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It is easy to become frustrated with the bias against Christianity in our society. The bad stuff is magnified, while the good stuff is muted. In a society that champions fairness, it often seems unfair. In a society that advocates tolerance, it easily becomes intolerance. Into this dilemma steps Glen Scrivener, with The Air We Breathe.…
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Under God’s good hand, I entered my 15th year with Langham Preaching on the 1st April—and now am inching towards ten years as programme director. Across these years the focus has been on establishing a Global Leadership Team (GLT). In the final days of March, we met at Rivendell, on Bowen Island, just outside Vancouver…
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Last month Barby and I went off on a little holiday. We stopped at Lake Taupō and walked into town along the lakefront. The day was drawing to a close. The toi toi waved to us as we passed by. Their beauty—ever resilient, yet fragile—always captivates me. Barely 30 minutes later, we were retracing our steps…
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What a fun journey this has been… Cairo, a few months ago Last October, with the borders opening up, I returned to Cairo to visit our team there. On this occasion my friend and colleague in Lebanon, Riad, came across for the meetings. His presence opened the way to meet other people and ministries. One…
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At some point during last year it dawned on me that there was just the one final corner of New Zealand that remained unexplored for Barby and me. The Wairarapa—especially the southern section which is the most southern point of the North Island. As soon as a week of annual leave came into focus, I…
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We rushed home from India in that tiny window before the COVID-19 lockdown. Two years later our belongings followed us, thanks to a small army of kind people who packed everything up for us. Ever since our home has been piles and boxes—especially my study—because we were planning to move house, one with more space.…
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“It is sad that the book had to be written”. This is how a friend responded when I mentioned that I was reading Marcus Honeysett’s Powerful Leaders? When Church Leadership Goes Wrong and How to Prevent It. Why did he respond in that manner? While Honeysett avoids naming names, the book is prompted by the…
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They are remembered for everything they aren’t. That is a clumsy paraphrase of an observation JI Packer once made about the Puritans. What comes to mind today with a word like ‘puritanical’ is such a long way from what the Puritans actually believed and how they lived—more than 400 years ago. A long way? From…
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Maria lived through the Nazi occupation of Holland. At one point, at 11 years of age, she pushed her pram down a road lined with soldiers, transporting a forbidden radio hidden under her dolly. Imagine it. Suddenly, I have this inner stirring to be a movie director. That is not all. Her family hid two…
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When you are on a summer holiday in a small-ish house with a large-ish number of people and a cyclone shows up, it is time to be creative. Barby came to the rescue, with her latest purchase from the ‘adult colouring books’ (ACBs) genre. While they were a craze a decade ago, Barby has been…
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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.