preaching
I gasped. Yes, I did. On the morning of 20 August 2018, I unfolded The Times of India – and I gasped. Why? This is what extended across the full front page: The initial gasp was due to my instinctive response: ‘this would never happen in New Zealand’. The delayed gasp originated with the boldness of the…
READ MOREIt is a book written over hundreds of years by dozens of authors in numerous cultures. And yet it is one single story, guided by the Best Director, God, and featuring the Best Actor, God. Yes, the Bible is a remarkable book – and it all happened before the globe began to shrink. In training…
READ MOREEclectic. Always liked that word. Pop across to the on-line dictionary and it means ‘deriving ideas, style, or tastes from a broad and diverse range of sources’. I like being eclectic when it comes to reading books on preaching. Here are four which I’ve enjoyed so far in 2018. Two of the first volumes in The…
READ MOREEdited books can often miss the mark. Maybe it is the absence of a strong plot that holds the individual pieces together. Maybe it is the uneven quality in the submissions. Maybe it is the cost. Whatever the reason, I find edited books can attract dust more readily than other books. But Text Messages: Preaching…
READ MOREThe other night it was Brooklyn, an emotionally-charged movie about an Irish lass immigrating to the USA. After a long day I love relaxing with a movie with Barby, just the two of us. Midway through this movie, however, I glimpsed a notification on my phone. Billy Graham had died. I told Barby. Barely a minute…
READ MOREThree comments about the church remain with me from our time in NZ in December. 1. “Pastor, could you stop using the Bible in your sermons so that we can invite our friends?” WOW. It came from a group of young adults in a church with some heritage in biblical preaching. And here I am…
READ MOREIn my childhood the home was filled with the sound of music. My father was a child prodigy on the piano who later added a celebrated baritone voice to his repertoire. His mother kept scrapbook upon scrapbook of his achievements in music. Flicking through them as a child, I suspect intimidation mingled with admiration more…
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 MOREIt is always good to have a growing edge. When I first ventured into the world of preaching, the passion was to be bible-based. It still is the passion. To work in such a way that the content and purpose of the text becomes the content and purpose of the sermon. That’s it. But as…
READ MOREAugust has become a big month. Four generations are involved. My granddaughter’s birthday is followed my wife’s birthday which is followed by my son’s birthday … and in the middle of all this comes my father’s deathday – tomorrow, actually. It has been six years. I still miss him. Dad in his New Delhi (I…
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.