To the 2 of you that insist that I update my blog, first of all, thank you. You make me feel special.

Second of all, I have to admit, I bit off more than I can chew. When I started craigwarner.net I had big ambitions and high hopes, but clearly they were too big, I choked after a few posts and my bites became fewer and farther in between.

In my last post I had talked about the possibility of writing some posts about leading a young family and ministry. Well, turns out that things do not slow down after getting married, which leaves even less time for blogging. Although I did finish a book like I had mentioned in my previos post as one of my goals. It was Tribes by Seth Godin. It was good. And I’m only a couple of chapters away from finishing Visioneering by Andy Stanley. Also good.

Also, since my last post I ended up getting married. And it is awesome. You can check out some pictures at legacystudios.us (just enter your info and click next and you can view to your hearts content).

We are nearly into the fourth month of this year, and I have broken my New Year’s resolutions several times over. I haven’t come close to posting once a week, and I haven’t even finished one book yet, but I have started several and bought several more.

But in my defense to breaking the promises that I made to myself, that effects no one else but me, I have been very busy. You see, I am getting married the first weekend in May (Whoo Hoo!) and I have been putting quite a bit of energy, emotions, time and other things that takes one away from blogging and reading books into that. This process of engagement has become much more taxing than I expected. And it doesn’t come from my adorable fiancee, as some would expect. She has been far more gracious and understanding than I probably would be through this time. I have not only been trying to become a better future husband and take care of my details of the wedding, but I also lead the twentysomethings- ministry of our church. And while getting married and leading a ministry are both exciting and a privilege, to think you can do them both well and at the same time is dumb.

So, the only reason that either of them might be pulled off well, is because of the other people in my life that make it possible. From my fiancee to my family to my friends I owe them all a great deal of gratitude. In fact so much that I’m not even going to  attempt to express it through this entry.

But I may be sensing a series of posts coming  about a young guy leading a new ministry and future family through the growing stages of life. But not without your help. I need you to keep me accountable to keeping up with the entries. Please, leave a comment about your interest in hearing from me about this or if you have some advice to offer on the subject. Thanks.

Those four words could not be further from the truth.

Josh and I both grew up in the same church. He’s about 6 or 7 years older than me. And over the past, probably 7 years, Josh has been so much more to me than just an acquaintance. He has been my youth pastor, my mentor, my ministry leader, my boss, and above everything else, he has been my friend.

Josh has taught me how to be a leader. He has taught me how to dream big, and then chase those dreams. And as far as individuals investing in my life goes, outside of my parents, Josh has by far made the largest.

He now lives in Georgia, and I miss him and his family a lot. In fact, the night we helped them pack up, I didn’t even make it to my car before crying like a baby.  But thankfully, due to technology, I can still keep up with what’s going on in his life and he is still able to invest in me via his blog.

I hope that everyone is so lucky to have a man like Josh in their life… if not, there’s always blog.joshclark.me.

Today Barack Obama will be taking the title of President of the United States of America. And because of that, he deserves our support. Regardless of who you voted for, or what your views are, a certain amount of support should be given to President Obama, if in nothing else, prayer.

If you are a Christian, the moment you surrendered your life to Christ and became a citizen of the kingdom of God, you signed on to abide by a higher set of standards. And because of that you have become a supporter of whichever president is in office. You don’t have to agree with everything he does, you don’t have like each decision he makes, but we do have to support him.

My prayers and support are with the Obama family.

Auld Lang Syne was a song I never understood. I didn’t know what it meant, I didn’t know how to pronounce it or why we even sing it. So, what does one do when faced with these sleep-depriving questions, but look it up on Wikipedia, of course.

Auld Lang Syne is translated into English as “old long since”, or “long, long ago” or we might say “the good ole days”.

So, as the good ole days of ‘08 are behind us, raise your sparkling-apple-cider-filled flutes, and toast away auld lang syne, because ‘09 is here with all of its resolutions waiting to be broken.

So, not to disappoint the new year, I have resolved to post a blog once a week, and complete reading a book every month. Now watch my resolutions dissolve, and when you see them dissipating leave a friendly reminder, cause remember, all I have to do is make it through this year and at the beginning of 2010 I can kiss those good ole times good-bye.

What are some of your resolutions?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

The first break-out session of the second day (that makes it the third break-out session of the conference, very confusing, I know). The session was called Pop Goes the Church and it was about leveraging pop culture for ministry and it was by Tim Stevens, who is the author of a book by the same name. Tim is also a fellow blogger (I’m not sure I blog enough to be calling others “fellow” bloggers, sorry if that’s an insult Tim). You should really check his blog out, it’s leadingsmart.com.

People are asking spiritual questions in our community, but they aren’t involving the church.

Reality #1:
Most churches aren’t impacting their community.

Three categories in our community:
1. churched - those a part of the church
2. un-churched - those who have never been to church
3. de-churched - those who have been turned-off by the church for one reason or another

Reality #2:
Spiritual interest is growing in our culture.

“The church isn’t for questions, it’s for answers.”
“How can you get the answers if you don’t ask the questions?”
- This was taken from a conversation found on the episode “Sunday” from the Desperate Housewives series you can find the clip here - Desperate Housewives - Sunday clip

Jesus would look for what grabs our attention and connect the dots for us.

