The Uprising Experience: A Personal Guide for a Revolution of the Soul, Promise Keepers Edition

By Erwin Raphael McManus

You were born in God's imagination before you were ever conceived. All the talent, gifting, and creativity you possess was placed in you by God Himself. Can you imagine the things you could do, the impact you could have on the world, if you tapped into the dreams God has for your life?

In The Uprising Experience, a companion workbook to Uprising, Erwin Raphael McManus invites readers to join a revolution of the soul. With interactive exercises, probing questions, and space for creative reflection, he helps readers to find their true purpose and destiny in the pursuit of God. He invites them to be part of a radical revolt that changes a life of imitation and mediocrity to one of passion and character.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Aug 3, 2004
• ISBN: 9781418578206

Erwin Raphael McManus

Erwin Raphael McManus an iconoclast, artist, and cultural thought leader known for his integration of creativity and spirituality.  He is the founder of MOSAIC, a church movement started in the heart of Hollywood with campuses across Los Angeles, Orange County, and Mexico City.  Erwin is the acclaimed author of The Last Arrow, The Artisan Soul, Soul Cravings, and The Barbarian Way.  His books have sold more than a million copies worldwide.  He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Kim McManus.

Book preview

THE

UPRISING

EXPERIENCE

OTHER BOOKS BY ERWIN RAPHAEL MCMANUS

An Unstoppable Force

Seizing Your Divine Moment

Uprising

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Copyright © 2004 by Erwin Raphael McManus

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Attorneys and Counselors, Orange, California.

All art for The Uprising Experience provided by Joby Harris, artist in residence for Awaken.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

References to the Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper are used with permission of Promise Keepers. The name Promise Keepers and the PK logo are registered trade and service marks of Promise Keepers, a Colorado nonprofit corporation.

ISBN 0-7852-6009-9

Printed in the United States of America

04 05 06 07 08 VG 5 4 3 2

To Aaron—

My son, my son.

From first breath you have been a marvel to me.

His image,your destiny.

His heart, your passion.

His mark, your legacy.

Your life inspires me to this great quest.

With strength of character you have,

Chosen this dangerous adventure.

His courage will not fail you.

My son,

My friend,

My fellow sojourner,

May me always be warrior poets!

— Your Wingman

To Mosaic—

My community, my tribe, my friends.

You are the numbling.

Where you walk, the earth is shaking.

Freedom is the song you sing.

Beauty is what you leave in your wake.

Life is your gift to the world.

Together let us awaken the warrior poet sage yet asleep.

—Forging the Future,

Erwin

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

POINT OF ORIGIN

1. Running Free

2. The Drowning Pool

A QUEST FOR HONOR

3. Rising Downward (Humility)

4. Turned Inside Out (Integrity)

5. Brave Hearts (Courage)

A QUEST FOR NOBILITY

6. Endless Wellsprings (Gratitude)

7. Wholeness from a Black Hole (Wholeness)

8. Incurable Romantics (Generosity)

A QUEST FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

9. The Weight of Small Things (Faithfulness)

10. Waiting Game (Perseverance)

11. Unlocking Divine Mysteries (Wisdom)

DESTINATION

12. The Greatness of Servanthood

CONCLUSION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction

In ancient times, tribes passed on their cultures, beliefs, and values through their stories. Aside from the king or tribal chief, perhaps no one was of greater importance than the storyteller. The storyteller was the spiritual voice of the people. The stories contained who the tribespeople were, where they had come from, and who they were intended to be. Of course, the center points of the stories were the heroes who personified the very best of their people. Their lives, or at least the fables they inspired, called each listener to aspire to and pursue such a life. In a unique way, the retelling of something extraordinary that happened in the past had laced within it a promise that something great could happen in the future.

Speaking of fables, I love movies. Not just because I live in L.A.—I always have. I remember how, when I was a kid, Star Wars made me long to explore the universe. As a teenager embarking on manhood, I remember how Rocky inspired me to believe I could accomplish something great if I wouldn't give up. When I finished high school, I didn't go to college right away. I didn't have any direction for my life. I had no idea what I should do. I had no burning passion with the matching courage to pursue it. So I spent my nights in theaters. I watched everything that came out. I listened to the storytellers of our time inspire me with tales of the epic lives of others.

