While I am an amateur hack-photographer, this never stopped me having a go on the way to creating a memory. Here are some favourite photos from the decade…
 |
| My first ever visit was to the Solomon Islands, where both the setting and the smile are always warm and lush. |
 |
| Women in Myanmar visiting their beach for the very first time. I couldn’t believe it. So we created space in the training programme each day so that participants could go down to their very own beach and have fun. |
 |
| Ahh, the colours and smiles of Africa. Here it is DR Congo making an impression in Ghana. |
 |
| We affirm heart-languages. We affirm interactive learning. This becomes a difficult combination in Sri Lanka where the training must be offered in both Sinhala and Tamil. Back and forth. Back and forth. |
 |
| The Sermon Gallery, where the day’s small group work is displayed for critique (and a lot of photos), is an effective learning strategy, especially when the cross gets in the way, as in XYZ city inside the Big Country. |
 |
| Not only are we committed to training local facilitators, we love to learn from them. It was a difficult situation into which Roland of Burkina Faso stepped that day – but he excelled and we learned a lot under his watch. |
 |
| The training of facilitators will go nowhere without the development of effective coordinators and committees and Indonesia, with people like Dwi involved from the beginning, have set an example for many others. |
 |
| With learning, context is crucial and in Tarata (Bolivia) it impacts the learner in colourful and expansive ways – especially when Alex of Peru is keeping a watchful eye on you. |
 |
| Europe is the area I know the least, but to make a start in little Bosnia & Herzegovina, such an historic land that has known such sadness, was unforgettable. A trip to Slavko’s home of Mostar was the icing on the cake. |
 |
| Collaborative learning works well everywhere, especially high up in the Himalayas that I love. |
 |
| … even if across the way someone has opted for looking good, rather than learning well! |
 |
| Not every region is straightforward, as is the case with the two Arab countries represented here. The average age of the participants was lower than anywhere. It would be good to go back and invest in their future with them. |
 |
| Riad and David, leaders of organisations engaged with training tens of thousands of people around the world every year, lean in to hear a little Syrian refugee sing a gospel song – in Zahle, Lebanon. |
 |
| I have made many friends. Like Johnson. He came to the first seminar in NE India and, almost ten years later, he is on the verge of completing doctoral work in the area. I loved travelling to Karong (Manipur) with him and spending time with his parents. |
 |
| And to finish, here I am with my friends Okta and Kakada, who have both died, after contributing so much to establishing the work in Indonesia and in Cambodia. Thanking the Lord for every memory of you both…  |
nice chatting
Paul
PS: a few more favourites:
 |
| The Hookses in Wales, where John Stott retreated to write his books. |
 |
| Much of the focus has been on establishing a Global Leadership Team and then, through them, other continental and regional teams. Here is that first embryonic GLT at Ullswater (UK) in 2014. And now here we are in Barcelona, four years later (with a few additions): |
 |
| So grateful to Jonathan who mediated this ‘grace given me’ by appointing me to this work. A thrill to take him to St Bathan’s in Central Otago (New Zealand) – one of my favourite places in the whole wide world. |
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
It was my very first training seminar with Langham Preaching. April 2009. We were based at the OMF Guest House in Chiangmai, Thailand. As I wandered the property, I came across this striking quotation on one of the walls: So striking, in fact, that I stopped to take its photo! But is it really true?…
Ten years ago, Ode to Georgetown was my response to being surprised by grief when the only church I had ever pastored closed its doors. Last week brought the news that the theological college which I attended, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), was to close most of its Chicagoland campus. I have been feeling a…
I am neither painter nor poet, musician nor actor. With Art and Music and Drama classes at school, I was present in body—but absent in spirit and skill. However, as a teacher, there has been the occasional flare of creativity in the crafting of assignments. One of my favourites is one of my first ones.…
John Stott was the first one to help me see the tension in Jesus’ teaching on salt and light. They are pictures for how his disciples are to live in society. Salt pulls them in, keeping them involved. Light holds them back, keeping them distinctive. Being light responds to ‘the danger of worldliness’, while being…
WHAT AN EPIC JOURNEY!!
And it's not over yet by a long shot!
You've been such a big part of the epic-ness!
Thank-you.
Thank you for sharing – I really enjoyed looking through those 🙂
Thanks, Heather, for being such a persevering 'alongsider' over all these years.
Paul