D.C. Rally Draws Men on a Mission

By LARRY B. STAMMER and MICHAEL GRANBERRY

Oct. 3, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

From Van Nuys to Visalia and Mission Viejo to Rancho Cucamonga, thousands of Southern California men and boys are awakening early this morning on a mission for God.

With a wing and a prayer, they are heading east on chartered 747s and commercial flights. Others set out days ago, including 500 members of the Christian Motorcyclist Assn. on hogs and hundreds who piled into a convoy of buses.

All are bound for Washington to pray Saturday for their salvation--and for America’s. This is “Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men,” the most ambitious men’s rally ever attempted by Promise Keepers, the burgeoning Christian men’s movement.

“I think it’ll be a great experience,” said Kyle Rutenbar, 13, who is joining his dad and hundreds of men from the family’s Orange County church. “It’s going to be a pretty big thing. I thought it would be great to go to and to spend time with my dad.”

In a phenomenon repeated in small towns and big cities from coast to coast, Southern California travel agents began booking flights and hotel rooms in February in anticipation of a religious spectacle that would make the late Hollywood producer Cecil B. DeMille proud.

“This is incredible,” said Bob Caron, a men’s minister at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, one of several churches offering live satellite feeds Saturday. “There’s a real anticipation to just see what the Lord will do in this event.”

Some groups, including 650 men from Saddleback Valley Community Church in Mission Viejo, chartered wide-body jets.

Travel agent Michelle Bachelor of EFS Christian Discoveries in La Habra said she has been swamped with last-minute calls from businessmen eager to join the exodus--if only she had a flight or hotel room.

“One mother called and felt like it was life or death for her older teenage son to go. She said it would change his life so much,” Bachelor said.

The travel agent, who offered a special Promise Keeper flight and hotel package for $700, had to turn down the woman. Hundreds of others had already snapped up her offer, which included two meals a day.

Others made their own arrangements. Chuck Hanson, 66, was riding his bike from Los Angeles to Washington to join the prayer march, according to Promise Keepers.

The organization reported that six men were making the trip from Los Angeles on foot. They set out in August on the “Prayer Walk,” and one hiker has already arrived, according to the group.

This morning, a handful of men from Visalia were hitting the road at 1 a.m. in a rented limousine for the three- to four-hour drive to LAX, where they are catching a flight.

Thirty-two other men and boys from the Shepherd of the Hills Church in the San Fernando Valley are testing their stamina as they board an overnight flight tonight for Washington--and then return one day later.

“It’s going to be a 24-hour turnaround--a ‘red-eye’ flight out and a ‘red-eye’ flight back Saturday night,” said Mark Figearo, director of men’s ministries for the Porter Ranch church.

Figearo said he will go without food for the entire trip. “It’s really a time of prayer and fasting for this country,” said Figearo, an electrical contractor from Granada Hills.

For others, tight family budgets made the trip a squeeze. Promise Keepers, whose coliseum rallies typically cost about $65 a head, is not charging any registration or admission fees in Washington. But travel costs can be high, especially for those traveling cross-country.

“I prayed about going and I believe that God has a purpose for me to be there,” said Melvin Cody, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima. “I asked God that if he wanted me to be there, he would provide the funds. At the time, I was working part time. Now I am working full time.”

So Cody is making the trip.

So is Dennis Pearson, a 46-year-old business owner in Santa Ana, who helped defray the costs for a friend to attend too. “I think it will be a mountaintop experience,” said Pearson, who became a Christian three years ago.

Promise Keeper leaders say they expect to see hundreds of thousands of men at the steps of the Capitol falling to their knees as one to beg God’s forgiveness for their sins as husbands and fathers.

If the turnout meets expectations, the Mall between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial will be filled with more than 700,000 men and boys. It could be the biggest religious event since Pope John Paul II drew 500,000 to Denver in 1993 for World Youth Day. U.S. Park Police expect at least that many in Washington.

In 1995, Louis Farrakhan’s “Million Man March” drew an estimated 400,000 to more than 800,000 to the Mall in Washington.

Organizers say Saturday’s rally will be a day of prayer, not politics. The group’s plans have drawn criticism from the National Organization for Women, who contend that the group’s goal is the submission of women to male authority--a charge the Promise Keepers deny.

“Our goal is to present to the Lord godly men on their knees in humility, then on their feet in unity, reconciled and poised for revival and spiritual awakening,” says Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney.

For many men, they said, it will be a time to come to grips with their roles as males.

Rick Warren, 43, the senior pastor at the 14,000-member Saddleback Valley Community Church in Mission Viejo, said men are confused because their role models are “ridiculous.”

“There’s Schwarzenegger, Stallone and the Steven Seagal guy, the bed ‘em and leave ‘em types. There’s the Hugh Hefner Playboy type,” he said. “There’s also the gender-blender, asexual guy, the Boy George type. There’s the wimp, the guy whose wife is in charge, there’s that type, who’s the exact opposite of the macho male. In my view, none of these are realistic.”

But participants say the day of prayer, song and fellowship will not be without its lighter moments.

“It’s called a holy assembly of men across the country,” said Steve Rutenbar, 13-year-old Kyle’s dad and leader at the Mission Viejo church. “But, really, it’s going to be a big party, and we don’t want to miss the party.”

Indeed, sightseeing tours, including a quick “photo opportunity” in front of the White House, are being arranged for some groups on the way to the rally.

For those unable to make it to Washington, live satellite feeds are being beamed to churches in the area, where women as well as men are welcome.

Among churches with the broadcasts is the Church on the Way, whose Van Nuys pastor, Jack Hayford, is serving as emcee in Washington. Saddleback Valley Community Church will open its doors at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Cornerstone Christian Church in Northridge will project the images on a 10-by-10-foot screen in its sanctuary, and is asking for a $10 donation that includes lunch. The telecast will be free, however, at Reseda Baptist Church.

The Trinity Broadcasting Network, which reaches television stations and cable affiliates across the United States, will carry the rally live, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT.

In San Diego County, Horizon Christian Fellowship in Rancho Santa Fe, Hope Methodist Church in Rancho Bernardo and Bethel Baptist Church in Escondido will have televised downlinks open to men and women. Three other broadcast sites are limited to men only--Calvary Chapel in Chula Vista, Skyline Wesleyan in Lemon Grove and Shadow Mountain Community in El Cajon.

Warren said the rally has sparked so much interest because the country is becoming more spiritual, out of necessity.

“We’ve become more technological and more secular, and people are saying, ‘There’s got to be more to life than this,’ ” Warren said. “There’s also the aging of the baby boomers. You’ve got 73 million going through midlife crises right now.”

Times staff writers John Dart and Tony Perry, and correspondents Coll Metcalfe and Karima Haynes, contributed to this story.

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A Rapid Rise

Promise Keepers’ increase in money and attendance:

NET REVENUE (In millions)

1996: $87 million

1996*

****

STADIUM CONFERENCES

4,200 at University of Colorado in 1991.

22,000 at University of Colorado in 1992.

50,000 at University of Colorado in 1993.