Born Raphael Sandoval Meza Cardona, McManus is a native of El Salvador. His family immigrated to the United States when he was very young and he was raised in Florida. Little information is available publicly about McManus' upbringing, his move from El Salvador, or the intervening years until his late teen years. Regarding the name, "McManus", "it is not an adopted name, it’s an alias and I made it legal ... My mom married someone who lived under an alias who was involved in 'creative underground economies' ... that’s how we ended up being called McManus."

McManus earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina and his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Serving as a church planter in Dallas he began two congregations where he worked among the urban poor. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he, with brother Alex, were employed to replace what have been called "outdated and stagnant" church leadership teams with "younger and fresher thinkers". He moved to Los Angeles in 1993 where he eventually took the pastor role at Mosaic. Since the 1990s McManus has been associated with the Leadership Network and he partners with Bethel Seminary as a lecturer and futurist.

As Lead Pastor of Mosaic, McManus speaks at four Sunday services (all considered one church) in Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Chino and downtown Los Angeles.. He headed up the creation of the Mosaic Alliance, a loose association of like minded churches. He also presides over the "Origins" conference held yearly at Mosaic. McManus was instrumental in organizing the "Rethink" conference saying "We need to know where things are going so we can get there first" and he catalyzed The Barbarian Project internship, "The greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity."

Paid speaking engagements have taken McManus to over 30 countries and his work is featured in films, articles, and magazines worldwide.

McManus has introduced various psychological personality metrics to the church such as the Myers-Briggs type indicator and Gallup's Strengths Finder. yel? In Recent years he has also founded Awaken, a collection of poets, artists, film makers and humanitarians whose stated goal is "maximizing the divine potential" in every human being.

McManus and his wife Kim have two children Aaron and Mariah, and a foster daughter, Paty.

Books

• An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind (ISBN 0764423061) (June 1, 2001)
• Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (ISBN 0785264310) (September 4, 2003)
• The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives (ISBN 0310254876) (October 1, 2003)
• The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within (ISBN 0785264329) (February 10, 2005)
• Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment (ISBN 0785281134) (January 10, 2006)
• Stand Against the Wind: Fuel for the Revolution of Your Soul (ISBN 1404102965) (February 14, 2006)
• Seizing Your Divine Moment (ISBN 0785263160) (June 30, 2006)
• Soul Cravings (ISBN 0785214941) (November 14, 2006)
• Wide Awake (ISBN 078521495X) (July 1, 2008)

Film

• Crave: Short Film Series
• Official Wide Awake Website