Promise Keepers' Long Island Conference Draws Thousands for 'Awakening'
Nearly 4,800 men and boys were ''awakened'' to God’s calling last weekend at the Promise Keepers New York Conference in Long Island, N.Y.
Nearly 4,800 men and boys were “awakened” to God’s calling last weekend at the Promise Keepers New York Conference in Long Island, N.Y.
“We are on a mission,” said Promise Keepers president and CEO Dr. Tom Fortson during the opening of the conference, which was held from Sept. 16-17 at the Nassau Coliseum. “We are here to worship, study God’s word, and hear a message. But what happens when we leave here? We need to take this message into the marketplace and demonstrate what Jesus Christ looks like. Don’t just go to church, men. Remember that you are the Church.”
Guest speakers at the event, which was held from Sept. 16-17 at the Nassau Coliseum, included Vietnam veteran Dave Roever, Jews for Jesus’ Jhan Moskowitz, youth evangelist Jose Zayas, and Bishop Dale Bronner among others.
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“God can wake us up with his Voice,” said Bronner. “Whether you win or lose in life depends on your ability to hear His call. God has something to say to you. It’s not in our ability to speak; it’s in our ability to listen and hear.”
“Awakening – An Unpredictable Adventure,” is the 2005 theme for the Promise Keepers, and is based upon the Bible verse Romans 13:11: “And do this understanding the present time. The hour has come to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
“The whole idea in the Awakening is that there is this epic battle for a man’s heart, and he needs to be alert and sober to what’s going on around him,” said Fortson.
George Marcinko of New Milford, Conn., who attended the Long Island event with his 15-year old son Devon, said he took the conference personally.
“The messages really hit home,” said Marcinko. “I related to everything the speakers were talking about.”
Providing music and entertainment between messages were Christian-salsa band Salvador, comedian Brad Stine, and PK7 – a worship band specially assembled for the Promise Keepers by Integrity Music.
Promise Keepers’ Hurricane relief initiative was also active at the event, with attendees bringing in an estimated 26,000 pounds of canned food, water and diapers to be distributed through Hempstead, N.Y.’s Interfaith Nutrition Network, serving the hungry on Long Island and relocated Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Fortson says the relief efforts are part of the Promise Keepers’ call to, “care for and comfort the afflicted.”
“This is a time for influence,” reads a statement on the ministry’s Web site. “The homeless and the hungry, evacuees and those returning to the rubble of what used to be a home, even the defiant ones holding their ground in New Orleans, they must all see and feel the touch of Christians who care, and they are.”
Promise Keepers will finish its September schedule at Glendale Arena in Arizona on Sept. 23-24.
For more information, log on to www.promisekeepers.org.
