DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710060234
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  186 lines

MEN FILL MALL WITH PRAYER, SONG LOCAL PROMISE KEEPERS JOIN OTHERS AT RALLY IN D.C.

They called it ``Stand in the Gap,'' but there were no gaps.

From the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument and beyond, at least several hundred thousand and perhaps a million American men filled the Mall on Saturday with the biggest revival you ever saw.

It was the largest rally yet of Promise Keepers, the tears-and-prayer movement that graduated this weekend from the stadiums it has been filling for seven years.

Toting their cell phones and L.L. Bean backpacks while watching tag teams of preachers on 12 giant video screens, men sang, ``I Surrender All.'' They professed no political goals, only a desire to transform the nation through their faith.

``People want to find a political agenda here, but it's just not there,'' said Ken Frack, 32, of Norfolk. ``Revival has become so irrelevant in the country that when people see something like this, they don't know what to make of it.''

It was a revival for the 1990s, though, embracing African Americans and native Americans, using the latest technology and led by a former winning football coach.

For the men on one bus from Norfolk, the journey began in the misty dark off Granby Street about 5 a.m. One of the organizers, Jim Boyd, joked, ``Hey, we promised to set the alarm clock, we promised to get here on time. I guess we are promise keepers. That's great.''

Many of the 47 men on this charter bus were in their early 40s, which is typical of Promise Keepers nationwide. Most of the men on the bus were married, many are in the military or retired from it.

On the three-hour trip to Washington, they dozed or talked quietly about their faith.

A van passed that had the words ``Godly Hunks'' on the back window. ``Their wives did that,'' someone said. ``No man would write that.''

Theo Eysenbach, a 41-year-old teacher in the Virginia Beach schools, said he wasn't sure he was a ``typical'' Promise Keeper, but many would echo his words all day.

``What I'm really interested in is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,'' he said. ``Like any other relationship, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's excellent, and sometimes it's bad.

``In our culture, we're taught to be yourself, be independent and apart. That's not what Christ taught. He taught us to be interdependent, to be vulnerable with each other. That's how we can be real men.''

The structure of Promise Keepers, Eysenbach said, with its monthly meetings and emphasis on personal relationships to assess your life, helps him make progress.

Promise Keepers, he said, ``is not a new thing, it's an awakening.''

It's a telling choice of words. Many men in Promise Keepers hope the focused power of their faith can bring an ``awakening'' in America that, like the Million Man March for African Americans, will remind men of their responsibility.

How do they see that responsibility? Some of it is contained in the seven promises they all pledge to keep: honoring Christ through worship; pursuing ``vital relationships'' with other men; practicing moral and sexual purity; building strong marriages and families; supporting his church; reaching beyond barriers of race and denomination; and spreading the Christian gospel.

The most controversial promises touch on building marriages and spreading the gospel. The National Organization for Women held a counter-rally Saturday because it believes the Promise Keepers' real goal is dominance of women and reversing feminist advances.

Eysenbach disagrees. ``I've got to tell you, that's a load of bunk. That's not true,'' he said. God calls on spouses to be interdependent, he said.

But he added, ``The model is, the man has the last decision. And there's a lot of responsibility with that, and God will call you to answer for mistakes in leading your family.

Randy Phillips, president of Promise Keepers, said Saturday, ``The ground is level at the foot of the cross. No woman should be threatened by this gathering.''

Yet a few hours later, Texas pastor Tony Evans urged men to tell their families that they had abdicated spiritual leadership and were going to take it back. ``You don't need to ask permission,'' he said.

When the Norfolk bus - one of many - pulled off the highway in northern Virginia, the driver slipped into a very long line of buses down the street from a Metro station, all depositing 50 to 75 men each.

When the men tumbled out of the Metro near the Mall, somehow staying more or less together, they were astonished to find the Mall already more crowded than it is for the most popular festivals and holidays.

The men stretched for blocks, tens of thousands spilling out onto side streets. Controversy surrounding the crowd count for the Million Man March has made public officials balk at estimating Saturday's attendance, and the event organizers said they will make no such attempt.

Eventually the Norfolk men staked out a space - and ran into Richard James, 52, a Norfolk native who now leads a church in Burkesville, Ky. He brought his 15-year-old son, Stephen, to ``Stand in the Gap.''

``I feel a burden for our country and our men,'' James said. ``I want fathers and sons and family life to get back the way it should be.''

During prayers on the Mall, James hugged the ground and cried. His son patted him on the back.

Often, men simply marveled at the size of the gathering and the evident depth of feeling.

``Everybody expects the Billy Grahams and the Pat Robertsons to put on this kind of thing,'' said Mike Ball of Norfolk. ``But it's not like that. It's a spirit movement.''

Bill McCartney, the former coach of the University of Colorado football team who founded Promise Keepers in 1990, wrapped up the event with an exhortation to new heights.

McCartney urged the men present to go home and get deeply involved in their churches alongside their wives, giving ``your time, your treasure, and your talents.

``We're going to connect in such a way that we meet the needs of our communities,'' McCartney said.

Promise Keepers until now had charged admission to its stadium rallies. ``Stand in the Gap'' was the first free event. But McCartney promised 27 rallies in stadiums and arenas next year, all free. In the year 2000, he said, Promise Keepers will ``go global.''

Promise Keepers, still mostly white males, is trying to become more diverse. Saturday, it appeared no more than 5 percent of those present were minorities.

By 2000, McCartney said, he wants to be able to say ``that the giant of racism is dead within the church of Jesus Christ.''

Emotionally, the day peaked about 2:10 p.m. During the ``confessional'' portion of the rally, a speaker asked the Promise Keepers to pray, but not just with heads bowed or on their knees. He wanted them on the ground, prostrate.

Little by little, squeezing for space on the Mall, men lowered themselves to the grass.

Soon, a mosaic of sneakers and T-shirts, khakis and jeans stretched in a level surface hundreds of yards in every direction, dotted only by standing photographers and reporters.

The Mall was utterly silent for long minutes, broken once by the sound of a jet approaching the airport. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Michael Ball, Shawn Odendhall and Scott Strickland of the Tabernacle

Church of Norfolk join hands in prayer during the Promise Keepers

rally ``Stand in the Gap'' on Saturday. It was the largest rally

yet of Promise Keepers.

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Norfolk resident Michael Ball leads his fellow attendees from the

Tabernacle Church of Norfolk to the rally. ``Everybody expects the

Billy Grahams and the Pat Robertsons to put on this kind of thing,''

Ball said. ``But it's not like that. It's a spirit movement.''

The name Promise Keepers stems from the seven promises each member

must make. One promise says that men must build strong marriages and

families through love, protection and biblical values.

The day peaked emotionally about two in the afternoon during the

confessional portion of the rally. Norfolk resident Sean Fitzgibbons

joins the other participants prostrate in prayer forming a mosaic of

T-shirts and sneakers, and plunging the Mall into a solemn silence.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney said that by the year 2000

the movement will go global.

Graphics

THE SEVEN PROMISES

Promise Keepers are expected to keep seven promises. Each man is

to:

1. Honor Jesus Christ through worship, prayer and obedience to

God's word.

2. Pursue vital relationships with a few other men, understanding

that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.

3. Practice spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity.

4. Build strong marriages and families through love, protection

and biblical values.

5. Support the mission of his church by honoring and praying for

his pastor, and actively giving his time and resources.

6. Reach beyond any racial and denominational barrier.

7. Influence his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment

(Mark 12:30-31), to love the Lord and one's neighbor, and the Great

Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), to teach all nations about

Christianity.

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