Erwin mcmanus quotes

You're not supposed to die with your potential. A life well lived squeezes all the potential placed within and does something with it.

This thing that haunts you, that never seems satisfied, the cravings in your soul that you are unable to satiate through all the success that the world can bring this is your soul screaming for God.

The more isolated and disconnected we are, the more shattered and distorted our self-identity. We are not healthy when we are alone. We find ourselves when we connect to others. Without community we don't know who we are... When we live outside of healthy community, we not only lose others. We lose ourselves...Who we understand ourselves to be is dramatically affected for better or worse by those we hold closest to us.

Humility is not about having a low self-image or poor self-esteem. Humility is about self-awareness.

How is it, that for many of us, being a good Christian is nothing more than being a good person? The entire focus of our faith has been the elimination of sin, which is important but inadequate; rather than the unleashing of a unique, original, extraordinary, wonderfully untamed, faith.

The shape of your character is the shape of your future.

Behind real freedom, there lies discipline.

Jesus' death wasn't to free us from dying, but to free us from the fear of death. Jesus came to liberate us so that we could die up front and then live. Jesus Christ wants to take us to places where only dead men and women can go.

I think a lot of us are not on a path; we're in a rut. We have confused comfort with peace, belief with faith, safety with wisdom, wealth with blessing, and existence with life.

We need both to aspire and accomplish. Without a vision for your life, without a sense of purpose, you will begin to die a slow death.

Whoever tells the best story shapes the culture.

Religion as a whole specializes in sin management. It's all about organizing humanity in such a way that we cause as little damage as possible.

The most important moments rarely come at a convenient time

Talent doesn't win. Hard work, determination, and character wins. If you root your talent and ability in those things, then you have a powerful combination.

Within a moment there is monumental potential. That is the mystery of a moment. It is small enough to ignore and big enough to change your life forever

We can’t change history, but we can create the future.

The epicenter of creativity and imagination should be the Church, reflecting the character and glory of God.

We have to ask ourselves, 'Am I really trying to discern God's will, or determine whether I want to do it?'

As a speaker, I can inspire people to change but as a writer I can guide people to change. That's why books are so important. As a pastor, though, I can be a part of creating the change the world so desperately needs.

Courage frees us from the fears that would rob us of life itself.

It is not balance you need but adaptability.

My goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ ... Some people are upset with me because it sounds like I'm anti-Christian. I think they might be right.

When we lack integrity, we use power to control. When we lead with integrity, we use power to bless.

Faith is the determination to create with our lives what only our hearts can conceive.

It is insanity to run from God and search for love.

My goal is to destroy Christianity.

When we dwell on the past, we tend to want to live there. When we dream of the future, we want to go there. Our dreams are where God paints a picture of a life waiting to be created.

The future belongs to those who have the courage to create it. We need a new humanity. We need a new expression of community. We need the Church to bring the world together. This makes me excited.

Home is ultimately not about a place to live but about the people with whom you are most fully alive. Home is about love, relationship, community, and belonging, and we are all searching for home.

It is amazing where God will take you when you are willing to follow. Life is full of surprises when we choose mystery over security.

I have so much confidence in the reality of Jesus that I feel no pressure to try to make people act or be a certain way. I'm banking everything on the fact that God actually changes people.

Sin creates the illusion of freedom. In the end it fools us into seeking freedom from God rather than finding freedom in God.

It is amazing how much we can endure when we are convinced there is a purpose to our struggle.

Two thousand years ago, God started a revolt against the religion He started. So don't ever put it past God to cause a groundswell movement against churches and Christian institutions that bear His name.

We may not be able to accomplish everything we can dream, but we will not accomplish anything without our dreams

The first and most important step in the process of becoming genuinely is to be once again authenticated by the original designer.

Greatness comes with discipline.

A world without God cannot wait for us to choose the safe path. If we wait for someone else to take the risk, we risk that no one will ever act and that nothing will ever be accomplished.

Your soul craves truth, beauty, wonder, love. Your soul craves to dream, to imagine, and even simply to understand. Your soul craves to connect, to commune, to create.

Churches all over the country have decided they love their traditions more than their children.

