adrianwarnock.com » Personal

Christmas rush

hostmaster — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:17:12 +0000

At this stage many of us are still panicking about things we need to get down work-wise before the Christmas break, let alone the things around the house. For me, I am so grateful to God for my wife who takes so much pressure away from me at this time of the year! But, in my business I have yet to get around to writing my typical review of the year’s blogging. It looks like I may have to do that either between Christmas and the New Year, or more likely early in January.

All that remains for me to do before I shut down my blog for the festive season is to wish you all a very Happy Christmas. Enjoy your family. Enjoy a break. Try and do as little as possible, but try to take some pressure off your wife. I know I intend to!

An Old Poem on the paradox of so-called “freedom”

hostmaster — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:38:32 +0000

When I was younger I used to write poems. I can’t remember the last time that I wrote one. I found this when doing some clearing up yesterday at home. I have to try and tidy the room that has doubled as a family “den” and my study so that we can get my son Henry in there soon as it is now going to be his bedroom. One major advantage of tidying (tho it does not come easy to me I have to say!) is that you come across odd things from a bygone era that you thought you had long thrown away. I remember that I was quite pleased with this when I wrote it. I wonder what you make of it all these years later:

Knowledge, freedom, cries the revolutionary
Expand yourself, free yourself from others chains
You can be you
Cast of the shackles of society
Rise up with me, become your own god
To your own self be true

Slavery to tradition, the views of other men
System, so secure forcing you to be “free”
Question not what elders, betters
Those who went before
Inflict upon you
Sons of the Revolution

And so the endless cycle turns full circle
The spirit of liberty devices again
Calling anew
The now old shackles of your “liberty”
Replace the ones your fathers knew
Can man truly be free?

And now, burning in the hearts of men all round the world
Revolution based from first to last on love
Renewing now the ancient paths
True freedom and life
In submission to its source

Cast off the bonds of your so-called “liberty”
Your spirit soars, now in union with its source
Free! Simply be
Earth fades in the light of eternity
Rise up, join us, become one with God
Free to be the real you

Why did you turn into wine? George Warnock sings “There’s no one like you”!

hostmaster — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:01:22 +0000

This is the cutest video I have seen for a long while, even if I am a bit biased!

Eight ways parents can make sure they are not too controlling and over-protective

hostmaster — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:18:24 +0000

Josh Harris posted a very interesting article written by and for home school parents. It is highly relevant for all of us. I am not a homeschooler, though we did toy with the idea when the children were younger. I will never forget a conversation with Mike Hewett who urged me to think about whether I was considering homeschooling out of fear. I immediately realized I was, and resolved that since whatever is not of faith is sin I would not homeschool. Of course it is very possible to home-school in faith, it was just that for me it was a plan that I was beginning to think of out of fear.

But the fear that wants to protect our children is very natural. Inside every parent is the desire to shield their children. Yet we know our role is to progressively release them into a world that contains so many dangers. I know I do not always get that balance right. I know I have much still to learn as a parent. But I offer the following tips taken straight from the article I read.

