Women Become 'Promise Keepers'

Following the enormous success--23 conferences this year with a potential audience of 1.5 million--of the Promise Keepers (PK) men's movement (CT, April 29, 1996, p. 46), two lookalike organizations for women have been created.

Heritage Keepers will conduct its first conference August 10 in Wichita, Kansas. There appears to be an overwhelming demand for such a one-day event: more than 8,000 registration requests had been received by June 1. The meeting facility, Central Community Church, seats only 3,000.

"Heritage Keepers is designed to teach a woman how to be godly to her family, God, and community," says pastor Bob Beckler, who created it with his wife, Lori.

John Trent, a frequent speaker on the PK circuit and author of "How to Handle Your Promise Keeper," will be featured at the Heritage Keepers event along with counselor Marge Caldwell and author Florence Littauer. Unlike PK, which features male speakers, Heritage Keepers will not be limited to women so as to avoid the appearance of being feminist, Beckler says.

The Becklers have had invitations to hold similar events in Dallas and Oakland. "If the Lord wants it to go further, it will," Beckler says.

Meanwhile, Deborah Tyler of Morristown, Tennessee, has organized four "Keys for Abundant Living: A Promise Keepers Counterpart" conferences this year. Meetings in Dallas, Birmingham, Nashville, and Little Rock each drew about 1,000 women, with speakers such as Anne Graham Lotz, Gloria Gaither, and Luci Swindoll. Conferences are planned for seven Southern cities next year. They are part of Tyler's Renaissance Ministries, designed "to provide opportunities for women to be challenged, inspired, and encouraged and to lead each woman to a personal commitment to God's Word as the ultimate authority for successful living."