Promising Weekend

Five years ago, Paul Wright attended his first Promise Keepers rally. Since then, he's attended eight more rallies which he and his wife, Melody, say changed their lives and saved their marriage.

With each rally, there has been a snowballing effect.

Beginning tonight the snowball will get a little bigger when Paul heads to his 10th, and by far the largest, in Washington D.C., where he will attend the massive Stand In The Gap rally Saturday.

Paul is one of about 300 men from area churches who will head to Washington. Wright is one of about 50 men from Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church who is attending.

While it's considered an event for men only, the impact is familywide, the Wrights said.

The first time he went, Melody said, she waited to see if the effects would last. And she did the same after his second trip.

"After the first year, we could see the change, but after the second year, we knew it was here to stay," Melody said.

"It totally changed our family. It brought us back together. Our marriage was really in trouble and it really turned things around."

Instead of immediately attempting to change his family, Melody said Paul made personal changes that then rubbed off on the family in a positive way.

In addition to changing his outlook about his family and himself, Paul said it improved his outlooks in other aspects including his career as a trim and finish contractor. The rallies, he said, gave him an improved work ethic and a higher level of integrity.

Saturday's rally promises to be different and could become the largest religious event in the nation's history.

"This is sort of a culmination of all the conferences I've been to," Paul said.

Wright said he is going for two reasons.

First, he will ask God to forgive him for his personal shortcomings.

And second, "We're gonna ask God to heal this nation... We're gonna ask him to touch the lives of this nation - everybody from the president down to the smallest home in America."

Ron Roetman, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Warsaw, will travel with about 20 other men from his church. He has attended several Promise Keeper functions in the past, including a conference attended by 40,000 pastors in Atlanta.

What impressed him with that rally was the breakdown of existing denominational walls. Biblically, there were no divisions to begin with, he notes.

"Bringing guys together under the umbrella of Jesus Christ instead of a single denomination is fantastic," Roetman said.

Roetman said he knows of a lot of men who couldn't attend the rally but are still interested.

First Presbyterian will televise the rally through a satellite hookup and will open its doors to the public for anyone interested in watching. Programming will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wright said he expects to arrive about 7 a.m. Saturday, but said he realizes they might arrive too late to get into the mall if huge expectations of attendance materialize. That won't bother him, though. The benefits begin once he boards the bus.

"Part of Promise Keepers, and this has been true since I've been going, is the camaraderie of men together, either on bus or by van," Wright said.

"Men don't come together to discuss personal things. Men have a tendency to be isolated ... and this sort of breaks down that barrier."