Avoid imposing Self-Centered Dreams on our children: “It is only natural for parents to have high hopes and dreams for their children. However, when we begin to see our children as a reflection or validation of us, we become the center of our dreams, and the children become our source of significance. When that happens in our home it affects the way we relate with our children, and subtly breaks down relationship.”
Don’t make your desire for success as a parent into idolatry: “When we allow the success of our family to determine our security or sense of wellbeing we are seeking from it something God intends us to receive from Him.”
Don’t emphasize outward obedience at the expense of inward change: “Just suppose that one day, while you were waiting for the apples to begin growing on your tree, you caught a glimpse of a neighbor’s apple tree. You noticed in admiration that its branches were laden with big, luscious apples. What would you do? Would you run to the produce market to buy some apples, then go home, and in the dead of night, tie them onto your tree? . . .It is the same with our children – luscious fruit will be born from what we put into them – not from what we tie onto them. As a matter of fact, in no time, the fruit that we put onto our children will rot and fall off.”
Don’t be judgmental and proud: “There are several serious consequences of raising children in a home marked by pride and judgment. Children may grow up also judging others. Or, they may hide their real values, acting as though they embrace our values, when, in fact, they are simply seeking to avoid discipline and lectures at home. Or, they may see the shallowness of our legalistic faith that consists primarily of “avoid this, wear that, attend this,” and not be attracted to it in the least.”
Don’t rely on formulas: “God doesn’t want us to trust in principles, methods, or formulas, no matter how “biblical” they seem. God wants us to trust in HIM”
Win their hearts rather than only ruling their behavior, avoiding over-dependence on authority and control: “Relationships between parents and teens are weakest in control-oriented homes. Bev and I treated our children as if they were “projects.” The more they became projects, the less we had significant relationship. The less we had relationship, the more we lost their hearts. Without their hearts, the less we were able to influence them or their values.
Strike a balance between protecting and enabling: “All parents shelter – they just draw their lines in different places . . . However, it is how they ultimately engage the world that proves their spiritual resilience. This is because sheltering does not transform the human heart – it merely preserves it, temporarily.”
Pass on a a pure faith which is caught as well as taught: “I am convinced that the most contagious parenting is living a heartfelt faith before your children. Fruitful interaction is not about what you do to your young people, but who you are with them. It’s about having a real faith in God, and expressing it in a real relationship with a real person–not about methods and self-working principles. God intends that the side-effect of loving Jesus and enjoying the grace of the gospel will be that all people–including our children–will be touched by the Savior in us. I pray in Jesus’ name that as you read these words you will experience the grace of God in a fresh and new way.”

Read the whole article and ask Jesus to make you an influential parent.

Risk, adventure, and opportunity vs safety, familiarity, and stability

hostmaster — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:47:08 +0000

Today I don’t have much for you really…just this. I am musing about how it is that different people faced with the same choice will react so differently. Some people have a clear tendency towards risk, adventure, and opportunity while others tend instead towards safety, familiarity, and stability. Still others are more unpredictable.

Which are you? Why? And why do you think some people seem to be wired one way or the other and some are harder to predict?

Is McDonalds Gagging Christians?

hostmaster — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:20:44 +0000

I am here in McDonalds using their excellent free WiFi while waiting to pick up my daughter from her small group. Imagine my surprise to notice no adverts on my site or any other site that uses the great Beacon Adverts service. I tried visiting the site to see if there was anything wrong. What I found disturbed me. McDonalds or their provider “The Cloud” are blocking the site! Here is their reason why:

Access Denied (content_filter_denied)

Your request was denied because of its content categorization: “Religion;Web Advertisements”

For assistance, contact your network support team.

How long before sites like my own are added to the gag list that is their content filter? I know this is only a minor inconvenience at the moment, but the idea of blocking something because it is religious is chilling and sets a worrying precendent.

I do want to complain, and so far the only place I can find information is here, so on the basis of that I completed a form here. Maybe you might like to do the same?

Senna – a movie you should see with your son

hostmaster — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:14:33 +0000

I wanted to write about what was the best evening I have spent for a while. After work yesterday I rushed with Henry to catch a guitar shop which stayed open late. I bought him a Baby Taylor 3/4 acoustic guitar. It is a lovely instrument that brought back memories of my pre-marriage passion for playing. I was never that good, although I did manage to learn a lot of chords, my strumming was never up to much! Still I did play a bit in church. I am thrilled that Henry is so keen to learn and seems to have more natural talent than I. We then ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants – Nandos. They have introduced “roulette chicken wings” and I seemed to get all the extra hot ones, though Henry did get caught out once! Then we found a spot to sit in the car and jam on the new guitar, and it thrilled a Dad’s heart to be able to teach his son some old tricks!

Then, we watched Senna. A more moving film I cannot remember. Senna’s personality is powerfully portrayed. You see a young man infused with a sense of purpose and destiny. He was convinced God had given him this journey. He speaks often in the footage of his relationship with God. As my son pointed out he was far from perfect, for example swearing with relief after one particularly challenging victory. But his determination to achieve the best he could with the talents he had been given is very clear in the movie, and hence inspirational. Every young man needs someone to be inspired by like that. How easy it is to drift through life. How easy to allow others to excel while you are mediocre. We also learned of Senna’s efforts to improve the life of his fellow Brazilians.

Senna’s run-in’s with the sport’s governing body are introduced by a shot of the French head of the FIA of the time being very friendly with Prost. My son, not knowing what was to follow, turned to me immediately and said “Is that right?” The film clearly portrays then how wrong it was, giving rise to the clear impression that the FIA was biased towards Prost.

