Thirty years after the founding of the Promise Keepers movement, the flame has been lit again.

80,000 Christian men are expected to gather at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on July 31-August 1 to worship, fellowship and unite at Promise Keepers 2020. “Manhood is a difficult journey, and it was never meant to be walked alone,” says Promise Keepers President Vance Day.

World-class speakers, Bible teachers and musicians will guide men to the Word of God and biblical manhood with messages focusing on the Promise Keepers’ Seven Promises: Honor, Brotherhood, Virtue, Commitment, Changemaking, Unity and Obedience.

Says new Promise Keepers CEO Ken Harrison:

The seven principles upon which our speakers will base their messages are the same that sparked a transformational movement in the hearts of millions of men more than two decades ago, resulting in countless changed lives. It’s our earnest desire to instill those same values into the Promise Keepers of today, to ensure authenticity, relevance and maturation while meeting the urgent and overwhelming felt needs of men today.

“We’ve got to remind men who they are in Jesus Christ.”

Harrison told a gathering in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area Tuesday morning that Promise Keepers 2020 will be simulcast around the U.S. and the globe. Eight foreign countries have already asked to take part. “Imagine the power of a couple million men gathering together one weekend a year worshiping together. Imagine the unity.”

The Promise Keepers App

The stadium event is just the start. What happens when men return home? The Digital Age is affording Promise Keepers the chance to do something lacking with the original PK movement: provide an avenue for discipleship after the two days of fellowship is over.

Promise Keepers has created a powerful interactive app that will allow the movement to have a continuing impact in lives. The app will provide discipleship resources for men to go deeper into community and their spiritual journeys together. More specifically — and more exciting — the app will be used to form four-man “fire teams” hopefully in every church in the nation.

The term “fire teams” comes from small units of Marines. Like the leathernecks, the PK “fire teams” also can band with four other fire teams to form a squad. Four squads form a platoon. The military-style structure is deliberate. Vance Day says the goal is to establish a Christ-centered “band of brothers” in every church who can encourage and equip one another to function as ambassadors of reconciliation and service. Four men accountable to each other, who share life together. Grow in God together. Men who have each other’s back.

Harrison, a former LAPD cop on the infamously mean streets of South Central/Compton, is particularly excited about one particular aspect of the fire team’s mission. Each fire team will be tasked with mentoring a fatherless boy. Imagine the impact of that effort alone.

“So many have not learned to be a man,” he says.

Who’s Speaking

The event at AT&T Stadium is not about Promise Keepers, the organization, says CEO Harrison. “God doesn’t need Promise Keepers. Jesus is the Promise Keeper!” The list of those catching his vision for the reignited Promise Keepers is impressive … and growing. (You will see why in two upcoming episodes of LIFE Today.)

The keynote speakers for Promise Keepers 2020 include:

• Dr. Tony Evans, founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of more than 100 books, booklets and Bible studies;
• Greg Stier, founder and president of Dare 2 Share Ministries, a movement mobilizing teenagers to build their faith and advance the Gospel through evangelism training, devotionals, books and resources;
• Todd Wagner, founder and senior pastor of Watermark Community Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, author of Come and See: Everything You Ever Wanted in the One Place You Would Never Look and host of the weekly podcast, Real Truth Real Quick;
• Dr. Derwin Gray, former NFL professional, having played for both the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers, who currently serves as founder and pastor of Transformation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina;
• Tommy Nelson, senior pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas, and author of several books and resources including The Story of God, A Life Well Lived, The Book of Romance and Walking on Water;
• Dr. Voddie Baucham, former pastor, author, professor, conference speaker, president of Voddie Baucham Ministries and church planter who currently serves as Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia; and
• Chad Hennings, three time Superbowl champion, award-winning Air Force veteran, founder of Wingmen Ministries and author of It Takes Commitment, Rules of Engagement and Forces of Character.

“We’re honored that these men will join us in leading the new intergenerational audience of Promise Keepers into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of God,” said Harrison. How crucial is this in a culture that has worked overtime to destroy the notion of what it means to be a man. A culture that is even destroying the definition of male and female.

Stream publisher and LIFE Outreach founder James Robison spoke at Tuesday’s Promise Keepers breakfast. He shared his enthusiasm about a new move of God … and Promise Keeper’s role in it. “The nature of the enemy is being revealed more clearly than ever. It’s ugly, and it’s dangerous. But God is saying, ‘I am going to reveal Myself, too.’ I believe we are on the verge of the greatest spiritual awakening in history. Not only are we seeing our prayers being answered, but I believe we are going to see Jesus’ prayer in John 17 answered, with Christians being moved into unity with supernatural love for one another.”

Tickets for Promise Keepers 2020 are now available. For more information, visit promisekeepers.org. And keep an eye for more Stream coverage of Promise Keepers 2020. We hope to see you or your husbands and sons just down the road at AT&T Stadium July 31-August 1.