The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
This article has been a long time coming. If you are a long-time follower of my writing (and I mean long time), you may recall an article I wrote back in 2015 titled, “A Word of Caution Concerning ‘Relationship Evangelism’.” In that article, I wr...
I’m presently making last-minute travel arrangements to head to Dallas at the end of the week. This year marks my 11th year in a row attending the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting. It’s my 13th meeting in total. Yes, I go because of my...
Language matters, but language without substance is just rhetoric. The last two decades in church ministry have seen an impressive shift in the way we speak about the mission of the church. We’ve adopted a language of multiplication. And with thi...
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...
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 ...
How do you know God? For that matter, how do you know anything about God? Maybe it was your parents that first introduced you to this idea that there was some big something out there in charge of everything. Maybe it was a Sunday School teacher or...
This week, I am in seminars all day for my PhD, so I’m revisiting some old posts from my time in Africa. This post was written back in 2010 about a celebration I attended while serving as a missionary. One of the neatest aspects of my time h...
I wrote this piece while serving in Africa as a missionary. At the time, I was living in a small village far away from city life. The observations made in my time there profoundly shaped how I understand the Bible. I pray this one does the same fo...
Here is a journal entry from last November, after I had started living out in the bush to do my language study. I thought this would be a good one to share. Well, boredom set in yesterday. All seemed well as the first two or three days moved by. ...
I am headed back out to the bush for a while, so I thought I would leave you guys with something that has recently been on my mind. I spent several days this past week working with a short-term team from the States. It was a real blessing, and God...
I guess it was only a matter of time before I got the itch to blog. After all, I do have a bit of free time here, and God is teaching me a whole lot so far through this process. So, for all of the people who are contacting me for updates and wanti...
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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