to know how your support will impact the lives of the children, youth and families that our urban missionaries and teachers love, serve and support in Jesus’ name.

This year we’re investing your gifts in 20 ministries, programs and special projects and we are providing the following giving guide to help you measure the impact of your generosity. For more details please visit the MINISTRIES page or call our office at 610-341-1722 (local) or toll free at 855-612-EAPE (3273).

$1 provides one day of education for a child in one of Haiti Partners’ seven schools.

$5 buys a Haitian Creole textbook for a child in Haiti.

$20 provides one day of education at Cornerstone Christian Academy for one Southwest Philadelphia child. Give Now

$30 sponsors one month in an Urban Promise After School Program or summer camp for a child from Camden, Trenton or Miami.

$58 (one day’s work at minimum wage) supports one day of service for Mission Year urban missionaries as they seek to love and serve their inner-city neighbors in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston or Philadelphia.

$100 sponsors two months of mentoring—including Bible Study, homework assistance, activities to build self-esteem and improve social and decision-making skills, and other life building experiences—for one child, teen or young adult served by Urban Mentors Network in Oakland, CA. Give Now

$125 provides a Haiti Partners’ school teacher’s salary for a month, or one month of education and training for a South African woman in Evangeline Ministries’ mentoring, leadership and economic uplift program.

$150 provides a homeless child or woman critical, holistic support during a short-term stay at Aquila Way’s drop-in shelter.

$350 allows a child impacted by HIV-AIDS or other traumatic circumstances to attend a Christ-centered 4-day REACH Ministries camp filled with adventures, fun and signing and the support of trained, loving counselors. Give Now

$365 sends a child to school in Haiti for an entire year or sponsors a year of After School programming and summer camp for a child from Camden, Trenton or Miami.

$400 enables teens to participate in Yes! And…Collaborative Arts’ year-long theatrical program that combines education, the creative arts and loving relationships, and fosters learning new skills, developing confidence and growing in their understanding of God’s love for them.

$500 supports one month of a “Wesley Corps” member’s service with Peace of the City, a dynamic ministry serving and empowering more than 100 children, teens and their families in under-resourced Buffalo neighborhoods, through literacy training, educational enrichment activities, mentoring and relational discipling. Give Now

$1,000 provides furniture (benches, blackboard, etc.) for an entire classroom or supplies (books, paper, etc.) for two classrooms in Haiti Partner’s schools.

$1,500: Teach, Train and Equip HIV Positive and Disadvantaged Women in South Africa
Impact: Provides a woman in Evangeline Ministries’ program an education in basic English and computer proficiency, certified training in sewing and design, and equips her with a sewing machine and access to markets to sell goods upon completion of training. Give Now

$3,900: Employ an inner-city teen in the Urban Promise Street Leader Program
Impact: Employs a teen from Camden, Trenton and Miami in the Street Leader Program who will serve as a counselor, tutor, and role model for children in Urban Promise’s After School Program and summer camps.

$5,000: Save a House, Make a Home in Philadelphia
Impact: Acquires a vacant house which will be converted into a home for a low-income family. Through a special collaboration between EAPE, the Fuller Center for Housing and The Simple Way, this is a creative, redemptive and sustainable way to address poverty at a micro level in Kensington, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia. There are more vacant homes (20,000) in Philadelphia than there are homeless people in the city, so there is a tremendous opportunity to uniquely and responsibly offer families in need of a hand up! Give Now

$7,500: Sponsor a Summer Camp Site in Camden, Miami or Trenton
Impact: Sponsors an Urban Promise summer camp to provide 50 children in high-risk communities with fun summer programming in a safe and stimulating environment that includes 6-hour days of enriching, age-appropriate activities and a daily food program.

$7,500: Scholarship for K-8^th Grade Student in West Philadelphia
Impact: Sponsors a year of quality, Christian education in a safe and loving environment for students at Cornerstone Christian Academy and prepares them for academic, personal and professional success and a life of faithful discipleship. Give Now

$10,000: Sponsor a Year-Round Site in Camden, Miami or Trenton
Impact: Sponsors an After School Program and Summer Camp to provide 100 children in high-risk communities with a safe and stimulating environment and programming that promotes academic success, life skills, and leadership. After School Programs offer activities such as academic enrichment classes, arts and crafts, recreation, life skills workshops, and community service during after-school hours.

$16,000: Sponsor an Urban Missionary in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston or Philadelphia
Impact: Houses, trains, feeds and insures Mission Year urban missionaries and sustains their year of service as they follow Jesus’ command to “Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Give Now

$20,000: Support an entire Haiti Partners’ school in Haiti for a year
Impact: Improves facilities and provides educational materials for students; trains teachers in student-centered, innovative education methods; provides training for school staff and the local community to create social businesses that can help pay for teacher salaries and other expenses.

When you give to EAPE, your investment supports a network of innovative, holistic ministries that are changing lives and communities throughout North America and around the world in Jesus’ name. Thank you for entrusting Tony and our Board of Directors with your generous support!

