Historic Christian Men's Gathering Unveils Speaker Lineup

By Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 20, 2007

WASHINGTON – Plans for a final mobilization surge for the much anticipated once-a-decade gathering of Christian men are in place as organizers expect a crowd of up to 250,000.

Organizers of Stand in the Gap 2007, which will take place on the grounds of the Washington Monument on Oct. 6, announced the lineup of speakers for the multi-million-dollar all-day event which will include national speaker Bishop Joseph Garlington and Dr. Rick Kingham of the National Coalition of Men's Ministries as co-hosts.

Other prominent speakers include Erwin McManus, lead pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles; Dr. David Jeremiah, pastor and author whose radio program – Turning Point – reaches a worldwide audience; Dr. Rick Rigsby, popular speaker and chaplain for the Texas A&M football team; Samuel Rodriguez, Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; John Jenkins, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, one of the fastest growing churches in the Washington area; and Bishop Larry Jackson, pastor and nationally known Promise Keepers speaker, among others.

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Stand in the Gap will not be a speaker's forum or a worship concert but an "experiential" event for men across generations, organizers stress.

The upcoming assembly follows the milestone 1997 Stand in the Gap – then organized by Promise Keepers which was exploding onto the national scene as a men's organization – that drew over a million men to the National Mall to become arguably the largest religious gathering in U.S. history. In the 10th anniversary year since the historic gathering, Marty Granger, founder of Faith in the Family International, and a collaboration of national and local Christian men's ministries are putting together another major catalytic event for the 21st century.

America's cultural walls are broken down, its gates burned with fire and its people are in trouble and disgrace, say event organizers.

"What the prophet Nehemiah said of ancient Israel also aptly describes our cultural condition today", says Granger, the event's national chairman, "and its root cause is that men have largely abandoned their God-given roles and responsibilities, are passive and under-encouraged, and live largely isolated, unaccountable lives."

Kingham had described Stand in the Gap as a call to action, mobilizing men to be a credible witness to the reality of Jesus Christ and take a stand in their faith.

"We are calling out men of all ages, stages and backgrounds to the nation's front lawn to meet with God and stand shoulder-to-shoulder to rebuild what is broken in our lives, families, churches, communities and cultural institutions. War is being waged against the sacred and the men of God must take their places in the battle lines. The stakes are enormous because they are eternal," said Granger.

Stand in the Gap opens an hour before noon with the unveiling of a visible, virtual, perpetual "Wall of Honor, Honoring Men Who Honor God."

The Wall's first 10 honorees, beginning with William Wilberforce, will be presented throughout the day. Event sponsors anticipate millions of honorees on the Wall in the coming years.

A live trumpet call at noon will call the tens of thousands of men to worship.