In the end I found myself living a voyeuristic life. I was watching others live great lives, accomplish great things, pursue great dreams. I seemed satisfied sitting there, eating my popcorn and drinking my pop. But sooner than later I was overwhelmed by the deep dissatisfaction of simply existing. Though I was living in the same place, I was nothing more than a drifter. Eventually, listening to the stories of others, or watching them, as the case may be, is not enough to satisfy the deepest longings of the soul. I desperately wanted my own story to tell, but how can you tell a story you've never lived?

Then I met a man who told me everything I'd ever done—and perhaps even more painful, everything I had neglected to do. He also began to tell me a story of a life that had yet to be lived. He saw things in me that I could not see in myself. He believed in me even when I did not believe in Him. He began to tell me a story—an epic tale waiting to be written.

Of course, there was one catch. This story of epic proportion could be written only if God was the central character and primary author. I would not be a passive participant in its development, but it was, without question, a story that I could not create on my own. It would require that I yield my life to Him and follow Him with reckless abandon. And so the week of my twentieth birthday, I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ. I could never have fully seen or imagined how great a quest my life would actually become.

A LIFE STORYBOARD

This book has one purpose: to help you discover your epic tale waiting to be written. The design is a life storyboard. Directors always storyboard great films before they show them on the screen. They identify each scene of the movie, briefly develop it, and place it in its logical order of the story line. The personal purpose of this process is to engage you in the proactive creation of your future life, to, in essence, develop the potential scenes of the future God desires for you.

You will not find or usher in the life God desires for you through passive faith. God does not create the life of your dreams if you simply sit around and daydream. Life isn't something that God just does for you as you sit idly by. God created you to be an active participant in the divine story. You may not believe it right now, but there is an epic tale of your life waiting to be written.

Every guy I know dreams of living a heroic life. I'm convinced that's because within the heart of every man there is a God-breathed dream waiting to be awakened. Even more profound than this is the reality that your life is the result of the dreams of God. You were first in the mind and heart of God. You exist because God had you in mind. No wonder we are inspired by dreams that call us to live beyond ourselves.

The pages ahead will take you through a process intended to unearth the warrior's heart within you, to unleash your generative spirit, and to open up your divine imagination. This will require that you embark on three quests: a quest for honor, a quest for nobility, and a quest for enlightenment. Within each section is a trilogy that contains the virtues needed to complete your quest. Uprising is a revolution of the soul that produces a transformation of your life. Uprising is an inward journey that has outward impact.

Some of the exercises may be new to you, and even a bit uncomfortable. I am working from the conviction that there is much that has already happened in your life that God desires to use as material to shape your future. We will reflect on past experiences, both failures and successes, and take time to gather learning from those events. We will storyboard contrasting scenarios to consider what your life will look like if you do, or do not, choose the direction of these quests.

The origin of the storyboard goes back to ancient History. Leonardo da Vinci invented the storyboard process, among many other inventions. Walt Disney later resurrected the storyboard concept, using it at a tool to develop one frame of a motion picture at a time. Today, Disney University teaches people to storyboard, and I will show you how to apply this concept to your life.

THREE STAGES OF EACH QUEST

In each quest, I will guide your life storyboard through three stages: Terrain Assessment, Character Development, and Quest and Conquest.

TERRAIN ASSESSMENT

In each chapter, you'll be asked to take time to do a Terrain Assessment of where you are at the present time. If you're not happy with the environment you're living in right now, a part of the process of your life storyboard is to change your environment and come back and write a new life storyboard. These four environments are as follows:

1. Desert (I feel as if I've lost my way.)

2. Marshland (I want to move forward, but I am stuck.)

3. Forest (I know what I need to do, but can't find my way through it.)

4. Jungle (I'm living a wild and passionate life.)

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

In each chapter, I'm going to ask you to be as honest as you can when assessing what kind of character you reflect right now. Remember the important phrase right now. You can change. In fact, that's the whole purpose of this process: to awaken the hero within you. Sometimes we want to be the hero, but we've actually chosen a different role. When I watched Braveheart, I wanted to be William Wallace, but I have to admit that there have been times when I am far more like Robert the Bruce.

