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Yachting in New Zealand has always turned my mind towards leadership and preaching. Ever since I read that Peter Blake’s secret of success with winning the America’s Cup was ‘spreading leadership throughout the organisation’, and wished that we leaders could adopt this mantra more often. Ever since I listened to Peter Montgomery’s radio and television…
READ MOREA little more from my “New Zealand is the most secular English-speaking country of all, even if I receive disbelieving looks from American, Canadian, British and Australian friends whenever I say so” file. This week I was in Sydney and a friend of mine expressed how he has regular opportunities in local civic contexts to…
READ MOREWe’ve had our fill of separations – or, so we thought. All those agonising good-byes to parents during our boarding school years. UGH. Goodness me – Barby has not lived within two long-haul flights of her parents since she was in her mid-teens (and that was when she was at boarding school!). But as we…
READ MOREWe become flash and fancy with our evangelism today, don’t we? The programmes. The technology. The strategies. While participating in the annual conference of the Association of Evangelists in the UK last weekend, I was reminded again of three ancient, yet proven, components to evangelism. Are we losing sight of them? Have we really become so sophisticated…
READ MOREYesterday I handed in my marks for the MTh module that I teach here at SAIACS in Bangalore. Then it dawned on me … I had just finished my twenty-fifth consecutive year of teaching preaching in the classroom. Even when I have been on sabbatical, a course, or two, has been squeezed in, here and…
READ MORESaying thanks. Building trust. The first principles of leadership. Study them deeply and then do them creatively and repetitively and you will be well on your way in leadership roles, large or small. Take trust, for example. How do you build it? Well, it operates like a bank account. The deposits are made early –…
READ MOREThe most compelling thought for me over the recent decade has been the idea that the body of Christ and the household of God are global realities, not just local ones. It has transformed my life. On the global stage, 1 Corinthians 12 is still about those who might consider themselves to be dispensable and…
READ MOREMaths, maps and spelling were my favourite subjects as a little boy. A chief contributor to this favouritism was that each subject involved competitive classroom games. ‘Around the world’ was great fun. One competitor would stand next to the other, seated at their desk. A math’s question? A capital city? Spelling a word? Bring it…
READ MOREI may have gone through my entire education without ever asking a single question in the classroom. I certainly never did it in my MDiv (theology), or my BSc (chemistry) days – and I have no memory of ever doing it in high school. The reasons are partly physiological. The anticipation of speaking-up led to…
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.