leadership
In the week before we left New Zealand, an issue grabbed the headlines. Thousands of people occupied land in a place called Ihumātao, near the Auckland airport. It is land that is precious to our indigenous Māori people. Sadly, New Zealand has a history of stealing land and dishonouring treaties and so people gathered in…
READ MORE[Added, 23/05/23: a Parihaka update—see below] I picked it up from someone else. I don’t remember who it was, but I am so grateful. It is now one of the most frequent pieces of advice that I pass on to others willing to listen. With the view that opposes your own, always paint it in…
READ MOREIn training preachers across cultures, it is often a struggle to translate the word manner. And yet the manner of the preacher is too important to overlook. One way forward is to see the sermon to be like a song, with both lyrics (what we say) and music (how we say it). Listeners decide whether…
READ MOREI don’t think I’ve ever read a book so slowly… “Well Paul, that is what happens when you stop to locate every place in Googlemaps and cross-reference every person in Wikipedia.” Yes, I know – but it was so captivating. Austria is now deep in my bucket-list and it has nothing to do with The…
READ MOREAmos. First Peter. Two of my favourite biblical books through which to preach. Doing so, however, creates tension inside me. Amos is a sustained attack by God, through his prophet, on the presence of injustice among the nations of the world – and especially within His people, Israel. It is unrelenting. It is blistering. God…
READ MOREOver this past weekend my (working) life has flashed before my eyes. Barby and I arrived in Penang (Malaysia) on Saturday evening for a little holiday. The legacy of being a former British colony can be seen everywhere, like in the name of the main city – George Town. On arrival we went for a…
READ MOREThe other night it was Brooklyn, an emotionally-charged movie about an Irish lass immigrating to the USA. After a long day I love relaxing with a movie with Barby, just the two of us. Midway through this movie, however, I glimpsed a notification on my phone. Billy Graham had died. I told Barby. Barely a minute…
READ MOREChurch as it is meant to be. That is what I remember from my first visit to Spreydon. Struggling as a pastor of a little church ‘on the south side of the tracks’ in distant Invercargill I, like dozens of other pastors around New Zealand, made my pilgrimage to Spreydon and came away with my…
READ MOREThe other day I did something I don’t often do. I purchased a rugby magazine. The cover had themes you might expect for a NZ rugby magazine: ‘world domination … secrets of the All Blacks’ success … why are the All Blacks so good?’ But it was an article tucked inside the back cover that…
READ MORE“Are you saying that Assad is NOT the biggest problem in Syria?” “Yes, I am.” “WOW.” So I took up her book and read. I’m still thinking about it! The book almost needs to carry a ‘WARNING: READERS’ ADVISORY’. It is not for the weak-minded (or the faint-hearted). I heard Elizabeth Kendal speak at a…
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.