langham
This past weekend has been in the diary for months as a family holiday. This book, John Stott: a portrait by his friends, has been targeted as my weekend reading matter for almost as long. The fact that John Stott died just the day before we left added a poignancy to the time in its…
READ MOREI’ve just brought up one week (to the hour) in a new (for me) unnamed country in Asia. Most of that time has been spent in the company of the unnamed J&R, D, and R – mission workers with a combined total of 120 years working in this country. A staggering figure! It reminds me…
READ MOREI join the multitude of people across the time zones who will this day be thanking God for John Stott on this his 90th birthday. I cannot be as intimate or as profound as many but his impact on my life nonetheless has been enormous. The Apostle Paul once said “follow me, as I follow…
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 MOREThere is a lot to like about this new book from Chris Wright: The Mission of God’s People (Zondervan, 2010). The writing style and the format of the book makes it so accessible to home groups, for example. The ‘sermonic atmosphere’ hovering around the chapters is suggestive to preachers looking for ideas. It is the…
READ MOREThe Capetown Commitment is now available here. My initial impression is positive. I like the effort made to bring ‘unchanging gospel’ and ‘changing world’ together for this time in which we live. Neither text nor context seems compromised. The initial reading causes heart and mind to come alive to both word and world. I am…
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 MOREIn my work as a trainer with Langham Preaching I am trying to ensure that the medium is as accessible as the message. We want to teach simple skills that are transferable, leaving participants thinking “I want to pass this onto others” because both the content and the methodology builds their aspiration to have a…
READ MOREDuring a recent ‘tour of service’ with Langham Preaching in Vanuatu I was impacted by families – four families, to be precise. from england and germany to new zealand The Shudall family. I like to think of them as missionaries to New Zealand where Andy works as Head of Training for TSCF (the IFES-affiliate) –…
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 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.