Can McCartney's return save Promise Keepers?
The announcement came to me in an e-mail. Press coverage was practically nonexistent. Bill McCartney is back as the head of Promise Keepers, the evangelical men’s ministry he co-founded in 1990.
I can’t help but wonder if his return is enough to save what’s left of the Denver-based ministry. I sure hope so.
I’ve known McCartney since 1998. I’ve interviewed him several times. He read one of my columns on his former Fourth and Goal radio programs. I have a great deal of respect for the man and the mission God placed on his heart.
Were it not for McCartney and Promise Keepers, I would not be the man I am today. I owe them much.
It was 1996, and I moved back to my folks’ house in Colorado as my first marriage was breaking up. I had been living in North Carolina and all I knew was that the University of Colorado’s head football coach was leaving to run some Christian organization he had founded. I didn’t even know what it was called or what they did.
Shortly after my return, my mother purchased tickets for me and my brother, Don, to attend some Christian event at Mile High Stadium. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I went. What happened that weekend changed me forever. If I thought I was a broken man going through an unwanted divorce, I was about to get a whole new perspective on what it means to be broken.
Speaker after speaker drove home the importance of being a good husband and father. They talked about building up our pastors, reaching out to people of color and breaking down the barriers that segregate our churches each Sunday. Everything I had known about being a Christian man was turned on its ear and spun around like a bad break dance.
I had never heard of being a “spiritual leader in the home” or being a “servant leader.” A couple of the speakers said if you want a trophy wife, start treating the one you have like a trophy. They spoke of putting God and family before self and putting self before career. How many of us still have those priorities mixed up?
I prayed fervently for my marriage and did everything I had the power to do to save it. Unfortunately, forgiveness of my failures and acceptance of my forgiveness were never forthcoming. God granted me three more months with my wife (who had returned to Colorado the following year). But the weekend after I came back from Stand In the Gap in Washington, D.C., she moved out for the last time.
I can’t tell you how difficult it was for me to claim the biblical promises and believe the talk that marriages can be saved with prayer and commitment while my own was coming to an end despite my best efforts.
Stand In the Gap was the pinnacle of Promise Keepers. More than one million men crowded into the National Mall for a day of prayer and fasting. After that, Promise Keepers began to change. The events moved from stadiums to arenas. As the organization sought to stay relevant, the admission fee was dropped and the focus each year moved away from the bread and butter of PK’s beginnings to being little more than sermons on wheels.
Five years ago McCartney left to care for his ailing wife, Lyndi. Tom Fortson took his place. While Fortson is a fine businessman, he was not the inspiring leader McCartney is. Under Fortson’s watch, PK shrank from arenas to churches. Participation dwindled dramatically.
During the years following Stand In the Gap, I remarried and gained three more children – sons! I stood on the principles and values instilled in me through my church and Promise Keepers. Those values helped Sandy and I to withstand attacks on our marriage and family that made what happened to my previous marriage seem like pinpricks.
Today I have a solid marriage to a beautiful and loving wife. I have four children whom I love dearly. I highly doubt I would have any of those things if it were not for Promise Keepers.
Now that Mac is back, I feel great hope for PK. Yes, Lyndi is still ill, but she supports Mac’s return. I hope this will mark a turning point in the ministry. I hope it turns back to its original message. I hope men are once again fired up to make a difference in their homes, churches and communities.
To borrow a clichéd phrase, that is change that I can believe in.
I can’t help but wonder if his return is enough to save what’s left of the Denver-based ministry. I sure hope so.
I’ve known McCartney since 1998. I’ve interviewed him several times. He read one of my columns on his former Fourth and Goal radio programs. I have a great deal of respect for the man and the mission God placed on his heart.
Were it not for McCartney and Promise Keepers, I would not be the man I am today. I owe them much.
It was 1996, and I moved back to my folks’ house in Colorado as my first marriage was breaking up. I had been living in North Carolina and all I knew was that the University of Colorado’s head football coach was leaving to run some Christian organization he had founded. I didn’t even know what it was called or what they did.
Shortly after my return, my mother purchased tickets for me and my brother, Don, to attend some Christian event at Mile High Stadium. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I went. What happened that weekend changed me forever. If I thought I was a broken man going through an unwanted divorce, I was about to get a whole new perspective on what it means to be broken.
Speaker after speaker drove home the importance of being a good husband and father. They talked about building up our pastors, reaching out to people of color and breaking down the barriers that segregate our churches each Sunday. Everything I had known about being a Christian man was turned on its ear and spun around like a bad break dance.
I had never heard of being a “spiritual leader in the home” or being a “servant leader.” A couple of the speakers said if you want a trophy wife, start treating the one you have like a trophy. They spoke of putting God and family before self and putting self before career. How many of us still have those priorities mixed up?
I prayed fervently for my marriage and did everything I had the power to do to save it. Unfortunately, forgiveness of my failures and acceptance of my forgiveness were never forthcoming. God granted me three more months with my wife (who had returned to Colorado the following year). But the weekend after I came back from Stand In the Gap in Washington, D.C., she moved out for the last time.
I can’t tell you how difficult it was for me to claim the biblical promises and believe the talk that marriages can be saved with prayer and commitment while my own was coming to an end despite my best efforts.
Stand In the Gap was the pinnacle of Promise Keepers. More than one million men crowded into the National Mall for a day of prayer and fasting. After that, Promise Keepers began to change. The events moved from stadiums to arenas. As the organization sought to stay relevant, the admission fee was dropped and the focus each year moved away from the bread and butter of PK’s beginnings to being little more than sermons on wheels.
Five years ago McCartney left to care for his ailing wife, Lyndi. Tom Fortson took his place. While Fortson is a fine businessman, he was not the inspiring leader McCartney is. Under Fortson’s watch, PK shrank from arenas to churches. Participation dwindled dramatically.
During the years following Stand In the Gap, I remarried and gained three more children – sons! I stood on the principles and values instilled in me through my church and Promise Keepers. Those values helped Sandy and I to withstand attacks on our marriage and family that made what happened to my previous marriage seem like pinpricks.
Today I have a solid marriage to a beautiful and loving wife. I have four children whom I love dearly. I highly doubt I would have any of those things if it were not for Promise Keepers.
Now that Mac is back, I feel great hope for PK. Yes, Lyndi is still ill, but she supports Mac’s return. I hope this will mark a turning point in the ministry. I hope it turns back to its original message. I hope men are once again fired up to make a difference in their homes, churches and communities.
To borrow a clichéd phrase, that is change that I can believe in.
posted by Joe Southern | 2:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home