No one turned away, says founder of Liveprayer.com

ST. PETERSBURG, FL.-- As near as Bill Keller can figure, since 1999 he and his team of 700 retired pastors have responded individually to around 60,000,000 requests for personalized prayers. That’s a lot of requests for divine help from liveprayer.com, the online resource Keller, a successful businessman-turned minister, founded to reach out to those who wouldn’t normally seek spiritual guidance from a conventional source like a church or clergy member.

“LivePrayer.com is about healing and restoration,” explained Keller. “Our goal at Live Prayer is to change the Internet from a cold, faceless void into a tool to reach millions of hurting souls worldwide. We are not here to preach to the choir.”

With the bold declaration “No One Turned Away,” LivePrayer.com has become a haven for millions of people who, for whatever reason, have rejected main-stream religion or are unable to connect with spiritual help elsewhere.

Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, LivePrayer.com is an online resource where people can go 24 hours a day to see and hear, through streaming video, a man or woman pray for their needs.

“Every man and woman, no matter where they live in the world and regardless of their economic standing, has trials and tribulations in life, from health problems, relationship problems, to problems with job and finances,” said Keller. “We believe the only answer to the problems we face is a personal relationship with Christ. While that doesn’t make us immune to life’s problems, it provides a foundation from which we can successfully deal with every crisis and situation we face.”

For countless thousands of hurting people across the nation, LivePrayer.com has meant the difference between life and death. Keller estimates that LivePrayer.com may have intervened in as many as 1,300 suicide calls.

Along with his team of retired pastors, Keller and LivePrayer.com personally respond to an amazing 40,000 daily requests for prayer. Since its launch approximately 110,000 people have made commitments to Christ, and an amazing 1.8 million “praise reports” have come in to LivePrayer.com for prayers answered.

In addition to LivePrayer.com, Keller sends out a daily devotional to 2.1 million e-mail subscribers. And his Live Prayer with Bill Keller television program is seen by an estimated quarter-million viewers each night. The late-night show is slated to go national later this year.

Phil Leigh, a senior analyst for Digital Media in nearby Tampa, Florida, told Eric Snider of the Tampa Weekly Planet that Keller has recognized that “the Internet is going to be the dominant form of electronic media. And he's identified at an early stage how to make it work, using interactive communications with his audience.”

To Keller, making “it work” means offering an online message of forgiveness and renewal to millions of souls who, without a resource like Liveprayer.com, might oterhwise be on a path to destruction – and even death. And it’s not just the “down-and-outers” Keller and Liveprayer.com are reaching with this message. “Whether you are a doctor, or lawyer, or CEO, working in a factory, selling cars, building homes, or whatever you may do for a living, what defines who you is not your job but your relationship with the Lord,” wrote Keller in a recent e-mail devotional. “At the end of the day when the lights are turned out and you are laying in bed, you are who you are because of Jesus and nothing else.”

That plain-spoken gospel message has resonated with millions touched by the outreach of Liveprayer.com over the last seven years. “We think LivePrayer.com may just be the next ‘Big Thing’ in mass media faith-based outreach,” said Susan Zahn, an expert in Christian media and president of the public relations firm WDC Media. “Bill Keller understands that the Internet is framing up to be the dominant form of electronic media in our culture, and he is using it to reach the millions of hurting people who would never darken the door of a church. I really believe this outreach has only touched the ‘tip of the spiritual iceberg’ that exists in America.”

To find out more, visit www.liveprayer.com.