christian mind
Earlier this month I had the privilege of preaching the sermon at the John Stott Memorial Service in New Zealand. I closed my message from Jeremiah 23 by speaking of the sadness of Stott’s death – but also of a deeper sadness. The deeper sadness is that John Stott visited our country only three times…
READ MOREThe Hebrew word hebel has intrigued me for years. It is the word identified most closely with Ecclesiastes. I grew up on the KJV’s ‘vanity’ and gradually shifted across to the NIV’s ‘meaningless’. In between there was time for the GNB’s ‘useless’, the NEB’s ’empty’, the Living Bible’s ‘futile’, and now the CEV’s ‘nonsense’. [Hint…
READ MOREAny close reader of this blog will notice that I consider one of the most encouraging signs of progress in the mission of God in New Zealand today is the growing momentum within the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF). I delight in being on the Board and this past weekend was the highlight for me…
READ MOREWhen it comes to naming the biggest influences on my life, the task is easy. No human beings are more responsible for the shaping of my convictions than John Stott and DA Carson. It is a dead heat – and I am forever grateful. In my impressionable early twenties these two men helped me build…
READ MOREI’ve been reading it three times a year for more than thirty years. It is the magazine that goes to alumni of Wheaton College, among whom Barby (to whom I am married) is counted. It is just called Wheaton. It always sparks a mixture of reactions as I read. One is admiration for the professionalism…
READ MOREOne of the definitive Indian experiences is to travel through the dirty and chaotic city of Agra, turn a corner, and be stunned so suddenly by the marble magnificence of the Taj Mahal. This juxtaposition of rubbish and beauty captures so much of India. You see it on any visit to any bazaar. Noise and…
READ MORESometimes my heart is so cold and hard. For example, last month when the TV News gave the first ten minutes to the story about the stranded whales in Northland, it barely moved me. In fact I was aghast that the story hogged so much headline time. I could argue that my heart was more…
READ MOREThere are some remarkable things about the USA (for example, where would you find billionaires – in any currency – coming together to commit themselves to giving half of their wealth away? Amazing)… … but Fox TV is not one of them. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to read that their ratings are soaring.…
READ MOREIn the search for truth, that pursuit of a certain and perfect knowledge of what is really real, I like the way DA Carson uses the image of an asymptote. IF the x-axis measures the passage of time and the y-axis measures how far our understanding is removed from the reality of the thing itself,…
READ MOREI went to see Sherlock Holmes (the movie, not the person). Yet another dark movie. Not only is so much of it filmed at night, or in the shadows, or with the lights out – but creative energy is poured far more into portraying evil than good. There has been a string of movies like…
READ MOREAbout 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.