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I am a bit slow. The book was published fourteen years ago. I have heard so many people speak so enthusiastically about it. Finally, on a return trip to the UK (and with my first training visit to Cambodia with Langham Preaching later this month), I worked my way through Don Cormack’s Killing Fields, Living…
READ MORESometimes my heart is so cold and hard. For example, last month when the TV News gave the first ten minutes to the story about the stranded whales in Northland, it barely moved me. In fact I was aghast that the story hogged so much headline time. I could argue that my heart was more…
READ MOREOver the years I have had my doubts about whether the Bible really has the sort of priority it needs to have in the life of the so-called “EPC” (evangelical-pentecostal-charismatic) churches of NZ. [NB – it probably says something that these groups have been clumped together like this!] Ironically, it is these EPC churches which…
READ MORETwo biographies are on my mind and in my heart. I read the first one this past weekend. DA (Don) Carson’s story of his Dad, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson (Crossway, 2008). The simple story of an ordinary man. As I read, I was reminded again of how…
READ MOREThere were two earthquakes in Canterbury last week. One was the actual earthquake that has created such fear and anxiety throughout the region and headlines around the world. Every image and every sound-byte is still so compelling. The bill will press on beyond NZD2 billion. The great ‘act of God’ in this disaster is that…
READ MOREThere are some remarkable things about the USA (for example, where would you find billionaires – in any currency – coming together to commit themselves to giving half of their wealth away? Amazing)… … but Fox TV is not one of them. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to read that their ratings are soaring.…
READ MOREA recent post was about ‘converted, always converting’ and related some of the areas where I have changed my mind in recent years. I want to pick this theme up again, but this time in a more practical area. But first I need to explain something both about my past and my personality. I am…
READ MOREYes, that’s right – I have digested yet another Philip Jenkins’ book. It is becoming a compulsive behavioural disorder (particularly when I see the next one already on my desk). This one is a sane and measured response to the fear that Europe is becoming some sort of Eurabia where Christianity’s prospects, currently being dismantled…
READ MOREI continue to reflect on MP Chris Carter’s self-destruction on TV last week. I am not surprised that he has requested two months off work for health reasons. I do not know what his health issues are – but I remember wondering at the time if this guy was in burn-out mode. I hope Christian…
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.