Promise Keepers

Promise Keepers was founded in 1990 by Bill McCartney, then the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder.Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, Westminster John Knox Press, USA, 2002, p. 561Barry Hankins, American Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of a Mainstream Religious Movement, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, USA, 2009, p. 129 The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit in the state of Colorado on December 3, 1990.{{cite web |title=Summary |url=https://www.sos.state.co.us/biz/BusinessEntityDetail.do?quitButtonDestination=BusinessEntityResults&nameTyp=ENT&masterFileId=19901105332&entityId2=19901105332&fileId=19901105332&srchTyp=ENTITY |publisher=Colorado Secretary of State |access-date=17 September 2020}}

What Makes a Man?, Promise Keepers' first hardbound book written for the organization, was published by The Navigators' Navpress publishing arm in 1992 for its first Folsom Field gathering in June of that year. James Dobson had McCartney on his Focus on the Family nationwide radio program that same month. McCartney resigned his coaching position in 1994 in order to focus his attention on the organization.

Promise Keepers' most notable event was its Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men open-air gathering at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 4, 1997. C-SPAN carried the event live in its entirety. Attendance figures vary but have been estimated to be between 600,000 and 800,000. This was probably its peak, with the organization halving its office staff four months later due to financial problems and the admission fee of $60 for regional rallies dropped in a number of regions. Rally attendance and finances continued to suffer and a planned millennial march to take part at the capital of every state was cancelled.{{cite book|last1=Bartkowski|first1=John P.|title=The Promise Keepers: Servants, Soldiers, and Godly Men|date=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0813533360|pages=2–4, 7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dyDJc-hDTEC&q=++Washington+stand+in+the+gap&pg=PA174|access-date=4 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306063048/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5dyDJc-hDTEC&pg=PA174&dq=%22Promise+Keepers%22+Washington+1997&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAmoVChMIxcKw9eX2yAIVgesUCh2tnwcc#v=snippet&q=%20%20Washington%20stand%20in%20the%20gap&f=false#v=snippet&q=%20%20Washington%20stand%20in%20the%20gap&f=false|archive-date=2016-03-06|url-status=live}}

Promise Keepers has at the same time extended its organization outside the United States, setting up Promise Keepers International which holds "Summit Meetings" in at least seven languages and has set up chapters in other countries.

McCartney resigned as president on October 1, 2003, after a personal leave of absence to take care of his ailing wife, who had a severe respiratory illness.{{cite news |last1=Gorski |first1=Ed |title=Promise Keepers head to step down |work=Denver Post |date=10 September 2003 }}

In April 2018, Promise Keepers announced that the appointment of a new chairman of the board, Ken Harrison. Harrison is also CEO of WaterStone Foundation, a Christian donor-advised fund.{{Cite press release|title=A New Vision for Promise Keepers - Christian Newswire|url=http://christiannewswire.com/news/1684381026.html|access-date=2021-03-17|website=christiannewswire.com}} He is a former police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.{{Cite web|title=Ken Harrison {{!}} Penguin Random House|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2190236/ken-harrison|access-date=2021-03-17|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|language=en-US}}

{{Outdated|section|date=March 2024}}

Under Harrison's leadership, Promise Keepers then began a "relaunch" campaign with a new approach focused on having one stadium event per year and following up with Bible studies and other resources.{{cite news |last1=Mwaura |first1=Maina |title=New Promise Keepers CEO ready to see a revival among men |url=https://christianindex.org/new-promise-keepers-ceo/ |access-date=21 December 2020 |agency=The Christian Index |publisher=Georgia Baptist Mission Board |date=9 August 2020}}

In May 2020, Promise Keepers announced that its relaunch event at AT&T Stadium would become an online virtual event in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|last=Correspondent|first=Steve Rabey Religion|title=Promise Keepers offers free global livestream|url=https://gazette.com/life/promise-keepers-offers-free-global-livestream/article_19bd9d92-cc40-11ea-ba6d-9b6044996a7f.html|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Colorado Springs Gazette|date=27 July 2020 |language=en}}

