langham
I have a soft spot for Sri Lanka. While I am unsure of the exact source of this softness, there are many tributaries which have contributed to its flow. God’s call usually works like the dawning of the day, rather than the lightning strike. It takes time. However for me, the Sri Lankan tsunami was…
READ MOREIt is months since I posted photos from my work with Langham in Asia. In November it was so cool to have my son-in-law, Timothy (training to be a pastor), accompany me to Camb*dia and Ind*nesia. It was kinda like the old firm of Paul and Timothy being reunited for a journey into Asia once again.…
READ MOREIt is a consistent theme. In the churches, mission organisations, and employers with whom I have been associated over the past twenty years, (almost) without exception they have tackled the same issue: identifying what good governance looks like and trying to make the changes to embrace it. I am at San Francisco airport on my…
READ MOREAs I posted earlier in the year, a project for me in 2012 has been figuring out how to preach from the Book of Revelation. I’ve had the privilege of training people in Indonesia, Pakistan, China (in my work with Langham overseas) – and also people in Dunedin, Mt Roskill and New Plymouth (back home…
READ MORE
It is often asserted that there were more martyrs for Jesus in the twentieth century than in all the other centuries combined. I thought I’d test out this assertion and see if is true – with my trusty The Future of the Global Church in hand. This book has this series of very cool facing pages…
READ MOREAfter a month in Asia Major I return home with a heavy heart. Indonesia, UAE, Pakistan and Malaysia. Places where the Christian minority have it tough. Harassed. Marginalised. Shunned. Slandered. And yes, persecuted. One man with whom we work was kidnapped earlier this year… a big sadness It saddens me, even annoys me. I guess…
READ MOREI have been thinking deep thoughts and feeling deep felts. There is Mary (not her real name). Mary and I worked together for seven years in a previous life. I think she would say that we were good friends. She had been a missionary overseas. There were little glimpses of life being difficult for her back then and…
READ MOREI’m confronting my fears. Like so many preachers I have done my little series on the seven churches in Revelation (ch 2-3), but never have I worked right through the rest of the book. I could use the excuse that my time as a preaching pastor was just five years and I couldn’t cover every…
READ MOREThe value of Alister Chapman’s new book on John Stott lies with the fact that he does not appear to be a fan. A different voice has joined the conversation. And one senses that this conversation on Stott’s legacy is about to get thicker and deeper – and more intriguing (not the least because the…
READ MOREAh yes, one more post to mark my appreciation for John Stott. Here I countdown the ‘top ten’ books (out of the 50+ he has written) that have shaped my life. No easy task – but here we go… at number ten‘The Bible speaks today’ not only names Stott’s deep conviction (“God still speaks through…
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.