travel
Ethiopia and its people have such a long history with God. Whether it be all those references to Cush and Nubia in the Old Testament, or the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the court of King Solomon, or that story of Philip with the Ethiopian (a favourite, reminding us that the gospel reached…
READ MOREEarly in 2020 Myanmar was hit by a double-strike: first the coup, then the covid. And now, through 2022, and still living with so many restraints, the preaching movement seems to be making up for lost time. As I went through the reports and the facebook updates, I counted six training seminars already this year —…
READ MOREOne thing life has shown me is that ‘post-romantic’ works better as a descriptor for music, than it does for marriage. While I have little background, and less ability, in music [NB: I find it hard to clap and sing at the same time], my soul seems to recognise a post-romantic composer when it hears…
READ MORE“Oops!… I did it again.” Yep — reading a book while pursuing every imaginable Wikipedia, Google Maps and YouTube distraction. Why is the story so compelling? It’s been called the ‘Stalingrad of the East’. ‘Britain’s Thermopylae’. More significantly, ‘in 2013, it was voted as Britain’s greatest battle after a debate at the National Army…
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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 MORENot so long ago I failed an online Intercultural Competency quiz. Yikes. That does not sound so good for someone in my line of work. It is embarassing. I resolved to broaden my reading and have set a summer goal of reading books originating from different continents. This past summer it was Africa. I made…
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The name ‘Barby’ comes up frequently in this blog. In all likelihood, Barby and I first encountered each other in a church creche in the Himalayan foothills of India. We did a lot of schooling together, especially the high school years in boarding school, during which time we became good friends. It started in a…
READ MOREOne of my little sadnesses is that I was not able to meet John Stott after I moved across to work in the ministry which he founded, Langham Partnership. In those early years, however, he was always present on the agenda of our meetings — with a quiet, mysterious little entry: the snowy owl project.…
READ MOREThe early mornings between Christmas and New Year were spent absorbed in a book: Jehu Hanciles’ Migration and the Making of Global Christianity (Eerdmans, 2021). With a Foreward written by Philip Jenkins and an opening quotation from Lamin Sanneh, Hanciles had me wandering among my pantheon before he himself had written a word — and now he…
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.