Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Saturday, May 10, 2008

Joe Orso: Raising awareness for humanitarian efforts through a 25-hour sermon

By JOE ORSO | La Crosse Tribune

The Rev. Terry Terrell’s 25-hour sermon this week didn’t begin with a desire to preach.

It began about a dozen years ago, he said, when he heard a missionary speak in Ohio about conflict in Sudan.

The stories of suffering sparked something in 63-year-old Terrell, then a pastor at a church in Burlington, Iowa.

“Like so many evangelical churches, we tended to be a little more concerned with the spiritual need of people and a little less concerned with the humanitarian needs,” he said. “There are other groups who go the other way and are a little more concerned with the humanitarian needs.”

Terrell is now senior pastor at Lighthouse Assembly of God church in Tomah, Wis. He said since hearing that missionary speak, he has come to realize that as he leads a church as pastor, he needs to be concerned with “ministering to the whole man.”

Starting at 11 a.m. Sunday, that meant giving a 25-hour sermon to raise awareness and money for humanitarian efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan, where a conflict broke out five years ago.

About 200,000 people there are thought to have died and more than 2 million people have been displaced because of attacks carried out by forces associated with the Sudanese government, according to Human Rights Watch.

Terrell made it through his 25-hour sermon with the help of others.

One family brought him meals he could eat during his 5-minute breaks each hour.

Others brought him cold water to refresh his throat and mouth.

Others turned up the volume of the sound system as his voice got quieter during the night.

In the morning, a nurse suggested he eat honey, which someone then brought to him.

Terrell is sending money to Sudan via the Assemblies of God national church body. So far, the effort has raised about $4,000 and anyone who wants to donate can call the church at (608) 372-2945 or send checks to: People of Darfur, Lighthouse Assembly of God, P.O. Box 802, Tomah, WI 54660-0802.

To anyone who donates, he sends a bookmark with words from Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in.”

“If we have no concern for our fellow man, be it spiritual or humanitarian, I don’t see how that is following the Lord,” Terrell said.

Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.