Hillsong New York pastor Carl Lentz has said there was nothing wrong with him buying a homeless man beer in order to convince him to go to church.
The moment was revealed in his new book "Own the Moment" and sparked criticism from church leaders about whether it was appropriate for Lentz to use alcohol as a way to invite someone to church.
When the 38-year-old pastor was asked about it in an interview with NJ.com, he responded: "There's always going to be criticism from within that's going to be more frustrating, problematic, annoying than from outside.
"That's just classic Christian faith stuff.
"It was happening when Jesus was walking the Earth, and it will always happen."
Lentz said one of the major points of his book is to remind people to seize the moment.
"I think the point of this book is to get people to go like, 'You're not going to get this life back; you have to do something now," he added.
"If you do that long enough, I think it leads to somewhere special."
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Article by Tola Mbakwe
Tola Mbakwe is a multimedia journalist for Premier.
