The Sixth Sense

Introducing Eric Bryant

One of the privileges I have had since Mosaic here in Sheffield connected to Mosaic in Los Angeles has been getting to know Eric Bryant. Eric serves as an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at Mosaic in Los Angeles.

I once heard Erwin McManus (leader of Mosaic LA) describe Eric as being the guy who helps to ensure that Mosaic actually exists outside of his own head! If you want to get to know the ins and outs of how Mosaic LA functions, he’s definitely the guy to speak to.

He is a very gifted and talented guy who is a real inspiration. He is a great speaker and, on top of that, now a great author too. 

Speaking of which, I recently got to interview Eric and ask him a bit about his new(ish) book “Peppermint Filled Pinatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love”. You can read that interview tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to give a few comments of my own on the book.

Perhaps a good way to express how good a book this is is to tell you about my wife, Rachel. Now, I know this may shock some of you, but Rachel hardly ever goes near Christian books. She struggles to read them, finds them very samey, and hardly ever starts let alone finishes one.

BUT, she picked up Eric’s book at my prompting and that was it. I barely saw her for the next couple of days. She not only started it but finished it. I was surprised and amazed and asked her why she liked it so much. Her response was, ‘I loved it’s wooiness’!

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment, both Rachel and Eric share a talent theme called ‘Woo’. It means they love meeting new people, working the crowd, etc. And for Rachel, she just loved sensing the ‘woo’ flowing through the book. Making friends, building relationships. That feels so real and natural to her compared to all the theoretical stuff that gets tossed around in so many Christian books.

From my own reading of Eric’s book, I just loved the emphasis on friendship and relationship. It is amazing how much easier it is to journey through differences of opinion when we choose the path of friendship and love. And from reading Eric’s book I was really encouraged to keep building relationships with all kinds of people - not people just like me!

So yeah, I give Eric’s book a BIG thumbs up. You should definitely go and pick up a copy if you haven’t already.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the interview with Eric!