Tony Payne

Tony started Matthias Media back in 1988. He has raised a family of five (with his wife Alison), completed a theology degree at Moore Theological College, and written or co-written numerous books and ministry resources—including The Trellis and the Vine, Fatherhood, Guidance and the Voice of God, The Tony Payne Collection, and The Course of Your Life. He is also the Director of the Centre for Christian Living at Moore College, and is close to completing his PhD.

If I said I wasn’t a hypocrite, would you believe me?

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 August 2009

Content unavailable online.

Read More →

Sick of Bible study? Read on.

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 July 2009

Are you sick of reading the resource talk column each month? I know I'm sick of writing it. Here we are again with another 800 upbeat, encouraging words on some aspect of Christian ministry and the resources we produce to support it. It's tiresome to write and (I feel

Read More →

Ministry in the year of swine flu

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 July 2009

Content unavailable online.

Read More →

The tract is back

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 June 2009

Quick quiz: of all Matthias Media's different resources—now more than 200 of them—which do you think is the all-time bestseller? Is it:John Chapman's A Fresh StartJohn Dickson's A Sneaking SuspicionRay Galea's Nothing in my hand I bringThe Just for Starters basic Bible studiesThe answer is, in fact, ‘e: None of

Read More →

An abominable word

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 June 2009

When I hear the word ‘abomination’, a vivid image comes to mind. Perhaps it’s from a comedy sketch on TV. I see a man dressed in old-fashioned black clothes, with a black hat and, in reference to some aspect of modern culture (perhaps homosexuality), he declares in a slow, but passionate voice, “It is

Read More →

No use crying

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 May 2009

I have a reputation both at home and at work for being affable—imperturbable—phlegmatic, even. However, like most people of serene disposition, there are some events guaranteed to perturb my phlegm—three-putting from ten feet, for example, or spillages at the dinner table—particularly those involving milk. And receiving parking tickets. Is

Read More →

The first 21 years are the hardest

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 April 2009

There’s no doubt about it: this 21st birthday Briefing has put me in a nostalgic frame of mind. I’m finding myself daydreaming about the late 80s when New Zealand wore beige and brown body shirts in one day cricket, when U2 was a young, emerging supergroup, and when the book to

Read More →

Looking back, looking forward

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 April 2009

Tony Payne ponders 21 years of The Briefing, and the next 21. Whenever I look back over the history of The Briefing—all 366 issues, all 21 years—I find it almost impossible to resist thinking about my eldest daughter, who (like The Briefing) was born in April 1988. In fact, I've

Read More →

The clarion call of the gospel: An interview with Phillip Jensen

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 April 2009

Tony Payne: This April marks the 21st birthday of The Briefing. You were instrumental in launching The Briefing back in 1988. Why did you do it? Phillip Jensen: As best as I can remember (and history from an unreliable memory is the best way to do it!), at that

Read More →

Actually do it

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 April 2009

I was tempted to call this post ‘J*st do it’, but I’m told that those three words are owned by Nike Corporation, and I am worried that their use one after the other (beginning with ‘just’ and followed immediately by ‘do’ and ‘it’) in any context whatsoever and for any

Read More →