movies
Long-time-no-write … because Barby and I find ourselves in Copenhagen for a conference (more on that later) with the flights over here providing the opportunity for watching some movies. We’ve come a long way from The Sound of Music, a linear story (beginning at the beginning and progressing to the end) with basically a single…
READ MORELast week Barby and I tacked on a visit to Kanchanaburi after speaking at a conference in Thailand. This is ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’ territory and all those stories about the Japanese using 200,000 POWs in 50 different camps to build a 400km train track in just six months – before the Allies bombed…
READ MOREI grew up with Robin Hood. My Dad is a big fan of the 1938 movie version starring Errol Flynn. We watched it as kids. The storyline has grafted into my heritage. Then there was the 1991 version with Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. And now … on Monday nights the phone gets ignored and…
READ MOREI took my parents to see Miss Potter at the Lido in Auckland. As we walked through the doors into their intimate little cinema on the ground floor I saw a sight I will never ever forget. The front row is lined with these luxurious laz-e-boy chairs. Leaning all the way back in them with…
READ MOREThere was a moment in Blood Diamond when I almost stood up and screamed “No!” at the screen. It crossed my mind to do so at the time. It really did. I was ticked off… At various times in the movie people shrug their shoulders at the mess they see around them and simply say…
READ MORETwo passions kinda animate me. One is biblical exposition with texts like gospel and epistle and prophecy. The other is cultural exposition with texts like advertisement and lyric and movie. Take movies for example… If I was a (youth) pastor I’d organise a retreat for the leadership team in which we watch a double feature…
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.