Belmont University Cancels Promise Keepers Event
Promise Keepers CEO says event got booted because PK affirmed biblical sexuality and condemned the celebration of Pride Month.
Belmont University, a private Christian college in Nashville, Tennessee, was set to host a Promise Keepers event this fall. That was until Promise Keepers released a statement about Pride Month.
Promise Keepers said on their website: “God’s Word is very clear on this topic—and we also see the way gender ideology has damaged lives, mutilated bodies, and torn apart families in our own communities.”
Promise Keepers CEO Ken Harrison told Church Leaders that it was because of this statement Belmont pulled the plug on the Promise Keepers event set to be hosted at the school on September 29.
Promise Keepers, a ministry focused on helping men grow in their faith, has seen a rebirth of sorts in the last few years. The ministry exploded in growth in the 1990s as seen by its 1997 Stand in the Gap event in Washington, D.C., that drew more than 1 million attendees. Over the next two decades, however, Promise Keepers dwindled and almost folded completely.
The organization began hosting online events in 2020—called its Global Digital Experience—during COVID. After a couple other national events, Promise Keepers has switched focus to its in-person Daring Faith regional events, like the one scheduled at Belmont, with an emphasis on raising up men of integrity.
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Belmont confirmed in a statement to ChurchLeaders that it had withdrawn their campus as a venue for Promise Keepers because of the ministry’s blog post titled “In light of June being designated as ‘Pride Month.’” Belmont said the post “includes comments that we believe unnecessarily fan the flames of culture wars and are harmful to members of our community.”
Belmont University has changed its stance on denominational affiliation and sexuality over the past 20 years. They dissolved their relationship with the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2007, added sexuality to its non-discrimination policy in 2011, and then recognized its first gay student organization that same year.
Harrison is adamant that Promise Keepers continues to be a voice for Christian faith in the midst of a culture pushing back against a biblical view of sexuality. “We at Promise Keepers feel like one of our main tenants is helping men understand the issues of the day and how to respond to them,” Harrison told ChurchLeaders. “That was the thinking behind issuing the Pride statement. It was not intended to be hostile or stir controversy, but to help men respond in a loving, clear way to issues of gender and sexuality.”
Main photo: Christian counselor Steve Arterburn presents during a recorded session for the Promise Keepers 2020 virtual experience. Photo courtesy of Promise Keepers / RNS
