Erwin McManus Confesses He Capped His Own Income for Decade Over Religious Shame

What was said

"My wife and I lived on a salary of less than $12,000 for 10 years because I thought it was ethically wrong for me to make money. We slept on the floor. I wouldn't buy a bed because I told her that was a luxury, not a necessity. And I remember one day I said, I think God told me it's okay for me to make money. And she goes, you can make money? I said, oh, I've always known how. I just would have to stop myself."

Mosaic Church founder Erwin McManus revealed he artificially limited his household income to under twelve thousand dollars annually for a decade due to internalized shame about wealth and faith. He disclosed his wife slept on the floor during this period because he considered beds a luxury, and that he always possessed the skillset to generate significant income but consciously suppressed it until giving himself permission.