Promise Keepers is hoping to start a fire in Akron that will help ignite a revolution.“If we can get men excited about the Lord, then we will start to see families healed and to see our communities getting stronger,” said Hank Richard, co-founder of Akron-based Kingdom Builders ministry. “All the things that are killing men are killing their families. We need to strengthen our men and Promise Keepers is designed to do just that.”Promise Keepers, a Colorado-based Christian evangelical ministry committed to bringing men together to become positive influences, is bringing its Men’s Classic Event to Akron on Aug. 19-20. The all-men’s conference will be 6 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the House of the Lord, 1650 Diagonal Road.The goal of the conference is to create an environment where men are comfortable sharing their struggles to become spiritually strong. It will feature former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers’ founder and chairman of the board.“Coach McCartney has a new message in his heart. God has placed it heavy on his heart to get God back into the hearts of men,” said Ron Williams, an assistant to the president of Promise Keepers. “Our mission is to transform men with the goal of igniting a revolution of the word of God using five vehicles.”Those five vehicles are:• PK Family Event, which challenges men and women to become spiritual leaders in their homes and local churches.• PK Ethnic, which addresses issues specific to an ethnic community.• PK Young Adult, which helps young adults build deeper relationships with Jesus Christ.• The Road to Jerusalem, which mobilizes Christians to partner with Messianic Jews in Israel.• PK Men’s Classic Event, which focuses on men’s needs and issues.Promise Keepers emerged in 1990, after McCartney envisioned tens of thousands of men coming together in sports stadiums for training and teaching on how to be godly. The stadium rallies, which became the ministry’s hallmark, drew up to 50,000 men for a weekend of preaching, teaching, singing and praying in cities across America throughout the 1990s.The movement peaked in 1997 at the ministry’s “Stand in the Gap” rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Reported attendance counts ranged from half a million to a million men. When Promise Keepers celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2000, the ministry boasted that it had reached 5 million men via more than 100 conferences and countless others through its radio, television, online and printed materials.But the movement’s growth was stunted after the rally in the nation’s capital. Some speculate that the ministry faltered because it had saturated its market of evangelical-minded men. Promise Keepers’ budget dropped from $117 million in 1997 to about $34 million in 2001 and the stadium rallies were replaced with smaller arena events.In 2003, McCartney stepped down from the ministry. His absence was a major blow to the organization.“The ministry faced some challenges when coach McCartney was gone. He was the visionary,” Williams said. “Now that he is back, we are retooling the ministry and expanding from just being a ministry for men. We believe the Lord wants us to do ministry for the whole family.”While gone from Promise Keepers, McCartney (who returned in 2008) started the Road to Jerusalem, forging reconciliation between Christians and “believing Jews.” The resurrected Promise Keepers organization plans to introduce Messianic Judaism, a growing movement whose adherents believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah but also maintain Jewish identity, to evangelical America.The organization has changed its original men’s event motto from “What Makes a Man?” to “Ignite and Unite.”Richard believes that if the local conference can ignite and unite men to become “warriors for Christ,” they can influence their families, neighbors, churches and communities.His local organization, Kingdom Builders, was established in 1997 as a direct offshoot of Promise Keepers. The local ministry provides a forum for men to come together to pray, study and help each other overcome their challenges. He credits Promise Keepers for his involvement in local ministry.“When I attended a leadership conference in 1994, it was like a mountaintop experience for me. I was motivated to help other men,” Richard said. “I began to pray and then I asked other Promise Keeper men to join me in prayer for the Church of Christ in Summit County, the city of Akron, our leaders and each other.”The prayer circle, which originated in 1995, evolved into Kingdom Builders. Every Tuesday evening, the men gather at the Miller Avenue United Church of Christ to pray. Over the years, one of their prayers has been for a Promise Keepers event to come to Akron.“As praying men, we are humbled and blessed that Promise Keepers is coming,” Richard said. “We are hoping to reignite the men who have been a part of the ministry and ignite those who have not, especially men who don’t go to church. This is an opportunity for men to come together and embrace each other.”Cost for the conference is $50. Discounted tickets are available for groups of three or more. Scholarships are also available. To register or for information, go to http://www.promisekeepers.org.Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.