The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
“I have no idea how to explain this!” I hear those words frequently from our students. At Southeastern, we take over a dozen short-term mission trips a year all over the world. This results in over a hundred of our students every year traveling t...
I recently spoke to several hundred students at a conference on the importance of evangelism. During my time with those students, I asked them all a simple question: Has there ever been a time when you felt like you should tell someone about Jesus...
I recently stumbled across an article at The Gospel Coalition that caught my attention. The article, titled “The Increasing Value of Christian Testimonies”, resonated. In fact, I make similar claims in my Christian missions courses at the seminary...
Sending global missionaries is one of my favorite topics of conversation with pastors and church leaders. Having been an international missionary myself, it always does my heart good when a pastor or church leader starts asking questions about how...
I initially pulled this book list together during the pandemic a few years ago. Back then, all kinds of posts were appearing that recommended book lists for people to consider during our global shut-in. I even wrote one suggesting you use this ...
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...
This past week, the Economist ran a significant article on the widening gap between cities and rural areas in the United States. If you are in ministry, in either setting, then this is important stuff to know. America is in the middle of serious...
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.
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