SAN FRANCISCO -- A choir director hopes prayer can bring down high gasoline prices. Rocky Twyman of Washington, D.C., came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station, reported the Associated Press. He is also calling on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he said politicians have failed.
Twyman did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in, added a report by The San Francisco Chronicle.
"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59, according to the newspaper. "[image-nocss] Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring."
To solve the problem, Twyman said he is not praying for any specific act of intervention. He is not asking God to make OPEC pump more oil. Nor is he praying for all the speculative investors to be purged from the New York Mercantile Exchange, where crude oil is traded. Instead, he says anyone who wants to follow his example should keep it simple.
Consumer advocates who have been complaining about gasoline prices for months said that they understand his frustration, even if they have not tried his tactics. "Given the complete inertia and silence of this White House on a crisis that has people feeling just hopeless, prayer is probably as good as anything," Judy Dugan, research director with the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog, told the paper. "Frankly, I wish them luck."
Twyman said that he knows his approach to gasoline prices may sound simplistic. He pointed out that anyone praying for cheaper fuel also has an obligation to do something more active about the problem. "People have to walk more, leave those cars at home, and carpool," he said. "We have to become more practical."
He is also hoping that if enough people start praying at the pump, politicians who might actually be able to do something about the problem will listen. He said that his prayer for gas-price relief from God is sincere.
Twyman also works as a community organizer and public relations consultant. He has led campaigns to nominate Oprah Winfrey for the Nobel Peace Prize and to encourage African Americans to donate bone marrow.
Separately, an East Knoxville, Tenn.-based ministry called Restoration Outreach, which is affiliated with Mechanicsville's Eternal Life Harvest Center church, has purchased the Five Points Village Plaza retail center last year and has reopened the facility's convenience store and gas station, reported The Knoxville News Sentinel.
The c-store sells candy, snacks and beverages, but not beer, cigarettes or lottery tickets.
Besides reopening the c-store, the ministry plans to refurbish a 14,000-square-foot former grocery store in the plaza into a banquet hall and performance venue designed to accommodate weddings, receptions, concerts, classes and additional services.
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