Promise Keepers Conference

(Posted by Ben)

Last weekend, my father and I had the chance to attend a Christian men’s conference. The event was hosted by a fellowship group known as the “Promise Keepers.” But before I go into too much detail about our time together, I feel I must give our readers a quick history of the promise keepers.

“Promise Keepers” (PK) is a Christian men’s organization founded by Colorado Football coach Bill McCartney in 1990. It is an organization based upon 7 Biblical promises relating to marriage and fatherhood, Biblical unity, purity, and evangelism. This “movement” had humble beginnings; it started with about 75 Christian men, but within three years it had ballooned to over 50,000 men worldwide! Their goal was to have small promise keepers groups meeting regularly in their churches, and then attending large, yearly conferences. Each conference had a theme and would hold gatherings in stadiums and arenas across the country. Needless to say, this movement was extremely popular, as well as very controversial, garnering criticism from feminist, homosexual and liberal groups. Criticism also came from pastors and religious leaders who challenged their firm belief in racial and denominational unity.

The Promise Keepers continued to grow, until they reached almost 700,000 men by 1997. On October 4, 1997, history was made when over 1.4 million Promise Keepers (including my Dad!) gathered on the Washington mall for a prayer service that lasted 5 hours and was known as “Stand in the Gap.” This event was based on 2 Chronicles 7:14 which states: “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”(NIV) This event was the largest gathering of men in American history.

Ok, now for this year’s conference….we left for the event on Friday, as it was Friday night and all day Saturday. Since the promise keepers have experienced some decline in numbers over the years, they now mostly meet in churches. This conference was held at the House of God church in Akron, OH. The first night of the conference looked like this:

The “One Body” worship band led us in some wonderful and passionate praise time.

(Sorry my pictures are a little blurry)

There was a motivational speaker name Reggie Dabbs who spoke in-between the other speakers. I really liked this guy!

(Photo taken from www.promisekeepers.org.)

The speaker was Greg Stier, Founder and CEO of Dare to Share ministries. He spoke the message of the gospel to us, and many men were saved that night!

(Photo taken from www.promisekeepers.org)

The next speaker was the “big man” himself! Coach Bill McCartney, founder and long time president of Promise Keepers! He gave a passionate sermon on leadership in igniting a spiritual revolution. You can definitely tell by his terms, words and tone of voice that he was a football coach!

(Photo taken from www.promisekeepers.org.)

The next speaker was Bishop Joey Johnson, the senior pastor of the church in which this conference was held. He spoke on being the salt of the earth and the catalyst of a spiritual revolution.

The “One Body” worship band finished with some music to end the night. I have found this night to be extremely empowering and can’t wait for tomorrow!

Saturday

The church doors opened at 9 am. Everyone was extremely excited, especially the new Christians from the night before. All of our hearts were open to hear God’s Word from many different speakers.

The “One Body” worship band led us in some powerful worship before the speakers came.

(Photo taken from www.promisekeepers.org)

The first speaker was Reverend Kevin James ,who spoke on “living a life of purity” based off the third promise of the Promise Keepers. His sermon was very empowering. He then had everyone find a prayer partner. I chose my Dad, and then we were to pray for each other’s purity before God.

(Photo taken from www.promisekeepers.org)

The next speaker was famed comedian Brad Stine, who spoke on uniting a Biblical brotherhood. He was absolutely hilarious! Although he was very funny, I was impressed at how correct his biblical theology is!

After Brad Stine, it was time for lunch. All 1700 men walked outside and stood in line for Chick-Fil-A, the official lunch sponsors for the event. My dad and I grabbed the lunch bags (which contained one chicken sandwich, coleslaw, chips and a brownie), found a shady spot and had a “small” picnic. We were joined by 1,700 others.

(Photo taken from www.promisekeeprs.org)

After lunch we listened to Rev. Crawford Lorrits. He spoke on “Raising your family.” I must say personally, this had to be my favorite speaker of the conference! He spoke a lot on the ramifications of Biblical illiteracy.

After Crawford Lorrits, a musician by the name of John Waller sang some worship songs with us. This was a real blessing!

Dr. Raleigh Washington with one of the musicians

We were then blessed to hear a word from the current CEO and president of Promise Keepers, Dr. Raleigh Washington, who spoke on the issue of racial unity. I found this man’s sermon to be both sad, but very empowering.

The last speaker was a Christian Jewish man whose name I can’t remember. He spoke on serving and protecting God’s chosen people and on the spread of anti-Semitism.

As legend has it, when the Nazi invasion of Denmark seemed inevitable, the Nazis communicated with the King of Denmark and told him to have all the Jews in his country wear a yellow star. In this way, the Nazis would know who they were and could deal with them. The King of Denmark did as he was told. But he also wore a star himself, as did everyone in his country. Upon the Nazi invasion, the Nazis had no idea who was Jewish and who was not. The speaker then had us put on a yellow star, promising to preserve, protect, and defend our allies, the Jews.

Overall, I enjoyed the conference, especially going with my Dad!

To learn more about the promise keepers visit www.promisekeepers.org.

PK recommended resources:

The Bible (of course J)

“The Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper” by Bill McCartney, Bill Bright, Luis Palau, Randy Phillips, Dr. James Dobson, Tony Evans, Edwin Cole and Gary Smalley.

“The Power of a Promise Kept” by Greg Lewis

“Breaking Down Walls” by Raleigh Washington and Glen Kehrein (forward by Billy Graham and John Perkins)

“Two Minute Warning” by Bill McCartney and Aaron Fruh

“Never Walk Away” by Crawford Lorrits

“For A Time We Cannot See” by Crawford Lorrits

“Awakening The One New Man” by Bill McCartney, Ray Gannon, Mitch Glaser, Craig Keener, Jack Hayford, Daniel Juster, Michael Brown, Peter Tsukahira, Jonathan Bernis, Sandra Teplinsky, Jane Hansen Hoyt, and Raleigh Washington.