Using Twitter to Tweet to God

By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY – If you could say anything and everything to the higher power in 140 characters, what would you say? One locally based Web site is adding a twist by using Twitter to tweet to God.

Tweets to God can be anything from a "thank you" to a request for wisdom and strength.

"It's just like keeping a journal," said Laura Parrish.

TweetstoGod.com let's a little prayer take on a whole new meaning and medium. Laura Parrish tweets everything from prayer to petition to praise on the Web site.

"Confessing in a way, but not necessarily always for your sins, sometimes you're just thanking God or for sunshine or thank God for your awesome coffee," said Laura Parrish.

Laura Parrish's father is the brainchild behind the site.

"It's kind of amazing when your father has 2,000 more Facebook friends than you do but he got me started on Twitter over a year ago," Parrish said.

"Our desire is to give people another venue to connect to God. And if it's typing a 140 character and it forces people to think 'How can I concisely communicate what's in my heart today?' I can do that once, I can do that five times today," said Pastor Boe Parrish, TweetstoGod.com founder.

Gerri Joachims said she's never been a fan of social networking Web sites until she helped start TweetstoGod.com.

"There are times in my life when I don't want to say it to anyone else but now I can say it straight to God through typing it and spelling my heart out to God," Joachims said.

With 5 million users tweeting, TweetstoGod.com could well be on its way with one prayer at a time.

"If we can help people connect with God, even if it's just for a couple of minutes on a daily basis, if nothing else happens other than that then it's worth the effort," Pastor Parrish said.

Pastor Parrish said eventually the plan is to compile all these tweets and turn it into an inspirational book. In the long run, he can potentially see a group of pastors praying with people in what could grow into a tweet ministry.