media
More than 1100 children were killed during the Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996. The city remembers the children in a couple of ways. Late one afternoon I trudged through the snow down Marshall Tito St from Pigeon Square for almost 2kms to find this memorial beside the road. It is a typical war…
READ MOREI have this fascination with the history of cricket in South Asia. “WOW – way to go, Paul. Great opening line. You’ve just lost 99% of your readers.” “But doesn’t speaking from out of our passion tend to gain us an audience?” “Well, yes … but cricket? … and cricket in South Asia? That is asking…
READ MOREShe may live in LA. She may work with Hillsong Australia, but she is most definitely a Kiwi Brethren lass from the Hutt Valley. Her father was an All Black rugby player, for goodness sake. What better pedigree could there be?! I remember speaking at a conference where I was responsible for the adults in…
READ MOREWith all the fire and fury, shock and shame, filling the headlines coming out of the USA these days, it is easy to forget that over there, in the footnotes, there are so many tender, inspirational stories. I’ve loved living in two of them in recent months – both related to the game of basketball…
READ MOREThe critics tend to hate it, but then I’m not one to let Rotten Tomatoes tell me what to think. Those who lived through the events tend to be annoyed by it – but then don’t they see that the ‘based on actual events’ is modified even further by ‘this story imagines’ those events? All I can…
READ MOREEarlier this month, the phrase ‘fake news’ was named by the Collins Dictionary as its Word of the Year in 2017. [Dictionaries are clearly specialists in words, not numbers – because ‘fake news’ is actually two words, not one!]. They define the phrase as ‘false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of reporting.’ Two months ago,…
READ MOREWhen it is time to leave these shores, the newspapers in India are something I will miss. I love them. We get two every day: The Hindu and The Times of India. They provide the best newspaper-reading experience I’ve had anywhere, just shading the UK into second place. Why? First, a general response. They respect my…
READ MORE“Imagine the biblical writer sitting in the front row as you preach your sermon from their text. Which way is the head nodding? How would you describe the look on the face?” This is such a useful approach to take in the training of preachers. It always has an impact. A few years ago I…
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 MOREThere are two divisions about which the preacher must be wary. One is dividing Spirit from Word. ‘In biblical thought the Spirit of God is as closely connected to the Word of God as breath is connected to speech’ (John Woodhouse). They belong together. Don’t elevate one above the other. God’s speech cannot be separated…
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.