preaching
I am always on the lookout for ways to describe an effective sermon. One that I have picked up from somewhere in my Langham work – and now expanded – is to imagine the biblical author in the front seat listening to the sermon I preach from the text. And then ask myself one question,…
READ MORE‘Don’t focus on digging the garden of scripture for them. Give them the tools that can keep them digging the garden for themselves for the rest of their lives.’ This would be one of the first pieces of advice I’d give to theological educators today. Partly because it is what I appreciated so much in…
READ MOREThis week marks the end of my fourth year working with Langham Preaching. My focus has been on the countries of Asia and the Pacific. Our purpose is not just to train preachers, but to train trainers of preachers – so that a movement can spread, like a ‘benevolent virus’ (as Chris Wright describes it).…
READ MOREThey say preaching needs to be both caught and taught. Both are needed and both have been integral to my story in preaching. I have wondered if the British preaching tradition leans me towards being ‘caught’, while the American tradition has been built more around ‘taught’. catching The first preacher to engage me, in my…
READ MOREFor twenty years in a college setting, I used the metaphor of the body to describe the movement from text to (expository) sermon. It works OK. Head. Skeleton. Flesh. Ligaments. Wings… Ramesh Richard and Richard Bewes are two people who helped me work on the body. But over time I have become dissatisfied with the body. During…
READ MOREFinding ways to engage meaningfully with the Bible in the midst of traversing time zones is one of life’s challenges. In 2012 I decided to focus on one biblical book for the entire year: Revelation. I blogged about the experience here and here. It was so worthwhile I’ve decided to do it all again in 2013.…
READ MOREAs I travel overseas training preachers, there is a Maori word that so often slips from my lips. Before I know it, out it comes – and then I have to explain what I mean. That is when things get complicated. I stumble away and invariably the conversation shifts to another topic, as I am…
READ MOREIt is months since I posted photos from my work with Langham in Asia. In November it was so cool to have my son-in-law, Timothy (training to be a pastor), accompany me to Camb*dia and Ind*nesia. It was kinda like the old firm of Paul and Timothy being reunited for a journey into Asia once again.…
READ MOREAs I posted earlier in the year, a project for me in 2012 has been figuring out how to preach from the Book of Revelation. I’ve had the privilege of training people in Indonesia, Pakistan, China (in my work with Langham overseas) – and also people in Dunedin, Mt Roskill and New Plymouth (back home…
READ MOREWhen it comes to the application of the sermon, it is critical that we consider those unlike ourselves. When it comes to building community, it is critical that we include those unlike ourselves. As a man who both sermonises and builds community this means I must, just for starters, take care to consider and include women.…
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.