family
Six generations of my family have loved ‘Little Huia’ – west of Auckland, on the road to Whatipu. It is nestled in an unspectacular valley which finds its way down to a nondescript beach – but we love it. On the road 50 years ago, with my grandma and siblings, pointing the way on the…
READ MOREWhen I was little we lived at 707 New North Rd (Auckland). When I was 3 we moved to India (Chandigarh, Herbertpur…). When I was 7 we moved to 707 New North Rd (Auckland). When I was 8 we moved to India (Landour, Old Delhi …). When I was 12 we moved to 707 New…
READ MOREWhen we had a little book written on my father’s life, we called it Surprised by Obedience. That title seemed to catch the twists and turns of his life and the way God kept calling him away from areas of proven skill and gifting. [NB: I’ve posted some tributes to my Dad here and here and here].…
READ MOREOver Christmas I spent time getting to know Aung San Suu Kyi. I started with Justin Wintle’s book, Perfect Hostage, picked up at the bookshop in the departure area of Phnom Penh airport. Given the recent developments in the story, it is a bit dated (2007). However I found it valuable to begin my pilgrimage with…
READ MOREParents tend to search for significance in the naming of their children. Barby and I are no different. A few things have happened this Christmas to bring this to mind, particularly with our three boys a long, long way away. Starting with the youngest, Joseph Daniel. Joseph and Daniel are the two prominent male characters…
READ MOREIt has been a long time coming. The final frontier. Through these 29 years in New Zealand, it is the only part of the country in which we have never holidayed. The East Cape. Not any more. Barby and I – together with our daughter Bethany – have just returned from a week travelling around the…
READ MOREThis week I had the 32nd anniversary of my 21st birthday. Here is the group of friends that celebrated way back then – it was touch rugby on the tennis courts, from memory. BACK ROW Gavin McConnell, together with Michelle, had a lengthy period overseas with Interserve and now run Piringa, a place people can go…
READ MOREIt is one of the most eloquent of all Christian truths – the imago dei. Human beings are made in the image of God. There is a God-likeness about us which grants every person a dignity. ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness’ (Gen 1.27). Imagine what the world would be…
READ MOREIt is a big day today. It is one year since my father died. Sometimes I wish I could rewind those final days, play them again, and slow them down. It is all such a blur. I had no idea that everything would happen so quickly. On a Friday we realised the end was coming. He…
READ MOREToday is our 30th wedding anniversary… Barby and I met before we can remember. The year was 1963. The setting was probably a church creche in the Himalayan hill-station of Mussoorie. I may have pinched her, making her cry, and have spent the rest of my life trying to put things right. Her dad was…
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.