Since moving their relaunch event at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas to a virtual platform, Promise Keepers has hosted a variety of live-streamed events and had a live, in-person AT&T Stadium event scheduled for July 16–17, 2021.{{Cite web|date=2020-09-07|title=Catch the Promise Keepers Virtual Encore Event with Special Highlights From 2020 Global Digital Experience|url=https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2020/september/catch-the-promise-keepers-virtual-encore-event-with-special-highlights-from-2020-global-digital-experience|access-date=2021-03-26|website=CBN News|language=en}}

In 2024, Promise Keepers worked to downplay the organization’s previous emphasis on combating racism and building interracial relationships.{{Cite news |last=Graham |first=Ruth |date=2024-08-11 |title=The All-Male Christian Group Seeking a Resurrection in the Trump Era |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/us/promise-keepers-evangelical-christians.html |access-date=2025-04-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Promise Keepers has been lauded for its Christian focus. However, the group has also been criticized for doctrinal compromises and inconsistent doctrines.

Raymond Hartwig, a former president of the South Dakota District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, commented: "They use the Bible in a very simplistic form, as a springboard to jump into the law."{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_pk.htm|title=Promise Keepers (PK), Pro and Con: PART 1}} "Some Christian Fundamentalists have criticized PK for being too ecumenical, too New Age and too 'sissified.' 4 PK has been criticized for its 'unionism', 'anti-denominationalism' and 'watering down of doctrine.'" - Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

Promise Keepers champion the exclusive legitimacy of heterosexuality and denigrate homosexuality as sinful. Promise Keeper founder, the late University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, called homosexuals "a group of people who don't reproduce, yet want to be compared with people who do reproduce," and maintained that he believed, "Homosexuality is an abomination of Almighty God."{{cite web | url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2005/history-anti-gay-movement-1977 | title=History of the Anti-Gay Movement Since 1977 }}

Critics call the Promise Keepers approach to homosexuality "simplistic, sexist, homophobic and patriarchal," and "based on exclusion," and that within the views of the organization, "there's no place for gays and lesbians. There is no place for women except as subservient to men."{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1996-08-24 |title=Promise Keepers Eclipsing Secular Men's Groups |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-24-me-37232-story.html |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

Belmont University, a private Christian school in Tennessee, cancelled a Promise Keepers event in 2023 after the organization published a Pride month blog post that the university said was "harmful to members of our community."{{Cite web |date=2023-06-23 |title=Promise Keepers post over Pride Month at center of cancellation by Belmont University {{!}} Baptist Press |url=https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/promise-keepers-post-over-pride-month-at-center-of-cancellation-by-belmont-university/ |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=www.baptistpress.com/ |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Christian University Says it Disinvited Promise Keepers due to 'Harmful' LGBT Statement |url=https://www.crosswalk.com/headlines/contributors/michael-foust/christian-university-says-it-disinvited-promise-keepers-due-to-harmful-lgbt-statement.html |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=Crosswalk.com |language=en}}

The National Organization for Women (NOW), an American feminist organization, has expressed the view that the Promise Keepers pose a threat to women's rights. NOW contends that the group encourages inequality within marriages and teaches a doctrine of male superiority.[http://www.now.org/nnt/10-97/viewpoint.html "Viewpoint: Promise Keepers Pose A Real Threat"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061120211443/http://www.now.org/nnt/10-97/viewpoint.html |date=2006-11-20 }}. National Organization for Women. Retrieved on February 29, 2012.

In August, 2020, Promise Keepers chairman Ken Harrison spoke on the topic of Promise Keepers and how it relates to women. "We're really calling men to be humble, proactive leaders in their homes. I don't feel like it's my role to tell women how they should be. That is for their pastor and other people."{{cite news |last1=Banks |first1=Adelle |title=Promise Keepers Christian organization to hold two-day virtual event |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/promise-keepers-christian-organization-to-hold-two-day-virtual-event/2020/07/31/4babe28c-d343-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html |access-date=21 December 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=31 July 2020 | quote=The organization, founded by former University of Colorado coach Bill McCartney — now diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and unable to participate in the virtual event — has cut its staff from a high of 345 to 28. Its budget, not including events, is $2 million, compared with about $30 million 20 years ago. }}

