Nine Reasons I Twitter Pt. 2

Back to my series on why I Twitter. Coming in at number four…

Twitter Helps My Prayer Life
I know I should pray more, but honestly, I’m really busy and have hundreds of things swirling around my head at any given moment. That makes it tough to “pray without ceasing.” However, Twitter helps me with this. A few weeks ago, Jason Cole (@jasoncole) had to put his dog down. That was really hard, and I prayed for him. Last week, I heard Dave Friss’s (@dfriss) sister was sick–I prayed for her. When Van Metchke (@vanmetchke) was sick earlier this week, I prayed for him. When I was sick last Sunday, I mentioned on Twitter that I wasn’t “feeling particularly well today.” Within minutes Jason & Colin tweeted back that they were praying for me. When someone tweets that they are going through a rough time, I’m reminded to stop for a second and pray.

Twitter Encourages Me
Along the same lines, I’m amazed at how people respond to my missives. Back in November when my dad died very unexpectedly, I Twittered about it and asked for prayer for me and my family. Within minutes (literally), I had at least a dozen responses from people all over the country that were holding me up in prayer. Brian Davis (@briandavis) even called me to encourage me (he lost his dad suddenly years before). Brian and I had never met, and we only knew each other through blogging and Twitter. That was a very powerful and encouraging moment for me to know someone all the way down in Texas was lifting me up in prayer and cared enough to call. When Brian and I met face to face later in the week at WFX, it was again like meeting an old friend. 

While I knew I had a bunch of people here in the Twin Cities praying for me and encouraging me (my church was great during that time), it was even more encouraging to know people all over the country were joining them.

Twitter Increases Knowledge
I’ve learned a lot from Twitter. Whenever Dave Stagl (@fohdave) tries something new in his sound system, he Twitters about it and often posts a picture on TwitPic. I’ve gotten a lot of great ideas from him. I’ve learned about all kinds of cool software and web sites from Twitter. Last month, I was researching church management software. I sent a tweet to Anthony Coppedge (@anthonycoppedge) to see what he might recommend. I learned about one that we will probably go with. 

Other times, people ask a question that I can answer. We all have experiences we’ve learned from and collectively we’re smarter than we are individually. Need a recommendation for a kick drum mic? Twitter it. A way to sync calendars and e-mail? Twitter it. Sometimes, these questions turn into full-blown conversations with many people contributing. That’s an increase in knowledge.

Tomorrow we’ll wrap my reasons for Twittering, and conclude with some thoughts on what Twitter is not.