spirituality
Last month Barby and I went off on a little holiday. We stopped at Lake Taupō and walked into town along the lakefront. The day was drawing to a close. The toi toi waved to us as we passed by. Their beauty—ever resilient, yet fragile—always captivates me. Barely 30 minutes later, we were retracing our steps…
READ MORE
They are remembered for everything they aren’t. That is a clumsy paraphrase of an observation JI Packer once made about the Puritans. What comes to mind today with a word like ‘puritanical’ is such a long way from what the Puritans actually believed and how they lived—more than 400 years ago. A long way? From…
READ MORE
Maria lived through the Nazi occupation of Holland. At one point, at 11 years of age, she pushed her pram down a road lined with soldiers, transporting a forbidden radio hidden under her dolly. Imagine it. Suddenly, I have this inner stirring to be a movie director. That is not all. Her family hid two…
READ MORE
When you are on a summer holiday in a small-ish house with a large-ish number of people and a cyclone shows up, it is time to be creative. Barby came to the rescue, with her latest purchase from the ‘adult colouring books’ (ACBs) genre. While they were a craze a decade ago, Barby has been…
READ MORE
Like many of you, I am always ready to engage with new insights on leadership. This book draws on “the great wayfinding tradition of the Polynesian navigators” (xiii). Most of you live far from Polynesia, so please stick with me through unfamiliar surroundings! It will be worth it… Drawing near to it There is a…
READ MORE
The last time I was in the Blue Mountains, in 2011, a funeral was on my mind. My father had died in Auckland on a Wednesday. The funeral was set for the following Monday. And I faced the dilemma of whether to fulfil a commitment to speak at a mission conference in Katoomba from Friday…
READ MORE
After several days of cloudy skies, the evening sun returned to suggest a spectacular view. So we drove to the car park and walked up to Latrigg View — to be greeted by this vista of Keswick, Derwentwater and the mountains beyond… With this post already taking shape in my mind, I just had to…
READ MORE
Over the years I have enjoyed taking two pilgrimages. One is to Rangihoua Bay, about 200km north of Auckland — and Marsden Cross, the site of the first preaching of the gospel here in Aotearoa New Zealand, in 1814. On one occasion, as a way to celebrate my 50th birthday, 30 friends joined me in…
READ MORE
There is so much to like about God. Right near the top of my list is the way he works in anyone and everyone, helping shape them into all they are designed to be. Then he invites, or calls, them to join him in making the world all it is designed to be. He is…
READ MOREWhen Langham Preaching’s Global Leadership Team meets, Lord-willing, in the UK in June it will be 1163 days since we’ve been in-person together. During this covidian season we’ve gathered on Zoom for two hours a week, three weeks out of four. We’ve grown closer together, while apart, for various reasons — most notably God’s gracious…
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.