Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Exactly 40 years ago – and I mean to the very minute – people all over London were heading for the Underground to make their way to Central Hall, Westminster. 18 October 1966. What transpired that night is a ‘defining moment’ in post-War British evangelicalism. Now, now … don’t close this window quite yet?! Stick…
READ MOREThe comment which provoked the most response while teaching in Zambia was when we came to the ‘submission’ passages in 1 Peter 2:11-3:7 and I suggested that we needed to avoid two errors: (a) the ‘cut and paste’ errorThis occurs when we ‘cut’ these verses out of the context of this letter and the occasion…
READ MOREA little transit time in Bangkok – why not post a blog? My son (Martin) and I are returning from 18 days in Africa where I participated in the Pastors Book Project – the brainchild of visionary SIM-er Jim Mason. 24 conferences over 4months in 19 locations distributing a quality library of 65 books (and…
READ MOREWhen the energy drains out of a seminar I am leading, I know just where the solution lies. I put three words on the whiteboard and ask people to put them in the right order: “belonging”, “believing”, “behaving”. One of the great discussion-starters… It is a bit unfair, but you could make a case that…
READ MOREI am a missionary-kid (MK). I am forever grateful to my parents for growing me up in India. Lots of reasons – but most important of all it helped me become an internationalist. With my white face and blond hair being such a cultural oddity, I grew up affirming the languages and cultures of peoples…
READ MORETwo passions kinda animate me. One is biblical exposition with texts like gospel and epistle and prophecy. The other is cultural exposition with texts like advertisement and lyric and movie. Take movies for example… If I was a (youth) pastor I’d organise a retreat for the leadership team in which we watch a double feature…
READ MOREWe are in the middle of the evaluation season at Carey Baptist College. All 30 of the students in our Pastoral Leadership track journey through an annual process which probes for both critique and affirmation. As Principal I have been committed to participating in every single one. It is just exhausting… Reflecting on the written…
READ MOREHe is arguably the leading historian in the evangelical world today. And he has been in Auckland for a few days. David Bebbington from the UK. Yeah – I know that sounds a bit like Daniel Bedingfield, but I assure you that this guy is very different. Last night he spoke at the annual dinner…
READ MOREOur Maori queen, Dame Te Ata, died yesterday. Deeply loved and widely respected… In one of the tributes I heard this morning it was said that she was “a leader who followed her people.” What an intriguing comment. It has been distracting me all morning. I wonder what it means… nice chatting Paul
READ MORE[apologies – for some reason my blog went blank for a week] I’ve been in ChiangMai at a conference on global Christianity organised by the International Council of Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). We explored the implications of the shift of the center of Christianity from the North/West to the South/East. Here are a random dozen…
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.