QUEST AND CONQUEST

The third stage is Quest and Conquest. This stage offers the strategy you must engage to move from beginning the quest to experiencing conquest. You will want to be as specific as possible as you work through this section and plan actions to improve your storyboard. I f you do this part well, you'll have a game plan that you can implement right away. The process is:

1. Identify your enemy (your present primary opposition to fulfilling this quest).

2. Choose your battleground (most important arena in your life where you need to secure victory).

3. Secure your resources (specific Scripture and biblical principles essential for this conflict).

4. Rally your troops (men you invite into your life to help you see this through).

5. Engage the battle (the action you need to take to begin your epic tale waiting to be written).

YOUR ULTIMATE DESTINATION

The ultimate destination in the quest for honor is to awaken your warrior heart; in the quest for nobility, to awaken your inner poet; in the quest for enlightenment, to awaken the sage within you.

Images throughout the Scriptures and throughout history inspired this trilogy. Paul spoke of faith, love, and hope. As we live by faith, we become the warrior; as we are known by love, we become the poet; as we become a voice of hope, we become the sage. The same triad is expressed in the life of David of Israel. We find David the warrior slaying the giant Goliath; we find David the poet dancing without shame as he worshipped God; we find David the sage not only in his imagery in Psalm 1, but also through the desire of his son Solomon, who, when given the opportunity, chose wisdom above all possessions.

I'm convinced that within every man there is a warrior-poet-sage waiting to be awakened. Strangely enough, ancient Celtic culture organized society around three different structures. The first were those who were noble by birth, and they were considered the Warrior Orders. They were the men we came to know as knights. The second two orders were nobles by office: The Bardic Poets were everything from the creators of poetry and music for the pleasure and glorification of their Lord, to the historians and judges who ensured that the most common of men received justice. The Priests considered every thought, word, and deed sacred. In ancient Celtic worship, the priest was not so much a go-between negotiating between God and man but one who saw the sacredness in everything, in every moment of every day. It is easy to translate how we, too, must learn to see God in everything.

Sun Tzu, as translated in The Art of Wan describes the commander of great armies as standing for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness. Three of these describe the ultimate outcome of our quests: our quest for honor results in courage, our quest for nobility results in generosity, and our quest for enlightenment results in wisdom.

Why embark on quests? At the core of every man is a passionate heart waiting to be ignited for all that is good. Jeremiah described his own heart when he declared,

But if I say, "I will not mention him

or speak any more in his name,"

his word is in my heart like a fire,

a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;

indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:9)

These words are what I've considered my life verse for the last twenty-five years. The problem, of course, is that sometimes our passion is snuffed out and we become apathetic. At other times we misdirect our passions and burn a fire that ends up consuming us and destroying everyone around us. Here is a picture of how our passions play themselves out when either misdirected by our own flesh or directed by the Spirit of God. This graph informs all of the quests that you will encounter in the pages ahead.

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The course we choose will determine whether we become self-seekers or like Jesus our Servant King. These two divergent directions will always pull at us. It is my hope that sharing from my own story will free you to share and shape your own. In each chapter where we are challenged by a unique virtue I have included a letter to my son, Aaron. It is an open letter of intimate nature. I place these here as a gift to him and to you. Let me encourage you to share your life and heart with your sons and brothers. This journey is meant to be shared.

THE PROMISE KEEPER'S QUEST

I'm thankful to Promise Keepers for their desire to align themselves with the theme and content of Uprising. I have spoken at Promise Keepers' events for the past four years and have witnessed the gatherings of tens of thousands of men and boys who desire to follow Christ and become more like Him. Since its inception, Promise Keepers has ignited and united men to live out seven promises, and I have personally witnessed the hunger in men's hearts to do so.

A PROMISE KEEPER IS COMMITTED:

1. To honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and obedience to God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. To pursuing vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.

3. To practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.

4. To building strong marriages and families through love, protection, and biblical values.

5. To supporting the mission of his church by honoring and praying for his pastor, and by actively giving his time and resources.

6. To reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.

7. To influencing his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).

The Uprising message answers the question: How do I keep these promises? And I have written and designed this Uprising Experience: A Personal Guide to the Revolution of the Soul specifically to help a man not merely make commitments but understand the quests and journeys of the heart that enable him to keep them. Because the seven promises are relational, beginning with a man's relationship to Jesus Christ and then affecting his relationships at home, work, church, and in his community, and because the Uprising message is about a