MAUREEN BUNYAN: Thank you, Bob. Bob, the Promise Keepers are calling this a day of repentance and recommitment, stand in the gap, a sacred assembly of men. They've been filling football stadiums across the country, promising to become better Christians and better men.BILL MCCARTNEY (Promise Keepers Founder): It's in relationship with the Father that a man hits on all cylinders. It's a relationship with the Father that you come into the abundant life.
BUNYAN: A Promise Keepers rally is a cross between a Billy Graham revival and a Robert Bly men's gathering. There's plenty of worshipping and male bonding. Chris Kinney has been to five Promise Keepers rallies.
CHRIS KINNEY: What attracted me to Promise Keepers was the idea of men helping other men to live decent, godly lives, encouraging each other, loving God and loving my wife, being faithful, being pure sexually and ethically, loving my family, being a participant in the family, being a participant in the church.BUNYAN: Founded in 1990, Promise Keepers has drawn three million men to its stadium events. With a budget close to $100 million and a staff of around 400, it's also drawn plenty of attention and criticism.
Women (In Unison): Hey, Promise Keepers have got to go.
BUNYAN: The National Organization for Women says Promise Keepers has a political agenda influenced by the religious right.
PATRICIA IRELAND (NOW President): Their explosive growth has been well planned and well financed by the heavy hitters of the extreme right, religious right wing.BUNYAN: Dale Shlaffer is a vice president for Promise Keepers.
DALE SHLAFFER (Promise Keepers Vice President): Honest, we don't have a political agenda and that's not our issue. Our issue is we're going for the heart and the spirit of a man.
BUNYAN: And men who become Promise Keepers are encouraged to reassert themselves in the home.
Mr. SHLAFFER: We're calling men back to simply say, "Hey, you have a responsibility. You produced this. If you have a wife, you've got a responsibility; if you produced children, you've got responsibilities here."
Ms. KINNEY: I found that every time he goes to conference he comes home stronger in his role as a husband and father. It's kind of like the military, somebody has to be in charge, or a ship, there's only one captain for it to work well. And it works, as far as God's plan, best if the husband takes that role.
Mr. MCCARTNEY: I think it's very fitting that we go to our nation's capital and make a statement of humility there, right in the power source, where we have no agenda, where we're not trying to influence government.
Mr. KINNEY: I hope that the guys will be hit right in their hearts, so we'll go out of there and we'll know what to do in our own communities to start solving problems instead of complaining about them and being part of the problem.