Is it okay to leverage pop culture? - Acts 17

Three ways to use pop culture
1. Use pop culture to package a topic to attract a crowd.
2. Use pop culture to get people thinking or laughing. (Check out this video they did for their series I Love the 80’s - Hey There MacGyver)
3. Provide a new interpretation for a pop culture element.

Pop culture is used to raise issues that our neighbors are dealing with, the Bible is used to answer their questions.

*I was unable to attend break-out session four, I had to head back to town to design a wedding cake.

Dwight Mason is the pastor of the nearby NewPointe Community Church in Dover, Ohio and I thought had a lot of good things to say the whole conference, but here are the notes I took from his main session.

Nothing happens without leadership.

Are you comfortable telling others what Jesus told his disciples? “Follow me.”

“There is nothing more powerful than an example.” - Albert Switzer

Leadership is all about Relationships.

You impress people from far way, but you impact people close up.

Most problems can be traced to incompetent leadership.

We teach what we know, but we reproduce who we are.

What needs to change in my life so that I can comfortably say, “Follow me as I follow Christ”?

Four Things we must have.
1. A Call

2. Character - Personal Identity, Emotional Security

- if we search for the following things apart from God, this is what they’ll lead to:
Significance → Performing → Fear of Failure
Acceptance → Pleasing Others → Fear of Rejection
Security → Control → Fear of Uncertainty
(sorry if this chart doesn’t make sense)

I am not valued because of what I do, but whose I am.

3. Clarity of:
- Who God is - Hebrews 11:27
- Who I am - Romans 12:3
- What my purpose is

4. Courage - 1 Corinthians 9:11, Isaiah 41:16

Shannon O’Dell is the pastor at Brand New Church, he was pretty cool. He was actually pretty funny too, but from looking at him I didn’t really expect it.

Rural America is the greatest mission field.

“If you want to grow a congregation before growing congregants you have missed God’s heart for the church!”

It is not glamorous, but it is contagious.

Galatians 2:1-6

“We have the God of the universe inside us and we don’t believe it!”

Six most difficult decisions for a Lead Pastor
1. Church Structure - you can only grow as much as your current structure will let you
2. Fire your staff that’s not cutting it.
3. Protect your family.
4. Make sure you are called.
5. Dedicate yourself to a red hot marriage.
6. Are you willing to be hated?

“We are BELIEVERS! We believe in salvation. We believe in the Bible. We even believe in the Virgin Birth. But we DON’T believe that God can change our church!”

Matthew 19:26, Matthew 17:20, John 16:24, John 14:12

Tim Stevens is an executive pastor at Granger Community Church, a blogger and an author of a few books, Simply Strategic Stuff, Simply Strategic Growth, Simply Strategic Volunteers and Pop Goes the Church (which I am about half way through and would recommend). I was looking forward to hearing from Tim and was not disappointed.

Keep changing stuff up. - consider the Pony Express vs. Text Messaging (check out this video they did).

Change is Good - Early Text Messaging

- change attracts people/attention
- change creates buzz
- change communicates “we’re not done growing.”
- change focuses people outward toward community
- creates momentum and excitement

Tackle alignment issues. - consider when a car is misaligned, it creates tension.

Make it easy to serve.
serving → relationships → life transformation
- can someone who is not a Christian serve?
- why don’t lost people come to church?
•there’s nothing for them (preaching)
•no way to be involved (small groups)
•no way to serve (volunteering is trendy right now)

The second break-out session I went to was lead by Dwight Mason of NewPointe Community Church on Leading a Small-Town Church (although the stuff he gave could probably be applied anywhere). I wrote down a few things before he really got into what he was going to teach.

God will speak to your heart, then your mind.

God will give you the what before the how.

Admit poor decisions quickly.

Below are the notes from the sheet he handed out.

1. Cultivate a strong vision.
- make sure people know where you’re going and remind them

2. Deliberately build moral.
- low moral is the #1 problem of the church
- celebrate wins

3. Constantly, sincerely affirm the congregation.
- urban people think rural people are backwards and un-progressive, this is not true.
- you get what you think
- everything God wants you to do right now, he has already given you the resources for

4. Build a good name in the community.

5. Concentrate on the strengths in your community.

6. Highlight ministries regularly and make heroes of the ministers leading them.
- the best thing you can do for the people you are leading is to be secure in who you are in Christ
- if you’re not, you’ll clip their wings

7. Plan your people investments well.
- pastor must be a friend to everyone, but spend his time equipping leaders
- walk through the crowd slowly
- Jesus said ” I will build my church” our call is to “go make disciples.”

8. Emphasize excellence within your capability.
- don’t apologize for what you don’t have, celebrate what you do have

9. Plan big days.
- momentum is your best friend and makes you look better than what you are, and the opposite is true

10. Get organized.

11. Let leaders lead.
- let the vision and values of the church guide them

12. Making disciples is our primary responsibility.
- what makes a church grow is changed lives
- leadership is all about relationships and you’re responsible for them

13. Focus outward.

14. Be willing to lose a little to win big.

15. Continually look forward.
- celebrate from where you’ve come, but always look toward a preferred future.