Following
my research from last week, I have now chosen to look at three more Christian
authors in regards to their influence on society via Twitter and tweeting. I am
looking at author and pastor Timothy Keller, marriage author Gary Thomas and
author and pastor Max Lucado.
Beginning with Timothy Keller,
his tweets tend to follow a trend of pointing ideas to Christ while finding
their basis in biblical teachings. What I mean by this is that his tweets are
not necessarily Bible verses word for word. Instead, he incorporates God’s
teachings in a roundabout way—through encouraging statements or convictions.
For instance, this past week I pulled a few of his tweets off his Twitter page;
this is what I found: “According to the
Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work
itself to survive and live fully human lives… If you want Jesus with you, you
have to give up the right to self-determination…[and] Our best defense in the fight against
Satan’s lies is generally not the production of incantations but the rehearsal
of truth.” These tweets contrast to John Piper’s tweets last week that stated
explicit verses from God’s Word itself. Another thing I found interesting with
Keller was that with a couple of his tweets, some of his Twitter followers
offered a rebuttal to what he was saying. For instance, in Keller’s tweet “At
the end of your life, you never wish to have worked more” he received a
response saying, “What will you wish for?” Keller then replied, “Probably to
have spent more time with family.” I find this interesting because not only is
Keller tweeting religious ideas to spread God’s word, he is responding to his
follower’s feedback in order to clarify what he is saying. He is using Twitter
as a tool of interaction vs. one-sided
conversation.
Next,
I chose to look at marriage author Gary Thomas. Thomas does not have as many
followers as Keller or Lucado, however his tweets seem to be just as effective
(when looking at the number of re-tweets he has compared to his number of followers).
Thomas’ tweets are obviously geared more toward marriages and relationships
than general tips for living a Christian life. He still spreads Christian ideas
through his tweets; however his tweets are more about how to build and maintain
a Christ-centered marriage. Following are a few of his tweets I recollected
from this past week: “Where resentment
lives, intimacy dies… A marriage is not a joining of two worlds, but an
abandoning of two worlds in order that one new one might be formed…[and] A mission
that is always about the Kingdom is what keeps a marriage vibrant.” Unlike
Keller, Thomas did not have any rebuttals or arguments following his tweets.
This may be because he is not as renown as Keller, therefore he does not have
as many followers to act as a devil’s advocate; or, his tweets are just not as
controversial. However, what we do know is that Thomas is tweeting and people
are re-tweeting.
Finally, I looked at author and pastor
Max Lucado. Lucado tends to tweet similarly to Keller in that his tweets are
inspirational messages versus specific Bible verses. He gears his messages to
the general public (contrasting to Thomas’ messages to married couples). A
couple of his tweets are as follows: “Delight yourself in God, and he will
bring rest to your soul…[and] You can be glad because God is good. You can be
still because he is active. You can rest because he is busy.” Of his 832, 074
followers, Lucado receives on average 900 re-tweets per tweet. There is no doubt that his tweets are reaching
the multitudes.
