I may have mentioned this before, but this week I’ve been focusing on getting a good night’s sleep. It makes such a difference! I know this but I can just let this foundational keystone habit slip for all sorts of reasons.

Mixed progress on my last snowboarding practice. Fear is my enemy. but at least I’m not quite as terrified at embarrassing myself on the T-bar lifts any longer. Progress comes in a variety of sizes.

Books finished this week: A Praying Life by Paul Miller and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.

You Should Read These

This week Hydrofoils, preaching, gender gaps, veggie tales, paid ministry & scandal!

1. 5 Ways Pastors Can Grow in Their Preaching
2. The reading life, the reading death
3. Reflections on 9 months of paid ministry. Co-signed on all three points.
4. The Pink Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
5. And sticking with gender: Gender gaps run both ways: the data
6. At Last, Hydrofoils and I’m going to look for one in Stockholm!
7. Why the internet can still be brilliant. A discussion on whether the Veggie Tales characters could be Christian. Or not.

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You Should Look At This

THE WHOLE WORLD!

Winners of 2025 Travel Photographer of the Year Take Us on a Journey Around the World

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You Should Listen To This

This album has been on repeat the whole week. It’s the sort of easy, lo-fi, feel good, easy chill music that I eat up these days.

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You Should Watch This

Every time I go out and play in the snow you can probably expect to see a video like this!

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This Week’s Postings

SO MANY POSTS!!

• God with us
• 3 ways to invest in your church
• Mission wherever. Learning from Paul in Acts 17
• Stott on the laying on of apostolic hands
• You can’t outgrow the gospel

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From The Archives

Some people are bad news; manipulative, controlling, disrespectful, angry, abusive. It isn’t always easy to realise that someone is that kind of leader, otherwise no one would ever find themselves in any kind of toxic relationship. But when you do, it becomes clear enough what you should do – which is to leave. Now I don’t believe that complementarian theology, in and of itself, produces those kinds of leaders. I think they can be find in all sorts of environments. But I will say this, complementarian cultures have not done well enough to root those kind of leaders out. This is doubly damaging because not only are they wolves but one of the mainstays of ‘good complementarianism’ is that the shepherds protect the flock, guarding them from wolves and not aiding and abetting them.

The damage we do

Thanks for reading and do please share anything interesting in the comments.