The Barbarian Way was, in some sense, trying to create a volatile fuel to get people to step out and act. It's pretty hard to get a whole group of people moving together as individuals who are stepping into a more mystical, faith-oriented, dynamic kind of experience with Christ. So, I think Barbarian Way was my attempt to say, "Look, underneath what looks like invention, innovation and creativity is really a core mysticism that hears from God, and what is fueling this is something really ancient." That's what was really the core of The Barbarian Way.

The Christian faith grew through story - not text. Only later did the stories become Scripture. While the Scripture must be held in the highest regard, we must not neglect the power of story.

So many of us have abdicated our passions for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young, and we must all grow up one day. We, even if reluctantly, fall into place to live a life of conformity that we describe as ‘maturity.’ We’ve made acting like an adult synonymous with living apathetic lives.

The person who loves the process has a much greater chance of success than the person who loves the outcome.

Jesus beckons his followers to a path that's far from the easy road. It's a path filled with adventure, uncertainty, and unlimited possibilities - the only path that can fulfill the deepest longings and desires of your heart.

Is it possible that the creative act is simply the materialization of the future- making the invisible, visible?

I am convinced most Americans - yes even white Americans - are committed to justice and equality for all people. I am convinced that most Americans are disgusted and even ashamed that Nazism is alive and well in this country that fought to defeat its evil ideology.

Truth should never travel faster than love.

Love, no matter how you come at it, is a huge risk. It makes it easier for me to remember that God will never reject me because I am not good enough and that any community that has His heart will embrace me as I am. Jesus invites us into a community where imperfect people can find acceptance, love, forgiveness, and a new beginning.

In some sense we are all hypocrites in transition.

We are all time voyagers leaving history in our wake, pioneering into the future.

When you're passionate about God, you can trust your passions.

Love never comes without wounds; faith never comes without failure.

The Last Arrow transcends a moment or an issue. It is a call to move beyond self-indulgence to a life of sacrificial service. In The Last Arrow I address a broad spectrum of issues from the Syrian refugee crisis to the cultural epidemic of depression to the personal struggle of insignificance. The Last Arrow is a clarion call to make a difference in the world rather than a self-help book for personal self-improvement.

All the evidence you need to prove God is waiting within you to be discovered.

How in the world could you ever imagine a life of faith that does not require risk? Faith and risk are inseparable.

If you were meant to fly, not even running really fast is that impressive.

The church is not here to meet our needs. We are the church here to meet the needs of the world.

If our children are going to walk away from Christ, we need to raise them in such a way that they understand that to walk away from Jesus is to walk away from a life of faith, risk and adventure and to choose a life that boring, mundane and ordinary

You cannot wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it

I am convinced the Church is the greatest hope for humanity and for creating a new world where everyone is valued and embraced regardless of differences.

What is the future you're creating right now?

Gratitude changes your perspective about life. You see the future, experience the present, and remember the past in a dramatically different way.

People who are fully alive look out of their minds to those who simply exist.

When calling for authenticity, we need to take seriously the brokenness and sinfulness of the human heart. If to be authentic means to be who we really are or to express what we really feel, then in most cases I’m going to vote for hypocrisy. Our prisons are filled with men and women who acted on their feelings and impulses. If authenticity is about being true to yourself, these individuals should be our models of inspiration.

When you begin to create the life of your dreams - or maybe better stated, when you begin to live the life that God dreams for you - you take responsibility to prepare for the future.

We need to advocate for social justice and reform so that all minorities are protected not only under the law but more importantly by our cultural values and ethic. The law cannot change the human heart. Government is limited in its ability to effect culture. This is the role and responsibility of the Church. Only Jesus can move us from hate to love.

You are both a work of art and an artist at work.

You can plant a church and grow a church. That's not that hard to do, but it's harder to be a viable source of transformation in a city or your time or space.

When we stop believing the world can become a better place, when we stop caring about the lives and conditions of others, we lose a part of ourselves.

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the absence of self.

The limitations you are willing to accept establish the boundaries of your existence.

For years I have made it my mission to destroy the influence of the Christian clich, 'the safest place to be is in the center of the will of God.' God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life.

I think Christianity is the same as Buddhism and Hinduism - whenever a religion begins to say that these are the things you have to do to be loved by God, you have a religion.