According to Amy Schindler, "the discourse of masculinity found within conservative religious movements, such as the Promise Keepers and the Victorian era movement 'muscular Christianity,' is inherently political. Any masculinity project aimed at restoring or reclaiming a 'traditional' male role for privileged white, heterosexual males has a political impact within the tapestry of class, race, and gender power" (1998).Schindler, Amy. 1998. "Power, Patriarchy, and the Promise Keepers: The Pleasure of Religious Ecstasy." Paper, annual meeting, American Sociological Association, Toronto. Academic Browyn Kara Conrad argued in a 2006 article that the organization reproduces problematic sexual scripts such as the Madonna/whore view of female sexuality and a view of the male sex drive as uncontrollable.{{cite journal|year=2006|title=Neo-Institutionalism, Social Movements, and the Cultural Reproducation of a Mentalité: Promise Keepers Reconstruct the Madonna/Whore Complex|journal=The Sociological Quarterly|volume=47|issue=2|pages=305–331|doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.2006.00047.x|last1=Conrad|first1=Browyn Kara|s2cid=146568812}} A 2002 article from the Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research argued that, despite their initial appearance to be pro-feminist, the Promise Keepers build upon patriarchal assumptions, including having the man as the actor in the family, church, and world, and that they expect women to be passively dependent.{{Cite journal|last=Eldén|first=Sara|year=2002|title=Gender politics in conservative men's movements: Beyond complexity, ambiguity and pragmatism|journal=Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research|volume=10|pages=38–48|doi=10.1080/080387402317533871|s2cid=145712635}}

The organization places particular emphasis on godly manhood, with an emphasis on fatherhood. John Bartkowski saw Promise Keepers' leadership in 2000 as evoking two types of manhood: first, is an essentialist appeal to gender difference advocated by Edwin Louis Cole that emphasizes aggression, strength, and rationality; second, is Gary Oliver's "expressive manhood", which says that all of the traits now traditionally attributed to women were practiced by Jesus, and that men should re-connect with their sensitive side.{{Cite journal|last=Bartkowski|first=John|year=2000|title=Breaking Walls, Raising Fences: Masculinity, Intimacy, and Accountability among the Promise Keepers|journal=Sociology of Religion|volume=61|issue=1|pages=33–53|doi=10.2307/3712089|jstor=3712089}} According to a 1999 Yeshiva University study, when it comes to fatherhood, the organization tends to be more conservative, supporting heterosexist, male predominance in the family.{{Cite journal|year=1999|title=Do Promise Keepers Dream of Feminist Sheep?|journal=Sex Roles|volume=40|issue=9/10|pages=665–688|doi=10.1023/a:1018852500604 | last1 = Silverstein | first1 = Louise B. | last2 = Auerbach | first2 = Carl F. | last3 = Grieco | first3 = Loretta | last4 = Dunkel | first4 = Faith|s2cid=146524040}}

Following the murder of George Floyd, Promise Keepers launched Promise 6 Sunday, an event aimed toward "building unity" among churches. The event included resources from various evangelical leaders and American public figures including Samuel Rodriguez, Tony Dungy, Alveda King, Donald Burgs Jr., Chad Hennings, and Ken Harrison.{{Cite web|url=https://www.klove.com/news/faith/free-resources-from-promise-keepers-to-challenge-racism-and-the-power-of-racial-reconciliation-16110|title = Free Resources from Promise Keepers to Challenge Racism - and the Power of Racial Reconciliation}}