One aspect of Senna’s death that I had not fully appreciated is that the FIA had that year suddenly banned all the driver aids, making all of the cars much harder to drive. When the first death of a driver in the weekend happened, you wanted to scream at the screen that they should cancel the next days race. Senna, we are told, did not want to race the next day. He even had a conversation with his friend, Sid Watkins, who told him to give up and go fishing. “I cannot” was the reply. That next morning Senna prayed, and opened his Bible asking God to speak to him. His sister recounts that the verse he turned told him that God was going to give the best gift to him he could, Himself.

The accident itself is dealt with respectfully. Its appalling impact on the sport Senna loved is felt by anyone watching this movie, even if they do not yet follow F1. There is no doubt that his death led directly to a vast improvement in safety for others. My only complaint, however, about the whole film was the statement that there has not been a fatality in F1 since. That is of course true when it comes to drivers, but bouncing wheels have caused deaths among marshalls since. The incident involving Massa’s helmet being struck was also a very close shave. I hope I never witness an F1 driver being killed at work, but safety cannot be assumed to have been solved.

I recommend watching this film. We had a great chat afterwards about sportsman-like behavior, and about achieving one’s potential. Even if you do not follow motorsport, this film will make compelling viewing that will leave you thinking deeply about it afterwards.

This morning as I write this I have a headache and am struggling to focus on the screen as a result. I am going to need to take the day off sick. Please pray for me as I have a very busy weekend with 300 leaders, a wedding, church and an opportunity to film an interview with Terry Virgo. I need to be well! I hope to see some of you tomorrow, it is not too late to book in!

Hoping that life begins at Forty!

hostmaster — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:01:40 +0000

As you read this I should be spending the first few hours of my fortieth birthday flying towards home. I hope to be with my family just before the kids all go to school and then have a BIG Birthday fry-up breakfast with my wife! What extra joy to be arriving home on the morning of such a day after a long trip, albeit to as glorious a place as South Africa!

This post was written before I even went away, and perhaps my thoughts will have developed further, but here are my thoughts on turning forty:

Immense gratitude to God for his faithfulness to me thus far. I have been the recipient of much undeserved favor.
An awareness that I might have already passed the half-way mark of my life, and if I haven’t I surely will relatively shortly, and hence a renewed desire to treasure every day that remains.
Thankfulness for the friends and most of all the family that God has graciously given me. I am a loved man, and I am confident that the comments section below this post will rapidly fill with birthday wishes (it better!)
Great hope for the future. As I officially leave the “Young Restless and Reformed” group, I wonder what group I move into. But I know that with greater age comes a greater responsibility to do my best to help those coming behind. May God make me an encouragement to many younger men and women, that they will accomplish more with their lives than I have with mine so far. Chief of those, may my children develop a strong personal relationship with Jesus that will keep them close to God throughout their lives and eternity. Pray for me today that I will be a better father and husband.

People say that life begins at forty, someone once told me that nobody listened to him before he turned this age. I trust that I will have useful things to say for people to listen to, and so ask God to fill my mouth and my keyboard in future with words that will be a blessing to others. May he take from me unhelpful, hurtful, vain words. May he give to me kind, engaging, insightful, prophetic words that will lead others to honor him.

A start of a new era of fitness and wellbeing?

hostmaster — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:04:18 +0000

It will surprise many of you to know I have joined a gym. I even went there today. I exercised for the grand total of 16 minutes. This may well not sound very impressive, but for me with my sedentary job and sedentary writing hobby it IS a big deal! It’s probably psychological but I already feel a bit fitter. In fact I have been walking around all day in my new trainers, jogging bottoms and T-shirt!

One of the advantages of having a blog is you can make yourself accountable. So, I give you full permission to ask me in a few weeks how I am getting on with fitness, and for that matter the diet. This time (and it is only the second time ever) I am determined to make it stick!

