Category Archives: Preaching

3 ideas to unlearn from (Job’s) F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Last month, about 1 million Kiwis tuned in to watch the Friends reunion (myself included). One thing I learned from watching it (besides how quickly celebrities age!) is how this 90’s sitcom about 20-somethings in New York is still a global phenomenon, through endless reruns and Netflix, and translations into dozens of languages. In one …

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Why does Job use “bless” to mean “curse” in Job 1-2?

Contronyms (or “Janus words”) are words with two opposite meanings. For example, you can cleave to someone, or cleave from someone. You can dust off the countertop, or dust a cake with icing sugar. Lease a house out, or lease it from someone. It’s not limited to English either – I recently learned that in …

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Thoughts on preaching the book of Ephesians

Last Sunday, our church just finished a series on the book of Ephesians. It’s been a joy the past few months to share the pulpit with fellow pastors and friends as we enjoyed an all-you-can-eat buffet in this powerful, practical letter. To prepare for the series, I translated the passage from the Greek text and …

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Smart storytelling, five reactions to Palm Sunday

(This article first appeared on TGC Australia: https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/smart-storytelling-five-reactions-to-palm-sunday/) It’s one thing to have a COVID vaccine available. It’s another matter to convince people to get one. That’s why governments around the world have launched million-dollar ad campaigns to encourage their citizens to get vaccinated. As a former copywriter, I’ve been fascinated by how campaigns around …

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