Tony Campolo, an oft-quoted and progressive evangelical leader famous for counseling former president Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the late ’90s, announced this week that he will retire and close his 40-year-old organization, the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education.
According to a Christian Post article, Campolo shared in a newsletter, “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.”
Campolo, who will be 79 next month, has nearly 200 speaking engagements scheduled for the next year and plans to write one more book. There are also several now-independent nonprofit organizations, including the most recent Red Letter Christians, that will need oversight.
“After June 30, 2014, I will go on preaching and teaching from my base at Eastern University,” wrote Campolo. “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.”
