Promise Keepers Men’s Group Holds Meeting in Anaheim

Thousands of men from throughout California and other states will conclude a two-day conference at Anaheim Stadium today sponsored by Promise Keepers, a burgeoning Christian men’s renewal movement.

Founded in 1990 by University of Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers drew 50,000 men last year to a similar conference in Boulder, Colo.

Although the group has attracted men from a wide range of Christian backgrounds, evangelical and Pentecostal Christians make up the core of the ministry’s supporters.

“As Promise Keepers, we’re men who are rallying and we’re saying to the nation that a man’s man is a godly man,” McCartney said in an interview. “A real man is a man of God, a man of substance, who counts his words and stands behind them. He’s a man who is sensitive to those around him. He sees the need in others and responds to it.”

The movement has not been without controversy. In 1985, the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue the University of Colorado because it said McCartney was using his position as coach to voice private religious views. But no suit was filed.