culture
It was fun for Barby and I to go back ‘home’ to North India – and to introduce it to our friends of many years, Jan & Bill Dewar and Stephen & Bonnie Bond, whom we first met almost 30 years ago when we started in pastoral ministry in Invercargill. We find that there is…
READ MOREThey say I look like Paul Walker. Well, that may be stretching it a bit. The ‘they’ is really only me. I think I look like Paul Walker – and I could be wrong. Probably the only thing that Paul Walker and Paul Windsor share in common are the initials of our names. He is kinda…
READ MOREWith the power China has – and the global attention it receives – maybe it is time to label Europe the ‘Far West’ and the USA the ‘Far East’…Our labels become dated so quickly, don’t they? East and West? Developed and Developing? First World and Third World? Not many are helpful – and too many…
READ MOREThis book is a horror show. How is it possible that so few years can contain so much horror? Let’s name a few of the ones which Philip Jenkins discusses in The Great and Holy War (OUP, 2014). Horror #1 Not just the Great War, World War 1 was a holy war. Christendom reigned…
READ MOREWith the SAIACS MTh class in 2013 Requiring MTh students to take a course in homiletics/preaching? It is most unusual. But that is what happens here at SAIACS (Bangalore). Twenty five students. Their theses go in on the Friday (yesterday). Then this module starts on the Monday. A bit of a challenge for the instructor…
READ MOREIt’s one month ago now. Two conversations. One in which I participated. One which I heard about second-hand a couple of hours later. But there they are – both running around my mind ever since … and annoying me. So it is back to the purge-by-posting strategy. The first conversation was with a bunch of…
READ MOREUsing a tap to turn off a waterfall in the monsoon. That is how these twin books felt like to me. The authors are trying to contain trends that have swept through society and church and already taken control. It is too late – surely?! Maybe. But I am happy to help them turn off…
READ MOREThe Bible says that God has planted eternity in our hearts. I’ve often wondered whether he has planted cricket in the human heart as well – but just like with eternity, it becomes a planting that is smothered and choked by other pursuits … :). I’ve always enjoyed the game of cricket. The rest of…
READ MOREThere are eight boarding passes in this book. That is how many flights it took me to finish it. But don’t let that put you off. It is well worth the effort: Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography (Random House, 2012). One easily missable sentence captures his thesis neatly. I believe that while geography does not necessarily…
READ MOREI’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to write this post for some months. Take a look at the front page of yesterday’s newspaper. You may need to expand it a bit. These are epochal days in the history of India. News of Modi’s stunning landslide election victory deserves inches of headlines and multiple columns.…
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.