Zehnder's sermon began at 7am on Friday, November 7 and continued
until 7.32 am on Sunday, November 9. He was only allowed a five-minute
break every hour.All records are good to be broken people think.
There existed already a preaching record of 48 hours and 31 minutes by Vickrant Mahajan in Kashmir, India, and Pastor Zack Zehnder from The Cross church in Mount Dora whose father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all ministers in the Lutheran Church wanted to undertake the challenge to raise funds for an addiction recovery ministry run by the Hand in Hand charity.
He broke his address into 50 different parts and preached through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, using notes and a pre-prepared PowerPoint presentation. A back-up team of nurses ensured that he was fit to continue and was receiving proper nutrition, though he was forced to preach with his mouth full as he was only allowed to stop speaking for 30 seconds at a time.
At the end of his sermon, clearly exhaused, he said:
"The one thing I've seen is God's ridiculous pursuit of you and me. Even when we fail, even when we sin, and we all have, he never gives up on us."He concluded with a quote from the last sermon preached by his grandfather.
The Powerhouse Addiction Recovery Program will help people with addictions including alcohol, drug and sex among others. The target of $100,000 was surpassed on Monday with a $10,000 cheque that took the total to more than $102,000.
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