My intention on this page is twofold.

1) To tell you a bit about myself so that you have some idea of who I am, where I come from, and what life has thrown at me, bitter or sweet , over the years.
2) Not to bore you to death.
I hope I manage to succeed in both.

I've included some pics of people, places and things that have shaped my life in recent years, and help me lurch through life as best I can.

I am an African. I was born in South Africa, and lived there for the first 31 years of my life. I grew up with my mother and older sister after my parents divorced when I was very young. I saw my father on and off until I was 13, and then not again until he died 5 years later.

I studied engineering before moving into full time youth work and then training for the ministry, and I was ordained in 2000.

I have lived in a mixture of places; urban wealthy communities and desperately poor rural communities in many different parts of South Africa. I lived through South Africa's remarkable journey into democracy, and the slow work of beginning to put things right. It is a remarkable place.

I have lived in London (briefly), and spent 6 months in Scotland working for the Iona Community at their Camas Centre on the Isle of Mull, where I met and married Linda. I have lived in Devon, and before coming to the university worked in 7 rural churches about 15 miles outside of York.

I have two children, Hannah and Matthew, who continue to change my life forever, inside and out, in all the best possible ways.

I love kayaking, mountains, wild places, wood, working with my hands, good conversation, spicy food, real ale, daydreaming, and openness in people.

The God that I have grown to know is infinitely patient, loving, and challenging. The worst in me is made welcome, and I am constantly called to step beyond the best in myself into all the things I still have to learn and experience. I have much to learn and much growing up still to do............