Its Share of Progress and Growing Pains.”Informa-
tion Today21, no. 5 (2004): 28.
Hart, Michael S. “The Linear File: Project Guten-
berg—Access to Electronic Texts.”Database13,
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Edward A. Riedinger
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Promise Keepers
Identification Christian men’s movement
Date Founded in 1990
The 1990’s saw a growing concern over male identity
among men themselves, partly in reaction to the feminist
and gay movements of previous decades, as well as a growth
of interest in a specifically male spirituality. Promise
Keepers was a spontaneous Christian response, particu-
larly from the growing evangelical churches, to these con-
cerns, manifesting itself mainly in mass rallies and in a
specific agenda of “promises” that defined a male role.
Promise Keepers (PK) was formed by a group of
evangelical Christian laymen led by the head foot-
ball coach at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Bill McCartney was a highly successful coach
who was involved with the Fellowship of Chris-
tian Athletes (FCA), among other Christian ven-
tures. He had a vision of a men’s movement that
would disciple Christian men. Behind the vision
was the awareness of both the success of the FCA in
promoting a “muscular Christianity” and the insecu-
rity of male identity both culturally and in the
church, after several decades of feminism, gay rights
activism, and successful Christian women’s move-
ments. By contrast, male spirituality seemed frag-
mented, uncertain, and lacking direction and lead-
ership.
Establishing Promise Keepers A group of seventy-
two laymen met at Boulder in 1990. They called the
incipient movement “Promise Keepers,” since one
of the planks would be a specific list of promises. The
seven promises were to honor Jesus Christ; to be in a
small accountability group of other men; to practice
purity; to build strong marriages; to honor their pas-
tors; to reach beyond denominational and racial
boundaries; and to obey the “Great Command-
ment” (Mark 12:30-31) and the “Great Commission”
(Matthew 28:19-20). There was also a doctrinal mini-
mum, which was basically that of conservative evan-
gelicalism, holding to a belief in the Trinity, the Bi-
ble, salvation by faith in Christ alone, and his virgin
birth and Second Coming. There was to be no mem-
bership as such. It was also to be a men’s-only organi-
zation, with sons included.
The organization arranged large rallies in stadi-
ums around the country and encouraged attendees
to organize themselves into accountability groups
based on their local churches. The first such big rally
was held in July, 1991, in Boulder’s Folsom Field,
with 4,200 men in attendance. From that point, the
movement mushroomed over the next five years.
The year 1993 saw one rally, again at Folsom Field,
but with 50,000 attending. In 1994, six rallies saw
more than 270,000 attending. The total attendance
for 1995 was 738,000 at thirteen rallies, and in 1996,
twenty-two rallies included a total of 1.1 million
men. The conferences were held over two days and
cost $60 per person. Rallies consisted of inspira-
tional messages, testimonies, and times of reconcili-
ation and repentance. The atmosphere was often
highly charged emotionally. In 1994, McCartney re-
signed his coaching job, though he refused to take a
Promise Keepers salary.
Standing in the Gap The high point of the move-
ment came during the Stand in the Gap rally on Oc-
tober 4, 1997, in Washington, D.C. There had al-
ready been some seventeen other rallies that year,
attracting some two million men. It was hoped that
this one-day rally at the capital would attract one mil-
lion men, a parallel to the Million Man March held
in Washington two years before and organized by
Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. The Prom-
ise Keepers rally saw a 700,000-plus turnout compa-
rable to the Million Man March. Men from every
state in the union were in attendance, as were Native
American representatives. PK organizers had invited
men from fifty-seven other countries as well. At the
rally, it was announced that all future events would
be free, and the Promise Keepers substituted volun-
teers for many of the paid staff.
Criticism The most outspoken criticism of the
Promise Keepers came from the National Organiza-
tion for Women (NOW). NOW’s president, Patricia
Ireland, saw Promise Keepers as a thinly disguised at-The Nineties in America Promise Keepers 687