By What Measure?

Sixty-four years ago a Philadelphia congregation watched as three nine-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, unable to continue with its dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.

One of those boys was Tony Campolo, who is now a well-known evangelical pastor, author and sociologist at Eastern University in Pennsylvania. Over his many years of Christian service, Tony has boldly challenged millions of people all over the world to respond to God’s boundless love by combining personal discipleship, evangelism, and social justice.

"Years later, while doing research in the archives of our denomination," Tony said, "I decided to look up the church report for the year of my baptism. There was my name, and Dick White's. He's now a missionary. Bert Newman, now a professor of theology at an African seminary, was also there.

'It has not been a good year for our church,' the report read. 'We have lost 27 members. Three joined and they were only children.'"

[submitted by Sarah Howe Miller]