It’s Thursday, but Sunday’s Coming
Tony Campolo – my favorite preacher, prophet, teacher, political scientist, and all around hell raiser and provocateur, is coming to town. It’s Thursday but Sunday’s a coming! This Sunday December 7th 2008, Dr Anthony Campolo is coming to town and he will be speaking at The Woodlands Methodist Church where I have been employed and in ministry for some 17 years. To be perfectly honest with you, I never thought this day would come. For you see, Tony is a prophet with a capitol P and big, successful mega-churches like ours would be wise to stay away from such trouble makers and status quo challengers. But you want believe it, the most serendipitous thing just happened… Dr. Ed Robb invited Tony to come speak at both the 11:00 a.m. traditional service and the 9:15 a.m. Harvest service (a modern worship service started by J.D. Walt, Chris Tomlin and myself some 10 years ago) This is in keeping with his idea of occasionally living a little dangerous and taking some BIG FUN risks from time to time. So, it’s Thursday and it’s a little boring around here in The Woodlands but Sunday’s a coming! I was laying in bed last night thinking about how much fun it’s going to be when Tony open’s his mouth this Sunday and out comes radical wisdom, heart-pounding inspiration, jaw-dropping truth and knowledge unlike anyone has ever heard before – it’s going to be awesome. Tony is so rock-n-roll. He is the only speaker I know that can be classified rock-n-roll. He is the speaker your Mother doesn’t want you to listen to. He says the things that make you blush with conviction. He’s loud like ACDC, abbrasive and thunderous like The Who, creative and etherial like Radiohead, and poetic like Dylan and Lennon. In fact, he’s more rock-n-roll than most rock-n-roll I listen to. It’s Thursday, God’s people are hungry for a fresh word cause their hearts are growing faint from all the economic chaos , but Sunday’s a coming. 30 years ago I attended my very first National Youth Workers Convention in San Diego CA. I was a 24 year old rookie youth pastor working in a 300 member church with 15 jr. and sr. high school students. I had an awesome puppet ministry and I was oh so clueless. It was at that convention that I first heard Tony speak. I will never, ever forget what he said. He walked up to the mike, look at his watch and said “Over the next 24 hours, 24,000 people will die of starvation on this planet and I’m not sure whether anyone in this room really gives a sh***t!” He paused for just a second while thousands of youth workers passed out, gasped for breath, and fell over with coronaries…he then said these immortal words “What’s really sad is that most of you are more concerned with the curse word I just used then you are with the reality of 24,000 people dying of starvation.” I’m not sure if anything, next to my Damascus Road conversion, has ever sooooo gotten my attention. So, needless to say I’ve been a BIG Campolo fan ever since. Promise you will be there front and center this Sunday. If you miss it be sure and listen online at TWUMC.org a few days later. It’s going to be so Rock-n-roll!!!!
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