This Preacher Had More to Say Than a 20-Minute Sermon Could Contain — So He Just Went Ahead and Broke a Guinness World Record

For Zach Zehnder of the Cross Church in Mount Dora, Florida, the typical 20-minute sermon just wouldn't do.

No, this preacher had an urge to go a little bit more in-depth that normal time would allow.

So Zehnder spoke for more than 50 hours straight over the weekend, breaking the world record for the longest speech, WFTV-TV in Orlando reported.

Zach Zehnder (Image source: Twitter)

The Guinness World Record website on Sunday night still listed the longest speech marathon record as 48 hours 31 minutes by Vickrant Mahajan (India) in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India, between September 19-21 2014. It’s quite possible that Zehnder’s mark needs authentication before being officially listed.

His marathon preaching session commenced at 7 a.m. Friday and reportedly didn’t end until 12:21 p.m. Sunday: 53 hours 18 minutes, according to Zehnder's website.

As per rules by Guinness World Records, Zehnder got a five-minute break every hour. His sermon was to be an overview of the Bible. The lengthy talk raised money for a new addiction recovery program as well — and took in about $90,000 in donations.

Here's a report from WKMG-TV in Orlando:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player