“bodily training is of some value . . .” (1 Timothy 4:8)

Farewell, thank you to Annette Harrison, and an intern opportunity

hostmaster — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 00:06:50 +0000

Many of you will not know who Annette Harrison is. She may never publish a book nor start a blog of her own. But for four years she tirelessly worked behind the scenes on this blog and on my book. She would edit, and sometimes re-edit many times over my early writings. I am in the forgotten generation as far as English grammar is concerned. People older than me had rules drilled into them. We, however, were taught by teachers who learned their craft in the 60′s and felt we should be more ‘liberated.’ By the time my own children start High School, they know the rules of the English language better than I did after finishing university (and to be honest, probably better than I do now!) Annette was patient with me when I kept making the same mistakes and even at times argued back. She even put up with it when, in the early days, I often resisted her suggestions, wanting the blog to be “raw” ! My writing has improved no end. But, I feel I owe her not just this public note of gratitude, but an acknowledgment, for any of her friends who read this, she is no longer in any way responsible for any errors you see here! Not that she ever was, of course, it was always ME who made the mistakes!

Annette’s health has caught up with her. She has arthritis, and it is no longer easy for her to sit at a computer for hours on end. You could pray for a miracle for her, but I also feel that she is at the stage of her life where she deserves a rest! So, after several months of her not being able to edit, and me hoping she might return, it seems clear that, at least for now, I am going to have go on without a safety net.

Unless there is anyone reading this who would like an unpaid, and probably under-appreciated role as an intern or editorial assistant on this blog. If you read this regularly, and find my English errors irritating, feel free to drop me a line on adrian.warnock@gmail.com. You could help me a lot. I suspect, however, that Annette was a unique provision of God for a season in my life. I doubt anyone would be able to give as many hours as she did, especially at first. But then I hope that my writing is not now quite as error-ridden as it was back then!

So, thank you Annette, I really do appreciate all you have done for me and, more importantly for my readers! You have had a ministry that has been behind the scenes but invaluable. Believe it or not, I miss having you tear my writing to shreds!

A year on, and a return to the other country

hostmaster — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:25:22 +0000

I have had the pleasure of traveling fairly widely thanks to my job. I travel so often, and at times for such short periods, that I don’t always mention on the blog when I am away. But there is one country that I tend to look forward to visiting more than almost any other. I am of course talking about the USA, often referred to affectionately by us Brits as “the other country”.

I look forward to my trips to the USA because I feel so at home there. I have so many friends there, and so many American Christians from different backgrounds have been kind enough to read my blog.

A year on from my longest trip to the USA and by the time you read this I will be in the air on my way across the pond for just a long weekend. It is going to be a great time, and I am looking forward to traveling with my friend and pastor Tope Koleoso, and to attending the Newfrontiers Mobilise USA conference. This time last year I got to know a number of my Newfrontiers USA brothers and sisters and I am looking forward to seeing them again, and to meeting some more. If you will be there, do come and say hi! Being part of the body of Christ means you have family on every continent. Being part of a family of churches with a shared spiritual DNA only strengthens that feeling.

A lot has happened over the last year, and I am very grateful to God for it. But I start 2011 excited about the future. It is going to be a good year, of that I am confident. May God bless you richly in it, and may he be close to you, and may he use my blog as one of many means of encouragement in your life.

I start the year with three words ringing round my head: favor, breadth and depth. May these three words be true for me, for those I love, and for each of you as well.

Favor – May we know in the large things as well as the small the good hand of our God upon us. May he find us parking spaces when we need them, and open the big doors of opportunities when we need those. May we experience the carrying power of the Holy Spirit. May our lives hum with the efficiency that can come when we are doing exactly what God intended us to do. May we spread the fragrance of Jesus. May others be blessed as their lives come into contact with ours.

Breadth – May our influence for Christ extend. May our churches grow. May many souls be saved. May backsliders return to Christ. May our words and writings encourage, comfort, strengthen and instruct many more than they have previously. May our careers advance. May we know, in short, great blessing.

Depth – Jesus said “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) We could add to that, ” . . loses his family.”

Over this blogging break I have found myself feeling closer to my delightful wife Andree than ever before. I am enjoying married life greatly. We can’t quite put our finger on what it is that has prompted this, but be very clear, if too much time blogging puts that in any way in jeopardy expect more blogging breaks this year.

There really is nothing to gain for me in being some kind of success outside of the home (and how fleeting and relative any such apparent success truly is!) and a failure within it. I want this year to deepen my love for my family, for those closest to me, and for my God. Without deep, deep roots, any blessing God sends in the “breadth” department risks actually being damaging to the soul. I want to become more Christ-like this year. I want to know God more in order that I can make him known. I pray that the same will be true for you.

