I am a retired science educator and writer and am currently working as a full time stationed lay minister for the Methodist Church in the Auckland Central Parish. With my gold card, the bus is free and I have been practising my regal wave for the envious common people on the footpath. I have responsibility for the Mt Eden and Epsom Methodist Churches. I have taught in a variety of High Schools including a short stint in New Guinea, a few years on secondment to Secondary Teachers College (ACE at Epsom) and my last job in teaching was 23 years as Head of Science at Mangere College.
My writing includes more than 60 newspaper articles, mainly on science topics, and a recent major magazine article on the science of climate change. My books include one on classroom testing, a book on the Azaria Chamberlain dingo case (Azaria – One Kind of Justice), two books on Middle East politics (War Clouds in the Gulf and Anatomy of Terror). I call my theology progressive – and my critics call it liberal. My PhD Thesis (Alienated by Evolution) was on the topic of the Creation Evolution debate. One of my studies for those interested in Bible understanding, Shaping God is on this site.
I enjoy music and play incompetent jazz piano for my own amazement. I wrote a musical comedy Visitors for James some years ago and the effort nearly killed me. I have put 4 of my contemporary hymns to familiar tunes on this web site and anyone is free to use them but not for profit.
Rotary takes some of the “spare time”. I am a member of a small club (Mangere) which is so small virtually everyone gets to be President.
Family wise I am married to Shirley (management!) and recently we have discovered we enjoy travelling. Shirley is a gardener, a patchwork whiz, and somewhat to her surprise appears to like being a minister’s wife. She (like me) greatly enjoys being grand-parent but unfortunately four of our five grand children have just been taken off to France for two years because our eldest son is an aeronautical engineer for Air New Zealand supervising the building of some Air Bus planes for New Zealand. The upside is that gives us an excuse to travel to France next year.
