preaching
Not so long ago, Barby and I had a pretty typical weekend in Bangalore. On the Saturday, Barby and I wandered through the local shopping area. She is dressed in salwar kameez (and I am occasionally wearing a kurta). As we wander, it is hard not to notice the many Indians, young adults and young families,…
READ MOREYachting in New Zealand has always turned my mind towards leadership and preaching. Ever since I read that Peter Blake’s secret of success with winning the America’s Cup was ‘spreading leadership throughout the organisation’, and wished that we leaders could adopt this mantra more often. Ever since I listened to Peter Montgomery’s radio and television…
READ MOREWe become flash and fancy with our evangelism today, don’t we? The programmes. The technology. The strategies. While participating in the annual conference of the Association of Evangelists in the UK last weekend, I was reminded again of three ancient, yet proven, components to evangelism. Are we losing sight of them? Have we really become so sophisticated…
READ MOREYesterday I handed in my marks for the MTh module that I teach here at SAIACS in Bangalore. Then it dawned on me … I had just finished my twenty-fifth consecutive year of teaching preaching in the classroom. Even when I have been on sabbatical, a course, or two, has been squeezed in, here and…
READ MOREI may have gone through my entire education without ever asking a single question in the classroom. I certainly never did it in my MDiv (theology), or my BSc (chemistry) days – and I have no memory of ever doing it in high school. The reasons are partly physiological. The anticipation of speaking-up led to…
READ MOREIf I was ever to paint a painting, my only option would be to paint by numbers. The entire endeavour is beyond me. However, if I was ever to write a book on preaching – something I think about periodically … but briefly – the latest option to come to mind is how to preach…
READ MOREI used to play a little football – or, soccer, as my American friends refer to it. Here the word ‘little’ refers both to time and talent. I didn’t play for long and I didn’t play very well. One of the challenges for me was that as I approached a position where I could shoot…
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When my friend Pieter showed me this video of the maiden speech in the British parliament of the 20 year old Scot, Mhairi Black, my mind and imagination hatched a little plan. A bit like coming to a biblical text for the first time, with a view to preaching it. I set myself to look…
READ MOREIt is like recalling a car with a deficient part. I would love to recall all our graduates and put a new part in them – an expository one. These are the words of a president of a leading theological college in the Middle East North Africa region – words which I heard with my…
READ MOREHow is this for a greeting at the front of our local grocery story – Nilgiri’s in Kothanur (Bangalore)? Look at the variety of mangoes. Alphonso seems to be king, but I ain’t fussy. A mela is an event where people gather in a festival-like manner. Bring it on. We tend to take the mela…
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.