PS. If you’d prefer to mail your donation please send it to: EAPE | P.O. Box 7238 | St. Davids, PA | 9087. We can process your mailed donation for 2023 through January 15th with a check dated December 31, 2023.

GIVE ONLINE TODAY!

Summer Camps and Christian Discipleship

EAPE , Newsletters

Urban Promise Miami’s summer camp COURAGE (which stands for “Changing Others Using Respect and God’s Embrace”) serves upwards of 75 children and youth from the Little Havana area providing a variety of enrichment activities, including arts and crafts, recreation, Bible study and field trips.

I recently returned from a month long speaking tour in Australia on behalf of Compassion International and World Vision. These two Christian organizations give significant support to our own EAPE ministries, so I was pleased to help them. My mission was to recruit a thousand people to sponsor desperately poor children in Developing Countries. The good news is that I was able to exceed that goal!

At every speaking venue I met people who told me that they regularly read the Red Letter Christians blog, and are faithful listeners to our radio program, “Across the Pond.” Both of these EAPE ministries can be accessed online at www.redletterchristians.org, and are reaching hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Thank you for helping make them possible.

During the next several weeks, many programs of our EAPE affiliated ministries go into high gear. Especially consider the hundreds and hundreds of kids who will be in our EAPE related summer camp programs, the 300 school teachers who will receive training from our affiliate in Haiti this summer, the scores of young women in our mentoring ministry in Oakland, CA, and the new “Urban Promise” ministries to children in “at risk” neighborhoods in Miami, FL, and Trenton, NJ. All of these outreach programs will have their financial resources stretched thin this summer, but with your support EAPE stands ready to assist them.

Street Leaders are high school aged students recruited by Urban Promise Miami to serve as Camp Courage counselors and role models for the neighborhood children in Little Havana.

Reaching people – especially kids – with God’s love, and nurturing young people into being Christian disciples is what EAPE is all about. Your giving is essential to keep our work going. We’re counting on your support, especially during our busy summer months when giving tends to drop off and as we transition into a new school year.

Lastly, you probably know that one of EAPE’s missions is to challenge young people to make commitments to doing God’s work in the world. To this end I regularly call teenagers and young adults not only to become believers in Jesus, but also to become His disciples. Believers are those who accept Christian doctrines, whereas disciples are those who are willing to serve Christ in all that they do.

Recently, more than 2000 young men and women responded to my invitation to discipleship when I spoke in Mt. Union, PA at the Creation Festival. (These are Christian versions of Woodstock where more than 50,000 young people come together to camp out, enjoy Christian bands and listen to speakers.) I don’t know how many of these young people will end up living out their discipleship as teachers, preachers and missionaries, but I’m sure many of them will. Others, I hope, will live out their discipleship in a variety of other vocations.

Connect Leadership Ministries – The 3 M’s

Connect Leadership Ministries

Connect Ministries is involved in what we call the 3 M’s of ministry – Mission, Movement and Multiplication.

1. MISSION: Initiating Mission Via “Missional Communities” In Local Churches Or Through Church Plants

We are committed to calling young adults to join together in “Missional Communities” in which they support each other in doing mission in vulnerable neighborhoods. Our prayer is that these “Missional Communities” will plant churches or participate in struggling churches and provide the energy and purpose needed for the church to join them in reaching out to the neighborhood. The goal will be for the church to become a sending hub for missional actions within the neighborhood it is located in.

2. MOVEMENT: RED LETTER CHRISTIANITY

We believe that young adults will lead the way in mission and because of this we are committed to working with them in doing mission. We motivate, recruit, equip and send young adult volunteers into our cities to join “Missional Communities” with the purpose to do mission through urban churches or church plants. In this manner we come to see that true spiritual formation of young leaders takes place within the context of mission.

We call this praxis oriented community of young adults “Red Letter Christians” as we seek to develop a movement of young leaders who seriously seek to live out the words of Jesus that are written in red in certain versions of the Bible.

On top of the general equipping we are involved in we also provide more intense nine month Internships for young leaders interested in developing their leadership potential while also gaining important ministry experience. We place our Interns into “Missional Communities” where they will be stretched as they initiate and build a sustainable ministry in a vulnerable community through their “Missional Community” within a local church or by planting a church.

3. MULTIPLICATION

As our Interns graduate and return to their home country, or are led to serve in another country, we will work with them in establishing their own Connect Ministries hubs. It is our prayer that these missional hubs will create and energize more “red letter” movements of young adults from other countries so that a mission movement is multiplied on a global basis. Currently, we are working on potential missional hubs in places like the US and the Dominican Republic. Connect Ministries is also involved in coaching and directing young leaders where we are currently located in Toronto, Canada.

We’re All in This Together

EAPE , Newsletters

EAPE When you support EAPE, you support a network of national and international ministries. Your gifts also support three full time EAPE office workers, each of whom has a specialized ministry. What they do is likely to go unnoticed by those who are not around to observe what they do, day in and day out, so I thought I’d tell you about them.

