After spending a couple of hours pouring through my emails, I found this nugget from Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. Readers here know I usually attend the Irvine service, and I keep waiting for Pastor Rick to say something truly outrageous in his sermons — and that hasn’t happened yet; Pastor Warren usually gets in more trouble when speaking to the media outside of his services.
And I’m not optimistic Rick Warren is not going to get in trouble in less than 140 characters to play with. Saddleback Church has gone to Twitter. Warren’s profile reads: Loves Doubters, Champions Pastors, Helps Church Planters, Encourages Everyone, Collects hot sauces.
Read the note below.
I WANT TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOU!
Imagine if you and I were able to stay in contact throughout the day, no matter where either of us was in the world. Well, the future is now!  And as your pastor, I’d like you to take advantage of a free tool that can keep us connected.
You’ve likely heard of Twitter, a free internet text message tool that millions of people use to connect with each other on their cell phones and computers. I use it daily.
I’d like for you to sign on to Twitter and start “following” me so we can stay connected. Â The service is free and takes less than a minute to register on computer or cell phone.
For years, I declined to use Twitter thinking it would probably be a frivolous waste of time. But recently I realized the powerful possibility of using this free tool to stay in contact with our Saddleback family:
- You can let me know of any immediate crisis or celebration the moment it happens. Â As your pastor I want to be able to pray intelligently for you.
- I can share personal thoughts throughout the day with you. Several times a day I send out short, encouraging thoughts for spiritual growth and I want you to get these.
- You’ll instantly know what’s happening in our church the moment the news breaks, on your cell phone and computer. We can even use it for disaster alerts.
If you’re on Twitter, you’d already know much of what I’m sharing in this News & Views email. See what I’ve already said on Twitter.
Pastor Warren already has 21,000 plus followers on Twitters while he, himself, is tracking about 3,300.