Entire Promise Keepers’ Staff to Be Laid Off

Promise Keepers, the Christian group that filled the nation’s capital in October with hundreds of thousands of repentant and tearful men, will lay off its entire paid staff next month in order to eliminate the $60 admission charge to its stadium rallies.

The organization, founded in 1990 by former University of Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, announced Wednesday that it will no longer have the money to pay its 345 staff members. Instead, it will rely on voluntary donations, income from concessionaires and Promise Keepers books, tapes and other products.

The announcement stunned outside observers, including academics and authorities on religious movements who have followed the burgeoning men’s ministry. By eliminating its staff and a budget that topped $70 million last year, Promise Keepers risks losing the momentum that made it one of the fastest growing evangelical groups in the nation. Since its inception, more than 2.6 million men have attended events.

But the group said that the admission fee had become a barrier to spreading Promise Keepers’ appeal, especially to low-income groups, including minorities.

McCartney told his staff on Wednesday that he was saddened by the layoffs, which are effective March 31.

“I have a broken heart. But I don’t have a discouraged heart. I have a heart that is filled with hope,” he said.

Spokesman Stephen Ruppe said Thursday that McCartney and other executives had prayed intensively about the decision and that “God said to do it . . . to make our events free.”

McCartney issued an appeal to churches to support Promise Keepers with donations and told his staff that if future donations are adequate, some of those laid off will be recalled. In the meantime, he said, the organization will depend solely on volunteers to run the offices and stadium events.

The heart of McCartney’s message is that men should become “promise keepers” instead of “promise breakers.” Men are asked to commit themselves to “spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity,” honor their wives and families, and fight racism. For many men, sociologists and others said, Promise Keepers became an anchor at a time of rapid societal change, including gender roles. The group holds that men should be the loving but unquestioned head of households. For that reason, and because women are not allowed to attend its men-only rallies, groups like the National Organization for Women have roundly criticized Promise Keepers.

There was no suggestion from Promise Keepers on Thursday that the layoffs signal a retrenchment. “I know that does not compute well in a secular world, but we don’t believe it means the end of us,” Ruppe said. He added: “We’re not closing the doors, and we’re not canceling any events. We see this as a transitional phase we’re going through.”

Still, J. Gordon Melton, head of the Institute for the Study of American Religion at UC Santa Barbara, expressed surprise at the announcement, noting that Promise Keepers “seemed like a rather prosperous little organization with a forward-looking program that was carrying them into a rather prosperous future.”

Wade Clark Roof, a professor of religion and sociology at UCSB and author of the 1993 book “A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation,” said he was at a loss to explain the move.

“Occasionally religious organizations cut back on paid staff as a way of reinforcing the ideology of equality, a basic Protestant principle. On the other hand, how would you cut back the whole staff? That seems so incredible.”

The organization had a modest $4-million budget and a staff of 22 in 1993. Last year, it said it had a staff of 452 and an annual budget of $70 million, down from 1996’s $87-million budget.

Ruppe said Promise Keepers’ executive salaries in 1996 ranged from $75,000 to $132,000. McCartney receives no salary, but he reported total compensation in 1996 from speaking fees and benefits as $41,000.

Although it has been growing for years, Promise Keepers attracted nationwide attention in October when it sponsored the massive Washington rally at which men from throughout the country fell to their knees between the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial to repent of their sins and pray for America.

It also staged 19 stadium events across the country last year and plans another 19 stadium events this summer, although the number may be reduced if attendance at some of the first events falls short of expectations.

For several years, McCartney and other top executives have been troubled by the low turnout at rallies of men of color even as Promise Keepers stepped up preaching against racism and featured nationally known African Americans and Latinos as preachers.

Promise Keepers said its decision to drop admission fees is intended to “remove all financial barriers” to participation. This year’s theme is “Open the gates in ’98.”

Whether the tactic will attract more men of color or whether the organization can function on voluntary contributions remains to be seen.

But there was a sense among at least some men who have been active in Promise Keepers that McCartney may pull it off.

“I don’t think the men of America would allow this thing to fold,” said Bill Bates of Glendale, a Promise Keeper “ambassador,” or liaison, to St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church in La Crescenta. “There have been too many men who have benefited.”

Whatever the case, the days of big budgets appear to be gone. Ruppe said he doubts that Promise Keepers will ever see another $87-million-plus budget.

In June, Promise Keepers laid off 100 staffers due to both a lower turnout at stadium events and a reorganization unrelated to attendance figures to streamline the ministry’s bureaucracy. At the time, Promise Keepers said that it hoped June’s layoffs would be the last.

In 1997, 630,000 men attended 18 stadium events, compared with 1.1 million total attendance at 22 events in 1996. Part of the drop was attributed to men substituting the free Washington rally for the regional stadium events.

Clearly, McCartney is counting on local churches to help out. McCartney said Promise Keepers has been ministering to men and motivating them to return to their churches to live lives of faith and commitment. The time has come, Promise Keepers said, for churches to return the favor by donating to Promise Keepers.

“It means we’re more in a partnership with churches now. Early on, some churches were afraid we would take men from their congregations,” Ruppe said. “We’re turning back to churches now and saying we need your help. And it’s not a time of our choosing.”

Sahagun reported from Denver and Stammer from Los Angeles.