First of all, there’s Robert Gauthier. In addition to keeping track of donations, writing “thank you” notes and serving as our bookkeeper, he is secretary and treasurer for the board of directors. He spends a good bit of his time on the phone, calling, you, our donors and letting you know how grateful all of us are for your prayers and financial support. He makes sure that we know you as persons. Robert keeps me posted as to special needs or problems any of you may have so that I can follow up with prayers and words of encouragement. He helps make our donors very special individuals to us, and if he has not called you yet—there’s a good chance he will. He’s diligent.

Secondly, there’s James Warren. This seminary grad is my right-hand man. He receives and makes sure that I answer all the considerable mail that comes into the office. I answer all of the letters that are addressed to me personally. What is most important is that he spends many, many hours talking to people who call in with special problems. Time and time again, people come up to me and tell me what a help and blessing he has been to them. Just recently a woman in a church in Canada told me that if she hadn’t had James’ help she doesn’t know what she would have done – because she had been on the verge of spiritual and emotional collapse. She said that talking to him by phone was better than going to a professional counselor. He does this while making sure that all the details that go with making speaking and travel arrangements for my 300+ engagements each year are handled with optimal efficiency.

Finally, there’s Brian Ballard. It’s sometimes hard for me to realize that he graduated from Eastern only a couple of years ago. He does the engineering for our radio show, Across the Pond, for the British Premier Christian Radio network. This show not only has a wide audience in the United Kingdom but also has a huge number of listeners online (go to TonyCampolo.org/media if you want to hear it). In addition to that he does all the securing of guests and all the arranging for EAPE’s weekly TV show, Red Letter Christians. The show is broadcast on the cable channel JCTV but can also be viewed online by going to RedLetterChristians.org/rlc-tv.

Besides all of the above, I have to tell you that Brian’s primary responsibility is to supervise the development of EAPE’s newest ministry, Red Letter Christians. This entails maintaining the Red Letter Christians blog which, since it was initiated a little over a year ago, has had more than a million “unique hits”, making it one of the hottest blogs online. This is a dynamic new ministry that is reaching all generations but especially the younger set.

A Year of Ministry-Your Support Made a Difference! Thank you!

EAPE , Newsletters

Charles Dickens wrote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It is the best of times because our ministries are flourishing. As I reflect on the last 12 months of ministry, it’s a joy for me to highlight some of the work we accomplished together:

Preaching opportunities enabled us to reach larger numbers of people than ever before. We preached EAPE’s holistic message that affirms social justice while maintaining an uncompromised evangelical witness.
The Red Letter Christians movement, which EAPE initiated three years ago, is growing and had more than a million unique hits on our website (redletterchristians.org) this year.
The more than 40 young men and women preachers and writers who make up the team of communicators that EAPE is nurturing are becoming internationally known and powerfully impacting people far and wide with the Gospel.
Great progress was made by our workers in Haiti as they rebuilt schools destroyed by the earthquake. They also broke ground for a new teacher’s training academy.
Scores of the graduates from the program in micro-job creation we helped create three decades ago generated at least 250,000 jobs for poor people in developing countries.
The ministry in South Africa created by our own former board member, Wendy Ryan, graduated its largest class of women seamstress workers this year.
New outreach ministries in Oakland, CA, Miami, FL and Trenton, NJ connected with hundreds of additional children and adults who previously had little contact with any consistent discipleship program.

While we give thanks for God’s faithfulness, and celebrate a year of faithful Christian service and sacrificial giving, we do so knowing that the work God has given us is not finished.

As we begin another year of ministry we renew our commitment to inspire and enable followers of Jesus to live out God’s love for the poor and oppressed.

I want to tell you about a new initiative that we will support this year. Colin McCartney, the founder and longtime executive director of Urban Promise Toronto, has started a new ministry called Connect Leadership International. He is recruiting interns who he will train to minister to inner city youth. The interns will be assigned to struggling inner city churches where they will establish youth programs and do door to door evangelism in the neighborhoods surrounding those churches. The goal is to revitalize churches in “at risk” neighborhoods. EAPE will provide “start up” funding and I will be doing promotional speaking for this new ministry.

Incredibly, Camille LeClaire, one of our most amazing volunteers, has arranged to start a new ministry in Santiago, Cuba! It will be a program at a home for deaf children, and will teach them to work in a catering business that she will help them develop.

This is only a short list of what our committed mission workers are accomplishing, so you can understand why I say “It is the best of times.”

In other ways, however, these are hard times. Aquila Way, our home for battered women and pregnant single women in the United Kingdom has been primarily supported by funding from the British Parliament. The Parliament is cutting back funding and that means we’ve got to move to keep this important ministry alive.

We need your help to meet our budgeted expectations this coming year. We’re counting on you to do all you can to help keep EAPE strong and effective – so be as generous as you can!