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Florida Pastor Breaks World Record for Longest Sermon at 53 Hours, 18 Minutes

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Nov 12, 2014

A Florida pastor has broken the Guinness world record for the Longest Speech Marathon with a sermon that clocked in at 53 hours and 18 minutes.

Zach Zehnder, 31, is pastor of the Cross Mount Dora in Florida. The previous record was 48 hours and 31 minutes.

“The idea was to break the Guinness world record for the longest speech ever and I'm a pastor obviously, and so I chose to speak on the Bible and kind of cover the entirety of the story from Genesis to Revelation," said Zehnder to The Christian Post.

Zehnder said he combined about 45 sermons and preached through them all.

"My goal of the whole sermon was to talk about God's ridiculous commitment to his people, even though we give up on him that he never gave up on us and kind of trace that theme throughout," he said. "I tried to keep that theme throughout the 50 sermons."

About 400 to 500 people showed up during the speech. Zehnder needed at least 10 people to listen at one time.

Zehnder’s speech raised money for Powerhouse Recovery rehabilitation program. 

"The main reason why we did it was not just to preach so people could hear God's word which is a great thing in and of itself, but actually to raise money for local charity," said. "We actually raised over $100,000, we met our goal for a recovery house, for residents to come and change some men's lives. These are guys that have struggled with alcohol and addiction and we just opened a program [with] the money [raised from] this speech."

Publication date: November 12, 2014