Steven Furtick preaching for 24 hours to promote new book

Posted on September 20, 2010
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(19) comments

Pastor Steven Furtick has come up with an innovative idea for the launch of his new book, Sun Stand Still... he's attempting to preach for 24 hours beginning at noon EST on September 21st. As Steven puts it: 24 hours of preaching and celebrating the fact that we serve a God who shatters our conceptions of what is possible.

Here's a little more of what Steven writes at his blog:

And we’re inviting the world to participate. We will live stream the entire event on sunstandstill.org. You can tune in while you’re at work. Watch as a family from your home. Even if you wake up at 3 am and can’t sleep, I’ll still be there.

Some people might think it’s a stupid idea. After all, I’m preaching half a year’s worth of sermons in a day. And they’re probably right. Then again Joshua praying for the sun to stand still probably seemed pretty stupid at the time too. But God honored his audacious faith.

Some people have asked me, “What exactly do you mean by preaching 24 hours straight?”

Obviously I won’t be preaching every single minute of every single hour. We will have interviews and videos interspersed throughout the day. Our staff will make appearances for special giveaways throughout the event as we hope to drive book sales the day of the release and supplement leaders with additional free resources. But for part of every single hour, I will be straight up preaching. And I’m going to give my best whether it’s 12 noon, or 12 midnight.

So whatever your schedule looks like next Tuesday and Wednesday, choose one of the 24 hours in the day and tune in. It’s the closest we can come to making the sun still stand still. Let’s see what happens when we dare to ask God for the impossible.

Comments

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adam mclane on Mon, September 20, 2010

Leave it to a senior pastor to think that someone wants to listen to 24 hours of them preach. I know I’m being critical and mostly tongue-n-cheek, but wow… I know I don’t want to listen to 24 hours of preaching. Guess I’m just a lame carnal Christian.

Best wishes to Steven. I guess there are only so many publicity stunts left.
Jim F. on Mon, September 20, 2010

I think that I will tune in and out. I can honestly say that I am not going to sit and watch all 24 hours. He is an excellent preacher so God I am sure will use him at least for during the time I watch and in the lives of others.

I am excited though to get the book and read it.
David Price on Mon, September 20, 2010

“It’s the closest we could come to making the sun stand still.”

That’s the difference: When the sun stood still, God did it.

Good luck with the book sales, I guess.
@PaulSteinbrueck on Mon, September 20, 2010

I’ll be watching to see whether it stays light outside during the entire message.
Peter Hamm on Mon, September 20, 2010

gimmicky.
Mike Mahoney on Mon, September 20, 2010

“... as we hope to drive book sales the day of the release…”

And therein lies the problem. This would actually be interesting if it were an outreach or some kind of revival or tent meeting, and he was shaking things up to advance the kingdom.

As it is, this is nothing more than a publicity stunt to sell books.
Greg on Mon, September 20, 2010

Seems to publicity stunt-ish for me.

In the wee hours, will I be offered an official prayer towel/rag for watching at that time?
bishopdave on Mon, September 20, 2010

This just really makes me not want to buy the book. It might be a wonderful book, but this just turns me off.
CS on Mon, September 20, 2010

It’s a big publicity stunt. He’s selling a book and doing something to get the attention of people who might buy his book.

Plus, if his preaching is anything consistent with his history (as illustrated in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmusDcfipRA this video), I wouldn’t want to listen to it for an hour, let alone 24.

—
CS
Michael on Mon, September 20, 2010

I guess my biggest question is, did Joshua have a book to sell?

Others have nailed it - true preaching for 24 hours, interspersed with other things, could actually be very interesting. But when the point is to promote a book, well, let’s just say it certainly is a whole new level of “promotion”.

To be fair and not isolate Pastor Furtick, this is becoming more and more a part of the “Christian industries” - this happens all the time in books, speaking (preaching and conference speaking), and music. So he’s not the only one who does it. But it still doesn’t make it good.

Preaching is the communication of God’s Word to point people to the their sin and then to the free gift of grace given through Jesus. Period. No books to come, no other strings attached.
Fred on Mon, September 20, 2010

Just another lame gimmick.
Lane Chaplin on Tue, September 21, 2010

As much as I love Steven as a person, this headline provides a perfect example of the problem in much of evangelicalism: “preaching for 24 hours to promote new book.” The *to promote new book* is the telling part, in my opinion. If there was no book to promote would we have a headline saying, “preaching for 24 hours to promote Christ?”
Q. on Tue, September 21, 2010

I hear you…

I do wonder though-if his book is written to promote Christ and to encourage the development of fully devoted followers of Christ then is it bad that he’s pointing to it as a tool-even as he preaches for 24 hours? I know that it sounds like, “AH HA, here are the ulterior motives!!!” except that he was right up front about the book part so it’s not exactly ‘ulterior’-like we’re used to.

I’m not saying that I like it-just tossing this loosely assembled thought out there…
Paul Steinbrueck on Tue, September 21, 2010

I just finished reading Sun Stand Still. It’s a good book, very biblical and God-honoring. If you’re curious, you can read my review:

http://www.liveintentionally.org/2010/09/21/get-a-free-copy-of-sun-stand-still-by-stevenfurtick/

After reading the book, I believe that Steven genuinely wants to inspire and encourage Christians to pray bigger prayers and take bigger Spirit-led steps of faith.

I also think that he made a serious mistake in the blog post Todd quoted above. By writing “we hope to drive book sales,” he’s opened the door for people to question the motivation behind the 24 hours of preaching.
Joe B on Tue, September 21, 2010

“By writing �we hope to drive book sales,� he�s opened the door for people to question the motivation behind the 24 hours of preaching.”

I think “he clearly stated his motivation” is a bit more accurate. That doesn’t make him the devil, but I’m just sayin’. Celebrities think differently than many of us folks. I suppose there’s a buch of people who think this is just pretty cool.