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Will there ever be a long weekend like it again? On the Friday we had the once-in-a-generation wedding of a royal couple. It was held in an abbey in a city and watched by millions all around the world. Lots of pomp. Lots of celebrities. Lots of photos. Then on the Monday we had the…
READ MOREI join the multitude of people across the time zones who will this day be thanking God for John Stott on this his 90th birthday. I cannot be as intimate or as profound as many but his impact on my life nonetheless has been enormous. The Apostle Paul once said “follow me, as I follow…
READ MOREWhen it comes to naming the biggest influences on my life, the task is easy. No human beings are more responsible for the shaping of my convictions than John Stott and DA Carson. It is a dead heat – and I am forever grateful. In my impressionable early twenties these two men helped me build…
READ MOREIt has been fun to spend a few days travelling with Jonathan & Margaret Lamb (Director, Langham Preaching – and so he is my boss!) around the south of the South Island, my ol’ stomping ground – and revisiting the places I love… like the wakatipu basinand arrowtownand milfordand st bathan’sand the lindis passand the…
READ MOREHow ironic is this?! It is in Ecclesiastes that we find the celebrated quotation – “of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body (Ecc 12.12).” And then it is yet another commentary on this very same 2500 year old Ecclesiastes which demonstrates the value of even more wearisome study…
READ MOREYou’d think that this child of India would be ecstatic about India winning the cricket World Cup. [The only other time they won it was the only time I didn’t follow it, immersed as I was in theological study in Chicago – a long way from cricket and a long time before the internet…] No…
READ MOREI’ve been getting acquainted with the seventh edition of this “definitive prayer guide to every nation” which is now available as a book and a DVD. What a labour of love this is. And what a contribution to the task of global mission. It should be hanging out in the living rooms, burdening the coffee…
READ MOREPaul Holmes has grown on me over the years. I much prefer him in his current role as a weekly correspondent in the NZ Herald over the role from which he gained his fame and fortune – fronting a nightly current events TV show for decades (it seemed). His columns are powerful. Often laced with…
READ MOREA Jenkins-Junkie, that is what I am… [NB – This one took a bit longer because I left my first copy (almost finished) in the seat pocket when disembarking on a plane in Singapore last year. UGH!?]The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2006). This is a…
READ MOREThere is a lot to like about this new book from Chris Wright: The Mission of God’s People (Zondervan, 2010). The writing style and the format of the book makes it so accessible to home groups, for example. The ‘sermonic atmosphere’ hovering around the chapters is suggestive to preachers looking for ideas. It is the…
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.