At an early age, Erwin McManus sought answers to life’s deepest questions. But not until young adulthood did he unexpectedly encounter Jesus—and the “almost unbelievable…idea that God saw me, and that I mattered, and that he was relentlessly pursuing me with his love.” Now, at 67, the pastor and bestselling author continues seeking creative, unexpected ways to connect new generations with their Savior.
On the Aug. 28 episode of “Deep End With Lecrae,” McManus talked about his background, being misunderstood, dealing with the pressure of fame, making church relevant today, maximizing people’s uniqueness, and improving human communication.
Erwin McManus Found Jesus Out of ‘Desperation’
Pastor Erwin McManus leads Mosaic, a multisite church based in Los Angeles. He’s also an immigrant, husband, father, filmmaker, fashion designer, podcaster, motivational speaker, and prolific author with backgrounds in philosophy and psychology.
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McManus, who was born in El Salvador and raised in a broken home, was deeply spiritual as a child but had no way to ground his searching in a faith. While trying to “make sense of life,” he devoured mythology and philosophy, disappearing into “imaginary worlds” to cope with pain. Because his family didn’t know what to do with him, McManus said, he landed in psychiatry offices and mental hospitals.
When McManus was 20, his mother and siblings converted to Christianity. Despite his initial suspicions, he soon found solace in the faith’s unique narrative. Every other world religion focuses on what people need to do to get to God, McManus said, but “Jesus was the first time I ever heard a narrative about God of what God had to do to get to us.”
To McManus, it made sense that “if God really was love and if God really did exist, that he would be the proactive one. He’d be the one searching for me.” Because of that, McManus could stop running and just “turn around and let [Jesus] catch up to me.”
When people ask how the pastor came to faith, he tells them it was out of desperation. “I had never seen a Bible,” he said. “I didn’t have any theological or philosophical basis to believe in Jesus at all. I just said, ‘God, if you’re out there in Jesus, if you’re real, I’m in.”
McManus said God “prepared me for Jesus,” because all other options had been exhausted. “All I know is that I had an encounter with God that changed me” completely, said the pastor, adding that the proof is in his 45-year faith journey.
Erwin McManus Sees Life and Humanity Differently
On Lecrae’s podcast, Pastor Erwin McManus talked about being branded as a heretic because of how he views people. Even though he passes the “litmus test” of orthodox Christian views, he said, he has never fit in because he speaks in a different “frequency.”