Your dreams are the product of your longings, a portrait of your potential, and a promise of your future.

Attitude is an accurate monitor of where we fall on the spectrum of pride and humility.

To be apathetic is literally to be without passion.

The real measure of our power is the freedom and opportunity we create for others.

God gives God-sized dreams to people with God-shaped hearts.

I guess when I really think about it, God's voice sounds a lot like my voice.

We are all hypocrites in transition. I am not who I want to be, but I am on the journey there, and thankfully I am not whom I used to be.

To live outside of God's will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.

God clarifies in the midst of obedience, not beforehand.

God allows and at times causes us to go through the kinds of circumstances that strip away all falsehood and leave us with our real selves. God's ultimate intent is not to leave us faithless, but to leave us faith-full. There are few things as exhilarating as going through the fire and finding that you had the resilience to make it through. All of us wonder at times whether we have what it takes. God wants to bring us to a place where we have no doubt of the work He has done within us.

It’s a wonderful thing when you look inside your own heart and like what you see.

The Church is not segregated by region or cities. That's an antiquated view of the world. We are united with churches all over the world working toward common goals based on shared values. Mosaic is one of the most racially diverse churches on the planet. Our community and extended Church family is global and completely integrated.

I"m often accused of being irreligious, and I suppose it's for this very reason. Whether it's Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, or any other ism, when a religioin is created on the subtle premise that God withholds his love and you must submit to the system to earn that love, I consider it the worst of corruptions... For centuries, the church has been telling us that if we want God to love us, we need to follow the rules. It's been far more important to focus on the sin problem than the love problem.

If God imagined you at birth, what makes you think He's stopped imagining you now.

Jesus did not have a value for prayer for prayer's sake. He had a value for the intimate communion between God and man.

The world doesn't need more great leaders, it needs more great people who lead.

When the church becomes an institution, people are nothing more than volunteers to be recruited. When the church is a movement, our stewardship becomes the unleashing of our God-given gifts, talents, and passions.

The church must acclimate to a changing world, or she will destine herself to irrelevance or even extinction. ...One of those dramatic changes in our environment is the shift from words to images. To do church in a way that is entirely text driven is the kiss of death.

Far too often, when we think we are frightened by mystery, the fact is that we are haunted by history.

A life well lived is the most exquisite work of art.

When you live your life knowing the mission and calling and voice of God in your soul and you know where that compass is driving you forward, you will become a rare commodity in a world searching for direction.

The history of God's people is not a record of God searching for courageous men and women who could handle the task, but God transforming the hearts of cowards and calling them to live courageous lives.

The church does not exist for us. We are the church, and we exist for the world.

It's not your freedom to choose that makes you free. It's what you choose in that freedom that makes you free.

Problems, obstacles, and challenges can either become the markers of our limits and limitations, or they can become the springboard into a whole new world.

The future awaits those with the courage to create it.

Great dreams require great courage.

Deeper than our instinct to live is our longing to be alive.

The journey to freedom is paved by the substance of our character.

I realize that I live on the bubble of insanity. I feel the weight of human suffering, loneliness and despair on me all the time. It's not getting easier; if anything, it's always right on the edge of my skin.

A person God himself deems as wise is one who not only hears His voice, but immediately begins to act upon His instruction.

True religion always moves us to serve others and to give our lives to see those oppressed find freedom.

Our citizenship is in eternity; history is our temporary residence.

The fuel of ambition is not the problem; it is the focus of ambition that frees or betrays us.

The greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity.

Would you be willing to give your life to save the world if no one ever knew your name? If anonymity was the price you would have to pay for significance, would it be too great a price? To live a life of courage is not a guarantee of prestige or adulation. It only matters if you live and die fulfilling the mission you were born for.

You are an artist. What work of art will you leave behind?

You need to remember who God is, forget the painful wounds and let Him renew you.

We were created to be expressions of the goodness and wholeness of God.

Racists are not born, they are raised. Isolation is the breeding ground for racism. The more you come to know the world around you and people different than you the less likely you will become an extremist. The Church needs to bring the world together.

Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing his name.

I refused to let go of what I had.