Promise Keepers to meet in Baltimore

The Christian men's group Promise Keepers says 10,000 men will attend its conference this weekend in Baltimore's First Mariner Arena.

Called "The Challenge: A Call to Action," the conference Friday and Saturday will include 17 hours worth of sessions.

Promise Keepers is best known for a Washington conference in October 1997 that attracted more than 1 million men to the National Mall. But the Denver-based group took huge losses due to budget shortfalls and a decision to not charge admission during 1998 and 1999. Attendance plummeted.

PK has had its moment in the sun. I went to Hartford to see the rally in '98 and I was thoroughly unimpressed. Jack Hayford has always had questionable associations, such as the Oneness Pentecostal T.D. Jakes. His Spirit Filled Life Bible is full of contributions from such notables as the Rev. Frederick "K.C." Price, Oral Roberts, and Pat Robertson. Jack was the main speaker that year. Bill McCartney has also shown a remarkable lack of discernment in these matters. Yes, it does matter what the speaker believes. And I think this is at the heart of PK's problem. They are hungry for speakers, so discernment takes a back seat. Besides, there is something really creepy about men's groups. They have been asking me to join one at my church (a Calvary Chapel) for some time now. I would much rather study the Bible in a mixed, relaxed, setting. When men get together in these groups, all they seem to focus on is sex. You couldn't drag me to one of these meetings ever again, except as an observer.

I went to the men's conferences in DC in 97 & 98. I thought they were great.

You could always tell which groups of guys were baptists without looking at the blue vans they came in. They ran in packs and prayed in gangs and sat together in groups. A bunch of dogs.

I came with a bunch of presbyterians. We sat here and there like cats and prayed seperately. Orderly orderly.

It was the age. Bill Clinton was running the country down with every breath he took. The damage has been done.

We'll be paying for the 90's for the entire 21st century.

I searched for a PK thread to view what others may have written or experienced. Well, I experienced PK Albany this past weekend, my first, and it was awesome. As you might know there is a great variation in the focus and method of speakers qualified to be part of such an event. This years speakers and other on stage personalities were fantastic, that is, I never listened to such greatness or believed they existed. I and several thousand other men were moved, entertained, and redirected in the word of Christ. From our small church in NH, we had 98 goers on the bus. All good men. The men's ministry at the church is not how you related your experience, but rather, it is men of purpose who on occasion study the bible but rather lift up our families, neighborhood, town, and places of work to the word God. It is a tradition because of PK. There is nothing like it and I am totally surprised that I feel this way. I affirmed Christ as my God and savior about 31 years ago and this event seemed more spiritual than that day, even. PK today is not the PK of years gone by as is told to me. There is a new CEO and a new focus on the message. Check out Brad Stine, he was a riot but his points should be on these threads everyday as they are so right.

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