How easy it has frequently seemed to me to neglect the quiet place before God. How easy to busy myself thinking I am serving a God who I do not honor with sufficient of my time and attention. How easy to forget that my prime responsibility before God is to my family, and then to a small number of people he has put in my life. This year, with God’s help, and by his grace, I will not neglect those closest to me in order to strive to help people on the other side of the world.

And yet, I am more convinced than ever, that if I do not neglect the hidden parts of my life, there will be an overflow. We are supposed to put depth before breadth, and yet so often, as even in this list, we reverse the order. I am more and more convinced that if we resolve to fulfill our private duties better, then grace will overflow and our public duties will actually benefit.

I often tell my children I love their mother better than them. That seems to give them security. And, I am sure that because such a statement is true, I am actually a better father to them than I would be if I was looking to them for my primary affirmation. Putting Jesus first, above family, above church, above ministry, above career, does not rob those other things. For God is no man’s debtor. If we seek first the Kingdom of God “all these things” will be added to us as well. I don’t pretend it will be easy, and I am sure that I will at times slip back into bad, lazy, habits. But, will you pray for me as I am praying for you right now as I write this article:

God please help us this year to put You first, family next, and then content ourselves to fulfill the assignments you have given us, so that we may be truly useful to others.

Review of 2010 part 2

hostmaster — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 18:09:14 +0000

Today, I will conclude my review of 2010′s blogging. At the begining of June I shared notes from a sermon I preached, A People on a Mission. I also began some work on a planned online study guide for Raised With Christ. This included video footage and questions for people to consider or discuss in groups as they read the book. Unfortunately I had to put that on hold due initially to sickness, but later due to a season of incredible business which consumed the latter half of my year. I would like to get back to that and finish it off in the new year. Let me know if you are interested in me finishing the study guide, perhaps so you could take a small group of people through the book together. Hopefully I can get to this in early 2011. If anyone has already thought of study type questions for some of the chapters I would be glad to receive them from you as suggestions.

I also reminded people of Pascal’s experience of God, which brings up a subject which I speak of in the book and about which I am very passionate, and which I believe many modern Christians miss entirely. After sharing the second session of the study guide, I was struck down by a return of shingles . I thank the Lord that the symptoms turned out to be much less severe than last time, although I was knocked out for several days. I was still able to attend the John Piper conference and sermon we had at Jubilee. In the run up to that event I shared some classic Piper quotes about how God demands our emotional response, self-forgetfulness, and sleep. I also shared the notes and video of Piper’s fantastic sermon on the gospel and racial harmony preached at Jubilee. Videos from John Piper’s leadership sessions (which included a great Q and A time) are available at 300leaders.org and I also shared notes on my blog.

June also saw the launch of the audio version of Raised With Christ, so people can now listen to the book on their daily commute. I also devoted my blog to a aseries of posts from Phil Moore’s excellent ”Straight to the Heart of . . .” series. Phil also has a great blog and I have awarded him a Warnie.

July was obviously dominated by the Together On A Mission conference. Highlights for me included, inevitably, Terry’s sermons on Ephesians 6 (See talks 1, 2, and 3) and I was surprised and deeply moved when he recommended my book from the stage, having heard him recommend other books for decades. After the conference I shared the first of what would be quite a few videos from Terry Virgo being interviewed by others that I would publish on my blog this year. I recommend you watch as many of them as you can to capture something of the heart of this remarkable man of God. May God continue to use him to inspire many thousands of up and coming leaders.

In August, after sharing the video of when I was interviewed by Ed Stetzer, I turned my blog over to a series of guest posts so I could take a rest from blogging. September was dominated by the Faith and Feelings series, which in common with many other series I started over the years was not finished. Hopefully I will come back to that early in the New Year.

October saw the launch of the Confluence Reformed Charismatic Blog , and I was honored to be asked to provide the opening post. That blog has developed well and provides a real resource. I was also able to watch and share a video talk from Rick Warren at Desiring God 2010 – The Battle for your mindwhich happily did not seem to generate as much controversy as I suspected it might.

I shared video and notes from a sermon I preached on Barnabas and his prophetic gift of encouragement, which I believe represents a very important message for the church today. May God raise up many Barnabas-like individuals content to not be the “top dog.” I also wrote a post for Church leaders entitled, 6 Steps to handling church email wisely.

