The blurb from Willow Creek for this 2002 video sermon by lead pastor and cultural architect of Mosaic Erwin Raphael McManus says the distinguished futurist:

focuses on the story of Jonathan attacking the Philistines, found in 1 Samuel 14. Though Jonathan didn’t have a huge army and only had one sword, he seized a divine moment by stepping out and attacking the Philistines in order to fulfill God’s purpose… We are encouraged that “every moment is an invitation from God to experience a divine life.” (Online source)

O you’ll hear some mighty exciting stuff here alright. There’s plenty of attempts at humor and exciting personal adventure stories awash with a few pithy slogans picked up at various “leadership” seminars, which just happens to be “the Barbarian Way” (BW) of Erwin McManus. As my friend Gary Gilley said in his review of BW by this Emergent Pastor, McManus’ message presses that Christians should all be “over-the-top entrepreneurs, each madly pursuing his vision of what God would have.” As in Carpe Diem (“Seize the Day”).

But unfortunately for Erwin, sometimes God’s divine moment and His abundant life is that of humble and faithful service as a janitor making little more than minimum wage. And sometimes you will follow Jesus into being a mother and a homemaker–one of the most thankless tasks on a human level. I wonder, would McManus being willing to seize such divine moments if this was God’s “adventure” for him? But from what I’ve seen in the teachings of Erwin Raphael McManus, his books and his life, I have serious doubts that he would.

You can catch the performance here.