Evening with Dr. Tony Campolo

Last Sunday was a historic evening of sorts for Epic. We had the privilege of tri-hosting Dr. Tony Campolo for the night who spoke to us not only about God's preferential favor for the poor, but challenging us that God's true liberation is listening to the voices of the poor, of advocating for the poor, of allowing the poor to shape our national agenda because this is where and from whom God truly speaks and is speaking. To give our lives to this is what it means to live in the kingdom. He spoke in his typically animated way with plenty of impassioned spray (I know, I was in the front row!). Dr. Campolo surprised us by closing with his famous but beloved story, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" which hearkened me back to when I first got introduced to his teaching as a college student in the early 80's. Having Dr. Campolo here on the campus with us was truly an amazing privilege.

The evening was equally celebratory because of the partnership between Newsong NOC, Wilshire Ave. Church, and Epic. I joked during the festivities that I really, really liked the partnership that was forming. Newsong got Tony, fed us, led us in worship, and got the program together, Wilshire Ave provided the facilities and childcare, and Epic? Well, we brought the watermelon!

Seriously, it was a terrific event, and was so fitting for the three churches to join together around the issue of justice and our common love for the City of Fullerton. I love, respect, and enjoy working with my friends pastors Brian Kim of Newsong NOC and Kirk Mackie of WAC. We plan on meeting soon about how to partner further together.

On a side note, I was thrilled to personally meet Dr. Campolo and get a chance to have him sign my book, "A Reasonable Faith" which I first read as a Fuller student in Dr. Ken Fong's class. This is where Campolo writes, "His humanity was the fullest expression of His deity. In Jesus, everything that God is was revealed and everything that a human being is supposed to be was fully realized and both of these were one and the same." When I handed him the book, he said, "Wow, this is an old one!" I told him, "But it's one the best you've ever written, Dr. Campolo."