Aug. 30, 2020, column:

Mission of Promise Keepers stems from the Bible

By Mike Haynes

            One reason Promise Keepers inspired me in the 1990s was the unity it brought to men of multiple Christian denominations, varied backgrounds and different races.

            Back then, the national parachurch organization started by University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney drew media attention in part because of the enormous crowds that packed arenas and football stadiums across the country.

            And who would have predicted that hundreds of thousands – some confidently said a million – men would converge on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1997 for the purpose of honoring Jesus Christ and urging men to follow him?

            Like many movements – and it was a strong movement for several years – PK slowed down and ran into financial troubles. Some observers claimed it lost momentum because it focused too much on racial reconciliation. From the beginning, its lineup of speakers included many African-Americans, such as E.V. Hill and Tony Evans. And African-American churches were well-represented in the several PK events I attended, from Amarillo’s Cal Farley Coliseum to that 1997 “Stand in the Gap” gathering in D.C.

 

Tony Evans is an author and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible
Fellowship in Dallas and founder of the Urban
Alternative ministry. (Promise Keepers photo)

           But Ken Harrison, PK’s unpaid CEO since 2018, told Christianity Today magazine last month he disagrees that a focus on racial unity contributed to PK’s decline. And even in 1998, local PK leader Greg Canada told me that although the group supported the Amarillo Area Racial Reconciliation Ministries, the PK focus was broader.

“We do not look at it as a black and white issue,” Canada said in my column that March. “We look at it as a sin issue, and that’s not unique to any one race or culture or denomination.”

PK certainly had an impact in this region. It was the impetus for my wife’s longtime friend, Bob, becoming an active Christian. Men’s accountability groups sprang up all over. Ken Plunk of Paramount Terrace (now Hillside) Christian Church arranged for 173 men from various congregations to fly to the D.C. event in a Boeing 727 and estimated then that 500 to 700 area men would make it to the Mall.

And so early in 2020, the slogans of the reinvigorated PK were “building on the Past to Redefine the Future” and “A Movement Reignited to Reach the Next Generation.” The big 2020 event was scheduled for July 31-Aug. 1, when 80,000 men were expected to converge on Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.

Because of COVID-19, PK had to move its first mass assembly online and postpone the stadium gathering to July 16-17, 2021. Harrison said 500 churches hosted simulcasts of the free online event a month ago and that it was seen in at least 65 countries. Speakers and musicians included former Dallas Cowboys Charles Haley and Chad Hennings, Luis and Andrew Palau, Steve Arterburn, Jimmy Evans of Amarillo and Dallas, Michael W. Smith, Jonathan Evans and Tony Evans.

Jonathan Evans, son of Tony and chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys, started the virtual messages with a rap-like performance: ““The gospel of Jesus Christ is certainly for real men … It’s for men who are willing to stand firm like Daniel did in his lion’s den … Come on, man, you’ve got an ‘S’ on your chest. Convey it. Display it. It’s time for men to soar with the gospel. Obey it. And be a real man, because the gospel is some real tough stuff. … The culture’s being slain by sin and has the audacity to look down on us.”

His father followed with a more traditional talk that alluded to the current social struggles but focused on the need for individual men to serve God. Tony Evans compared Christians to NFL football officials who don’t take sides in the game but make calls on the field based on the rulebook – “not based on how they feel or what they want, not even based on what the crowd thinks.

“They know sometimes they’re going to be cheered; they know sometimes they’re going to be booed. But that’s irrelevant, because they’re there to rule by the book, on the field, in the middle of the chaos.

“You and I are in a chaotic world today. We’re in racial chaos, social chaos, political chaos, class chaos, policing and community chaos. But God is looking for a group of men, his officiating crew, who will be in the mess but not a part of the mess, who will bring the response of the kingdom up there to the chaos down here.”

“It’s not because there’s wickedness out there,” Evans said, then pointed to his heart. “It’s because there’s weakness in here.”

The longtime Dallas pastor said many young people have no ethical compass, which should be provided by fathers rather than by the culture. Quoting Psalm 89:14, he said our foundation should be righteousness and justice but that today’s culture often stresses one or the other.

“Your children need to know to judge people justly by the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” Evans said. “They need to know righteous standards of moral integrity, and Daddy is to teach them both. If we would ever get the men to take this responsibility, then we could quell the chaos and confusion in the culture.

“This is not a time for delay, because the hour is too late. If this keeps going like it’s going, you will not have a country worth living in.”

Promise Keepers won’t solve society’s problems by itself. But its mission is simply that of the Bible, and if let loose, that’s a powerful force.