book review

the undefended leader (c)

November 4, 2009 /

There is something of the concentric circles in this trilogy… We shift from the personal character of the leader (vol 1) to the pragmatics of leadership, specially in its use of power (vol 2) and now the politics of leadership as we discover its influence in the broad sweep of large populations of people over…

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the glory of preaching

October 29, 2009 /

How ironic is this…  With 200+ books on preaching on my shelves and with 20 years of teaching preaching in the classroom and with a multitude of moans about ‘why can’t just one of those books serve as a textbook in just one of those years in the classroom’ – well, in the year that…

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my niece is an author

October 20, 2009 /

Yes, a serious author. So serious that you really should check her out. Jasmine May Dodson has written and illustrated the most gorgeous little children’s book. It is called The Fancy Fable of the Fairy’s Frock. Check out this page: “Left and right they lookedand cocked their headsfor the way they had comewas now gobbled…

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the undefended leader (b)

October 9, 2009 /

Volume Two is subtitled “training in the exercise of power” – and that is exactly what the book covers. Volume One was about locating the source of freedom as a leader and Volume Two moves on to articulate what it means to be a leader – and it is about power. Simon Walker opens with…

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the undefended leader (a)

October 7, 2009 /

In recent months I have been discovering a treasure… Back in 1997, in the months leading up to taking on the principalship at Carey, God reassured me in His call through a (secular!) book called The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Posner). Its impact on me was enormous. Now in the months after finishing as Principal…

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a bucket list (final)

September 6, 2009 /

[NB – I have added now the suggestions of readers to create my final ten selections] I guess you know the movie The Bucket List. A couple of old guys make a list of things they’d love to do before they kick-the-bucket and off they go and do them. I guess you’ve seen the big…

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peter adam’s written for us

August 27, 2009 /

The ‘theology of the word’ is not where it needs to be today. Intimidated as we are by image and event, music and symbol, entertainment and short attention spans, and goodness only knows what else – we tend to lose our convictions about the Word of God and our appetite for it drains away as…

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william hague’s william wilberforce

August 24, 2009 /

On this the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wilberforce, I offer my tribute by engaging with the biography written by former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague – which I finished on Saturday.I have wondered about starting a WWW club for William Wilberforce Wannabees like myself but maybe I’ll settle for listing…

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shane claiborne’s the irresistible revolution

August 18, 2009 /

“Have you read Claiborne’s book yet?”Finally, I am able to respond “Yes”. There is a lot to like about this book.1. There is that title. Ever since I read David Wenham’s The Parables of Jesus: pictures of revolution twenty years ago I have been partial to the use of the word ‘revolution’ as a contemporary…

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indian cricket then and now

March 19, 2009 /

While it will not be everyone’s cup of chai I did enjoy reading Ramachandra Guha’s A Corner of a Foreign Field (Picador, 2002) on a recent return flight to the UK. As seems always to be the case, the sub-title says it all: “The Indian History of a British Sport”. The book tells the story…

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About Me

paul06.16

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.