I just got back yesterday from the Promise Keepers 2006 conference in Jacksonville, FL – what a tremendous blessing.

Promise Keepers is a men’s ministry that holds conferences in around 20 towns each summer and fall. The theme changes each year, but the general goal is the same.

Promise Keepers is a Christ-centered organization dedicated to introducing men to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord; and then helping them to grow as Christians. – Promise Keepers Website

They seek to accomplish this goal through the worship and fellowship that starts at the conferences, and is then taken back to their home towns. Promise Keepers encourages each man to live out the “seven promises” to positively impact their relationships with their wives, children, co-workers, and community. Love their wives as Jesus loves the Church, raise Godly children, be a light in the workplace and community, and serve those in need (from rich to poor – because we all need something, from Jesus to a meal.)

Why Guys Need Promise Keepers

We may not need a particular organization, but we need what it stands for. Guys will understand what I am about to say, and you ladies will recognize this as well.

We are generally taught in the American society that men are supposed to be inpenetrable fortresses. We don’t teach guys that the struggles they face happen to everyone. Men then experience these failures and sins and isolate themselves out of shame. This is exactly the opposite of what God wants. God wants to shine the light into our hearts and use men to lift each other up and allow Jesus to continue living through us.

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.

If a Christian man is not regularly meeting with other Christian men, then opportunity is given for the Enemy to work himself into a man’s life. The stakes are too high. The future of our wife, our children, our community, and future generations may be impacted by decisions that are made today – right now.

My experience with Promise Keepers

This is my second year attending the PK Conference, and it was even better than last year’s convention. God really reached me this weekend, along with tons of other guys.

I went last year because it was in my town (Charleston, SC) and I was a bit curious to see what it would be like when a couple thousand Christian guys gathered in one place. I was absolutely blown away! Everything was amazing, from…

• the worship (and I didn’t like Christian music back then)
• the extremely relevant and challenging messages
• prayer
• being able to hang out with other Christian guys. There are so many guys I could talk with and learn from. Oddly enough, I found some younger guys that could learn from me.
  Best of all, it had some testosterone flowing, but with some hugging and crying. What I mean is that any kind of guy would not only be accepted there, but embraced. No bull…

The time commitment is minimal. They realize people work, so the conference is highly condensed. It goes from 7:00 to 10:00PM on Friday evening, and from Saturday from 9:00AM until about 4:00PM. It is very affordable, too.

Below is a list of the remaining dates for this year’s schedule. I’ll be writing about different aspects of the conference over the next couple posts, but I make one final, impassioned plea.

If PK is going to be coming anywhere near you, Find a way to get there. Ladies – buy your guy a ticket, and get him to buy one for a friend to go with him. My wife can personally testify as to the change that God has made in my life since the first PK conference I attended.

Of couse it is God that makes the changes, but sometimes we humans need a catalyst… a moment to get on the same wavelength of God and worship him with other men. Promise Keepers is the place where that takes place. Just ask the 600+ guys in Jacksonville that just accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior this past weekend. Our God is an awesome God!

Remaining Dates for Promise Keepers 2006

July 28-29 Atlanta, GA
Aug. 4-5 Jackson, MS
Aug. 11-12 Dallas, TX
Aug. 18-19 Kansas City, MO
Aug. 25-26 Colorado Springs, CO
Sept. 8-9 Milwaukee, WI
Sept. 15-16 Grand Rapids, MI
Sept. 22-23 Louisville, KY
Sept. 29-30 Spokane, WA
Oct. 6-7 Sacramento, CA
Oct. 13-14 Glendale, AZ
Oct. 20-21 Los Angeles, CA

Like I said earlier, I’ll include more information in future posts, but if you have any pressing questions about the conference, ask them in the comments section below so if anyone else has the same question, they may benefit as well.

Categories: Good News, Living for Christ
Tags: