Methodist Blogger Profile: Dave Warnock

I'm starting a new, long series of posts at Locusts & Honey that will present biographies of Methodist bloggers. I think that these profiles will be useful tools for drawing the Methodist blogosphere together, and I hope to present many more in future weeks. An archive of blogger profiles will be listed in the left-side column under "Methodist Meta-Blogging".

I am indebted to Norm Geras for inventing the simple, yet brilliant idea for blogger profiling, and permitting me to copy his idea without objection. I lifted many of the interview questions directly from Prof. Geras' own work.

Our first subject is Dave Warnock, a British Methodist who blogs at 42.

Mr. Warnock was born in Wolverhampton in December, 1964. He lived in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, from the ages of 2 to 11, when he moved to Crawley, West Sussex. From there, he went on to the University in Manchester (UMIST - University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) where he read Management Sciences. He met Jane, his wife, in his final year when she started her degree. They were married in July of 1988.

After he completed University, he worked for the United Bible Society for over 9 years, mostly as a computer consultant for the Europe/Middle East Region. He then spent 2.5 years as a software developer/team leader at City Networks Ltd in the City of London.

In 1998, Mr. Warnock started his own company, initially writing fundraising software for Bible Societies and over time added work on web applications and web hosting.

In September of 2001, he started training part-time for the Methodist Ministry. He will be starting as a full-time Probationary Minister in the Methodist Church at the end of this summer.

Mr. Warnock and Jane have three sons, aged 13, 11, and 7.

Why do you blog?

My wife thinks it is because I am a sad geek with no life. Other than that I like to think I do it for several reasons

- to make friends and spend time with them
- to file things I find interesting so I can find them again
- to see if it is possible to introduce theological issues to people
reading technical posts
- to add balance to what has seemed to be a world dominated by the
secular and right wing conservative
- to practice theological reflection

What has been your best blogging experience?

Connecting with others for example where posts bounce to and fro. Being welcomed and accepted into new communities such as the Methodist Blogroll.

What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger?

Read blogs for a while get into a community with bloggers you like, experiment with something free first, experiment with the content style etc. Then launch and remember that the long tail will apply to your blog so your oldest content will be found and read forever.

If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?

If they have to be individual sites then
Richard Hall/Connexions
Tim Bray/Ongoing
Linux Weekly News (it is the only on-line news I pay a subscription for)

If aggregators are allowed then I think we need a planet Methodism, until then Connexions fits the uk scene best so far
Planet Sun
Planet Python

Who are your spiritual heroes?

Martin Luther King
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Gandhi
Jurgen Moltmann
John Wesley
Plus loads of students, ministers and faithful congregations I have met during my training.

What are you reading at the moment?

6 or so books for essays on liturgy and hermeneutics. Plus "A generous orthodoxy" by Brian McLaren

What is your favourite hymn?

I find these single choices impossible. I love these 4:

THOU who camest from above
The pure celestial fire to impart,


All I once held dear, built my life upon


The Servant King


We want to see Jesus lifted high

Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind?

It might be easier to ask what I have not changed my mind on ;-) I think my overall stance has been more influenced towards pacifism and justice while becoming less prescriptive.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat?

Christian Faith is a personal thing disconnected from Christ and his Church that should not affect the whole of life or other people.

If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be?

Currently it would be to throw the governments support behind the Make History Poverty campaign i.e. Trade Justice; Drop the Debt; More and better aid.

If you could effect one major policy change in the Methodist Church, what would it be?

For the Churches I would be throwing my weight behind Mike Bossingham's Building Family Friendly Churches project. For the "Church" I would be pushing for much more open use of Internet technologies e.g. a weblog for the president of conference etc, rss feeds for methodist.org.uk [now happened] and a planet methodist for all methodist church weblogs. More IT support for Churches and Ministers. For extending the Church I would be reversing the experiment to reduce the the academic requirements of Foundation Training for the ministry.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?

God can have the most surprising plans for you, following them is shocking - but amazing, go for it.

What, if anything, do you worry about?

Essay deadlines ;-)

If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently?

Brush my teeth more consistantly.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)?

Northamptonshire, specifically a lovely town called Raunds. As a strange conncidence that is where the Methodist Church have stationed me from this summer.

What do you like doing in your spare time?

Cycling particularly on recumbent bikes/trikes.
Sailing
Watching films particularly romantic commedies
Blogging

What is your most treasured possession?

If this is the "what would I save if there were a fire" question then I would only care about my wife and kids. I love my recumbent trike (Trice XXL), but not to die for. I guess my memories would be the hardest posession to lose.

What talent would you most like to have?

Languages (other than programming ones). I worked with Bible Translation consultants when I was with the United Bible Societies, they amazed my and so I would love to have the ability to translate scripture.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be?

The immediate trite answer that moves me most at the moment would be myparents and wife. Both my parents died from cancer in 2004 and I miss them terribly.