Featured Posts
Recent Posts
I often receive disbelieving looks from friends in Britain, Australia and the USA when I claim that New Zealand is more secular, more anti-Christian, than any of their countries. So conscious are they of the challenge which they face that they find it difficult to believe that somewhere else could be harder. But maybe this…
READ MOREWhenever I go to the dentist I think about sin. This is because tooth decay is so similar to sin decay. Little openings which grow worse when simple disciplines are overlooked. [Or, when we allow the wrong things to fill our mouths]. Sow an attitude and you reap a habit, a character, and then a…
READ MOREOne of the most common things I find myself saying to younger people is the importance of building a network of friendships where their various friends can be located in various concentric circles. In the core circle are those friends with whom we are close. In the outer circle are those friends who are a…
READ MORE… continued … In sorting through some boxes from my previous life (finally!) I came across some scruffy notes containing some reflections on leadership. With it coming up to the one year anniversary of moving on from a senior leadership role as Principal of Carey Baptist College, I thought to myself … why not? Drawing…
READ MOREIn sorting through some boxes from my previous life (finally!) I came across some scruffy notes containing some reflections on leadership. With it coming up to the one year anniversary of moving on from a senior leadership role as Principal of Carey Baptist College, I thought to myself … why not? Drawing on all that…
READ MORERegular readers of this blog might remember my enthusiasm for the books by Simon Walker known as “the undefended leader” trilogy. I have posted lengthy blogs on each of the three books here, here, and here. This morning I received an email from Simon Walker. Here are some extracts: “Over the past six months I…
READ MOREI am in the midst of another period of real distress about the prominence which alcohol and its abuse has in our society. The son of close friends had his drink spiked on the weekend. Very scary with complete memory loss for some hours! My son in high-school tells me that a group of his…
READ MOREGod has been speaking to me recently about my capacity to think critically. It tends to gush a bit too much. It overflows into areas of life and relationships where it need not be – and really should not be. Come, Holy Spirit, and help me be more careful…and please be patient with me while…
READ MOREYes, it IS as good as they say it is. I liked Andre Agassi’s Open: an autobiography (Harper Collins, 2009)for all sorts of reasons. 1. The story moves from his hatred for his father to his love for Steffi in a journey of self-discovery. It is the old cliche about “you don’t know who you…
READ MOREI am in South Asia at the moment. Lahore in Pakistan and now Colombo in Sri Lanka. While living in this region can have its frustrations, God gave the clues on how to survive when he placed certain animals here. Camel. Elephant. Buffalo. There is something about the slowish pace, the undistracted persistence, and 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.