media
There were two earthquakes in Canterbury last week. One was the actual earthquake that has created such fear and anxiety throughout the region and headlines around the world. Every image and every sound-byte is still so compelling. The bill will press on beyond NZD2 billion. The great ‘act of God’ in this disaster is that…
READ MOREThere are some remarkable things about the USA (for example, where would you find billionaires – in any currency – coming together to commit themselves to giving half of their wealth away? Amazing)… … but Fox TV is not one of them. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to read that their ratings are soaring.…
READ MORENike has done it again. Another great advertisement (and far better than the Tiger Woods one at the time of the Master’s last month!)… But I suffer from a compulsive behaviour disorder. I love reading cultural texts theologicially. When I do so four observations surface. the indispensable word Amidst the staccato imagery and the throbbing…
READ MOREI often receive disbelieving looks from friends in Britain, Australia and the USA when I claim that New Zealand is more secular, more anti-Christian, than any of their countries. So conscious are they of the challenge which they face that they find it difficult to believe that somewhere else could be harder. But maybe this…
READ MOREGod has been speaking to me recently about my capacity to think critically. It tends to gush a bit too much. It overflows into areas of life and relationships where it need not be – and really should not be. Come, Holy Spirit, and help me be more careful…and please be patient with me while…
READ MOREI went to see Sherlock Holmes (the movie, not the person). Yet another dark movie. Not only is so much of it filmed at night, or in the shadows, or with the lights out – but creative energy is poured far more into portraying evil than good. There has been a string of movies like…
READ MOREI have been thinking a bit about Tiger Woods recently… The dynamics at work in public and private life are worth considering. Celebrities like Tiger have no qualms about using the media to magnify their lives on the global stage, increasing their fame and fortune as they do so. But the necessary consequence of this…
READ MOREThis year of 2009 has had some sad and unique features for me. I do not remember a year when I have known so many people struggling with cancer nor a year when I have known so many marriages under stress to the point of breaking apart. On the cancer front, my wife Barby attended…
READ MOREEvery now and then my frustration with the media builds and builds until it bursts into a post. Today is such a day. (a) Television in NZ has joined the global craze for “breaking news” flashes across the screen. While this creates an immediacy and an intensity designed to hold viewers, none of this should…
READ MOREThe TV show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has thrown up another delightful story. A year ago I posted the clip with little Andrew Johnston (Watch and Weep – 17 April 2008) and now Susan Boyle has arrived. Susan surpasses Andrew in that when Andrew opened his mouth everyone was with him – when Susan opens her…
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.