While in prison, Bill Keller decided to change his life. Now he operates a prayer Web site and a Christian TV program.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published August 20, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Having faced trouble himself for insider trading, Bill Keller has advice for Martha Stewart.
"The money is going to be absolutely meaningless in eternity. I haven't seen a Brinks truck following a hearse yet," he says.
Keller, 45, served 31 months in federal prison for the sale of unregistered securities and mail fraud. He is now an ordained minister and host of an Internet prayer site and a new Christian television program that is broadcast live on UPN, WTOG-Ch. 44 - at an hour after midnight. It is the right time, he figures, to reach the people he is seeking.
It was also "by design" that he chose to air the show on a channel known more for the Simpsons and wrestling than religious programming, he said.
"It's where people spend their lives. Not on Christian TV," said Keller, who claims viewers at hospitals, nursing homes and even a Tampa bar.
His Liveprayer program, broadcast from 1 to 2 a.m., Mondays through Fridays, targets nonchurchgoers, he said. Those who contact him, either through his Web site or television program, usually are suffering from common human dilemmas and feel they have nowhere else to turn, Keller said.
"Everybody hits those roadblocks in life, whether it's finances, health issues, death of a loved one, marriage problems, problems with children, addiction. That's when people are most open to God," he said Sunday in a cramped office tucked in the back of a used auto shop on 46th Avenue N.
A videotape of a recent program shows Keller praying for a young man named Cody, who had been trying to reach him for several days. He went on to pray for a woman who was going to have gastric bypass surgery that day.
"Father, I lift Emily up to you," he said.
Ralph, an 11-year-old boy, asked Keller to pray for his grandmother.
After saying, "You need to get to bed, buddy," Keller gave thanks "for the faith of a child."
During the show, which was broadcast on Aug. 13, Keller also announced that he would hold an unusual telethon that Friday. Money contributed to the telethon would be distributed to anyone who needed it. Those asking for money would get no more than $300 and the money actually would be sent directly to the electric company, mechanic or creditor, Keller said.
"I can only pay out what we collect," he said.
"Liveprayer gets nothing. I get nothing. . . . This is about helping people in need. It would send a wonderful message to this jaundiced, skeptical world."
The telethon collected thousands of dollars in the hour it aired, Keller said, and the money will be distributed Monday. Keller, who lives in Clearwater Beach with his wife, Nan, said he can understand that some people might not trust him.
"I've never asked for a dime and never will," he said of his television ministry.
"If I wanted to make a lot of money, I would do anything but this. I could have gone back into the business world."
The Columbus, Ohio native, who received an undergraduate degree in biblical studies from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University while in prison, said his television program costs $3,000 a night. It is supported by "some wonderful donors," he said.
"It's actually a walk of faith," added Keller, who used to produce and co-host a call-in prayer program on the Christian Television Network in Largo.
"I don't sell books. I don't sell tapes. I don't sell trinkets. I don't sell holy water," he told his Aug. 13 audience.
His 4-year-old Web site, Liveprayer.com, costs $30,000 a month and also survives on donations, including money from people who receive its daily devotionals.
"Two times a month, I share the financial needs of the ministry (through Liveprayer.com) and God moves on people's hearts," Keller said.
He said he gets "a very small salary" that meets his and his wife's needs.
Liveprayer.com receives 40,000 prayer requests daily, each answered by Keller and a team of 650 retired pastors around the country. Most of the prayers are responded to by e-mail, but volunteers work in three-hour shifts almost around the clock to offer prayers via live feed. For now, says Keller, there is no one hosting the live feed on Sunday mornings out of the tiny studio next to his office. He said he is not bothered that the live video feed is handled by a company, Candidhosting, which also handles adult entertainment sites. Referring to a passage in the Bible, Keller said that what man meant for evil, God meant for good.
"We're tapping into the same network that they're using to destroy lives," he said.
Keller's use of the Internet for religious purposes is becoming more common.
Retired St. Petersburg police officer Clyde Walters, on the board of the non-profit Bill Keller Ministries which runs Liveprayer, lauds Keller's work.
Walters owns Ace Motors, the used car lot at 6660 46th Ave. N, where Keller has his office. Walters, 75, lets him use the space rent-free.
"I like what he's doing," Walters said, adding who is a person in distress going to call in the wee hours of the morning. "One-third of the population is up at that hour anyway and you've got the people who should be sleeping, but can't," Keller said.
"If we can just give somebody a little bit of hope to go one more day."
- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this article.
