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Furtick Preaches 24 Hours Straight

Steven Furtick, founder and lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, released his first book Sun Stand Still (Multnomah Books, a division of Random House Inc.) on September 21, 2010, in an unconventional way. On the day his book released, Furtick preached 24 hours straight while church members prayed. The Christian Post quoted Furtick as saying it was one of the “craziest, most asinine ideas he’s ever had” as the preaching marathon amounted to delivering six months’ worth of sermons in a single day. 

Furtick says he drew much of his teaching from the biblical account of Joshua’s miracle of the sun standing still. “The thought of simply releasing the book and then watching Amazon all day to see where it lands on the sales list seemed a bit anti-climatic. Instead, we wanted to figure out a way to release the book in an epic style. To celebrate the day in history when God stopped the sun, we wanted to figure out a way to make the sun stop here—kind of. Or at least to commemorate this day and share what God wants to do with this book” says Pastor Furtick.

Furtick’s message centered on how people can believe, pray and act in the confidence that God is a God of the impossible. “I believe God is going to use the message of audacious faith as a catalyst to see countless people begin to believe God for the impossible. Lives are going to be transformed. Dead dreams are going to be resurrected. And world changers are going to be raised up.”

Furtick at age 16 felt God’s call to start a church in a metropolitan city. This vision became a reality when Elevation Church was founded on the faith of Furtick and eight families who risked everything—sold houses, quit jobs and moved—to relocate to Charlotte. Four years later, 6,000 congregants attend Elevation Church weekly and 8,000 people have received Christ. Additionally, in 2007, 2008 and 2009, Elevation Church was named one of the “10 fastest growing churches in America” by Outreach magazine.