Men Gather 9500 Strong for Promise Keepers at the Sommet Center...
Many thanks for the hard work from all of the volunteers - hundreds of women, youth and men gave of their time to facilitate the third stop on the seven conference schedule... the best is yet to come!
Click here to visit the Nashville 2007 Flickr set for more photos!
I wish I had a flying vehicle to jet me around Thursday night as I motored from West Nashville to Cool Springs to the Flying Saucer downtown.
I've been part of a great team working hard to finalize all of the logistics to host the upcoming Promise Keepers Men's Conference at the GEC (sorry, Sommet Center) July 20 -21. Lots of details and planning with the 700 or so volunteers from retail, registration, ushers, security... to host 14,500 men that weekend. But it's all been worth it to see the positive impact Promise Keepers has had for the last seventeen years on families. I know, as I'm a direct receipient. Very honored to be lock arms with the local leadership team giving of their time.
I've set up a Promise Keepers local blog which is a very effective tool to keep to keep all the volunteers and leaders up to date, in the loop and honoring their time.
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Speaking of honor, a slice of the local blogging community came out to celebrate Brittney Gilbert at the Flying Saucer for "all her efforts on behalf of Nashville is Talking for the past two-plus years."
Thanks Brittney for engaging us to have a voice via weblogs and build a community. We've come too far to see Nashville Is Talking grow with the richness of relationships not to be silenced.
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It's impossible to take good pictures in the dark, even with a flash!
I was able to carve out seven shots - posted at Flickr
Over 9,000 fathers, sons and men from the Southeast converged at Philips Arena in Atlanta July 28 and 29, 2006 for the Promise Keepers' "Unleashed" men's conference. Mixed with a rousing worship set by PK7, video clips, drama skits by Awaken and messages by gifted speakers, men responded to the theme of being "Unleashed" - "it is not about learning how to be a nicer guy. It's about becoming the powerful man God designed you to be."
The evening's first speaker, Dr. Bob Reccord delivered the evangelistic message, addressing men's biggest fear - the unfulfilled life. Two hundred ninety nine men came to the front of the stage to declare publicly of their commitment to Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. I had an opportunity to pray with a father and his eleven-year-old son who accepted Christ as well with a deaf man. Exhilarating!
Dr. Tom Fortson, president of Promise Keepers, presented the Transformation Award to S. Truett Cathy, the founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A Restaurants. The award honored Cathy's "lifetime of transforming family, community, workplace, and most importantly, the lives of the next generation." Cathy shared how he got started in the restaurant business, marriage, his commitment to stay private that allowed the corporation greater flexibility to fund charitable causes as well as give greater honor to his employees. Despite closing on Sunday, historically 20% of a fast food's income, Chick-fil-A is the second largest fast food restaurant chain.
Pastor Rob Bell shared how Jesus sees incredible God-created potential in us, and what He sees in us is far greater that what we see in ourselves.
Promise Keepers provided a truckload of non-perishable food items donated by the attendees to Johnnie's House - a shelter for battered and abused women and children in Atlanta. Over 85,000 pounds of food have been donated thus far to local food banks at the midpoint of the Promise Keepers conference schedule.
Bishop Joseph Garlington opened the Saturday sessions addressing "the heart, not just our emotional center, but the core of our motivations. The heart drives our decision. As men, we guard our hearts to keep it dependent on God's leading." Underlying theme: God has written a unique calling and divine legacy on your heart, based on longings, desires, passions, and hopes. We were challenged by Garlington that we must pursue our calling, embrace it and live it.
Our group, the BigDawgs4Christ assisted the volunteer needs in areas of ushering, evangelism and the lunchtime feeding of nine thousand men in twenty minutes! "Grab and go; head for the hill!" was the bullhorn chant.
Promise Keepers returns to Nashville at the Gaylord Entertainment Center July 20-21, 2007. The previous two conferences in 2001 and 2005 were sellouts. We'll plan to raise up volunteers, assume a local leadership function and for a road trip, head to St. Louis. MO August 24-25. If you're interested in joining us, drop us a line to get connected.
View the UNLEASED Flickr set by clicking here
technorati tag Promise Keepers
Denny at VitalSigns Ministries writes: Promise Keepers certainly isn't making the national splash it once did. 
The absence of the outspoken, charismatic Coach Bill McCartney at the helm of Promise Keepers left the movement without its initial fervor and its ability to grab the headlines. The football arenas around the country haven't been filled with attentive worshipers for a long time now and Promise Keepers' hope to create thousands of "accountability groups" among America's Christian men never really materialized.
However, neither of these failures are the fault of Promise Keepers as an organization. The real problems in reaching the organization's goals have come from all the "regular suspects" which have historically limited the Christian man's spirituality in America: apathy, inconsistency, improper passions, desires for comfort and entertainment, and so on. Promise Keepers did an incredible job of shaking things up in the early 90's -- God bless 'em for their vision and dedication to biblical orthodoxy. But keeping things shook up? Well, that required the rest of us to follow through with courage, faith and an aggressive work ethic for the Kingdom. We didn't.
