More than 8,200 Christian men attended the two-day Promise Keepers event in Seattle, WA on Oct 23-24. The two-day conference promoted a sensational atmosphere in Seattle’s SAFECO Field vowed to Pursue Honor, Nobility, and Wisdom. As the conference ended, the men promised that they would join a revolution to influence their communities for good, and for God.
Erwin McManus, whose book “Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul” is the foundation for this year's "Uprising" men's conference, challenged all the men at the weekend conference “to be a part of the uprising and to have a heart for God.”
The stadium exploded in applause on Friday night as Emcee Reggie Dabbs invited the men to begin the quest for nobility. On the same night, Nevada attorney Loren Piel is a PK regular. "I come to have my cup refilled. Jesus came all the way from heaven for me, and the least I can do is travel from Las Vegas to Seattle for Him."
Meanwhile, Missouri camp director Joe White portrayed a heart surgeon to encourage men to receive "a new heart, a changed heart." More than 2000 responded to White’s invitation to the Christian faith, 655 of whom confessed Jesus Christ as Lord for the very first time, reported on PK website.
The Maranatha! Promise Band led the men in worship with modern praise music.
"Personally, it's just motivating me to be the guy that I want to be, to live a life that is of integrity," said Terry Kaiser, a pastor at Faith Assembly of Lacey who attended with about 26 church members. "It's fun to be able to be with a bunch of guys and talk about the things that are important to you. I think there's an understanding man to man."
About 624 volunteers offered more than 8,500 hours to the conference effort. Conference attendees raised about 5000 pounds of canned food for downtown Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. More than 100 men from the mission attended the conference.
The final Promise Keepers "Uprising" conference of 2004 is in Florida in two weeks, November 5-6, 2004 at Orlando’s T.D. Waterhouse Centre.
The name 'Promise Keepers' derives from the covenant that God fulfilled through Jesus Christ. In Christ, God kept all the promises that he made to mankind and we rely upon God as the original Promise Keeper to keep our promises.
Promise Keepers was founded in 1990 by Bill McCartney (born 1940), then the head coach of the University of Colorado football team. The stated goal of this "nondenominational," organization is to celebrate Biblical manhood and motivate men toward Christ-like masculinity. "To unite men through vital relationships to become godly influences in their world -- by making promises to Jesus Christ and to one another that last a lifetime," reads Promise Keepers' purpose statement.
Promise Keepers started out small in 1991 -- 4,200 men attended the first Boulder, Colorado Conference (held at the Coors' Event Center). In 1992, 22,000 men attended. In 1993, 50,000 men jammed University of Colorado's Folsom Stadium, and another 52,000 in 1994.
Most noticeably, on October 4, 1997, PK held its Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly Of Men rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Attendance estimates ranged from 480,000 to 700,000.
For more information about Promise Keepers and the event, visit www.promisekeepers.org or call toll-free 1-800-888-7595.