In November I spent some time in Africa, which did have an impact on me that I have not shared about here as of yet. I had a good time, and was so excited about it that as soon as I got home I took the kids to a Family Safari here in England. It got very interesting, especially when our car overheated for the first time in five years in the bear enclosure! I was clearly in contemplative mood, and eager to jump off the rat race a little when I wrote about The value of being alone. Then later in the month, I urged us all to Check our motives, and shared notes from a sermon entitled “The Glory of Jesus” which was somehow a hard sermon to deliver, but seemed to be associated with the hand of God’s blessing.

December’s blogging was dominated by my efforts to reach out to Arminian’s on the web with an olive branch, which had began in November. When I put together the resultant series, The Arminocalvinist Spectrum, I decided to include some earlier posts which demonstrate that the seeds for this latest post were already there a few years ago.

I am sure that you will understand that with a schedule that includes a full-time secular job, this blog, opportunities to discuss my book, church leadership, fatherhood and most importantly being a husband, I am very busy! I am not feeling drained at the moment, but am instead mentally energized. But at the same time, I am sure I will benefit from the blogging rest that will follow one final post tomorrow. In fact, I have been resting for a few days already as I set these posts onto autopilot.

A review of 2010 part 1

hostmaster — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:18:38 +0000

The year began for me in Enfield Cineworld where I would of course spend most Sunday mornings, and many other meetings during the year. I love being rooted in Jubilee Church, it helps keep me sane! Tope’s sermon on prayer, and the prayer of blessing which began it helped set the tone for what would be a busy year.

Just a few days into the year my first book, Raised With Christ was launched. Response has been overwhelming to me, as I had no idea how it would be received. The publisher tells me that they are very happy with the first year sales. What interests me, however, is that perhaps unsurprisingly the total sales are still just a small fraction of the number of blog readers I have. That tells me that many of you have yet to buy the book. You know who you are! Don’t put it off any longer, buy it from Amazon.com today!

There is also a good deal for UK readers at Newfrontiers Resources. If you have bought a copy already, don’t forget to tell your friends and pastors about it or better yet, why not buy someone else a book about Easter as a Christmas present? I am also sure that many of you who have bought it have yet to read it. If you have read it, please do consider writing a review, perhaps on the Amazon site. Here is perhaps the best video introduction to the book, it’s an interview with Justin Taylor:

As the month continued, I did my first radio interview and was greatly helped by some tips from a journalist friend of mine. I also spoke for Newfrontiers North leaders on the resurrection, meeting and interviewing Jeremy Simpkins while there – if you are interested in the role of an apostle today, that is a great place to start. As the month drew to a close, I travelled to the USA to attend the Desiring God conference and a number of other events. For details of my other speaking events past and future, see my calendar page.

February was dominated by my trip to the USA which I reported on fully, and shared a number of interviews where I was either the interviewee or questioner or both as in the case of Sam Storms. I also made a rare excursion onto the subject of evolution. Towards the end of the month, Tope showed every pastor how it is done by selling 100 copies of Raised With Christ in ten minutes. He could definitely have been a salesman in another life!

In March I seem to have been feeling provocative, urging us to consider if a lack of joy equates to sin, shared a quote about why literal Bible translations are better, suggested we should be preferentially giving out John’s gospel to unbelievers, spoke of the challenges church leaders face from their own congregations, struck a blow for British independence, and told off everyone who doesn’t clap in church yet applauds elsewhere off, and shared a convicting story about an encounter I had on a train, before finally challenging us that our friends might not know what Easter is all about.

Exhausted by all that? Well, a few days into April I was off to New Word Alive in Wales where I reported on sessions and later shared interviews once more. Sadly my busy schedule for 2011 will not allow me to attend next year’s event, but I would strongly encourage you to consider going if you haven’t been already. I have enjoyed my times at those conferences. I shared some momentous research that showed sex, socialising, and eating dinner with others all make you happier. A big controversy raged online that month, and I firmly pinned my colors to the mast on the side of believing Piper was right to invite Rick Warren to his conference to speak. More controversially still, after sharing an interview with Wayne Grudem on Politics and the Christian I posted a mini-series on why I planned to vote Conservative, listing three main reasons: Social justice, Christian values, and leadership.

