The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
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 ...
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...
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 ...
If you are questioning man’s depravity lately, might I suggest you cut on your television. This weekend, I visited a friend in Richmond and was sitting on his couch before church. The television was on the National Geographic channel, and I notic...
If you ever want to feel awkward, try preaching a wedding as a single guy. That will just about do it. A few months ago, I received a call from an old college student of mine. He and his fiancée (also a past student of mine) were getting married...
This post is a continuation from a previous post. For the whole story, read On debating an imam. Christianity is not about a religion, or a philosophy, or a worldview; it is about a person. For centuries men have been beaten, persecuted, tortu...
This post is a continuation from a previous post. For the whole story, read On debating an imam. “How many copies of the Bible do you own?” asked the imam. It was a question for which I had no definite answer. “Perhaps a dozen,” I thought to ...
Life has a way of putting people in weird situations. It is that awkward moment when you realize you are sitting in the wrong classroom on the first day of school, or perhaps, it is that instance when your boss randomly asks for your opinion abou...
The first six months I lived in Africa was the loneliest point of my life. Before that point, I cannot say I was ever lonely. Perhaps I was momentarily lonely, but it was never a state of existence. Yet, those first months in Africa, I frequently...
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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