The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
“Is this the end of the church in America?” You have heard the question. Perhaps you have wondered yourself. I am sure you have read the articles like I have. It seems every few months something in the news cycle (or on the news cycle’s demented ...
It’s been called a “quiet revival,” or the “revival generation.”1 Perhaps we now have numerical evidence to back up that experience. It appears Next Gen is showing up for church. More than that, they’re now showing up more than their older counte...
Few terms have captivated the missional imagination of the church in North America like the Nones. The term None became our shorthand for the nonreligious, or those who would not select any particular relgion on surveys about faith. This was a cha...
I wonder if you think like I do. When I read through the gospels, I often wonder what it would have been like to walk alongside Jesus in the flesh. Even more, what would it have been like to walk alongside Jesus in his resurrected body? What was i...
During my time serving overseas as a missionary, I lived in rural West Africa. Rustic doesn’t quite describe the living conditions. No electricity. No running water. That meant water had to come out of the ground, and it had to do so by hand. I h...
The following is a guest post by Trevor King. Trevor is a good friend, and I have always appreciated the way he articulates the importance of church membership, so I wanted him to share it with you all. This is a good read, and may even be convict...
Last Friday, I posted a rather tongue-and-cheek article concerning gentrification. The article made light of the rather uniform transitions that are actually happening in neighborhoods that undergo gentrification. It is called revitalization and p...
This morning while I was doing some research, I stumbled across a little piece of tongue-and-cheek blog fodder from the Houstonia titled, The Houstonia Step-By-Step Guide to Gentrification. It’s pretty funny and does a great job tracking the devel...
I initially planned to post this Friday but that was Good Friday, so you’re getting it today. Ok, let’s recap. The last couple of posts have focused on evangelistic Bible storying as a way to start new small groups at your church through convers...
Monday, I proposed evangelistic Bible storying as a way to start new small groups at your church through conversion. Bible storying provides the benefit of worldview development as the study progresses from week to week. This, of course, is an exc...
It has been a few weeks since I posted on the benefits of Bible storying, so it seemed high time to do it again. If you cannot tell, I am a firm believer in using a narrative/ story approach in Bible study. I saw the great benefit of unpacking bib...
I serve as the George Liele Director of the Center for Great Commission Studies and as a professor of Christian Missions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I also serve as Assistant Professor of Christian Missions at the seminary. Previously, I served as the Associate Director for the Union Baptist Association in Houston, TX.
My areas of focus cover both North American and International missions. I teach and write on church renewal and replanting as well as developing healthy sending culture in churches. I have a passion for mobilizing the church to the nations, and a love for missions history.
I lead the Peoples Next Door project, which is an initiative to equip local churches in North America to engage in cross-cultural missions among the least-reached peoples that now live in our communities. I’ve been a church planter in West Africa with the IMB and facilitated ethnographic research in Washington, DC with NAMB.
Get notified about new articles, right in your email inbox. Receive an email no more than once a week with any updates.