During May, I was able to share the rest of my interview with Wayne Grudem. We also had the honor of Matt Chandler coming to Jubilee Church. I got to film an interview and we have preaching sessions as well:

I also attended and live blogged the Dwell 2010 conference and finally met a real friend of the blog, Ed Stetzer. Finally, one of my favorite posts of the whole year was a quote from John Piper on how sentences change lives. Twitter users would be happy!

“Jesus was dead what’s your excuse?” Guest Post from Mrs Warnock

hostmaster — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:18:31 +0000

When reading the story of the resurrection in the gospel of John, my friends and I (all ladies) noticed a small detail which showed yet another way in which Jesus is our ultimate example. Jesus, having been crucified, spent three days dead in the tomb, was resurrected, and did not think twice about neatly folding his grave clothes before departing the tomb. He didn’t just step out of them like some men do with their trousers! Jesus didn’t make any excuses but tidied up after himself.

Now, Adrian mentioned this passage last Sunday in his sermon, but did he notice this fact? I think that its probably something only a woman would notice!! Adrian insisted that I write this down as he thought it was so funny.

The value of being alone

hostmaster — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:32:08 +0000

Today I did something I rarely do. I commuted. Working from home as I usually do, my daily travel often involves merely walking from my bedroom to the spare room we use as my office. From the moment I wake up, my head is usually full of emails I need to answer, phone calls I must make, jobs I must do. I have the privilege also of having a large and at times noisy family to spend my time with. My mind is usually full of a constant barrage of information to process, decisions to make, things to write or say.

As Chrisitians, at one level we know the world of constant mental noise cannot be quite right. And so, quite rightly, we add what can sometimes feel like yet another task to burden our weary minds: the quiet time. And yet, do we ever simply slow down and do NOTHING except perhaps to quietly meditate or pray.

In our business and bustle we loose the value of being alone. On the train today I couldn’t help notice there were two groups of people. Those, like me, trying to fill their commute with another task. Perhaps reading a book, or furiously typing emails. Then there were those who were just staring into space. Many times I have looked at such people with pity. How boring I might dissmissively think. Or even, what a waste of the valuable time we have been given.

And yet.

Today I found myself thinking that just maybe spending that time alone albeit surrounded by people might actually not be such a bad idea sometimes. Mental space to just think is actually precious and life giving. How many solutions to problems that has been bugging people just popped into peoples minds surrounding me on the train?

For so many of us today we are very rarely alone. Indeed my wife often claims that for mums of young children like her, even an opportunity to visit the rest room uninterrupted by demands from a little one is a rare priviledge much appreciated.

Jesus spent much of his time alone. He often withdrew from the crowds. Many of us feel awkward when we do the same. It is as though we don’t enjoy our own company. We would perhaps do well to learn to just hang out and relax with no one else around. It is something that my frequent travels has taught me to feel comfortable with.

Until we are comfortable just being alone, how can we learn to commune with the one who makes sure we are never truly alone? Jesus did not just withdraw to empty his mind or to rest. He did so to engage with his father. I get the feeling as I write this, that to properly connect with God in prayer, many of us, myself definitely included, actually need to learn first to disconnect from the constant demands of others that technology ensures follow us everywhere.

Family Safari

hostmaster — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 07:57:17 +0000

At some point soon I will post about my trip to Africa. But, today I wanted to just share this fantastic video my wife made of our Saturday trip to a UK Safari Park. Obviously not as great as the real African thing I saw, but still when I got home I wanted to share at least some of the experience with them! We have a car that has never broken down in five years of use. Imagine our shock when what looked like smoke started pouring out of the bonnet (or hood for my American readers!) of our car! This happened in the bear enclosure, which was the one place we were not meant to even stop our car! Fortunately it had just overheated and the rangers helped us to add more water to the radiator so we could continue safely. Slightly scary, but the stuff precious memories are made of!

My 4,000th blog post

hostmaster — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:18:02 +0000

In April 2003 I began an adventure that I had no idea would last this long, or have so much impact on my life.

Thanks to blogging I have met friends like Andrew Fountain, I have travelled to churches and conferences in America, interviewed many modern heroes of the faith, had a book published, and most importantly of all learnt a lot from interacting with you my readers.

I am very grateful to God for the opportunities this blog has sent my way. I am surprised by the fact that so many people seem to enjoy reading my witterings. I am determined to try and use the voice God seems to have given me for good.

