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The other day I did something I don’t often do. I purchased a rugby magazine. The cover had themes you might expect for a NZ rugby magazine: ‘world domination … secrets of the All Blacks’ success … why are the All Blacks so good?’ But it was an article tucked inside the back cover that…
READ MORE“Are you saying that Assad is NOT the biggest problem in Syria?” “Yes, I am.” “WOW.” So I took up her book and read. I’m still thinking about it! The book almost needs to carry a ‘WARNING: READERS’ ADVISORY’. It is not for the weak-minded (or the faint-hearted). I heard Elizabeth Kendal speak at a…
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With my peripatetic lifestyle, there is a singular joy attached to landing in Auckland. I am home again. Children (and grandchildren) are not far away. Earlier this morning there was the added anticipation that a quick ‘de-planing’ and passage through immigration created the possibility of seeing my daughter (Lys) and her daughter (Lucia) before they…
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This book shifted me. Maybe I should say that in theory, it is shifting me – but whether anything happens in practice, time will tell. Lets start with a few appetizers: “We are oriented by our longings, directed by our desires” (11). “You are what you love because you live toward what you want” (13). “Our…
READ MOREThe other day I sat behind an older man clutching his ear with his hand during the singing. I picked what was going on. The music was too loud, but he desperately wanted to remain among the worshipping people of God. He wasn’t making a fuss, and clutching his ear seemed to be his best…
READ MOREThere are two divisions about which the preacher must be wary. One is dividing Spirit from Word. ‘In biblical thought the Spirit of God is as closely connected to the Word of God as breath is connected to speech’ (John Woodhouse). They belong together. Don’t elevate one above the other. God’s speech cannot be separated…
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It is becoming one of my favourite teaching sessions. The goal is to shed light on a critical word in the character of a preacher and then to open a window on the places in the preaching ministry where this word has relevance. We start by splitting people into pairs. “I am going to put…
READ MOREThis morning it was off to offer a prayer of blessing for the house of some close friends that is taking shape. On the rural fringe of Bangalore. I loved it. As a boy, in both rural and urban settings in North India, I enjoyed being absorbed into scenes just like this one. The memories…
READ MOREIt is early Sunday morning, my preferred time to write a blog. For me this task is in every sense a sabbatical activity, recreative and restorative. This morning I am feeling overwhelmed by nostalgia. Later today I will be back preaching from Ecclesiastes… In many ways Ecclesiastes is where it all started. It is the…
READ MOREIt was exactly forty days and forty nights. Enough time for a flood, or for some testing times in the desert. However for Barby and I it was a more celebratory season, as it was about going home to New Zealand, via Australia, for the wedding of our daughter. While New Zealand is world famous…
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.