a blog by Keelan Cook
I recently finished reading If You Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free. You can read my review of it here but suffice it to say that it's a good book and you should read it. One thing about the book that has stayed with me is the idea of confessing sin to…
Continue reading ➞ Why do we need to confess our sin to others?
This week, I received an email I wanted to share concerning ESL ministries in local churches. The email was in response to an article I wrote a while back entitled Turn Your ESL Ministry into a Church Planting Machine. For their part, a local church here in Texas is working hard to come up with…
Continue reading ➞ Common Questions about ESL and Church Planting
Pew Research has released their newest report on Muslims in the United States, and it's worth a read if you are concerned about sharing the gospel and making new disciples among our Muslim-background communities in the United States. For the last 10 years, Pew Research has been running what appears to be a longitudinal study,…
Continue reading ➞ In the News: Pew releases updated research on Muslims in the U.S.
Christian, your home is not your sanctuary. My wife and I just bought a house, and it has me reflecting. Just over a year ago, we moved to Houston to take up new positions in ministry. It's been a whirlwind, but we finally landed on a little plot of ground we can call our own.…
The Brookings Institute recently ran an article titled, "These are the groups most likely to stop participating in the US census," in which they parse out some of the significant consequences of a recent ruling concerning the upcoming 2020 US census. The issue has been all over the news recently, but for those of us…
This is a few months old at this point, but I realized I had never made people aware of it through this site. Back in November, the Pew Research Center released a great tool concerning refugees in the United States. The tool is completely interactive and provides both a map animation and a workable table…
Continue reading ➞ Interactive Tool: “Where have refugees settled in the U.S.?”
"Church planter, you need a vision in order to successfully start your church." "Pastor, if you want your church to be healthy again, your church needs a fresh vision." You've heard those words. I've said those words. For the most part, they're true, but let's get one thing out in the open: your church's vision…
Continue reading ➞ Your Church’s Vision is a Shot in the Dark if You Don’t Understand Three Things
In a little over 25 years, the majority face of America will be a different color. According to a research report by the Brookings Institute, the United States will be "minority white" by 2045, when America's white population will dip below 50 percent for the first time. White population numbers as a percentage of the…
Continue reading ➞ “Minority white” by 2045: What does this mean for U.S. church ministry?
The following is an excerpt from a free local church resource. The resource is a quick reference for carefully examining your local church in its missions context. You can download the resource at the end of the post. "The gospel never fits properly within a culture." That is a quote by Ed Stetzer from a…
Continue reading ➞ Free Resource: Assess Your Church from Multiple Perspectives
Do you have any good websites I can visit for demographic data on my neighborhood? If I've been asked that question once, I've received it a dozen times. And for what it is worth, it's a good question. Nowadays, many pastors and church leaders understand (at least in a theoretical sense) the need for knowing…
Continue reading ➞ Four Online Resources for Demographics on Your Community
