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It all started in the seventies. The 90s helped teach me how to worship. Worship is more than singing, but it is not less. In the seventies I learned to love to sing. A call to worship here: O come let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For…
READ MOREIf Barby and I were able to claim a commission for books we have recommended over the years, the justification for doing so would hover around just two. One would be John Baillie’s Diary of Private Prayer for which Barby has had a standing order in every second hand bookshop in NZ (or, so it would…
READ MOREMy dearest son, I must speak to you. Life has caused a reversal But my sacrifice remains. This is what you are doing. This is what I have done. You threaten me with harm. I threatened those who harmed you. You gain by forcing me to go hungry. I chose to go hungry for your…
READ MOREOur trans-Tasman cousies need help. The Australian cricket team is in the midst of embarassing themselves. If they lose the Test starting tonight, it will be their longest losing streak since 1888. Let’s face it – they are playing Test cricket like New Zealanders. But maybe two negatives can make a positive (?!). I thought…
READ MORESix generations of my family have loved ‘Little Huia’ – west of Auckland, on the road to Whatipu. It is nestled in an unspectacular valley which finds its way down to a nondescript beach – but we love it. On the road 50 years ago, with my grandma and siblings, pointing the way on the…
READ MOREWhen I was little we lived at 707 New North Rd (Auckland). When I was 3 we moved to India (Chandigarh, Herbertpur…). When I was 7 we moved to 707 New North Rd (Auckland). When I was 8 we moved to India (Landour, Old Delhi …). When I was 12 we moved to 707 New…
READ MORETaking a road trip through New Zealand, seeing the beauty in both sights and friends, reminds me of the many things I will miss when we leave this country (as we expect to do in a couple of months). However one thing will not be missed. Being casual. It is not difficult to trace its…
READ MOREWhat a disappointment! The best thing about the movie was the company I kept in watching it. Spotting Christ-figures in movies is one of my favourite past-times – and so, yes, I enjoyed all the Jesus allusions. But it was all a bit obvious and silly, wasn’t it? It took me back to The Matrix.…
READ MOREI am always on the lookout for ways to describe an effective sermon. One that I have picked up from somewhere in my Langham work – and now expanded – is to imagine the biblical author in the front seat listening to the sermon I preach from the text. And then ask myself one question,…
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.