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The value of Alister Chapman’s new book on John Stott lies with the fact that he does not appear to be a fan. A different voice has joined the conversation. And one senses that this conversation on Stott’s legacy is about to get thicker and deeper – and more intriguing (not the least because the…
READ MOREMany years ago I was arrested by a sentence about leadership at the start of a book from Kouzes & Posner: We treat leadership as a learnable set of practices … we hope to demystify it and show how each of us has the capacity to lead. (The Leadership Challenge, xxiv). Then along came Simon…
READ MOREHave you ever wondered who are the best hitters of a cricket ball in history? Probably not – but I have… Focusing on test cricket (as it is the truest and purest form of the game) and using cricinfo’s table, which has hitting 30 sixes as the benchmark by which to be noticed, then here is…
READ MOREIt is one of the books of the decade for me (NB: pages 273-275 provide an excellent summary of the argument): James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World (Oxford University Press, 2010). In trying to distill its influence, three affirmations come to mind. 1. Our understanding of culture and change can be so wrong Using words like ‘flawed’…
READ MOREDon’t ever tell me that the power of words has diminished. Don’t ever tell me that the age in which monologue is effective has ceased. Don’t ever tell me that words which sound nice together cannot be compelling. Don’t ever tell me that phrase-crafting and word-smithing and picture-painting is not worth the effort. Have a…
READ MOREI am a timid chap. Always have been. Always will be. If I was to look at the sum of all my fears, dogs and flying figure regularly in the top ten. Not without good reason, I might add. As a little newspaper-delivery boy I had an awful experience of being bitten – and I’ve…
READ MORELast night was a night to remember. Our son Stephen organised a knowledge-acquiring, fund-raising event focused on the DR of Congo. He has been in and out of the homes of about seven Congolese families in Auckland over recent months and they were well-represented at the event. Then there were church friends, members of the…
READ MOREOf all the Timothy Keller books which I have read, Generous Justice may well be his finest and most important. Keller’s very last sentence captures his purpose with the book: ‘A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith.’ (189). There is something ever…
READ MOREI owe a lot to John Graham. So when I went to Whitcoulls intent on finding the Steve Jobs’ biography for some light Christmas reading, I was easily distracted by Bill Francis’ Sir John Graham: Sportsman, Master, Mentor – and devoured it in a couple of days. It was 1977. In their wisdom, my parents…
READ MOREI’ve struggled to be happy this Christmas. It was the Friday before Christmas that did it to me. In the morning I try to absorb the news that an enduring and close friend has a brain tumour. Cancer is sinister, evil. At midday I attend a funeral for the father of my brother-in-law. A simple,…
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.