The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
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...
Our world is not as it seems. We go through our days, worrying about the present circumstances, one eye on our social feed and the day’s news cycle. Inevitably, there is another political controversy. Someone of notoriety that you’ve vaguely heard...
“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...
They say it doesn’t exist, but I’ve been there. As a matter of fact, I feel like I’m there now. While writing these words, I stare out across a piece of glass the locals call the Marmara Denizi (Sea of Marmara). I watch the sun set in a sky so ...
I have a theory. Now mind you, it is just a theory, so perhaps I could be proven wrong. Nevertheless, here it goes: Genuine thankfulness should result in contentment. According to the commentators for the Macy’s parade yesterday, an estimated 45...
The questions we ask say a lot about who we are. Think about it for just a minute. Questions reveal concerns. We rarely ask questions about things that do not concern us. They expose our understanding of things. We have all sat in a classroom wher...
“You must purge the evil from you” (Deut 24:7). This is the constant refrain given in Deuteronomy. As Moses revisits the statutes set before Israel going into the promised land, he provides the above statement as grounding. However, it begs the q...
The message of the kingdom is the mission of the church. Over the last three posts, I have discussed the significance of the kingdom of God, pointed out some common misconceptions, and provided a rough description of this kingdom. The kingdom has...
We were supposed to be stewards. That is why we were created. In the very beginning, back when God made everything out of nothing, the pinnacle of that creation was man. Man was made in his image and was to rule in his stead. In essence we were s...
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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