May 18 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The roller coaster ride known as Promise Keepers (PK) is back on top, at least for the moment, after recalling its entire staff that had been laid off fewer than three weeks earlier. Around 70 of its 345 workers had found other work before the April 16 callback.

PK seemed to have reached its zenith last October when nearly a million men gathered for the largest event ever staged in Washington, D.C. (CT, Nov. 17, 1997, p. 62). Yet the announcement at the Stand in the Gap "sacred assembly of men" that PK would drop its $60 registration fee at future stadium events had an immediate impact.

Switching to donor financing plunged the Denver-based organization into a cash crunch and spurred the March 31 layoffs of its 345 full-time staff members (CT, April 6, 1998, p. 18).

Yet, the news stirred 35,000 Christians who have seen the way the ministry has transformed the lives of men. More than $4 million has come in since the layoffs were announced. Around 95 staff members volunteered during the interim. Although salaries had been cut, benefits continued throughout.

"The body of Christ responded," McCartney told CT. "Men, women, and children sent in their checks, they sent in their dollar bills, they sent in their change. Many churches have sent in a thousand dollars." The generosity has enabled PK not only to reinstate staff but to pay off all vendors and to make stadium deposits for some of this season's 19 men's gatherings.

Paul D. Nelson, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, says PK has been cooperative in revealing financial figures.

"ECFA is watching the situation very carefully," Nelson told CT. "We've seen their internal documents, and they have maintained the ECFA seal throughout this process."

Until ...