He's deliberately VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING.
He tries hard--and very successfully, I think--to jar folks out of their tidy little boxes theologically and provoke them to Love and Good works.
And, he does that amazingly well.
They discovered that a multi-national corporation owned 3/4 or more of a certain Caribbean nation.
The corp's lands were devoted to sugar cane for export. And the laborers were paid a very poor wage and the whole country was devastated in a rather calloused, very unChristian, very even dysfunctional way. It wasn't even in the corp's interests to be doing things the way they were.
So, Tony and his group bought 2 shares of stock and showed up at the annual meeting with placards and made a big fuss of a demonstration.
The board of directors was impressed enough to give Tony and group an hour or two for a special presentation of their grievances.
The Board of Directors turned out to be Presbyterians. They were loathe to find out the hard effects of their policies on the laborers and the country as a whole.
I think the corporation ended up giving Tony and his group $11 million to implement their suggested changes.
The Marxist leader of the country was somewhat jokingly angry with Tony and his group because they'd taken all the wind out of his sails. He had no more platform to agitate with. Tony and group had not only fixed all the wrongs he was ranting against but had gone beyond them and made things much better even than the Marxist had lobbied and agitated for.
And, the corporation came out ahead in a variety of ways as well.
Tony and his fellow yuppies (6-8 couples and families--living mostly on the same poor section of town block) do this by having one lawn mower betwen them; fewer cars which are shared etc. . . . his son was voted one of 10 best dressed at Harvard though he got all his clothes at thrift shops etc.
But, hey, if you wish to rant against someone living so much more of a personally selfless, sacrificial Christ-like life than average--help yourself. I'm skeptical Christ will agree with your perspective. But I'm sure you can find many who will.
I've heard Campolo speak--some 20 years ago, and I agree, very though provoking, reminds one of a kind of kooky but very skilled college professor, though thought provoking doesn't make his views true.
I don't doubt he's done some great things for the poor in what, the DR? It's a great story, but needs some confirmation. Assuming its the whole story, that also doesn't make his views true.
Campolo is though, a part of what can be called the (tiny) evangelical left. Very much of a socialist....out of his concern for the poor, hence he goes democrat (somehow his pro-life views take a back seat then I guess). He was duped by Clinton, much the same way Billy Graham was duped by Nixon....
There's a group called the Sojourners which share the same views as Campolo...pacifist socialists, who still call themselves Christians (and even evangelical). If you want thought provoking (but wacked) view of what they are like check out a Sojourners magazine at a library.... I went to college with a few professors like that, actually. I can guarantee you Sojourners magazine is almost all left wing social concerns, without any mention of presonal faith in Jesus Christ.
His wife (I think he was widowed, and this is his 2nd wife, but I'm not sure) is very "pro-choice" an almost unheard of position for a self-identified evangelical. Tony remains pro-life (supposedly) and they both have done speaking tours where they explain their opposing positions.
It appears to me that through the years Campolo has moved left....religiously and of course politically too. I believe he thinks homosexuality is unchangeable so Christians should just accept it---NOT at all a biblical view either.
Campolo today is a good example of why the word "evangelical" is fast losing its meaning.