By Patrick B. Craine
BOULDER, Colorado, June 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Promise Keepers (PK) is unveiling a new vision for its ministry this summer in a special conference on July 31st – August 1st entitled ‘A Time to Honor.’
Promise Keepers is a ministry to men whose mission is to “ignite and unite men to become warriors who will change their world” by becoming “godly influences.” The ministry was founded by Coach McCartney in 1990, based on his vision of gathering 50,000 men together on Boulder’s Folsom Field. They achieved this goal in 1993, and have since expanded across the country, offering summer conferences in dozens of U.S. cities, as well as sparking parallel organizations in many other countries.
PK is expanding its mission this year by returning to its roots and hosting a single summer event on Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado. Hitherto focused on ministry to men, for the first time, PK has opened its invitation to women.
“This event is going to honor women,” said PK founder Bill McCartney, the renowned University of Colorado football coach. “We’re going to honor the poor, the oppressed, and the needy. We’re going to honor the believing Jew.”
Coach McCartney resigned as President in 2003, but he’s back this year, with a new vision. “We want you to bring your wives, your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, your nieces,” says Coach McCartney in a video for Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink. “I know, shocking isn’t it? But hear me out. We want to honor women in a profound way at this event.”
“We’re going to really heal the divide,” said current President Dr. Raleigh B. Washington in a promotional video for the event. “There’s a gender divide. There’s a divide between the haves and the have-nots. There’s a divide between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. And this honor, this vision that God has given Coach, is going to heal that divide.”
Dr. Washington says he has great hopes for the new vision. “This is going to relaunch Promise Keepers and go across this nation like nothing before,” he said.
Tickets for the event cost $59, and registration is being done through the PK website at https://www.promisekeepers.org/. Keeping with his aim to “honor the poor,” Coach McCartney is committed to helping people attend no matter their financial circumstances. “We want to make this once-in-a-lifetime conference available to people regardless of their economic condition,” he said.