How to Be Present in an Absent World: A Leader’s Guide to Showing Up, Paying Attention, and Becoming Fully Human

Experience the fullness of life that Jesus promises by learning how to engage with the present–even in the increasing busyness of work and family life.

Do you ever wonder how long can you keep:

grinding out eighty-hour work weeks putting your marriage on the backburner treating your employees like cogs in a machine pushing your life aside before you realize your time is all up

At the heart of this collaborative project is the belief that the pain we experience is the result of absence–living disconnected from our authentic selves and lacking deep, meaningful relationships with others and with God.

Daniel Montgomery, the founding pastor of Sojourn Community Church; Kenny Silva, a PhD candidate at Trinity International University; and Eboni Webb, who holds a doctorate of Clinical Psychology, pooled their efforts and expertise to focus on the problem of modern absence and the pain it causes us and those around us.

This book is a guide for how to cultivate a self-awareness that empowers you to take ownership and engage in every area of influence. It’s arranged into five sections, each focusing on one of the major areas of our lives where many of us struggle with absence:

Time Place Body Others Story

How to Be Present in an Absent World provides biblical, practical ways to handle the daily pressures of life without denying or escaping the present. Its goal is to help you rediscover what it means to show up for your own life.

With interludes that offer a deep dive into the neurobiology of presence as well as principles and exercises that Dr. Webb employs in her clinical practice, Montgomery and his coauthors will equip you with the kind of self-understanding that allows you to realize God’s design for human flourishing–whether in your church, in your job, or in your family.