issue with pagination and limit - codeigniter

Question

I have 3 tables site_settings,sermons & Preachers. In site_settings table, set the max number of preachers to be displayed. Preacher table contains all the preacher details and sermons table contains sermons of all preachers. Am using pagination for displaying preachers(2/page). if the value of site_settings table is 1 or 2 then no of preachers will display 2, if 3 or 4 then preachers 4... I don't know what is happening. Is it a problem with pagination or limit? I am using the following code for this ( In Model)
Method in Model
function viewAll($offset=0, $limit=null) {
$this->db->select('settings_value');
$this->db->from('site_settings');
$this->db->where('settings_name', 'preachercount');
$count = $this->db->get()->row();
echo $count->settings_value;
$preacher = array();
$this->db->select('preacher.preacher_id,preacher.first_name,preacher.last_name,preacher.preacher_image,preacher.preacher_logo,preacher.preacher_bio_brief');
$this->db->distinct('preacher.preacher_id');
$this->db->from('preacher');
$this->db->join('sermons', 'sermons.preacher_id=preacher.preacher_id');
$this->db->order_by('preacher.sort_order');
$this->db->limit($count->settings_value);
$query = $this->db->get('', $limit, $offset);
if ($query->num_rows() > 0) {
foreach ($query->result() as $row) {
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['preacher_id'] = $row->preacher_id;
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['preacher_name'] = $row->first_name . ' ' . $row->last_name;
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['preacher_image'] = $row->preacher_image;
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['preacher_logo'] = $row->preacher_logo;
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['preacher_bio_brief'] = $row->preacher_bio_brief;
$this->db->select('*');
$this->db->from('sermons');
$this->db->where('preacher_id', $row->preacher_id);
$this->db->order_by('sort_order ');
$sermon_array = array();
$query = $this->db->get();
if ($query->num_rows() > 0) {
foreach ($query->result() as $row1) {
$sermon_array[$row1->sermon_id] ['sermon_image'] = $row1->sermon_image;
$sermon_array[$row1->sermon_id] ['sermon_title'] = $row1->sermon_title;
$sermon_array[$row1->sermon_id] ['audio_file'] = $row1->audio_file;
$sermon_array[$row1->sermon_id] ['sermon_description'] = $row1->sermon_description;
}
}
$preacher[$row->preacher_id]['sermon'] = $sermon_array;
}
return $preacher;
}
return false;
}
Method in controller
function list() {
$paginate_segment = $this->uri->segment(3) ? $this->uri->segment(3) : 0;
$winner_list = $this->sermon_model->viewAllpreachers(0, null);
$config['base_url'] = base_url() . 'sermons/index/';
$config['total_rows'] = ($winner_list) ? count($winner_list) : 0;
$config['per_page'] = 2;
$config['full_tag_open'] = '';
$config['full_tag_close'] = '';
$config['uri_segment'] = 3;
$config['num_links'] = 4;
$config['display_pages'] = TRUE;
$config['first_link'] = 'First';
$config['first_link'] = 'First';
$config['first_tag_open'] = '<div>';
$config['first_tag_close'] = '</div>';
$config['last_link'] = 'Last';
$config['next_link'] = 'Next';
$config['prev_link'] = 'Prev';
$config['cur_tag_close'] = ' | ';
$config['num_tag_close'] = ' | ';
//initialize pagination
$this->pagination->initialize($config);
$this->data['preachers'] = $this->sermon_model->viewAllpreachers($paginate_segment, $config['per_page']);
$this->data['links'] = $this->pagination->create_links();
$this->data['page'] = $this->config->item('APP_template_dir') . 'site/home/sermons_view';
$this->load->vars($this->data);
$this->load->view($this->_container);
}

Answer 1

As stated in the comments, you're using a limit twice and need to combine those methods:
function viewAll($offset=0, $limit=null) {
$this->db->select('settings_value');
$this->db->from('site_settings');
$this->db->where('settings_name', 'preachercount');
$count = $this->db->get()->row();
// now use value of [$count] if [$limit] is null - else use [$limit]
$limit = (is_null($limit)) ? $count : $limit ;
$preacher = array();
$this->db->select('...');
$this->db->distinct('preacher.preacher_id');
$this->db->from('preacher');
$this->db->join('sermons', 'sermons.preacher_id=preacher.preacher_id');
$this->db->order_by('preacher.sort_order');
// then remove the [limit()] call
// $this->db->limit($count->settings_value); <-- NOT NEEDED
$query = $this->db->get('', $limit, $offset);
This effectively allows you to pass a $limit to the method, or use the settings from the db.