wfn.org | Promise Keepers in Dallas

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3273 notes).

Note 3272 by UMNS on Nov. 5, 1996 at 15:15 Eastern (6145 characters).

SEARCH: promise, racial, unity, Christian, McCartney

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                      558(10-31-32-71BP){3272}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Nov. 5, 1996

NOTE: A photo is available with this story.

Promise Keepers Conference offers 
reconciliation in Dallas

by Daniel R. Gangler*

     DALLAS (UMNS) -- Men shouting their lungs out during a fall
weekend in Texas Stadium is nothing new, except that the Dallas
Cowboys football team was nowhere to be seen.
     Promise Keepers, a six-year old evangelical Christian men's
movement, had filled the arena, challenging the mostly white men
to be reconciled racially with men of color.
     Promise Keepers also provided its traditional fare of leading
men to pray, sing, confess and commit to God and Jesus, to wife
and  family and to their local church and pastors (see related
story).
     For an evening and a day, 63,000 -- mostly church-going
fathers and sons -- joined Oct. 25-26 here in a brotherhood of
Christian faith for what amounted to a high-tech camp meeting.  It
was Promise Keepers' 22nd and final men's conference for the '96
season.
     Under the theme of "Breaking Down the Barriers," Promise
Keepers president and former University of Colorado football coach
Bill McCartney admonished the audience to be sensitive to men and
women of color.
     "Inside this nation there is a spirit of white racial
superiority that has left a deep hurt in men and women of color,"
he said. "I have never met a man or woman of color who has not
felt that oppression.
     "It's not enough to say we feel their pain. We must move into
that pain and die to ourselves," McCartney said.  Then he
suggested to his silent audience that if they had not already done
so they should enter into a committed friendship with another man
beyond their own culture.
     Interviewed later by the Reporter, Nick Wagley, a young Anglo
from the Keller (Texas) United Methodist Church, said he had been
challenged by McCartney's words and intended to befriend a
Hispanic man he works with.
     McCartney's words encouraged African-American James Johnson,
a member of a non-denominational black church in Odessa, Mo. He
told the Reporter, "This is the first time a primarily white
organization of this size has shown momentum in racial unity. I
have a lot of respect for an organization that treats us as a part
of the whole."
     Also sensing a letting go of racial barriers within Promise
Keepers was the Rev. Jesus Cisneros, a Hispanic pastor of the
Ministerios Nueva Vida (New Life Ministries) nondenominational
church in Lubbock, Texas. He brought 25 men from his
Spanish-speaking congregation to the  conference.
     "I believe when we join in the Spirit we come together
racially," Cisneros said. He went on to say that cultural
traditions make it hard to break down these racial barriers.
     Promise Keepers' intention to become more inclusive was
evident by a racially balanced platform of speakers. They included
the Rev. Tom Claus, a Native American from Phoenix, and the Rev.
Raleigh Washington, an African-American from Chicago.
     Both spoke to the need for racial reconciliation in
congregations and explained point by point how to establish
committed friendships among men from different cultures.
     Featured preachers for both days were African-American
pastors. The Rev. E. K. Bailey, a Dallas Baptist, spoke about men
reconciling themselves with God. Other black preachers were the
Rev. E. V. Hill of Los Angeles and the Rev. Tony Evans, the pastor
of Dallas' largest predominately black church.
     The master of ceremonies was Isaac Canales,  a Hispanic
seminary professor from Pasadena, Calif. He read announcements in
both Spanish and English.
     Promise Keepers leaders said, in spite of a racially balanced
platform, the Dallas audience was still mostly white. 
     At a news conference, McCartney said that during the last 15
months he had traveled to 39 cities to listen to pastors of color
talk about racism.
     "The trip gave me a better understanding of the tremendous
oppression men of color face in our white racism," he said.
     With a commitment to create a more racially inclusive
conference, Promise Keepers provided 4,000-plus scholarships to
the Dallas event as part of its ongoing commitment that no man of
color would be denied access because of the $60 registration cost.
Nationally, 90,000-plus scholarships were given for 1996 events,
Promise Keepers officials reported.
     The anti-racism theme was personified this year by Promise
Keepers' naming the Rev. Raleigh Washington as vice president of
reconciliation, a new office for the 500-employee organization
based in Denver. 
     Washington announced at the Dallas conference that Promise
Keepers was giving four checks totaling $65,000 for rebuilding
burned black churches in Texas. This, Washington said, was part of
the organization's $1 million commitment to restore damaged
churches and strengthen race relations in America. 
     Pleased by Promise Keepers' outreach to people of color and
noticing that there were more men of color at this conference than
at the one he attended last year, Quintant Burnett, an
African-American from  Irving, Texas, said he felt that Coach
McCartney was very dedicated to racial inclusiveness. 
     He added, "My challenge (as an African-America) is first
praying and asking the Lord about an individual's heart, then
spending more time with other people that are not of my own race."
     Promise Keeper training seminars will continue through the
winter in anticipation of 1997 stadium events. Promise Keepers
President Randy Phillips said next year's theme will be "Making
for Godly Men."
     Tentative plans call for 18 to 24 stadium events plus a rally
on The Mall in Washington, D.C., next fall.
                              #  #  #

     * Gangler is an associate editor with the United Methodist
Reporter in Dallas.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------