Promise Keepers

BOSTON -- It came to him as a cardiovascular epiphany. Bill McCartney, former football coach and founder of the Promise Keepers, was jogging on the Washington Mall when he felt his heart "yanked toward heaven."This spiritual aerobic high led him to call for a gathering of men to "Stand in the Gap." Not The Gap store. Not the gender gap. The biblical gap recorded in Ezekiel when God went looking for a few good men to save a country.So it is that a half-million men are expected to arrive in the nation's capital this weekend for a Saturday of male bonding and male bashing.

Paul Schomburg's first Promise Keepers rally changed his life. A lapsed Presbyterian with a wife and two young daughters when he attended the event 10 years ago, Schomburg found himself swaying with 47,000 men at RFK Stadium, singing, praying and praising God. "Just the fact that you saw so many thousands of men getting together to worship Jesus Christ, and to hear how their lives had been changed by knowing him in a personal way, that was tremendously encouraging...

Imagine millions of men praying daily for their wives and children, dedicating their time and money to churches, committing themselves to overcoming racial and religious differences.That is the vision of Promise Keepers, a 4-year-old Christian men's organization that began with 72 members and now numbers at least 200,000 nationwide.Promise Keepers was founded by University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney to encourage men to be better Christians. Its growth has been sparked primarily through annual conferences in Boulder, Colo.

Edwin Louis Cole, 79, considered the father of the Christian men's movement that spawned Promise Keepers gatherings nationwide, died Tuesday of cancer in Southlake, Texas. He founded the Southlake-based nondenominational Christian Men's Network in 1979. For the next 20 years, he traveled the world commanding men to "repent of sex sins." He wrote 14 books, including Maximized Manhood, Strong Men in Tough Times and The Irresistible Husband. He also recorded more than 1,000 audiotapes and produced more than 200 instructional videos, according to the Christian Men's Network.

When Promise Keepers, a mostly white evangelical Christian men's movement, came recruiting black Baltimore ministers last week, the group had a surprise for the clergy: The Rev. Harold A. Carter, pastor of New Shiloh Baptist Church, one of the city's largest and most influential congregations, is a participant in Promise Keepers.Since Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney contacted Carter several years ago, the West Baltimore pastor has spoken at several of the group's stadium assemblies and attended group strategy sessions.

WASHINGTON -- When Promise Keepers fills the National Mall with people and prayers today, it hopes to make history. Certainly, it's got the setup to do so.Just look at what the Christian men's group has assembled for its first national rally: 44 guest speakers, 11 JumboTrons (the group wanted a few extras, but the Rolling Stones had first dibs), 100-plus sound speakers, 24 generators (with hushed motors to preserve a prayerful ambience on the Mall), 210 phone lines, 130 stage lights, 1 million free Bibles, 1,500 portable toilets and much more.

WASHINGTON -- In the seven years since Promise Keepers was founded, the mass gatherings of evangelical Christian men have been criticized by some for having an almost entirely white, middle-class attendance, with just a smattering of minority participation.Acknowledging past failures, Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney said yesterday that an Oct. 4 gathering on the Mall in Washington, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of men from across country, will be notable for its diversity.

Washington -- On another weekend in another season, these men hustling down the ramps at RFK Stadium would be scrambling to beat the parking lot jam or make last call for Budweiser. Tonight, there's no beer to be found. The men rise cold sober from their seats, rush to the field and step onto the red clay to bow their heads, cry, embrace, tell a story.They offer stories to their Lord Jesus. Some have been drunk. Some have been driven by pornography into sexual fantasy. Others have been deceitful or adulterous or blinded by ambition or absent from the lives of their wives and children.

Just four years ago, men were filling 50,000-seat football stadiums for Promise Keeper prayer rallies, where they sang for joy, prayed for repentance and pledged to be better husbands and fathers. At its peak, when as many as 1 million men fell to their knees on the National Mall during the Stand in the Gap rally in October 1997, Promise Keepers seemed like a national movement with untold potential. But in the wake of the costly D.C. event and a decision to stop charging admission for rallies, the lay-run Denver-based ministry ran out of money, laid off its staff and seemed on the verge of collapse.

Meet three regular Joes bound for the Promise Keepers' Land this morning. Glenn, Todd and Dave -- who could pass for extras on "Home Improvement" -- will be three dots in a crowd of a half-million or more on the National Mall in Washington.The trio from Calvary Temple Church in Millersville planned to be on the bus at 9 a.m. With all their hearts and minds, they plan on praying, hugging and fasting from midday to sunset during "Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men."The rally is the creation of Promise Keepers, a Denver-based evangelical men's group that has become one of the nation's leading religious organizations.

