AMDG
Dr. Allen Hunt was the main speaker
at the 2015 Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal.
He is a nationally known speaker and best-selling author. His books
include: “Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden
Treasures of the Catholic Church”; “Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody”; “Nine Words: A Bible Study to
Help You Become the Best-Version-of-Yourself”; “Dreams for Your Grandchild:
The Hidden Power of a Catholic Grandparent”. Books may be ordered from www.dynamiccatholic.com.
Allen stepped aside July 1, 2007, as
Senior Pastor at Mount Pisgah, a congregation serving more than 15,000 persons
each week through all of its ministries in Alpharetta, Georgia, outside
Atlanta. While at Mount Pisgah, Allen helped to develop comprehensive
ministries with children and students as well as a Christian School with over
1200 students; a Beacon of Hope pregnancy resource center; and the Summit
Counseling Center.
On January 6, 2008, the Feast of the
Epiphany, Allen converted to Catholicism. This transition represented the
culmination of a 15 year journey in which God began leading Allen home to the
Church. In many ways, this transition was effected by the prayers of a group of
Dominican sisters at Monastery of Our Lady of Grace in North Guilford,
Connecticut, who have been praying for Allen since he shared lectures with them
during the season of Lent in 1992.
Prior to full-time ministry, Allen
worked in management consulting with Kurt Salmon Associates, an international
leader in the textile, apparel, and retail industries. Allen was educated at
Mercer (B.B.A.) and Emory (M.Div.) Universities, before earning a Ph.D. in New
Testament and Ancient Christian Origins from Yale University.
Allen and his wife, Anita, live in Atlanta. They have two
grown daughters.
The Greatest investment
An interview of
Dr. Allen Hunt by Jay Tramonte taken from
www.venturewithvirtue.com/066-allen-hunt/
CONSULTANT TO MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR
“I
distinctly heard in the depth of my soul God speaking to me saying “Allen, when
are you going to stop serving yourself and start serving Me?”
That
was a particularly jarring moment for Allen because he really didn’t want to
leave the business world.
At this
point he knew what God wanted him to do…it was just a question of whether he
was going to be obedient or disobedient.
“I
enjoyed my work, but I was looking out far ahead 20, 30, 40 years ahead and
thinking I don’t really want to stay on this train to where it goes.”
“I love
to work. And I realized I better be darned sure I was loving to work the
way God wanted me to love to work.”
BRINGING FAITH INTO
THE WORKPLACE
“Invest
in other people as human beings made in the image of God.”
When we
invest in the whole life of a person, our faith comes through in ways we don’t
see. Others around us notice not only how we treat people but invest in
them beyond work.
GREATEST VOCATION
Allen’s
greatest vocation is as a husband, father and grandfather. He didn’t come
to understand this overnight, but after many years.
“THE
GREATEST PREDICTOR FOR YOUR CHILD’S SPIRITUAL FUTURE IS YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE AS
A PARENT.”
Schools
can help. Churches can help. Other people can help. But the
#1 predictor is the spiritual life of parents and the #2 predictor is the
spiritual life of the grandparents.
Part of
the American mindset is we outsource everything. We hire someone to teach
our children how to play baseball better, piano better and do better in
Spanish. We act like the point guard distributing the ball of our
children’s life to all of the experts. We think we can outsource the
spiritual life of our children, but we can’t.
“One of
the reasons we are seeing this large exodus of kids from the Catholic Church is
because the parents don’t take their faith life seriously.”
“I
experienced this in my own life and then I realized the #1 mission field is not
my neighborhood, my workplace or someplace in Africa. It is in my home
because this is the place where I am most likely to have the greatest impact.”
“I
don’t want to make the mistake of neglecting the primary mission field God has
given me to go focus on ones that are secondary.”
WHY HABITS ARE SO
IMPORTANT
You are
what you do.
“Sloth
is one of the 7 deadly sins because it really does kill us. If we don’t
put in the effort and build the habits we don’t get the results.”
What is
the outcome you want for your life?
Do you
want to live what God would consider to be a good life?
Do you
see your life as belonging to God?
What
are the habits that will get you there?
Our
lives change when our habits change.
When
you stop doing one thing, it allows you to say yes to something else.
If you
want to say a deep yes to something, you will probably need to give up several
other things.
THE MOST IMPORTANT
FAMILY HABITS
Children
develop habits that we create in the family. Once our children develop
habits they become a natural part of the rhythm of their life. The most
important habits for any family to form are obvious.
1. Pray
together as a family. The likelihood of children to have a prayer life is
largely determined by whether the parent has a prayer life. Individual
prayer and prayer as a family are both important. Family prayer can
include prayer before meals, after you wake up, before you go to bed or before
Mass.
2. Go to
Mass together as a family. It is important to also talk about
Mass as a family before you go and after it is over.
Children need to see that
these habits are important to the parent and the family does it together.
Most importantly these habits should create conversations between children and
parents on a regular basis afterwards.
