Saturday, February 26, 2005
PROMISE KEEPERS STILL
TRANSFORMING MEN
The
Organization Addresses the Needs of Men Worldwide
By Peter Wooding and Ginny McCabe
 ANAHEIM, CA (ANS) -- Peter Wooding of UBC Europe recently
spoke with Tom Fortson, President and CEO of Promise Keepers at the NRB
2005 Convention in Anaheim to find out more about his role and the
mission of the organization. (Pictured:
Tom Fortson being interviewed by Peter Wooding).
Fortson has been with Promise Keepers for 10 years, and has served as
president and CEO for the past year and a half. He said that Promise
Keepers is an organization that focuses on men, “Our vision is “men
transformed worldwide.” And by “transformed,” we mean bringing men into
an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seven promises that we
want men to keep: We encourage men to be strong husbands and fathers;
we encourage men to be strong leaders in their church; we encourage men
to reach beyond racial and ethnic barriers to demonstrate Biblical
unity; and we want men to be strong, ethical leaders in the business
world. So there’s seven promises that we believe capture what it is to
be a man of God.”
Fortson said being involved in this kind of ministry is quite a
blessing, but that it also presents challenges. “Every day there’s a
challenge, but I came out of corporate America, and I find that I need
to work just as hard as I did in corporate America. The thing that’s
different is that (my work with Promise Keepers) is very rewarding. It
is also very fulfilling because I think what is at stake is eternity.
 Wooding brought up the
fact that the Promise Keepers stadium rallies are quite powerful, and
Fortson agreed that the rallies are going well and are meeting the
needs of men all over the world.
(Pictured: Young join with old at Promise Keepers in the
Los Angeles area).
“I think whenever you’re dealing with men, y ou’re dealing with issues.
Men need to come together to recognize it’s alright to be a man. Today
men are confused over masculinity. Men are spiritually searching. Men
are emotionally isolated. You find few men who are friends with other
men, so I think whenever you have these kinds of needs, I think you’re
going find men who want to rally and get with other men,” said Fortson.
Promise Keepers believes that this is not only true of men in the
United States, but for all men, globally. “…That’s why we have in our
vision, “men transformed worldwide.” So wherever you find men, you find
guys that want to be a good husband, and a good father. That’s what we
feel some of the biggest needs are for men in America, but these needs
seem to be the same for men all over the world.
One of the latest initiatives for the organization is that they are
beginning to focus on the business community. “As you know, there have
been a number of corporations in America that have had issues with
ethics, leaders that have just fallen, in terms of ethical issues,
(and) business practices. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I think
there are a lot of smaller companies that are having financial
difficulties, just are on the verge of violating good business
practices, so we feel that Promise Keepers needs to move into that
business community. There are a lot of unethical practices (happening
in the business world and those kinds of issues fall within one of our
promises, which deals with ethic—men being strong leaders when it comes
to ethics,” said Fortson.
Another area where Promise Keepers is beginning to expand is more of a
movement into prison ministry. “You find out that that’s where men are.
Men have violated the law, but they still want to be good husbands and
fathers while incarcerated. And as I said earlier, the needs that we’re
finding in America are the same needs that men have all over the
world,” Fortson explained.
In keeping with the effort to globalize internationally, Promise
Keepers is working in China and in India.
Like in the United States, ministries similar to Promise Keepers are
emerging in the United Kingdom, which encourage men to partner together
and focus on evangelism.
“We have a Promise Keepers India that has just started. We also are
working in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and so we have our hands
full with those countries alone, and I think you never want to outrun
your ability to serve. And so we need to shore up those areas of the
world now, so we are moving by region in selected countries,” he said.
Fortson encouraged men everywhere to work together in their efforts.
“The key to future work of this nature is collaboration. In the past,
too many organizations have tried to “go it alone.” They did not share
their vision, they did not share their plan, and so there’s been
duplication. There have also been other efforts where if there had been
more collaboration and more teamwork, I believe that the work would
have been more effective, so I think the key to future work is
collaboration,” he said.
For more information about Promise Keepers, visit www.promisekeepers.org.
________________________________________________________________________
 Peter Wooding is
senior news editor for the UK-based Christian radio network UCB Europe.
He has traveled extensively reporting from places such as Croatia,
Dubai, St Petersburg, Russia, South Korea, Zambia and Israel. He is
also the director of ASSIST Europe, and will be leading his first
mission trip with the ministry this summer to Beslan in Russia.
Previously Peter served as a missionary for five years with Youth With
A Mission, where he met his wife who's from North Wales where they now
live with their three daughters. (Pictured: Peter Wooding being
interview for Korean TV). (Pictured:
Peter Wooding being
interview for Korean TV).
 Ginny McCabe is a
Cincinnati, OH native. She is an entertainment and feature writer for
The Middletown Journal and Journal News (dailies), and magazines
including American Songwriter, Bassics, NRB Magazine, CBA Marketplace,
Christian Retailing, HM Magazine, Relevant Magazine, BGEA, Lifeway.com,
and Crosswalk.com, among others. Ginny has authored Audio Adrenaline's
book, Some Kind of Journey on the Road with Audio Adrenaline and Living
the Gold-Medal Life: Inspirations from Female Athletes. She most
recently co-authored her third book, Changed: True Stories of Finding
God Through Christian Music, which will be released in April, 2005.
With over 10 years of marketing and public relations experience, Ginny
also works as an independent publicist at McCabe Media. To contact
Ginny, email her at Gmwriteon@aol.com.
(Pictured:
Ginny McCabe).
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