Featured Posts
Recent Posts
One of the definitive Indian experiences is to travel through the dirty and chaotic city of Agra, turn a corner, and be stunned so suddenly by the marble magnificence of the Taj Mahal. This juxtaposition of rubbish and beauty captures so much of India. You see it on any visit to any bazaar. Noise and…
READ MORE10 June 1886Tarawera (eruption) 25 April 1915Gallipoli (war) 2 February 1931Napier (earthquake) 24 December 1953Tangiwai (lahar) 10 April 1968Wahine (cyclone) 28 November 1979Erebus (plane crash) 19 November 2010Pike River (mine explosion) Every decade or two New Zealand is hit with a deep sadness that adds to our self-understanding as a people. Our story can be…
READ MOREI’ve been spending my early mornings in Bangalore reflecting on the similarities between the political cartoon and the parable (and have even produced 6000 words for my supervisor to show for it!) May I introduce you to two of my companions? 1. The first is Herbert Block – known simply as ‘Herblock’. Triple Pulitzer Prize…
READ MOREIn God’s grace and sovereignty I find myself on an extended visit to India at just the same time as the New Zealand cricket team is in India. Like I say, it is all God’s sovereignty and none of my responsibility… Captaining the New Zealand team here in India is one Daniel Vettori. Now I…
READ MOREIt was deja-vu all over again… Earlier this week I taught a class at Laidlaw College for the first time in years. [At reception I was asked to go to Lecture Room 3. “Are you serious? – that is the very spot where I started all those years ago.” I was wearing a baggy sky-blue…
READ MOREThis week I received a photo from India of my brother, Mark, with Savitri. When we were children in India, Savitri used to help my mother around the home. In Hindi we called her our “aiyah”. She was part of the family. We loved her and she loved us. Over the intervening forty years we…
READ MOREIn my work as a trainer with Langham Preaching I am trying to ensure that the medium is as accessible as the message. We want to teach simple skills that are transferable, leaving participants thinking “I want to pass this onto others” because both the content and the methodology builds their aspiration to have a…
READ MOREWhile in Vanuatu last week I read Miriam Adeney’s, Kingdom Without Borders: the untold story of global Christianity (IVP, 2009). If you love potted and inspiring stories, then this book is for you. [I can actually lose interest with stories and wander off as they are told – but not these ones!] If you want…
READ MOREDuring a recent ‘tour of service’ with Langham Preaching in Vanuatu I was impacted by families – four families, to be precise. from england and germany to new zealand The Shudall family. I like to think of them as missionaries to New Zealand where Andy works as Head of Training for TSCF (the IFES-affiliate) –…
READ MORE[Apologies – I can use this blog as a personal filing system for things I do not want to lose. This is one such time…] It looks like an ancient manuscript now. For 11+ years it was pinned above my desk as a prayer-full and personal resolution crafted to frame my time as Principal at…
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.