Patrick Glynn argues that the Promise Keepers succeed in racial reconciliation where politics has seemed to fail.{{Cite journal|last=Glynn|first=Patrick|year=1998|title=Racial Reconciliation: Can Religion Work Where Politics Has Failed?|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=41|issue=6|pages=834–841|doi=10.1177/0002764298041006005|s2cid=145220785}} Scholar Siphiwe Dube notes that the organization has open discussions of race that promote racial reconciliation.{{Cite journal|last=Dube|first=Siphiwe|year=2016|title=Race, whiteness and transformation in the Promise Keepers America and the Mighty Men Conference: A comparative analysis|journal=HTS Teologiese Studies|volume=72|doi=10.4102/hts.v72i1.3476|doi-access=free|hdl=2263/61074|hdl-access=free}} L. Dean Allen finds that while the organizations' leaders primarily claim that Satan is responsible for fostering racism in individuals and that the best way to counter racism is for people to personally repent and go to confession, PK participants see racism as a more multifaceted issue, citing historical animosity, economic differences, and racial fear. Further, while both leaders and participants see forming relationships with members of other races as important to battling racism, participants do not see PK events as valuable in developing these relationships.{{Cite journal|last=Allen|first=L. Dean|year=2000|title=Promise Keepers and Racism: Frame Resonance as an Indicator of Organizational Vitality|journal=Sociology of Religion|volume=61|issue=1|pages=55–72|doi=10.2307/3712090|jstor=3712090}} Andrea Smith also notes that race relations between Promise Keepers and Native communities is more open.{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=Andrea|year=2006|title=The One Who Did Not Break His Promises: Native Americans in the Evangelical Race Reconciliation Movement|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=50|issue=4|pages=478–509|doi=10.1177/0002764206294058|s2cid=144773802}}

{{Portal|Evangelical Christianity}}

• List of Christian movements
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{{reflist}}

• Brickner, Bryan W. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=X2NkQ8Ib1SEC The Promise Keepers: Politics and Promises]. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. {{ISBN|978-0-7391-0008-0}}.
• Bartkowski, John P. (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=5dyDJc-hDTEC The Promise Keepers: Servants, Soldiers, and Godly Men]. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8135-3335-3}}.
• Claussen, Dane S. (1999). Standing on the Promises: The Promise Keepers and the Revival of Manhood. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8298-1307-4}}.
• Claussen, Dane S. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=sYc2dfSbwXMC The Promise Keepers: Essays on Masculinity & Christianity]. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-0700-2}}.
• Hardisty, Jean V. (1999). Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers. Boston: Beacon Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-4316-5}}.
• Novosad, Nancy (2000). Promise Keepers: Playing God. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000.
• Williams, Rhys H. (2001). Promise Keepers and the New Masculinity: Private Lives and Public Morality. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. {{ISBN|978-0-7391-0230-5}}.

• Anderson, Connie (1997). "Visions of Involved Fatherhood: Pro-Feminists and 'Promise Keepers.'" Paper, annual meeting, American Sociological Association, Toronto.
• Bellant, Russ (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl6Ix9HFKQEC&pg=PA81 "Promise Keepers: Christian Soldiers for Theocracy"]. In Berlet, Chip. Eyes Right: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash. Boston: South End Press. p. 81–85. {{ISBN|978-0-89608-523-7}}. Also available [http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/promkeep.html at publiceye.org].
• Berkowitz, Bill (1996). "Promise Keepers: Brotherhood and Backlash." Culture Watch, September (1,4).
• Conason, Joe, Alfred Ross, and Lee Cokorinos (October 7, 1996). [https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-18717708 "The Promise Keepers Are Coming: The Third Wave of the Religious Right"]. The Nation.
• {{cite journal | last1 = Everton | first1 = Sean | year = 2001 | title = Religious Revival or Third Wave of the Religious Right? | url = https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/1874| journal = Review of Religious Research | volume = 43 | issue = 1| pages = 51–69 | doi=10.2307/3512243| jstor = 3512243 }}
• {{cite journal | last1 = Heath | first1 = Melanie A | year = 2003 | title = Soft-Boiled Masculinity: Renegotiating Gender and Racial Ideologies in the Promise Keepers Movement | journal = Gender and Society | volume = 17 | issue = 3| pages = 423–444 | doi = 10.1177/0891243203017003008 | s2cid = 145355638 }}

• {{Official website|https://promisekeepers.org/}} United States
• [https://www.impactus.org/ Promise Keepers Canada]
• [https://hommesdeparole.ca/ Promise Keepers Canada] {{in lang|fr}}
• [https://www.promisekeepers.org.nz/ Promise Keepers New Zealand]
• [https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/st-joseph-covenant-keepers-4005 St. Joseph Covenant Keepers] at EWTN, Catholic version of Promise Keepers
• [https://dads.org/about/ St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers] at Dads.org

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