Tony Campolo Is A Baptist Professor And Preacher ...

Tony Campolo is a Baptist professor and preacher who has the gall to insist that we look at things, even sacred cows, from a truly Christian perspective. He’s a compelling motivational speaker who speaks to many kinds of audiences. He once was invited to speak at a sales conference sponsored by a large insurance company. The executives of the company had brought in an array of top-flight speakers to teach the sales force the most successful techniques for selling their products. One by one the speakers got up and told how to "set up" clients, push the right emotional buttons, and close the deal. The presentations were clever and up-to-date.

Campolo was the wrap-up hitter, the final speaker, for the event. His motivational speech was expected to spark the salespeople to practice the concepts they had learned during the day.

Campolo stepped up to the speaker’s mike, faced his audience, and shocked them all when he said: "Everything you’ve heard today is wrong!" You can imagine how stunned the audience looked. They could not believe what they heard. Then Campolo explained: "People are not things to be manipulated with the right techniques. They are not Pavlovian dogs. We do not have a right to set them up to respond to the "proper" stimuli in order to elicit the "proper" response.

They are not creatures to be used to further our own economic self-interest.

People are sacred. Each of them is an infinitely precious person in whom the eternal God has chosen to make His home. And all of them deserve to be treated with reverent respect."