In high school and college, Warner became a Deadhead and followed the Grateful Dead on East Coast tours.

[2] After college, he began discernment for ordained ministry and served as a youth pastor at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Charlotte.

In 1997, after working in the financial sector at Bank of America and Broadway and Seymour, Warner enrolled in Trinity School for Ministry.

The role included spiritual oversight of the camp and conference center programs (including summer camps, a barrier island environmental education program and diocesan and church conferences) plus oversight of 60 employees.

With the rift between the Diocese of South Carolina and the Episcopal Church portending future litigation over diocesan properties, Warner has said that "[n]ecessarily, St. Christopher would be stewarded through management rather than visionary growth.

[4]) Warner returned to Holy Cross as an associate priest and in 2015 was appointed rector of the multisite congregation with a ministry staff of 22 plus two preschool programs at its two campuses.