Ep 022: Erwin McManus

SUMMARY:

As faith-centered leaders, we can become God’s instruments to create the future. This episode of the GLS Podcast features Erwin McManus—senior pastor of MOSAIC, a church in Los Angeles known for its innovation, creativity, diversity and social entrepreneurism. In this insightful message, Erwin challenges leaders to affect the future by cultivating human creativity and telling God’s story with freshness and authenticity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• “There is nothing new under the sun” has, unfortuntately, been the lens through which the Church sees the future.
• If you live your life outside of the God of the universe, you are destined to a life of endless repetition, monotony and emptiness. But when you step into the presence of the Creator of the universe, everything becomes new.
• When we live our lives connected to the Creator, we become God’s instruments for creating the future.
• The future is whatever we choose.
• We have been entrusted with this stewardship: to redeem the image of God in every human being and to live our lives creating a world that reflects the character and heart of God.
• In order for Christ-followers to affect the future:
  1. We need to become the cultivators of human talent.
     • There’s never been an ordinary child born on this planet. But most of us die tragically ordinary.
     • What if the Church was known as the epicenter of human creativity?
     • Story of the Doritos Superbowl Commercial. Talent draws the world’s attention.
  2. We need to become the narrators of the human story.
     • We have taken on a false narrative in the Church: lost, found Jesus, now perfect and waiting to die.
     • Story of drug dealer in Minneapolis. Unless the story is authentic it will not move people.
     • Nathan used story to convict David. Whoever tells the best story shapes the culture.
     • The truth is lost in a bad story and falsehood is spread through a good story.
     • Story of Soledad O’Brien. It’s not that hard to bring people to Jesus when they can see themselves in His story.
     • Story of Jesse. If we become cultivators of human talent, people will be drawn to our communities.
• We are a Mosaic—broken and fragmented pieces brought together by the masterful hand of the extraordinary artist who makes us something beautiful when His light strikes through us.
• Jesus has come and He makes all things new.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. Reflect on your life right now. Which statement most closely represents your current place in life? I feel stagnant right now, trapped in the present and not involved in building the future.
    I would like to build the future, but I often get side tracked in managing the present.
    There are areas of my life where I am building the future but others where I live in the present.
    I am “going for it,” and stepping out in faith to build a better future.
    Other: ______________________________________________________
2. Erwin suggests two ways Christ-followers could build a better future: 1) become cultivators of human talent, or 2) become narrators of the human story. Which one of those most resonated with how God wired you?
3. Reflecting on your answer to #2, what is one thing you can to today to step more fully into opportunities God has placed before you to create a better future?

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

Solomon, King of Israel

Lamentations 3:22-23

Genesis 2:2

Noah

Postmodernism

Acts 7:20-22

William Shakespeare

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

Erwin’s Doritos Super Bowl Commercial

Doritos

2 Samuel 12

Nathan, Prophet of Israel

David, King of Israel

Crave: The Documentary by Erwin McManus

Soledad O’Brien

CNN

Uprising by Erwin McManus

RELATED LINKS:

Erwin McManus

MOSAIC

The Global Leadership Summit