On a sticky Friday afternoon, an ample-sized man labors up Lombard Street, straining under the weight of a heavy cardboard box in his hands. A rectangular sign rests precariously atop the box and flies into the man's chest with the occasional gust of hot air. The sign says "takebackmaryland.org." The man, Tres Kerns, is a mishmash of visual cross-signals. His hair is almost completely white even though he is still an energetic 41. From the waist down, he is dressed for business in gray wool slacks and loafers, but above he is wearing a sweat-dampened T-shirt with a deep V-neck that reveals an expanse of pasty skin.

Just four years ago, men were filling 50,000-seat football stadiums for Promise Keeper prayer rallies, where they sang for joy, prayed for repentance and pledged to be better husbands and fathers. At its peak, when as many as 1 million men fell to their knees on the National Mall during the Stand in the Gap rally in October 1997, Promise Keepers seemed like a national movement with untold potential. But in the wake of the costly D.C. event and a decision to stop charging admission for rallies, the lay-run Denver-based ministry ran out of money, laid off its staff and seemed on the verge of collapse.

Christmas morning dawns, and the Christian world focuses on the baby Jesus in the manger, his adoring mother Mary at his side. But what about the man lost in the shadows? At Christmas, Joseph, the nonbiological father of Jesus, is the forgotten saint. He receives scant mention in the Gospels, and there is little theological work on him or his spirituality. His wife, meanwhile, has an entire specialty called Mariology. And Jesus, well, he's held up as the savior of the world. "Joseph is in the background if Joseph is there at all," said the Rev. Gerald J. Kleba a parish priest near St. Louis and author of the recently published "Joseph Remembered."

About 5,000 couples gathered at the Baltimore Arena yesterday to renew their marriage vows, participating in one of the latest Christian trends: the anti-divorce movement. The couples came for a one-day program called "I Still Do," designed to help couples rekindle the spark in their marriages. There were young couples not married yet, and elderly couples, married 50 years. There were contented couples, hoping to prevent problems, and discontented couples, trying to make things right again.

IN RECENT weeks, critics of the religious right have much to cheer.First, the Christian Coalition, Pat Robertson's political group, laid off staff members, cut programs and canceled publications. A former financial officer confessed to having embezzled funds. To complicate matters, since the departure in June of its cherubic ,, director, Ralph Reed, contributions to the coalition fell 36 percent.Then, Promise Keepers, the evangelical men's organization, announced it was laying off all 345 employees beginning March 1. In spite of its million-man rally in Washington last in October, its contributions were also down dramatically.

Sport team names lack sensitivityWhat's in a name? The Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians -- all are multi-million dollar franchises with multi-million dollar facilities, with millionaire athletes representing them on the sports battlefields.As I watch the fans cheer, making axing motions with their arms, and dressing in Native American war paint, I think to myself that if this were a place of work, all 60,000 of these fans would be in a racial sensitivity class the next day.I ask you this question: How would you feel if someone depicted your people as a mascot, or on a banner?

LIKE THE MILLION MAN MARCH that preceded it, the greatest impact of Saturday's Promise Keepers rally in Washington will occur with individual acts of goodness. Life-changing experiences motivated hundreds of thousands of men to attend the Christian event; others found spiritual awakening while there. Families and communities will be better if these men fulfill their professed commitment to be more responsible.If there is any group action of lasting relevance, it may be political. Promise Keepers' leaders insist politics has never been a motivation for the 62 all-male rallies they have held since 1990.

Edwin Louis Cole, 79, considered the father of the Christian men's movement that spawned Promise Keepers gatherings nationwide, died Tuesday of cancer in Southlake, Texas. He founded the Southlake-based nondenominational Christian Men's Network in 1979. For the next 20 years, he traveled the world commanding men to "repent of sex sins." He wrote 14 books, including Maximized Manhood, Strong Men in Tough Times and The Irresistible Husband. He also recorded more than 1,000 audiotapes and produced more than 200 instructional videos, according to the Christian Men's Network.

LIKE THE MILLION MAN MARCH that preceded it, the greatest impact of Saturday's Promise Keepers rally in Washington will occur with individual acts of goodness. Life-changing experiences motivated hundreds of thousands of men to attend the Christian event; others found spiritual awakening while there. Families and communities will be better if these men fulfill their professed commitment to be more responsible.If there is any group action of lasting relevance, it may be political. Promise Keepers' leaders insist politics has never been a motivation for the 62 all-male rallies they have held since 1990.

A school bus on any other day, Bus #556 pulled away from Memorial Stadium shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday, carrying about 40 men and two children to what they expected would be something great, the Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" rally in Washington.The deep tones of an all-male chorus -- a group that may never be together again -- singing "Amazing Grace" and "Lord I Lift Your Name on High," filled the bus as it moved south on Baltimore streets."My wife, she supports this big-time," said Robert Gibson, 29, of Baltimore, turning away from the window and eager to talk about his experience with the national Christian men's movement.