In Wendell Berry’s book, Jayber Crow, he describes life in the small river town of Port William, Kentucky. That’s far removed from Erwin’s place of birth, El Salvador, or where he currently lives, Los Angeles. However, I think Wendell Berry points to something that illustrates Erwin and why he is so unique. Berry depicts the young ministers who come to town as “those who had learned to have a very high opinion of God and a very low opinion of His works – although they could tell you that the world had been made by God Himself. What they didn’t see was that it is beautiful, and that some of greatest beauties are the briefest. They had imagined the church, which is an organization, but not the world, which is an order and a mystery. To them, the church did not exist in the world where people earn their living and have their being. but rather in the world where they fear death and Hell, which is not much of a world. In Port William, more than anyplace else I had been, this religion that scorned the beauty and goodness of the world was a puzzle to me.” Erwin McManus is not one to scorn beauty or the world that God has created. His whole life is a testament to our each being created with a purpose that reflects the creativity of God. As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” That is the work of Mosaic – to join all the diverse “pieces of a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God.” A prolific writer, speaker, filmmaker, catalyst and cultural architect of Mosaic and Awaken as well as the Mosaic Alliance, the Mosaic Global Initiative and the Origins Project, Erwin apparently never stops creating. A tweet I read from one of Erwin’s fans in the UK said, “Your podcasts are as refreshing to listen to as a large cup of freshly ground and brewed French dark roast coffee with crème and sugar.” A little over the top but you get the point. I doubt anyone ever shakes his hand on the way out on Sunday and just says, “Good message this morning parson.” I have no idea what he is going to say tonight. I have no idea what you are going to think you heard tonight but I cannot imagine a better way to begin our week-end together than with a brother who believes in community, in truth, in generosity, mystery and the goodness of God and His love for the world He created.