I know many of you are what in the early days we used to call “lurkers”. That is not in any way meant rudely, it just means you read but have never commented, or in the case of this blog fed back in some other way. This occasion of the 4000th post is a good opportunity for you to get in touch, tell me how long you have been reading, what works for you, and how I could improve. Just send me an email at Adrian.Warnock@gmail.com or tweet me.

My 4000 posts are still available for browsers who click on the “related posts” list that appears at the end of every individual post page, and to those who use the search function at the top of my sidebar. Why not have a browse around for old times sake?

Bringing warmth to a fathers heart

hostmaster — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:18:13 +0000

One of my children came downstairs, after being in their room for ages yesterday, with the following list of verses. They had obviously spent a long time going thru a bible looking at highlighted verses and choosing, as they put it, their “favorite ones”. I think its a pretty good list, actually, and I am grateful for the grace of God at work in this dear child of mine despite all their father’s failings and imperfections. Nothing that I could hope to ever accomplish with the blog will be of more lasting worth than anything positive that I can play some small part in building in the lives of these children of mine. Here is the list (also available in NIV and NLT) which brings tears to my eyes:

Psalm 20:7
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Proverbs 1:8-9
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
9 for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.

Proverbs 11:3
3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Isaiah 26:4
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 40:31
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Ezekiel 33:11
11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Joel 2:32
32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Matthew 15:18
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, [1] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 4:32
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Philippians 2:3
3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

James 1:22
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1 John 4:20
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot [2] love God whom he has not seen.

2 John 1:6
6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Genesis 49:25
25 by the God of your father who will help you,
by the Almighty [3] who will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Genesis 15:1
15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

10 Things I learnt on my summer “break”

hostmaster — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:20:00 +0000

Following just over a month of this self-imposed near-total break from my online life (obviously not including my paid work!) what have I discovered?

WordPress’s auto-publish feature is bullet-proof and a real gift
You hardly missed me as a result of 1. and my kind guest bloggers. Indeed, traffic remained pretty high considering it was August.
Phil Moore is better than I am at explaining why digital fasts are so important.
A week is definitely not long enough It took me much longer before I even began to experience digital withdrawal symptoms.
It really is hard to stay away from the Internet for several weeks. My “fast” wasn’t total as the weeks drew on. I did scan-read Twitter, Facebook and a couple of blogs a little towards the end. I also started to write this post 20 minutes or so before my deadline, and last week even wrote a couple of tweets ready for publishing later when my wife had gone away (the observant may have noticed that they appeared in my Twitter stream and were quickly deleted!) I also and scanned and deleted most of my accumulated emails on the same day. Finally, I started an Omnifocus to-do list to capture a small handful of ideas for things to blog about when they began to hit me about a week or so ago.
The harsh truth is that I really don’t care about what my readers think about me as much as I thought I did (despite 5) I trust I will continue to remember this and make sure that I take more care over being kind to my wife and children than I do over looking after you all! Funily enough, I somehow suspect that the more I focus on pleasing my God and family, the more benefit I may be to you in any case.
Learning more about how to not believe your own publicity is a vital result of such a break. I can’t improve on what I said about this last year. Running a blog can appear to be self-serving at first glance. There has to be a good balance, however, between arrogantly pushing oneself forward, and on the other hand hiding whatever one can share with others under a bushel. I am not sure I always navigate that tightrope entirely correctly, but, you have to believe me that I know that of myself I have nothing to offer you. I will not ever apologize for shouting about my savior, and his death and resurrection for us. I know that if I can point you towards him, and to good resources that will help you in your spiritual journey I will have fulfilled one of the roles that God has for me in this life. It is not the most important one, however. That is clearly being a husband and father, which is much harder than helping at least some of people who read this blog for a few minutes a day.
I remained really quite busy with secular work, preached three times, was on the radio once, and yet removing the digital piece resulted in me now feeling remarkably rested and refreshed. I may need to find some ways to lessen some of the burdens I carry. Perhaps I need a secretary or something!
Just hanging out with the kids in the evenings watching TV, playing Scrabble & Risk with them on the iPad, and being beaten at chess by my 11 year old son is a whole lot of fun. I need to carve out more time to do this better even with the blog up and running. If I could be a better husband and father and a worse blogger that would be fine with me.
Having a break has made me itch to write again, and I have really enjoyed writing this post. I won’t be giving up permanently any time soon!