c. 1998 Religion News Service

PHILADELPHIA _ Promise Keepers, an evangelical men’s ministry that has generally discouraged women from attending its meetings, has intentionally opened the doors of its 1998 regional clergy conferences to women.

Although only a sprinkling of women were part of the 3,400 who attended the first of nine clergy conferences Thursday (Jan. 15), it nevertheless was a significant broadening of the group’s efforts to become more inclusive.

But at the same time, the daylong session _ the first major Promise Keepers event since last October’s massive Stand in the Gap rally in Washington, D.C. _ continued the ministry’s standard themes of encouraging men’s ministries in local congregations and reconciliation across racial and denominational lines.”We have learned that 13 percent of our churches are pastored by ladies,”said Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney, explaining why the ministry had changed course.

Ministry officials said they wanted to include women in the clergy conferences because some men who attend Promise Keepers events return to churches pastored by women. The group’s signature stadium events, however, will remain specifically targeted to a male-only audience.”We need pastors who will turn their churches into training camps for men,”McCartney told the audience at a Temple University arena. The former University of Colorado head football coach spoke to the crowd _ dressed in everything from clerical collars to suits to Promise Keepers sweaters _ for 43 minutes in a sermon ranging from football to the fundamentals of faith.

Other speakers encouraged clergy to start local evangelism training for men and to participate in a Campus Crusade for Christ project to deliver videos about Jesus throughout neighborhoods across the country.”Promise Keepers exists because we believe God wants to bring revival to his church and awakening to the lost,”said the Rev. Dale Schlafer, the ministry’s vice president of revival and awakening and the master of ceremonies at the conference.

All of the ministry’s goals must be met under new financial constraints because the ministry will no longer charge admission _ which ranged from $60 to $70 in the past _ to its 1998 and 1999 events.

Brian Blomberg, Promise Keepers chief financial officer, said the ministry has a budget of $67 million for 1998. Without stadium fees, revenue will be generated from offerings, fund raising, sponsorships, and sales of resources, such as books and”Vibrant Men’s Ministry”kits.

(OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS HERE)”As of last Monday, we had the equivalent of two weeks of operating capital,”said Blomberg, adding that the ministry has been in that financial situation since August.”PK is not in trouble but I tell you that PK is right where the Lord wants us because we are now dependent upon him,”Blomberg said.”We’ve turned the ministry back over to our Lord.” (OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS HERE)

The 1998 clergy conferences will be held in churches and arenas with capacities of 3,000 to 12,000, said Steve Ruppe, Promise Keepers’ director of public affairs. About 5,500 people pre-registered for the Philadelphia clergy event, but Ruppe said officials were not disappointed with the much lower turnout.”The impact is very broad,”he said.”We’re never disappointed when people show up in the name of God.” In addition to the clergy conferences, women clergy also will be welcomed at clergy meetings held prior to men’s stadium events planned for this year. Promise Keepers officials said they plan to hold an event July 10-11 at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium and are still confirming details for about 20 other conference locations.”The stadium events will continue to be just male because that’s the audience, that’s who we’re trying to reach, at that point,”Schlafer said.

Outside the Temple arena Thursday, Equal Partners in Faith, a group of clergy and others who have raised concerns about Promise Keepers commitment to gender equality, protested the ministry.

Laura Montgomery Rutt, the protest’s organizer, was critical of the way Promise Keepers opened the clergy conference to women.”Women pastors were not invited,”said Rutt, of Lancaster, Pa.”They were allowed to come.” McCartney acknowledged in a press conference most women learned about the event through word of mouth.”I don’t think maybe we had the intentionality that it requires and deserves,”he said.

But women participants said they were glad to be there.

The Rev. Roberta Epperson, a former Philadelphia minister who now runs a ministry for drug addicts and the homeless in Tampa, Fla., said she is very supportive of Promise Keepers and thinks men’s position of leadership in the church”has been lost over the years.” While she walked away with some ideas on affirming men in her ministry, Epperson said she didn’t think all Promise Keepers events needed to be open to women.

The Rev. Jackie Burgess, pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Thorofare, N.J., said she came to the conference because she wanted to provide leadership for men in her congregation who were interested in Promise Keepers.

After hearing speakers talk about the need for men to show”self-sacrificing love”to their families and friends, Burgess said she believed Promise Keepers critics were incorrect in their claim that ministry supporters want to subjugate women.”You can’t live in self-sacrificing love and be abusive,”she said.”It’s going to be positive for their personal lives, for their relationships and for their churches.” END BANKS