Him We Proclaim

The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.

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Counter-Cultural is Still Cultural

For the last several months, I have watched a new church building being built on the road to my house. Recently, the builders installed the church’s new sign, and I was a bit surprised. Perhaps the better word for my reaction was underwhelmed. In ...

Love the Church that Is

In a job like mine, you hear stories about the church. A student serving in their first church explains to me the conflict threatening to split his church. Of course, none of this was disclosed during the search and candidate process. A consultant...

The Art of the Personal Testimony

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...

Five Local Church Benefits from Creating a Global Missions Partnership

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...

Seven Missionary Biographies and Why You Should Read One Now

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 ...

Concerned about refugees? The GC2 Summit may be for you.

Tomorrow, I am flying to the Chicago area for a leadership meeting concerning an upcoming summit on refugees. The GC2 summit, as they are calling it, will hopefully provide equipping to Evangelicals so we can have a proper response to the curren...

In the News: "Demographic Destiny: 2050"

A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal launched a fascinating multimedia piece call Demographic Destiny. The site analyzes demographic research and visualizes the information in stunning project of what life will be like as we approach 2050. Th...

Chiming in: "Learning to Love Foreigners Well"

Over at Urban Mango, Lori McDaniel recently posted a helpful article on loving foreigners. We spend a lot of time talking about that same issue here on this blog, so I thought I would bring her post to your attention and chime in with a few though...

I Kissed "Dating the Church" Goodbye, and You Should Too

  I was initially going to apologize to Joshua Harris for stealing the title from his previous book, but after I wrote this post I discovered he had written a whole book on this topic as well. Click here to get a copy of his book, Stop Dating the...

Gospel Hospitality: The Sanctifying Effect of Dinner Guests

We both know the feeling. That anxiety you get when you walk through the door right after work and immediately fly into cleaning your house. At some point, you thought it would be a good idea to invite them over for dinner. But now, in the moment,...

Cooperation or Competition? Does Your Church Play Nice with Others?

If you are a pastor or ministry leader, then this post is for you. New churches in your town are not a bad thing… even the one down the street. I imagine you know that feeling. I am a pastor myself, and honestly, I have had it too. You are drivin...

Hello, I’m Keelan.

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.

More about me