February 24, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney claims that God wants every church in America to give his financially-struggling organization $1,000. On February 18, Promise Keepers announced that it was in dire financial straits and would be required to adopt the following measures: stop paying its 345 employees in March, conduct its work strictly by volunteer labor, and begin supporting itself entirely by donations.

Speaking to a clergy conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, on February 19, attended by more than 3,000 pastors and church members, McCartney said that God told him to say that "every church that names the name of Jesus is supposed to give Promise Keepers $1,000" (Steve Persall, "McCartney appeals for church donations," The Denver Post, Feb. 20. 1998). He went on to say that big churches are "supposed to call the smaller churches and say, 'It wasn't all that hard for us, but can we help you?'" and small churches which lack the $1,000 are supposed "to call a larger church and say, 'Can you help us out here? We want to facilitate what God is doing.'"

To claim that every church in America is supposed to send Promise Keepers $1,000 is absolute insanity. This organization does not obey the Bible and has no biblical authority for its existence. It has its own man-made agenda. It picks and chooses a few things from the Bible it deems important and the rest it ignores. The New Testament church has been charged with the task of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth and discipling God's people. No other organization has the authority from God or the scriptural means to carry out such a task. It is a duly-constituted church with properly qualified pastors and deacons which is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). Promise Keepers is not the pillar and ground of the truth, yet it has the gall to think that every church in America should be at its beck and call.

This is the same pretentious attitude Bill McCartney displayed at the Stand in the Gap rally in Washington D.C. last October. McCartney unveiled Promise Keepers' plan for the next three years. He said he wanted every pastor in America to participate in this plan. Every pastor was expected to march to the same unified plan. He said, "We need a unity of command," and, "We need to have everybody on the same page." The page, of course, is Promise Keepers' page. He said that the Promise Keepers clergy conferences in 1998 would be for the purpose of instructing the pastors in their marching orders. He said, "[R]acial and denominational reconciliation standards will be presented at these pastors' conferences in practical ways that we can live in unity in the Body of Christ, and together make a difference for the Kingdom!" Thus we see that Promise Keepers is continuing to beat the drum of denominational unity. That is one of their chief goals. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics, Episcopalians, Brethren, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Jesus Only, Church of Christ, and everybody else, are to put aside doctrinal differences and have unity. McCartney concluded the presentation of his grand plan last October by saying that every pastor in America was expected to congregate in his (or her) state's capitol in January in the year 2000 to witness to the fact that his (or her) church has obeyed the Promise Keeper's plan and has networked together with the other churches in his (or her) community. This was the program put forth by Bill McCartney in October 1997. [See our article "Promise Keepers Pompous Plan for the Churches," Dec. 1, 1997. 

At the Stand in the Gap rally in October it was also announced that Promise Keepers would no longer charge a registration fee of $60 for its conferences. Since then its income has plummeted. Some of the 19 conferences which were scheduled for 1998 are now in doubt, since the stadiums and arenas require substantial deposits and Promise Keepers does not have the money.

The Stand in the Gap rally in Washington D.C. cost $9 million. Attendance estimates ranged from 480,000 to 700,000.

Promise Keepers was founded in 1991 by a small group of men and has grown phenomenally. In 1996 it held 22 stadium events drawing 1.1 million men, and it had a budget of $112 million. The number of stadium events dropped in 1997 and the conferences drew far fewer men. Two Promise Keepers events were canceled at the end of 1997. Its budget in 1997 was $70 million.