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Every now and then, on a Tuesday morning, I check out the latest golf rankings. It all started in 1992 when those two likeable Maori lads, Michael Campbell and Philip Tataurangi, led New Zealand to the world amateur title (the Eisenhower Trophy). I’ve always enjoyed them and been following their fortunes ever since. It does…
READ MOREI guess if the church needs to be “reformed, always reforming” – then it might be OK for me to be converted, always converting. Won’t there always be blindspots to be exposed as I slide down the asymptote closer and closer to the full and complete truth of that horizontal line…yes, I think so. I…
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I live in NZ and listen to the sobered and scholarly voices on the challenge of the post-Christian West. I work in Asia and listen to the enthusiastic vibrancy of a post-Western Christianity. I live in NZ and listen to the church speaking “mission, mission, mission”. I work in Asia and listen to the church…
READ MOREWhile I’ve travelled over these recent weeks, I have heard some remarkable things… In Peru, the church is “living in a time of harvest” – the 1% ‘evangelical’ in 1989 has mushroomed to 15% today – which amounts to 4 million people and 20,000 churches. In Zimbabwe, the inflation rate is so bad that some…
READ MOREWhenever I teach narrative preaching I always start with children’s stories. Former students will remember my love for the simplicity of Quack, Quack and the power of Love You Forever – which has induced many a tear from older, and embarassed, Kiwi males. To read them and then to ask “why does this work?” seems…
READ MOREBarby and I are in transit in Hong Kong on the way home after a month away (for me) from New Zealand. Time was spent in Oxford, in Dale (SW Wales), and in Budapest. In Oxford I had the joy of helping coordinate a Consultation for teachers of homiletics from the majority world. This had…
READ MOREOver recent years I have appreciated my links with World Vision. My brother-in-law (Jon Warren) is their top photojournalist internationally (well, I think he is!); two opportunities to speak at World Vision (NZ) prayer days stand out in my memory; I was thrilled to see the recent appointment of an esteemed friend, Chris Clarke, as…
READ MOREWith the opening game of the World Cup happening to my left as I write, I find myself wondering about how well New Zealand will play at the event. New Zealand has been the focus of joke-making all over the footballing world, having reached the finals by beating the likes of Vanuatu and Bahrain –…
READ MOREThis past week I made my first trip back to Carey Baptist College to be interviewed as the weekly community lunch came to a close. The interview covered all sorts of topics. Early the next morning I received an email from someone whose opinion I respect, suggesting that I had been “strident” and “disparaging” in…
READ MOREThis is Part Two of my case for re-introducing some hymns into the playlist of the contemporary church. Outside of a well-worn 3 or 4 (Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Great is Thy Faithfulness…) – we do not sing hymns any more. Part One – a prayer-full playlist – is here. I trawled 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.