| Erwin McManus | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rafael Sandoval Meza Cardona Covarrubias August 28, 1958 Republic of El Salvador, Central America |
| Nationality | Salvadoran, Naturalized American |
| Occupation | Founder, Creative Director: MCMANUS, Cultural Architect, Pastor: Mosaic, Author, Public Speaker |
| Spouse | Kim McManus |
| Children |
Aaron, Mariah Foster daughter Paty C |
| Website | |
| MCMANUS | |
Erwin Raphael McManus (August 28, 1958) is an author, lecturer, and pastor. McManus is the lead pastor of Mosaic Church, a Christian community in Los Angeles, California. He made his name first by speaking on Post-modernism (postmodernity, Postmodern Christianity), but also communicates on culture, change, creativity, and leadership.[1] McManus was named by Church Report[2] in January 2007 as one of the "50 Most Influential Christians in America."
Contents |
Born Rafael Sandoval Meza Cardona Covarrubias, McManus is a native of El Salvador. His family immigrated to the United States when he was very young and he was raised in Florida. Little information is available publicly about McManus' upbringing, his move from El Salvador, or the intervening years until his late teen years. Regarding the name, "McManus", "it is not an adopted name, it’s an alias and I made it legal ... My mom married someone who lived under an alias who was involved in 'creative underground economies' ... that’s how we ended up being called McManus." [3]
McManus earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina and his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Serving as a church planter in Dallas he began two congregations where he worked among the urban poor. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he, with brother Alex, were employed to replace what have been called "outdated and stagnant" church leadership teams with "younger and fresher thinkers". He moved to Los Angeles in 1993 where he eventually took the pastor role at Mosaic. Since the 1990s McManus has been associated with the Leadership Network and he partners with Bethel Seminary as a lecturer and futurist.
As Lead Pastor of Mosaic, McManus speaks at four Sunday services (all considered one church) in Pasadena, Hollywood, Pomona and downtown Los Angeles.[4] He headed up the creation of the Mosaic Alliance, a loose association of like minded churches.[5] He also presides over the "Origins" conference held yearly at Mosaic. McManus was instrumental in organizing the "Rethink" conference saying "We need to know where things are going so we can get there first"[6] and he catalyzed The Barbarian Project internship, "The greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity."[7]
Paid speaking engagements have taken McManus to over 30 countries [8] and his work is featured in films, articles, and magazines worldwide. In 2011, Erwin will be speaking at The Global Leadership Summit, which is put on by Willow Creek Association and founded by Bill Hybels.
McManus has introduced various psychological personality metrics to the church such as the Myers-Briggs type indicator and Gallup's Strengths Finder.[9] In Recent years he has also founded Awaken,[10] a collection of poets, artists, film makers and humanitarians whose stated goal is "maximizing the divine potential" in every human being.[11]
McManus and his wife Kim have two children Aaron and Mariah, and a foster daughter, Paty.