By
building these habits into the rhythm of family life, big conversations flow
naturally without it becoming a big deal.
SISTER DIANNE AND
THE POWER OF HABITS
Every
day at 2 pm Sister Dianne would walk to her desk in the community room and
pickup the same book, Wellsprings of Worship by Corbon.
Then she would walk around the grounds of the convent reading, praying and
reflecting. When she was finished she returned the book to her desk and
went about her day.
Eventually
Sister Dianne developed Alzheimer’s and began to slip away mentally. Towards
the end she was no longer lucid and no longer recognized any of the other
sisters. However Sister Dianne still went to her desk at 2 pm every day,
picked up the same book and walked around the grounds like she had always
done. Even though she could no longer comprehend what she was reading,
she still practiced her habit of prayer by flipping through the pages as if
they made sense.
This
habit of prayer was so deeply engrained in Sister Dianne that it still kicked
in even when her mind wasn’t at full capacity. This habit was so strong
she practiced it until the very end of her life.
IMPORTANCE OF VIRTUE
Virtue
is the pathway to holiness. Virtue is how you live in the details of your
life each day. Every day we make countless decisions. Each decision
is an opportunity to invite God in to our life and try to be the best version
of ourselves.
It is
through the little decisions of life that we cultivate our souls. Once we
are intentional about making good decisions on a regular basis, it can become a
habit. When it becomes a habit, it becomes easier to make the right
decision because we don’t have to think about it. It just happens.
Virtue
is lived out not so much in the big decisions of life, but in the little
everyday situations.
THE CENTERPIECE OF ALLEN’S
SPIRITUAL LIFE
Allen
reflects on this same verse from Galatians every day because it contains nine
virtues that are part of a healthy soul.
“The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” – Galatians [5:22]-23
While
Allen strives to grow in all nine of these virtues all of the time, he is
currently working on one in particular – self-control.
Why?
His
life is less structured now than 20 years ago when he had a regular daily rhythm
as a pastor. Since Allen travels a lot as a speaker it has become
challenging in new ways to practice self-control. It is a daily struggle
to practice it with his diet, exercise, spiritual life and in his
relationships.
How
does Allen actually try to practice self-control?
ALLEN’S PRAYER LIFE
“I
think I am taking prayer more seriously. I am not sure I took it as
seriously as I should have in my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.”
Allen
tries to practice self-control and discipline with his prayer life by making
prayer the first thing he does every day. It is a struggle to resist the
temptation to take a shower, check email or even have a cup of coffee as soon
as he wakes up.
“If I
don’t do prayer first, I still do it, but it’s not as fruitful and it doesn’t
spill into my whole day.”
He is
also more intentional about what he reads and incorporates it into his prayer
life.
Finally
Allen works with a spiritual coach to help hold him accountable to practicing
self-control and staying on track with his prayer commitments.
THOUGHTS ON
ACHIEVING REAL SUCCESS
Mathew
25 – Gospel about the Talents
God
invests in each of us differently, but in the end we are all judged by what we
have done with what He has invested in us.
“For me
success is looking at my life…the money God has given me, the health God has
given me, the gifts intellectually and physically God has given me and the
relationships God has given me and saying to God here is the maximum return on
investment for You God.”
Hopefully
in the end, God will say “well done good and faithful servant.”
KEY TAKEAWAY
On Business…
“Don’t
confuse effort with results.”
On Faith…
“Faith
is a journey. It is not a moment and it is not a destination. It is
in the journey of living with, for, and in God.”
“Faith
has to take priority over everything else, otherwise I will wander off and
loose my soul.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
· * Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home – by Richard Foster
· * Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor – by Allen Hunt
APPENDIX
A Selection of Quotes From His Book
“Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor:
How I Discovered the
Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church”
(From www.goodreads.com)
“When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.”
“It became obvious why Catholics had built such beautiful cathedrals and churches throughout the world. Not as gathering or meeting places for Christians. But as a home for Jesus Himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Cathedrals house Jesus. Christians merely come and visit Him. The cathedrals and churches architecturally prepare our souls for the beauty of the Eucharist.”
“Suffering often draws us closer to God. Instead of being a sign of God's punishment or distance, suffering can purify us, lead us into the heart of God, and transform our souls.”
“You and I are part of
the colony of heaven. Right now, we may reside here on earth, but our passport
indicates that our citizenship is in heaven. We are on the
earth, but not of the earth.”
* Hear Dr. Hunt’s talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyUmA6HgCbc&ab_channel=SteubenvilleConferences - The #1 Reason I Love Being Catholic - 2016 Defending the Faith Conference
* Allen Hunt’s radio
broadcasts can be heard at https://tunein.com/radio/Allen-Hunt-Show-p52991/.
* Hear Hunt’s talk, “A
Journey of Trust” at https://www.orlandodiocese.org/9-a-journey-of-trust-with-dr-allen-hunt/
.
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