leadership
The other day I sat behind an older man clutching his ear with his hand during the singing. I picked what was going on. The music was too loud, but he desperately wanted to remain among the worshipping people of God. He wasn’t making a fuss, and clutching his ear seemed to be his best…
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It is becoming one of my favourite teaching sessions. The goal is to shed light on a critical word in the character of a preacher and then to open a window on the places in the preaching ministry where this word has relevance. We start by splitting people into pairs. “I am going to put…
READ MOREIt is early Sunday morning, my preferred time to write a blog. For me this task is in every sense a sabbatical activity, recreative and restorative. This morning I am feeling overwhelmed by nostalgia. Later today I will be back preaching from Ecclesiastes… In many ways Ecclesiastes is where it all started. It is the…
READ MOREWithin weeks of starting my theological training, DA Carson was making sure we knew about Leon Morris. I was just 21 years of age. First impressions tend to linger. Two of the first books which I purchased as a student were The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross and The Gospel According to John. Leon Morris is arguably…
READ MORESixty-two. It was an impressive effort. Once I finished William Dalrymple’s White Mughals I turned to the Glossary and gave Barby the test. A bit of Hindustani here. A bit of Urdu and Persian over there. A lot of Koranic-Mosque terminology everywhere. But out of almost 140 words, she got 62 correct. Very impressive, don’t you…
READ MOREIn these troubled times, my mind and heart have travelled, yet again, to a hymn. It comes from my bulging ‘hymns I’ve sung only when I have chosen them’ file. The most recent selection of this hymn was almost 30 years ago – and even then I probably chose it only 2-3 times. ‘This post…
READ MORERelay races often make for high drama. Have a watch of this one from 2015. Listen carefully to the commentary alongside as well. Did you catch it? That calamitous changeover. It can be precarious. The relay is such a striking picture of leadership. And it has some biblical precedent too. There is an individual-relay which…
READ MOREIt is eight years since Barby and I shifted our focus from New Zealand to the peoples of the majority world. Back then, in NZ, voices reminded us of the need to be resourcing mission with inspiring stories of relevance. Now, returning to NZ for two months (August-September), I find that our experiences have drawn…
READ MOREThe world is a mess. This virus of religious extremism is spreading, with Turkey and Bangladesh being among the newer arrivals to our headlines (& let’s not forget those who never receive that focus!). Poverty. It is difficult to see how the global refugee crisis can be resolved. Inequality. The blind spot in the USA…
READ MOREI settled into my seat. Some sleep on the overnight plane meant that some sleep on the midday bus was not going to happen. So I leaned back and zoned-out before the upcoming conference captured me. But gradually three conversations, from further back in the bus, began to come into focus. I listened. In each…
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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.