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And not afraid to cry. When black leaders in the Denver area berated him over the number of blacks on the team disciplined with suspensions, McCartney apologized for the disparity, fell to his knees and wept. "I was eating it up," says Bishop Phillip Porter, one of the critics. "Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, You prejudged this man because he's white. That's prejudice. You ought to be on your knees too." Porter later joined the Promise Keepers board.
McCartney turned to his family and its wounds. He makes time for his fatherless grandsons ("It gives them a male role model"). His daughter works at the Promise Keepers office in Denver. And McCartney remained close to Aunese, counseling the former football star and helping him accept Jesus nine weeks before he died of cancer in September 1989. In 1994 McCartney gave up his lucrative football career--not to give more time to Promise Keepers but to be able to make up for lost time with Lyndi. She recalls being worried "that if he quit what he loved, for me, then eventually he wouldn't love me anymore." But, she adds, "when he was talking about how he was hearing the call from the Lord to do this, that gave me a peace. It wasn't on my shoulders; it was on God's shoulders, and his are big and strong and dependable."
McCartney draws no salary from Promise Keepers, only speaker fees and expenses, and still wonders why he was called to lead it. "It's absurd that I'm the one. I've made so many mistakes." But he has no regrets. "I loved coaching. It's compelling, invigorating. But this is so much greater."