And you think YOUR pastor goes long sometimes!
The pastor of First Baptist Church of Sharon, Mississippi, set an unofficial world record for longest speech when he preached from Genesis all the way to Revelation without breaks for 96 hours straight.
From Protestia:
A Southern Baptist pastor in Mississippi broke an unofficial world record by preaching through the entire Bible continuously over four days, during which time he never stopped speaking.
Matthew Olson, 39, is pastor of First Baptist Church of Sharon in Jones County, Mississippi. On May 30 he opened his Bible to Genesis 1 and began preaching, concluding his sermon in the Book of Revelation on June 3- 96 hours later.
Amazing.
In order to pull off the feat, Guinness allows participants a five-minute break every hour, a format Olson adopted. He also permitted himself to "bank" the five minutes if he preached straight through the hour, allowing him to take longer breaks to eat, drink, receive medical check-ins, and even catch a few minutes of sleep. (The official Guinness World Record is 90 hours, held by Nepal's Ananta Ram KC.)
Some may call this a gimmick, but the man stood in that pulpit for four days and by all accounts faithfully preached the word until he about passed out.
Let's look at Philippians as a reminder at this time, shall we?
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
And here's the conclusion of the ultramarathon sermon, when the pastor's voice was just about to give out:
Preach on, brother!
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