For more information about Memorial Baptist Church's involvement in the national, non-denominational PromiseKeepers organization, you can contact Erik Emerson through the Church Office. PromiseKeepers events that Memorial Baptist Church will be attending are listed in the Church Calendar.
PROMISE KEEPERS MISSION
Promise Keepers is dedicated to igniting
and uniting men to be passionate followers
of Jesus Christ through the effective communication of the 7 Promises:
1. A Promise Keeper is committed to
honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer
and obedience to God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. A Promise Keeper is committed to pursuing vital relationships with a
few other men,
understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his
promises.
3. A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical,
and sexual
purity.
4. A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families
through
love, protection and biblical values.
5. A Promise Keeper is committed to supporting the mission of his church
by honoring
and praying for his pastor, and by actively giving his time
and resources.
6. A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and
denominational
barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.
7. A Promise Keeper is committed to influencing his world, being obedient
to the Great
Commandment (see Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (see
Matthew
28:19-20 ).
Mark 12:30-31
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. (NIV)Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (NIV)
Through stadium and arena conferences, radio programming, Internet, print and multi-media resources, and outreach to local churches, Promise Keepers encourages men to live godly lives and to keep seven basic promises of commitment to God, their families, and others, in the context of the local church. Promise Keepers seeks to unite Christian men of all races, denominations, ages, cultures, and socio-economic groups, and believes that men need accountable relationships with other men. Those relationships, along with prayer, Bible study and active church membership help men in their daily life with God, their families and their communities.
ORGANIZATION AND STAFF
Promise Keepers is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization which is governed by an eight-member board of directors and operates under the daily direction of president/founder Bill McCartney, executive vice presidents Thomas Fortson and Raleigh Washington and senior vice president Randy Phillips. The ministry is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
FINANCIAL INTEGRITY
Promise Keepers is dedicated to maintaining financial integrity and makes its annual financial statements available to anyone requesting them. Promise Keepers is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and complies with its standards and guidelines, including submission to an annual financial audit, which is conducted by Capin Crouse & Co.
Promise Keepers is also committed to being a faithful steward of all of its resources, which requires planning and careful spending. Finally, consistent with its commitment to supporting the mission of the local church, Promise Keepers encourages men to give to their local church before making any contribution to the ministry. A copy of Promise Keepers’ financial information may be requested by writing to:
Promise Keepers—Financial Report
Attention: Randy Gerig, Vice-President of Finance
P.O. Box 103001
Denver, CO 80250-3001
BEGINNINGS
On March 20, 1990, the head football coach for the University of Colorado, Bill McCartney, and his friend Dave Wardell, Ph.D., were on a three-hour car ride to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meeting, when they first discussed the idea of filling a stadium with Christian men. Later that year, 72 men began to fast and pray about the concept of thousands of men coming together for the purpose of Christian discipleship. In July 1991, 4,200 men gathered for the first Promise Keepers conference at the University of Colorado basketball arena. Promise Keepers marks it’s tenth anniversary in the year 2000, having reached more than 3.5 million men through 98 stadium and arena conferences.
STAND IN THE GAP: A SACRED ASSEMBLY
On Saturday, October 4, 1997, Promise Keepers convened a massive gathering on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of men participated in Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men, a day of personal repentance and prayer. Since the 1600s North American churches have called together sacred assemblies in time of spiritual crisis. Twelve instances are recorded in the Old Testament when the nation of Israel was called to gather for days of fasting, prayer, confession and repentance of sin because the nation had wandered away from Almighty God. Stand in the Gap was patterned after such sacred assemblies.
CLERGY CONFERENCES
Promise Keepers motivates and encourages laymen to actively support the mission of their church and to pray for their pastor(s). Since 1992, Promise Keepers men’s conferences have often been preceded by special sessions for clergy. In 1996, Promise Keepers hosted the world’s largest gathering of Christian clergy for a worship and teaching conference in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. Over 39,000 clergy attended that event. In early 1998, Promise Keepers hosted nine regional clergy conferences, which were attended by more than 30,000 ministers. In February 2003, Promise Keepers will host a gathering of 50,000 pastors at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Ariz.
GLOBAL MINISTRIES
Promise Keepers has a growing international ministry with activity in more than 30 countries on every continent. In 1999, stadium events were held in South Africa, Puerto Rico and Monterrey, Mexico, while the new millennium will see conferences in Costa Rica and Ghana.
Meanwhile, Promise Keepers continues to receive inquiries about developing men’s ministries from countries around the globe. Indicative of the worldwide nature of the Christian men’s movement, more than 100,000 men have attended men’s events directly related to Promise Keepers in countries outside the United States.
VOLUNTEERS
Each year Promise Keepers places great dependence on thousands of men and women who volunteer in their local communities across the country, where the organization hosts men’s conferences. On average, each conference requires more than 800 local volunteers, half of whom are women.
This page last updated on 04/27/2004