Own The Moment

Informationen zum Autor Carl Lentz Klappentext This engaging and inspirational book by Carl Lentz, the rock star pastor of Hillsong NYC, shows us the way toward a more connected, spiritually-grounded, and fulfilled life. When you think of a Christian pastor, you probably don't envision a tattooed thirty-something who wears a motorcycle jacket, listens to hip-hop music, references The Walking Dead and Black Lives Matter in his sermons, and every Sunday draws a standing-room only crowd to a venue normally used for rock concerts?in godless New York City, no less. But then you clearly have never met Carl Lentz. As lead pastor of the first United States branch of global megachurch Hillsong, the former college basketball player is on a mission to make Christianity accessible in the 21st century. In Own The Moment, he shares the unlikely and inspiring story of how he went from being an average teenager who couldn't care less about church to leading one of the country's fastest-growing congregations?how one day he is trying to convince a Virginia Beach 7-Eleven clerk to attend his service, and just a few years later he is baptizing a global music icon in an NBA player's Manhattan bathtub. Amid such candid personal tales, Lentz also offers illuminating readings of Bible passages and practical tips on how to live as a person of faith in an increasingly materialistic world. How do you maintain your values?and pass them onto your children?in a society that worships money and sex and fame? How do you embrace your flaws in this Instagram era that exalts the appearance of perfection? How do you forget about "living the dream" and learn to embrace the beauty of your reality? These are just a few of the many important questions Lentz answers in Own The Moment?a powerful book that redefines not just Christianity but spirituality as a whole.Own The Moment Introduction OWN THE MOMENT. The concept seems simple enough. There are literally millions upon millions of moments in our lives that we will either maximize or that we will miss. Whether we are more efficient with the former or the latter has a huge impact on what the final picture of our lives will ultimately look like. I have never been a big puzzle guy. And by that I mean I despise puzzles. But when you have children, you have to put up with some pain, like watching them slowly piece together what will at some point or some yeardepending on the attention span of said childturn out to be a picture. Some pieces are small, and some pieces are larger, and you can skip one or two if you feel like it, but at the end it will look like it's missing something. Worse yet, you can sit there and look at all the pieces and expect or hope that somebody, someday, is going to come make sense of all this and put it together for you. I think our culturewhich is built on quick gratification, shortcuts to success, filming events we are actually at so we can record them to watch later if ever, and a victim currency that is so robust that when things don't happen that we like or want it's rarely our faultis setting us up for the ultimate hustle. Which is to be in this life but never actually live it. To be present in body but absent in mind. To live and breathe achievement and success and accomplishment, to continually gather these things only to find out they were not what they were advertised to be. You know what my goal is? I want to own the moments in my life. I want to, yes, take a photo of my son riding his bike . . . but I also want to put my phone away and actually see him do it. Yes, I want to work hard and save money and make sure my children leave my house someday and walk into a setup that will help them ...

Autorentext

Carl Lentz

Klappentext

This engaging and inspirational book by Carl Lentz, the rock star pastor of Hillsong NYC, shows us the way toward a more connected, spiritually-grounded, and fulfilled life.

When you think of a Christian pastor, you probably don't envision a tattooed thirty-something who wears a motorcycle jacket, listens to hip-hop music, references The Walking Dead and Black Lives Matter in his sermons, and every Sunday draws a standing-room only crowd to a venue normally used for rock concerts?in godless New York City, no less.

But then you clearly have never met Carl Lentz.

As lead pastor of the first United States branch of global megachurch Hillsong, the former college basketball player is on a mission to make Christianity accessible in the 21st century. In Own The Moment, he shares the unlikely and inspiring story of how he went from being an average teenager who couldn't care less about church to leading one of the country's fastest-growing congregations?how one day he is trying to convince a Virginia Beach 7-Eleven clerk to attend his service, and just a few years later he is baptizing a global music icon in an NBA player's Manhattan bathtub.

Amid such candid personal tales, Lentz also offers illuminating readings of Bible passages and practical tips on how to live as a person of faith in an increasingly materialistic world. How do you maintain your values?and pass them onto your children?in a society that worships money and sex and fame? How do you embrace your flaws in this Instagram era that exalts the appearance of perfection? How do you forget about "living the dream" and learn to embrace the beauty of your reality?

These are just a few of the many important questions Lentz answers in Own The Moment?a powerful book that redefines not just Christianity but spirituality as a whole.

Leseprobe
Own The Moment

Introduction

OWN THE MOMENT. The concept seems simple enough. There are literally millions upon millions of moments in our lives that we will either maximize or that we will miss. Whether we are more efficient with the former or the latter has a huge impact on what the final picture of our lives will ultimately look like.

I have never been a big “puzzle guy.” And by that I mean I despise puzzles. But when you have children, you have to put up with some pain, like watching them slowly piece together what will at some point or some year—depending on the attention span of said child—turn out to be a picture. Some pieces are small, and some pieces are larger, and you can skip one or two if you feel like it, but at the end it will look like it’s missing something. Worse yet, you can sit there and look at all the pieces and expect or hope that somebody, someday, is going to come make sense of all this and put it together for you.

I think our culture—which is built on quick gratification, shortcuts to success, filming events we are actually at so we can record them to watch later if ever, and a victim currency that is so robust that when things don’t happen that we like or want it’s rarely our fault—is setting us up for the ultimate hustle. Which is to be in this life but never actually live it. To be present in body but absent in mind. To live and breathe achievement and success and accomplishment, to continually gather these things only to find out they were not what they were advertised to be.

You know what my goal is? I want to own the moments in my life. I want to, yes, take a photo of my son riding his bike . . . but I also want to put my phone away and actually see him do it. Yes, I want to work hard and save money and make sure my children leave my house someday and walk into a setup that will help them win in every way. But I don’t want them to walk out of my house total strangers because I was so intent on working for their future that I missed their present.

I believe in this book, with my entire being. Because it’s not always life or death when you miss a moment. If you hesitated to ask somebody out that you like, and somebody else owned the moment and you are still single? There will be more moments, relax. If you mis…