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How are you going to adapt the PK message for international contexts?

We have to contextualize the message. I don't, and we don't, believe that the needs of men in the United States … [differ from those of] men throughout the world. The need to be a father. The need to be a husband. The need to have vital relationships with other men. Certainly the whole area of worship. The need to connect with their pastor. The need to be intentional about reaching and connecting with men who worship differently or who are of a different tribe, different language. We encourage men in this whole area of practicing a moral ethic and sexual purity. Why is AIDS spreading? It's because men are not practicing sexual purity.

Are people who are expert in cross-cultural communication going to help you tailor the message?

Yes, not only tailor the message, but we also hope to identify men in these countries who understand their language and their people. So we're not talking about people from the United States or necessarily Americans but indigenous people, pastors, laymen, who are from the various countries.

You mentioned being more strategic. What do you mean?

We certainly have been [focused on the] big picture, and that's good, and it has served us well. I think that as we move globally, for example, we just won't go and hit the world all at once. We will target certain countries. We will target certain cities in the United States. It just won't be that we'll just explode and go in numerous places. But, through prayer, we'll be very strategic about what cities we need to hit and how we need to minister to the men.

This year we will reach about 170,000 men in the 17 conferences. As we grow, we certainly have a plan in the next three years to do about 200,000 per year. There are probably few ministries that are doing that. Certainly our approach will be again, more strategic, less catalytic as we saw in the past years, but no less effective. We had men coming … [to what] some people described as just a big cheerleading event. Well, I think we're going to be going deeper with men. We will be doing more teaching. We will be doing more and smaller seminars that will teach life skills, how to be a good husband, how to be a father, how to handle finances. These are skills that men are saying they need to live their life as leaders of their homes.

Your professional and academic experience differs from that of Bill McCartney. How might this experience change Promise Keepers?

I'm not sure whether it's going to change Promise Keepers. Our vision has not changed. Our mission statement has not changed, and our message has not changed. Will [we] have a different type of leadership? Certainly. My name is Tom Fortson and not Bill McCartney. And along with Tom Fortson come different life experiences. Coach has taught us well. Having worked directly for him for the last eight years, I've learned a lot from him. For example, team building—moving forward as a team and you win or lose as a team. So teamwork is part of our DNA. Mac was a visionary, a great visionary, and he can certainly see the completion of an idea that he had. My giftedness is certainly getting the picture and working through the details.

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November (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47