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Apart from a conference twenty years ago near Utrecht (Holland) and another one ten years ago in Copenhagen (Denmark), I have never spent more than a single night in continental Europe. And I’ve only done that twice (that I can remember). So I’ve never lingered anywhere from the Bosphorus Strait to the English Channel ……
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With snow on the ground, I missed it the first time I walked across it. The snow melted – and there it was: a line in the tiles and in the history of Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H) in the Balkans. Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures Although there is a common culture and language (to…
READ MOREMore than 1100 children were killed during the Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996. The city remembers the children in a couple of ways. Late one afternoon I trudged through the snow down Marshall Tito St from Pigeon Square for almost 2kms to find this memorial beside the road. It is a typical war…
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 MOREI have this fascination with the history of cricket in South Asia. “WOW – way to go, Paul. Great opening line. You’ve just lost 99% of your readers.” “But doesn’t speaking from out of our passion tend to gain us an audience?” “Well, yes … but cricket? … and cricket in South Asia? That is asking…
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Rubbish. So often it is the first impression of India. It seems to be everywhere. There seems to be no system for getting rid of it, other than lighting a fire occasionally and burning it away. However, if you scratch below that surface (!) there is so much beauty in this place and in this…
READ MOREShe may live in LA. She may work with Hillsong Australia, but she is most definitely a Kiwi Brethren lass from the Hutt Valley. Her father was an All Black rugby player, for goodness sake. What better pedigree could there be?! I remember speaking at a conference where I was responsible for the adults in…
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 MOREI don’t like it when I see and hear the inner narcissist in me. A glimpse here. A sound-bite there. It disturbs me. After all these years, it shouldn’t still be hanging around. So when I sighted Wendy Behary’s Disarming the Narcissist, I thought I’d give it a go. Always happy to engage with wisdom…
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.