Stoking their spirituality

A smaller Promise Keepers returns to the bay area next month, still encouraging men to be leaders - and still drawing criticism.

By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2002

TAMPA -- Man in the Mirror. HonorBound. For Men Only. The Christian Men's Network. St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers. ManPower.

They are groups and annual gatherings of Christian men, men who sit in churches and arenas and listen to fiery sermons from other men in pulpits, men who gather in small rooms to talk about being spiritual heads of their households.

Many of the groups have been around for several years. Their intentions are to reach and inspire lackluster husbands, fathers and single men unversed in the leadership skills of Christian forefathers.

But none is as well-known or as highly criticized as Promise Keepers.

On May 31 and June 1, Promise Keepers comes to Tampa's Sun Dome in its first conference of 2002. Big names in religion will be there: Bruce Wilkinson, a Christian speaker and author who wrote the popular The Prayer of Jabez, the Rev. James Ryle and music group Salvador.

Organizers hope to pack the dome with 9,000 men. Since January, about 5,000 have registered for the $69 event, said Dana Hardee, a volunteer manager who lives in Tampa.

A billboard off I-275 in St. Petersburg advertises the event with the picture of an army with weapons in hand, on galloping horses. "Storm the Gates," the sign reads.

What gates?

The gates of hell, of sin and death, says Ray Vialpando, director of U.S. Ministries for Promise Keepers, from the organization's headquarters in Denver.

The theme, he says, is about men shunning sin and actively taking on the role of leaders in their churches and communities like the disciple Peter did. He notes the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus Christ tells Peter: "And upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Now in its 12th year, Promise Keepers reached its apex of popularity in the mid 1990s as men swarmed to football stadiums for spiritual rallies held across the country.

But in years since, the group has gone through rough financial times, and its budget and attendance figures dropped significantly.

Hardee was once employed by the organization but was let go in 1998, along with others nationwide as Promise Keepers scaled back on staff. The organization also switched to small-scale arenas, rather than larger venues such as football stadiums.

In 1996, a total of about 1-million men attended Promise Keepers conferences, and the group operated on a $94.8-million budget. Promise Keepers didn't charge admission for two years but reinstated a registration fee in 2000. That year, the budget was $31.8-million. In 2001, the number of attendees had fallen to about 207,000. This year, about 250,000 are expected to attend 16 conferences.

Still, the group has not lost its ability to draw the ire of civil liberties and feminist groups who believe Promise Keepers is homophobic and sexist.

Already a storm of revolt is brewing locally. At the University of South Florida campus in Tampa, Nicole Fotovat, 22-year-old president of the college's National Organization for Women chapter, is planning a protest.

"They say they want to treat women with respect," she says. "But I don't think taking a leadership role in your marriage is equal."

The teachings at Promise Keepers rallies are much the same as fundamentalist doctrine preached at churches throughout the United States. Notions of homosexuality as sinful, of a man "taking care of his family" and being involved in church are nothing new or unique to Promise Keepers.

For instance, the Rev. Abe Brown, the well-known pastor of First Baptist of College Hill in Tampa and heads of a prison ministry, sponsors a group that tries to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, called "America's best preacher" by Time magazine, drew 20,000 men to Memphis in 1997 for his annual "ManPower" conference. Its message is at times very similar to that of Promise Keepers, but it has not seen the same level of criticism.

Promise Keepers perhaps has been the most high-profile and organized of programs in the men's spiritual movement. What organizers may see as success -- support from well-known spiritual leaders and high attendance in years past -- critics denounce as proof Promise Keepers is political and a cult.

Sidney M. Goetz, a member of the national advisory council for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, organized an opposition forum several days before Promise Keepers came to St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field in 1999.

He did not attend the conference but stood outside and watched people going in. There were thousands, he said. He heard them speaking of male leadership. What they said was the same thing Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney had said, Goetz recalled. He heard Promise Keepers telling people to take what they had learned back to their churches. To Goetz, that crossed the line into cultism.

"It isn't just religion when these people are to go back to these groups and (are) teaching what McCartney is teaching them," he said. "That has the potential for danger. Hitlerlike."

Goetz says he won't host a forum this year because the event is occurring across Tampa Bay from his St. Petersburg home. He will write opinion letters to area newspapers expressing his beliefs.

On NOW's national Web site, the women's rights organization contends that well-known leaders in the religious right, such as Jerry Falwell, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ and James Dobson of Focus on the Family, have donated money to Promise Keepers. That, according to literature on the site, helps make Promise Keepers a political movement, not just a religious effort.

Those involved in Promise Keepers have also been called racists. Some people quote from a book written by Bishop Wellington Boone, a black man and a frequent speaker at Promise Keepers rallies, who said, "The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom and in fact should hold him up as a role model."

A book by Boone, praised in some religious circles: Your Wife Is Not Your Momma.

Hardee, the volunteer manager, said bridging racial divides is one of the group's goals. Men at his church, Idlewild Baptist in Tampa, have often partnered with a men's group at Brown's predominantly black church. They go to the homes of widows. They mow the women's lawns and do household repairs if need be, Hardee said.

Hardee and Vialpando believe the group's critics are people who have been hurt by wayward men in the past or people who have misunderstood Promise Keepers' mission.

Promise Keepers, Hardee says, "gives an image of what a godly man looks like."

The idea of spiritualizing men continues to be a hard-fought battle among the religious. Statistics have consistently shown that church attendees are more than 50 percent female. And although men dominate pulpits, women are overwhelmingly more involved in church activities on lower levels.

Many women understand the need to get men active and in leadership roles, Promise Keepers organizers believe. Today, more than 50 percent of the 1,500 volunteers preparing for the Tampa event are women. Women are not invited to the conferences but are not barred from attending.

Some wives and children of men who go to Promise Keepers wear T-shirts that read "Promise Reapers."

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