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I grew up with an LP (that is a big black disc from which music used to emerge, for those of you who are confused) in the house. It was called Sacred Songs. Actually I was convinced that it said Scared Songs on the cover and it became a bit of a family joke. Sacred…
READ MOREWith our move into a global mission role with Langham Partnership International (LPI), I have been busy writing our first letter and trying to track down the friends we have gathered over the years. [There may well be regular readers of this blog who would like to receive our letter … if so, drop me…
READ MOREI love basketball. It is the sport I played the most as a kid. I enjoy following the NBA on the internet – probably making up for the fact that Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls two months after I left Chicago! With people who do not know the game well, the assumption…
READ MOREPsalm 120:1 following Psalm 119 (and its 176 verses) is like a tiny fern sitting next to a giant kauri (tree). And the stark contrast doesn’t stop with size. All but two verses (I think I am right on that one – my grandma used to tell me it was every verse, but she was…
READ MOREIt was great to have Barby and all my kids up early watching the Obama inauguration with me. A moment for history. As usual I thought Obama’s speech was brilliant – both in its content and its tone. I am so enjoying hearing and watching the spoken word inspire people in an era where there…
READ MOREOver the past few years I’d have to rate The Next Christendom (Philip Jenkins) as the book which has had the biggest impact on me. So when I saw The Lost History of Christianity (HarperCollins, 2008), it was ordered immediately and then read immediately. I have so many other things I am meant to be…
READ MOREA new year offers the opportunity for a new look. The rather lame ‘nice chatting’ was only ever meant to be a transitional name for my blog while I thought of something that captured the essence of why I am blogging. That name lasted three years – UGH! While it is a technical term that…
READ MOREYou gotta love the seasons of the year and the way God remains active in each one of them. The way he works in his creation is so like the way he works in his new creation.
READ MOREThis book by David Kinnaman gathers the outcomes of a three year study by The Barna Group into the way 16-29yr olds ‘outside’ the church perceive Christianity. The book uncovers a hostility and skepticism towards the church unheard of in any previous generation. This serious image problem for the church centers around it being: (a)…
READ MOREOur 25 years with a NZ-focus in our ministry lives is drawing to a close. I am a sentimental-type and find myself doing a lot of reflecting on these years – and have even been given the opportunity to do so in the company of others. (a) The first opportunity came with the Baptist Historical…
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.