So, is Promise Keepers completely a thing of the past? No, far from it. Their audience events may be smaller, fewer and less publicized but the organization is very much alive with enthusiasm and commitment. And, of particular significance, Promise Keepers hasn't sold out its founding purposes. When the numbers began to decline, there must have been tremendous pressure brought upon Promise Keepers to compromise its values, to soften its doctrinal statement, to pragmatically remove (or at least keep quiet about) some of its more controversial elements, especially its insistence on preaching Christ crucified, its pro-life convictions, its fidelity to biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality, etc. But Promise Keepers kept its own promise to God and therefore deserves our fervent appreciation and respect.
And they deserve our present attention too.
For although the "movement" of Promise Keepers (amazingly influential) has run its course, the ministry of the modern version of Promise Keepers is very much alive. Clicking on the title of this post will take you to the Promise Keepers web site where a visitor can see how true the organization has been to the Lord Jesus and how active they yet are in changing the character of America by bringing redemption, illumination and spiritual power to one man at a time.
So, for those of you who well remember the way God moved you in one of those PK stadium rallies and for those of you whose earnest spiritual adventure began after those halcyon days, today's Promise Keepers is a ministry well worth your prayers, your support and your participation.
(Wednesday, May 31, 2006)
(Note: I served on staff at Promise Keepers from 1995 to 2000)
View the collection of Promise Keepers Nashville photos by veteran PK photographer Wayne Armstrong.
Nashville / photos beginning on page 3
Wayne Armstrong Digital Photography highlights more than 15 years of some of the most creative photography in the industry. Wayne is available for corporate or individual photography needs. Drop on in to see some of Wayne's award-winning gallery.
Promise Keepers Nashville! photo by Kathryn Richards 
I've gotten a few emails (thanks!) about my whereabouts since this WonderDawg blog has been less frequent - I been investing heavily at the Promise Keepers event (and it was off the charts!) and contributing a few entries on the local blog. Check it out! I'm honoring the volunteers, posting a lot of photos and plan to write daily articles specifically for Promise Keepers at the local level -
Just a side note - the blog is set up on TypePad and it is the most tempermental blogging tool hands down - fonts get funky and it takes multiple postings to make it look decent - so if you're using Blogger - be grateful; very grateful.
Scaled-back Promise Keepers retains family, faith message
More than 14,000 expected at Nashville conference
The Tennessean - Nashville,TN,USA
In the early to mid-1990s, Promise Keepers was synonymous with stadium-sized conferences filled with men committing their lives to their faith, families and ...
The Tennesean - Article By JEANNINE F. HUNTER
Setting The Stage...
BY THE NUMBERS:
Promise Keepers, the nationwide men’s movement that swept the country 15 years ago, is back in Nashville today and tomorrow.
3 — The number of times Promise Keepers has held a major event in Nashville. There was a clergy conference in February 1998 and a men’s conference in August 2001.
14,600 — The number of people expected to attend
13,800 — Number of attendees who either purchased their tickets individually or from churches that sold them in 25-, 50- and 100-ticket blocks.
800 — The number of volunteers; more than half are women.
SOURCE: Promise Keepers
PK Nashville
The day has finally arrived! I head downtown to be part of an army of 800 plus volunteers to serve the nearly 14,000 participants of this year's Sold Out Nashville Promise Keepers men's conference. Volunteers from Florida to Michigan, Arkansas to Georgia are giving of their time to set the stage for what always proves to be a life impacting event for men and their families.
Promise Keepers has always impacted the communities it visits with Serve The City initiatives. In February of 1998 in Nashville, 60 local volunteers refurbished Murphy Alternative School with landscaping, repairs and painting all the classrooms. This year, a canned food drive will take place at all 20 "Awakening" men's conferences in 2005.
NOW THAT'S A GROCERY CART!
Volunteers in Fort Wayne process some of the 6,000 pounds of donated food that was collected for the Community Harvest Food Bank.
Photo: Wayne Armstrong/PK
Visit our local blog here
"If you want to know what's good about Promise Keepers, ask a Promise Keepers' wife."
That's the old slogan of PK from the early days of 1996. It's still true today. PK gives a man the means and opportunity to re-focus on things that are truly important, including his relationship with his wife and kids. The person who is closest to him sees the change.
PK is more than a terrific two-day worship experience. It combines soul-searching with a call to action. Coming back from a PK event, most men re-dedicate themselves to a new level of accountability for their behavior, as well as a commitment to seek God's purpose in their lives.
These things could happen in an ordinary church context, but they usually don't. To really "catch fire" men need to see and feel the energy of God at work in a large assembly of other men. That's what a PK conference does.”
-- Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Maryland
“I knew that all the spiritual benefits my husband received at Promise Keepers would overflow to me. How could they not? Is not his honor my honor? His integrity my integrity? Are not his blessings my blessings?”
-- Judy, Onova, Iowa
a Promise Keeper prays for his wife...
