One pastor in Mississippi just became a world record holder.
39-year-old pastor, Matthew Olson of First Baptist Church of Sharon, located in Jones County, Mississippi, just became the new world record holder for the longest sermon, according to Protestia. Olson began preaching on May 30, starting with Genesis 1, and concluded days later on June 3, speaking for a full 96 hours.
As the report noted, Guinness granted the participants listening to the sermon a five-minute break for each hour, and Olson also took breaks if he made it through an hour straight of preaching so he could drink, eat, take some time to sleep and even receive medical attention if needed.
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In a local news report by WDAM, Olson’s vision for delivering a sermon of this length didn’t come out of the blue. Instead, it was born of his own experience of being without a physical copy of the Bible during a 96-hour mission trip.
The church’s administrative pastor, Jonathan Strickler, stated, “During that time, he just craved the Bible. It was just the first time he had not had access to his Bible.”
Discipleship pastor Rich Gray said, “God birthed within him that moment the vision to preach the Bible for 96 hours. He said what would it be like if the Bible was preached for 96 hours uninterrupted from Genesis to Revelation?”
During the first 12 hours of the challenge, Olson had trouble with his voice, but was then anointed with oil for healing and appeared to recover afterward.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
